The Devil's Broker

[MarkusLappalainen]

Music is can be a difficult part. With all the free rescources it is luckily cheap. Downside is always the lack of uniqueness =\ but when the budget is limited it is limited. If you ever need a second opinion on the music choices, you are always welcome to send me a message. Will be glad to help there

Good luck further with the production! I look forward to playing it!

[Perihelion]

Thanks, Markus! I appreciate the offer and will definitely keep it in mind.

Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone. I've been mired in editing, but I just finished the last significant draft, woohoo! There are a few minor content changes, one dead end, and line edits left, but I'm going to let it sit for a while and work on the rest of the backgrounds before I do a final edit. I'm very excited to be working on art again, so expect more frequent updates from me in the near future.

[Perihelion]

Just finished a new background!


I feel like something is fishy about the clouds, but I'm going to put it down for now and maybe revisit it later. I posted a bunch of WIPs on my twitter if you're into that and would be happy to elaborate on the process. I should write up some more detailed information on how I do these sometime...

Edit: I think I like it better without the clouds. Might paint them back in at some point.

[Zelan]

The background is gorgeous, as usual. I adore night backgrounds. ^_^

[Perihelion]

Thanks! Here's another one:

[Zelan]

The lighting is extremely well done in this one! It looks like a background that would belong in a horror game.

[Perihelion]

Yeah, I didn't really mean to go horror, but I'll take it. Turns out abandoned buildings are spooky at night, who knew. Anyway, thanks for the compliment! I'm on a roll this weekend and just finished another one.



Thinking I'm gonna have to revisit the exterior shot to match these more. :/ Well, it goes at the bottom of my to-do list.

[Zelan]

The detail on that wallpaper is fantastic. I like how the lines sort of pull my eyes towards the door at the end of the hallway and then to the overturned table. (Trying to describe art without knowing art terms ahahaha). And, as always, the lighting is great. (I'm not sure why that's always what I notice? Huh.)

[Perihelion]

Can't take credit for the wallpaper, since it came with the model, but I agree it's nice! Glad you like the composition too. As for the lighting, I tend to be a fairly lighting-oriented artist, and you see it a lot more in these moody night shots than in the day shots.

Here's another one:


May go touch up the light beams again later, but I'm calling it done for now.

[Perihelion]

Here's another background. Spent way too long on this scene, but I need more backgrounds from it, so hopefully it'll pay off.

[NaiDriftlin]

Oh, hey. Here you are.

Oh man, that bathroom scene is setting off so many red flags, I can't even tell you. I have rules about these sorts of things, and going into eerie, poorly lit bathrooms is firmly in the 'Don't' category. I fully suspect something, probably something dead, un-dead or undying, to lurch out and eat my face or worse.

I think the clouds look better in your September 5th post. Something about imperfect skies sells the already run-down-probably-zombie-or-crackhead-infested aesthetic of the building.

[Perihelion]

Oh, hey. Here you are.

Hey, fancy meeting you here.

Oh man, that bathroom scene is setting off so many red flags, I can't even tell you. I have rules about these sorts of things, and going into eerie, poorly lit bathrooms is firmly in the 'Don't' category. I fully suspect something, probably something dead, un-dead or undying, to lurch out and eat my face or worse.

Ahaha, yeah, I feel like I need to make the scene that happens there creepier since the background ended up so creepy. o\ This sequence originally happened during the day, but I changed it to be at night because it made more sense, not really because of mood. Alas, the problems with poorly thought out direction.

I think the clouds look better in your September 5th post. Something about imperfect skies sells the already run-down-probably-zombie-or-crackhead-infested aesthetic of the building.

Yeah, I like the idea of them, but the way I painted them looks bad. I do think I want clouds in that shot, though. I'll probably try repainting them, but I'm trying to resist the urge to revisit backgrounds until I've done a first pass on all of them.

Thanks for the feedback!

[RedOwl]

Hey there, just wanted to let you know that I am really loving the background work you are doing on this project. Gorgeous stuff. Especially the moody night-time ones. But the dining room is also great. Awesome job.

What do you think of the premise? Is a story focused on action and intrigue interesting to you even if there's no romance? (Edit: That said, there's a lot of character drama, just not of the romantic variety.)
The premise is definitely interesting to me. I love the idea of juxtaposing a modern, gritty intrigue storyline with magic and sorcery. But maybe that's just me? Fantasy/magic in any form is just my cup of tea. But, it makes me think some kind of mix of the Bartimaeus trilogy and the anime "Phantom" (and since I love both of those things, that's a good thing!) As long as there's interesting character drama, I feel no need for romance.

How do you feel about a VN with more western influence than Japanese influence?
I think it's great! I'm all for breaking tropes and doing something new to the genre.

Do you have any questions or feedback?
To be perfectly honest, I'm not loving the character style. I feel like the thick outlines and comic-book look of the characters is clashing with the lovely, subtle backgrounds. And, the characters also don't seem to be super expressive. You might be too far into development to effectively address this comment, which is totally understandable... but, maybe there is some way to tweak the style to make them a little more appealing? Thinner outlines and maybe some gradient-type shading and/or expression work is what immediately comes to mind.

Good luck with the project! I'll be interested to see where it goes from here.

[Perihelion]

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I agree about the character art. My artist did a great job at what I asked her to do, but in retrospect I wish I hadn't gone for Live2D (I'm not an animator, so it ends up limiting character expressiveness) and thick comic-style lines. I've been considering going back to normal still sprites in a style that matches the backgrounds more closely, but it would involve recommissioning all of my character art, so it's a pretty big decision.

Glad you like the premise and the background art, though!

Edit: Haha, you know, I think your post might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. I've been thinking about dropping Live2D anyway because it's so much work for so little payoff, and if I'm going to do that, I might as well revisit the sprite style while I'm at it. I got a rough quote from my artist, and I think it's probably affordable. I'm going to start planning this out more seriously.