Green Tea Latte [All Romance] [B/G x B/G] [Cafe Sim]

[Demetis]

So, it’s been a while since I have posted an update (2 months, omg XD’)

I hope some of you are still with me, because this project is for sure still in development >w<

Like I have mentioned a few posts earlier, I have been on a short hiatus due to working on portfolio for art school applications. It took me quite a while, but I was accepted >w<b Due to some internal problems though, I will have to wait half a year longer until I can start. Again, I am working at high speed (as much as I can XD’) on this game project! So time for an update!

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Writing:
The writing has progressed quite smoothly for me. Even though what I have at the moment is still unbeta-ed and needs a lot of editing. I have written both Travis’ and Ryuuga’s playthrough as far as the gameplay tutorial phase starts - readily scripted into Ren’Py including the use of music and SFX. For the demo, that would be roughly 20% of writing done. I will work on writing again once I have finished the tutorial phase.

Art:
I have started working on the game’s CGs. For the demo, they will all remain sketches, however, I like to illustrate them while writing since it gives me a better imagination of the scene I am writing about. Here a preview of one of them:


Music:
So far, Shoko has finished another track. For the daily simulation circle, that would be 3 out of 4. Afterwards, Shoko will start taking care of the character’s personal themes. Meanwhile, my other composer (who has been finishing up the title/main theme and started on the credits theme) is a bit on hiatus due to RL issues. He will be returning back to work as soon as he has settled them.

Programming:
Still finished at 95%, except for the CG gallery XD’ I won’t be working on that one before the final release though. At the moment I am working together with another programmer to maybe bring out the game onto other platforms than the ones Ren’Py allows. So this is just a head-up information. Once we have made some real progress, I will post an update on this.

What’s next?
During the next weeks, I will be working onto the gameplay tutorials. It proves a new challenge to me. Explaining a system I know inside out to other people is something I haven’t done before XD’ I will make sure to show it to people and get critique since I want everyone who plays to be able to use all the features the game has to offer >w<

While my hiatus for the art school applications has pushed the demo release back quite a bit, I won’t rush since I want to get this done right >w< So I hope for your patience and thanks everyone who’s still here with me!

[neuropsy]

1. First impression in general? (On story, game type etc.?)

I really like the title. It has a welcoming aura to it, I think. Reading the synopsis, I'll admit I honestly felt a little dampened that there was going to be time management elements in it since I prefer just reading and making narrative choices, but I can get over it. Knowing me, I might end up really liking it!

2. Any characters that you already interested in? Or characters you already think of as boring?

I'm interested in Tracey and Marianne the most! Tracey just seems like the type of person I'd be attracted to, and Marianne because I love shy characters. I love that they're bi, too!

3. Which character will you probably play as first?

I want to play as Travis. Although I'm not a NEET, she does kind of remind me of myself. xD I wonder if she has any hobbies she's pursued during the time she stayed home "doing nothing?"

4. The café management will influence the CGs you get, but not the endings (except for the bad ending). Is it fine like that or would you prefer the café management influencing the endings more?

I don't normally play management games, but I think it's a good idea for them to influence the CG's you get! I think the majority of CG's should be obtained by selecting proper narrative choices though, but that's just me. Whatever you feel is more important (if you had to pick), whether the cafe management or regular narrative choices, to the overall plot should take precedence in terms of CG distribution.

5. Was the information on which character is dateable too confusing? XD' (I didn't know what to use other than the icons XD')

The information wasn't confusing at all. They were short, simple, and sweet, with enough information to decide who I want to pursue first. Also, the images for them are cute!

6. Other critique / suggestions / questions? Let me know >w<

Good luck! You can do it! You're immensely talented for being able to make a game like this by yourself! Even if you have to cut out some features for time or energy reasons, you're pursuing a really respectable endeavor, and I'm wishing you the best of luck.

I'm definitely look forward to the demo. <3

[Steamgirl]

Yay! So glad to hear the project is still going! The CG looks lovely!

Good luck with the tutorial! It can be a time sink, but a good tutorial will make the player experience smooooth, whereas a bad one can put them off entirely so it's an important investment. I can't wait to play the demo though, so I hope you finish this quickly and the writing quickly and everything else quickly (but without losing quality of course, haha!). Yep, I can dream.

[Red-Baby]

Your artwork for this game is really beautiful =D I love the cartoony style.
The concept for the game sounds cool too and you have an array of different characters.
Good luck with art school and the rest of the game! I'll be waiting for it's release =3

[ColaCat]

Well done on getting in! ^o^ Hope whatever internal problems you have go away as soon as possible!

Your art is looking gorgeous. Still can't get over it.

[Demetis]

@ neuropsy: Thank you so much for the feedback >w< As following the opinions I got, I will probably let the management influence the CGs a little bit more >w< While I guess most of them will still depend on the good old Visual Novel style XD And I am glad more people are getting interested in playing Travis >w<! Since the first impression of her was kinda a lazy NEET, I was afraid most people wouldn't consider playing her at all XD
I will try to punch out the demo asap >w<b

@ Steamgirl: LOL omg 8DD Once science experiments go right and let me clone myself so I can work on everything at once, I will be able to fullfill that dream //slapped 8D
But yes, a good tutorial is very important for the player to find himself into the game >w<! So definitely investing time to get it right.

@ Red-Baby: Thank you very much! >w< Though I still have a lot to learn, I feel like working on this game made me improve on my art too! (Along side with many other things wah 8D)

@ ColaCat: Thanks! >w< I wanted to start school earlier so I have more time to work on the game too but since I got the applications out of the way, the pace from before suits me just fine as well XD

[Demetis]

Hello guys, some time has passed again since the last update and I have made some more progress that I think is probably worth showing XD

So far, I have finished all CG sketches that will appear in the demo! And because there are only 6(½) of them, there won’t be another preview for now >w<!

However, I have started using chibi scenes in the game, trying to illustrate the writing a little bit better (cause it’s still weak so far). Those are very simple and only take me about 10 - 30 minutes to line and probably just as long to color, but I like them. They help showing the cheerful and comedic side of the game >w<! A sample ahead

I am not sure if I will be able to color them yet for the demo, since there are still lots of other things that need to be done XD

So far, I am pretty much done with all the art stuffs for the demo (sketch-wise at least). Right now, I am on a 3 weeks break from real life work and will be implementing them into the game aside with finishing up the writing for the demo! >w< (The demo release is so close I can practically feel it but I know there is still a lot of writing that needs to be done wah 8'D)

-
As a side update, the wonderful (miraculously sparkling) Succuren has been drawing some artwork for Cyan! I am so happy to see my baby in her fabulous style ; v ; <3

Boy knows how to steal my heart -sobs-

And here is a tsundere princess <3

Make sure to check out her account at Deviantart!

Until the next update then >w</ -rolls off-

[ColaCat]

XD Well at least you got them out of the way!

Eeek, can't wait for the demo! As for those chibi's, I think they look cute in black and white, so colouring them isn't a must. (Adds a kinda, storybook feel to it, in my opinion)

[ZennyZenZen]

Hi. Just wanted to say that i'm still excited for this particular sim. And you have all my support and enthusiasm.

[Agashi]

1. First impression in general? (On story, game type etc.?)
- Strictly on a first-impressions basis, this type of story is fairly typical in the genre. BUT! It all depends on execution! I'll still be giving this a play when it comes out, so if the writing and the characters pull me in, there's no reason this can't be a great game.

2. Any characters that you already interested in? Or characters you already think of as boring?
- I think that so far, Tracey is my favorite. I like guys that care for/get along with little kids; it's adorable. My least favorite is probably Ryuuga, but there really isn't enough info to say I really DISlike him.

3. Which character will you probably play as first?
- Maybe Ryuuga first? I prefer being female, so I'd probably save that route for last.

4. The café management will influence the CGs you get, but not the endings (except for the bad ending). Is it fine like that or would you prefer the café management influencing the endings more?
- Without knowing more about the gameplay, I'm not really prepared to offer an opinion. Do what you think is best. I'll still play either way.

5. Was the information on which character is dateable too confusing? XD' (I didn't know what to use other than the icons XD')
- It confused me for a second. I didn't realize Cyan and Yuria were only same-sex romances (should have known immediately in the latter case. D'oh!) but that was due to my own reading-comprehension fail...

6. Other critique / suggestions / questions? Let me know >w<
- Yeah, I've got to throw my lot in with the people who think 15 is too young for Cyan. Not because of the age-gap, per se... 19-year-olds date 15-year-olds all the time. But because a 15 year old REALLY stands out in a cast otherwise full of young adults. People go through a lot of changes in their later teen years, so I'm concerned that there won't be much in common between him and the other characters. Bumping him up to 18 should help with that, and you can still have him as the "baby" of the cast. Just a suggestion though. It's your game

Very excited about this! Good luck!

[Demetis]

Real life work hit really really really hard, so I haven't been able to post at all. (Though the tumblr page is updated more frequently.) I'm not sure if there are still people on here looking out for this project, but I wanted to post a (long overdued) update anyways.

Long progress update ahead:

♦ Writing ♦
Forever one of my biggest obstacles. But, I've finished the writing for the demo!!! ; v ; -celebrates while being dead on the ground-
So far, it consists of only around 15k words, since the demo will just cover the first week in the game's timeline. Plus, being the kind of sim it is, the game has more small events than long story events.
I've been struggling a lot with the characterization. But I think they pretty much are stable now, and their dialogues have started to come to life on their own >w<! And I might have to up the game's rating because of....bad language.

♦ Music ♦

Sadly, I wasn't the only one who was hit by real life. Both of the game's composers have resigned from their positions due to that as well. Even though one will still try to compose every now and then, there are no promises made. So I will be using more free sources now until I find another composer.

♦ Gameplay / Programming ♦

I've been changing the GUI of the baking screen around. A friend who's been beta testing the game said it was too confusing, and she wanted more tooltips, so I added all of that.
Here's the comparison.

This is how the baking screen looks right now. I changed the time slider and added an ingredient section (which also counts how many of each ingredient you've got in your inventory.)
Since I've never explained the baking gameplay before:
Each time you bake, you get a time limit of 120 minutes. Each dish you make reduces your time. Once you run out of time, the baking's finished. I wanted to keep it simple.

♦ Art ♦

So far, the game's recipe book consists of 60 recipes. About 30 for Travis and about 30 for Ryuuga. They specialize each in Western/Asian recipes, but a few of them overlap.
Sadly, I haven't been able to finish that many recipe / item icons yet. But I'm done with the 20 I will need for the demo. Here's a preview.


I also worked a bit more on the sprites. I decided to clean up most of the sketches a bit more, and line / color some of the supporting cast. After replacing the backgrounds with sketchy placeholders, I found it a bit prettier to have more sprites colored.
Here's a sample.


♦ What's next ♦

In chronological order:
1. Add the new sprites and music into the script / scenes. Also, there are still some SFX missing.
2. Go over the whole game once more, editing things I am still not content with (especially the writing section)
3. Self-Beta test the thing a few times and check for bugs / crash / balancing / flow
4. Beta test it together with a friend for feedback, reaction etc
5. Do 4 again with another friend (and probably a few people who offered help here and on tumblr)
6. Edit the game's information to add gameplay information and new character profiles
7. Release the (long long overdued) demo ; v ;

I make no promises anymore regarding when this will be done 8'D By now I know my real life tends to hit me hard in the face whenever I got a game's deadline to meet. But I'm not working fulltime anymore, so I really hope I can get all of this out of the way soon >w< And I'll probably be able to update once every two weeks at least. If there are still people here with me, I'd like to thank you very very much ; v ;

[succuren]

AN UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS I'M ALWAYS HERE AND CHEERING YOU ON WHILE WAITING FOR THE DEMO!! and for Cyan, obviously. Cyan's always in my thoughts my beautiful princess Cyan
But i'm so glad you're going to work on this again omg!! Day made

*coughcoughicouldhelpyouwiththebetathingcough*

[minyan]

Yaaaaaay! I was hoping to see more from this! The changes look great and your art is beautiful as always <3
Your style is so adorable, I'm so jealous xD

[Lyhra]

This game sounds pretty fun and interesting, and the art style... gosh that food looks so yummy xDD
I'm more than interested in playing the demo to actually be able to see the gameplay and the characters in action.

[Lyhra]

This game sounds pretty fun and interesting, and the art style... gosh that food looks so yummy xDD
I'm more than interested in playing the demo to actually be able to see the gameplay and the characters in action.