Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama] (Now with twitter!)

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Helios
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Re: Virtue Conflict ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#16 Post by Helios »

Beautiful art as always. Well done.
Do people usually skip routes if they don't like the first impression of a character, or is it more common to finish for completeness' sake? Maybe it depends on how well the rest of the routes are written?
I think most people start with the route of the character they most like. Unless it is locked. (I'm looking at you, Dovah, in case you're still checking this thread. QQ) I for one am a completionist and try to finish every route to gather all the information, especially when the premise is interesting.

Also, good luck with your exams.

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Re: Virtue Conflict ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#17 Post by Zelan »

Do people usually skip routes if they don't like the first impression of a character, or is it more common to finish for completeness' sake? Maybe it depends on how well the rest of the routes are written?
I think it really does depend on the person. I've met some people who won't even TRY a character that they don't like. I've met others who will try, but will drop the route halfway through if they aren't feeling it. I've met people who only play one or two endings. I've met people who only play good endings. And of course, I've met completionists. I am one myself - I'll go for every ending even if I hate the route that I'm on.

I think the best thing to do is just to write the story until you think it's good. Think about your audience where you can, but keep two things in mind: one, you can't please everyone, and two, write what you want to write. c:

(Is the rose for the Tudor family?)

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Re: Virtue Conflict ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#18 Post by Saibraeus »

That's true, haha.
I guess I'll stop worrying too much about everything and just ... focus.

Thanks! I got through one and I just have another midterm tomorrow, then I can get back on schedule.

Also yes, I really like the insignia of the Tudors as well as the white rose of the House of York.
Plus they were a crazy family in and of themselves so that... Definitely helps.
===================================

It's exam season so no update this response but I did a doodle sketch to destress O(-<

I really want to start on CGs set me free from exam hell already

Oh wait, there actually is a small legitimate update-- I got over my block for Cyra's route so now he's on the way to being fully outlined. Small victories O)-<

I'd also like to change the name of this project because I haven't been feeling it, but I'm at a loss... So I'll mull over that a little more.

Take care, everyone~
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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#19 Post by Saibraeus »

Some small updates!

Name has been changed from Virtue Conflict to Chevalier, along with the necessary logo update.
I've been considering it for some time. Chevalier seems more simplistic and less... presumptuous than VC so in the end I think I'd prefer a less descriptive title and an easier one to handle.

Also rewrote the summary a little and started work on the GUI a couple days ago.
CG work is underway and I've also begun editing the script.

I'm getting as much assets ready as I can before making a serious request, but I'm lowkey on the hunt for a coder so I'll be moving this thread to the WIP forum.

Take care!

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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#20 Post by Mikomi »

Oh wow, this looks absolutely lovely! The icon looks great, the GUI is amazing, and the character art is gorgeous! I'm sad I hadn't seen this earlier, but I'll definitely start looking forward to it now!

Good luck on this!

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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#21 Post by Ibitz »

Does it matter a lot whether the main character's name is changeable when they have a thoroughly set personality?

Not really, no. If they have a personality that's set, it feels odd to change their name. So, it wouldn't bug me at all.

Is there a character or something about the plot that you like?

Raphael and Noa seem like awesome characters. I love their character designs.

Do you have any suggestions for someone who's making a VN for the first time?

Keep up the awesome work! I wish I was half as talented as you. :)

Is there anything you'd like to see or hope not to see in this game?

I would definitely love to see a strong willed MC. All the Boys Love games I play make the MC dumb and basically lets guys do what they want to him.

How do you feel about seeing the same character in two wildly different stories? (Ex. Kyul as the MC here and an NPC/Route in another setting completely)

That's an awesome idea! Definitely unique, IMO.
Image

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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#22 Post by Knight of Hearts »

hi there! the art looks really good, I particularly like the detailing on the costumes (the gold) and overall shading on the clothing is done really well.

The logo is really nice too, I love the color choices and how the blue works well with the gold and the desaturated rose color.
The interface looks pretty cool too, tho I wonder if it's a tiny bit busy with the decorative elements.

I had a bit of trouble understanding the plot from the writing to be quite frank. I wounder if it should be written more like a clear dry summary with goals of each of the characters and one question in the end. At the moment it seems like its few ideas together that aren't too clear.

Questions

1. I would imagine its would be easier to write your script if the personality would be set. This way you go in depth rather then write a bunch of stuff with different possibilities that wouldn't be covered in depth.

2. I would suggest to often ask yourself why you're doing something. Is it just to make it pretty? is it just for shits and giggles? The more meaning there is in each of the elements you're working on the more pleasurable it would be for other ppl to experience.

3.(It will likely be a mature rated game though, just not a super romance focused one so no R18.)
Okay lol thanks for clarifying that. I was gonna say ...18+ content would be fun. Otherwise I would like to see the different sides of each characters' personality: their strengths, their weaknesses, understand their hopes and fears and see if their interaction between each other will change through the progress of the game.

4. No preference, as long as it makes sense.

So you have social media channels? I'd like to follow you to keep up with the progress. Is the game still on schedule for August 2018?

Is there a reason you decided not to go commercial? With a quality of the art and things I'd personally be okay paying a bit for it.
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A Sci-fi Drama with Romance in Development (Yaoi, 18+) --- Join public DISCORD: https://discord.gg/yPDEZkN

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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#23 Post by Saibraeus »

Hello!

Sorry for the radio silence on my end. I had hoped to get some things done during the Christmas season but something came up that made me emotionally conflicted about this project. The good news is that I'm largely over it now and my last exam is tomorrow, so I'll be spending the next four months actively picking this up again. Expect more updates soon!

==============================================

@Knight of Hearts
Thank you so much for your compliments and advice!
In honesty, I'm not very good at summaries but there isn't necessarily a straightforward plot. The game is mostly about exploring the different sides of the characters and the different stances they take on the same fundamental conflict [what it means to hold power]. I think if I summed everything down into a sentence it would be "A demon tamer needs to decide who he wants to make the demon king." ?
But I'll take your words to heart and see if I can rework it more clearly!

I have other social media channels (You can find me under Saibraeus on twitter, deviantart, and most other places) but none geared specifically towards updates for this novel in particular. I did have a tumblr for it at some point but I'll link it only if I decide to update there in the future.

I decided not to go commercial because it's my first game and I'm not sure how the revenue would work. There's a lot of extra steps to accepting payment and, in truth, I'm making this game for myself to enjoy a couple years down the line. It's a bit of a personal project and I want the entire focus to be on making something I would enjoy. Commercializing it means adding pressure to appease a wider audience and I'd really just like to present something very personal and dear to me that hopefully others can find pleasure in reading as well. I'm flattered that you find it high quality enough to pay for, though!

As for the bit about the GUI:
The menu part with the save should actually slide/scroll down and be hidden away during game play to hide a bit of the clutter, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough at coding to make it work. We'll see how it works out!

@Ibitz
Kyul is definitely a strong willed MC, haha. I know the feeling when it comes to puppet MCs in BL..
Thank you for your comments!

@Mikomi
Thank you very much!

===================================


In the mean time, leaving you all with some loosely related art so that this post isn't all text....
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upset.png (37.38 KiB) Viewed 2544 times
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Saibraeus
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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#24 Post by Saibraeus »

Not quite a full week yet but I've been slaving over this so here's the main menu CG and some casual false advertising...

CG wise, I've got 6/14 done.
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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#25 Post by Lesleigh63 »

Ooh, I like the look of this. Lovely art and I like the sound of the world and the intrigue.

Does it matter a lot whether the main character's name is changeable when they have a thoroughly set personality?
No. I usually don't change them. Are you writing in 1st person for Kyul or third person?

Is there a character or something about the plot that you like?
Raphael - Give me my long haired aloof boys. I also like the femine looking pretty boys.

Do you have any suggestions for someone who's making a VN for the first time?
Have a really good outline with all the choices and endings worked out. I was use to linear plots but trying a branching one caused me to abandon a project because I noticed the climax in each path was using the same mechanism and I couldn't find a way to fix it (and rewriting so much of it just turned me off the project in the end even though I'd invested so much time in it). Watch the feature creep. Ensure everything you're putting in there serves to move the plot forward.

Is there anything you'd like to see or hope not to see in this game?
(It will likely be a mature rated game though, just not a super romance focused one so no R18.)
If I can get really into the characters then the romance doesn't need to be really strong. Plus I like romance growing out of plot and not feeling forced.

How do you feel about seeing the same character in two wildly different stories? (Ex. Kyul as the MC here and an NPC/Route in another setting completely)
Not sure I understand. Are you asking about recycling characters? Came across it in a novel once where there was this character who really interested me but nothing really happened with him [the MC ran away rather than confront him]. Then I found out this character was the MC in the authors previous trilogy. So it could work.

Anything else you'd like to say? (Questions, comments, advice etc. are all welcome!)
Keep going. [Maybe the BxB developers here should start a club].
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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#26 Post by Saibraeus »

@Lesleigh63

Thank you so much for your input and comments!
I'm writing Kyul in first person. I was looking through the feedback and it seems like most people won't change his name. For simplicity's sake I'll be doing away with personal name input in that case!

Also thank you for your advice about the outlines! I find it difficult to have the choices worked out without the story but I've definitely been doing general outlines for each character and it certainly does help get the flow going!

====================================================================

[Some general updates then]

- I've been feeling a little down about my own work but I figure I just need to push through it. I'd rather compromise than to give up at this stage.

- Since that's the case, I'll be simplifying a lot of the process (Not adding custom name, perhaps changing the GUI slightly for less movement features, and I'm not sure about doing a second character pose per character since it's a lot of extra work. Let me know if static poses bother or don't bother you when reading a VN?)

- I'm still going to aim for ending the development of this game by the end of August, hence why I'm cutting things down like this. BG wise... I haven't decided what to do about it. I need to cut some down or find a faster process of drawing them, so in the end they might just be monochrome colors. I'll update again once I start working on them officially.

- On a happier note, demo CGs are almost all done! Just have one left to do and another left to color. I've noticed that my artwork is rather dark on this second monitor, though, so I think I'll be going back and trying to lighten them up/lower the contrast a little.

- Finished editing the script save for a few minor touches here and there. I'd say I'm about 85% done.

- Switched to using tyranno builder but I'm still a little unsure... It's easier to get the GUI working than renpy and I enjoy the resizing tool for the characters. Will still be looking for some coder help once I get everything ready.

- I'd been hoping only to have Signum and Raphael as viable routes in this game but after some late night brainstorming I'm really quite attached to what I have for Noa's storyline. I might save Cyra for a possible later route since his requires.... Well, a lot-- but I'll work on him last and see how I feel about it all.


That's all for this week. Unfortunately no artwork to show since everything is hush hush.

See you all next week! Hopefully I'll be able to show the BGs next time.

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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#27 Post by Lesleigh63 »

- I've been feeling a little down about my own work but I figure I just need to push through it. I'd rather compromise than to give up at this stage.

I think everyone feels like this as they move through the development process. The initial buzz starts to whereof and you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. It just seems like a long road of toil and hardship.

Keep going. If you're feeling isolated try to find others going through the same process so yo can cheer each other on (There's a discord group for BL developers - mention of it in the General section).

I don't know what your writing is like, but I think I'd want to cry if all that art you've shown here was to go to waste.

Keep going.
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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#28 Post by Saibraeus »

@Lesleigh63

I know I said so on the discord channel but I really appreciate you taking the time!
I'm honestly just... lacking in self confidence and I already want to redraw everything because it looks terrible. O(-<

But I'll worry about redraws once I actually have something functional! So yes, I'll keep going-- I'm almost done the demo!

========================================================
[Updates]

It's been a week and I'm glad to say that all the CGs are done! Unless I decide to add additional ones which... I... might be......

In any case I've also started on the backgrounds (4/10!) . They're not as good as I'd like them to be but for the moment they'll have to do. There's an incredibly high chance that I'll go back and redo all/most of them once I have a firmer grasp of the fundamentals.

At least it's good practice, I guess...
ss (2018-05-01 at 01.05.10).png
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ss (2018-05-01 at 01.04.02).png

"But wait, Sai! Everything is REALLY BLUE--"
Yes, dear child. Because I'm a fool and I did the CGs first instead of the BGs, so when it came to choosing colors I was stuck with whatever I decided on during the CG stage.
Lesson learned O(-<


In other news, I finally caved and bought a subscription for music so I've started on that part as well.

Hm, what else...

Oh, in regards to Kyul-- I've been wondering if I shouldn't have gone with another main character. He's... not very endearing, at least not in this first part, which makes me rather hesitant to share a demo at all. Still, Kyul is a very personal character to me so I'm really quite on the fence.
Really too late to be changing MCs so this is mostly me just worrying and musing.

I'd hoped to have a demo up and ready by May but I've been pushing myself a little too hard and brushed close to burn out. Since it's already May, I'll hopefully get something up in the next two weeks instead!

In any case, take care and have a good week!

Side note:
because I keep forgetting, I actually switched back to renpy and life is ok!

Side side note:
I made a tumblr for Chevalier!
But I honestly don't know what to post besides art, so if anyone can tell me what sorts of things/updates they like to hear about on their dash feed that would be most appreciated.

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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#29 Post by mitoky »

Hello! I think this is my first time actually replying here, despite following this since some time. (why didnt i did this sooner?)

Fist of all, i would liek to say something cheesy (behold of the cheese!//joke)

If you dont have confidence in yourself, then trust in the people you talk with and which talk to you. Its ok to have doubts about ones work (i think all creators at least experienced this once so you are not alone! //hugs).
I know its hard not to and it may seem very obvious to say but its perfectly fine to go at your own pace for the game. Making goals for yourself is good but if you push yourself too hard you may feel pressured instead. Just know that i, and i hope i can say this for all supporters of this project, want you to have a fun time making the game. So please take as long as you need! (:

That being said, i think your project looks gorgous and sounds very interessting. I think the art is beautiful!
From personal experience however i can relate to the feeling of wanting to redo art. So as a small advice: hold it off as long as possible. Usually development takes longer and its normal art etc improved or changes. In my case i redid parts only to redo them again months later etc.
So unless the change in art is unrecognizeable, there is no need to do it right away! It will save you time in the long run ><

I think the main character is good (: I personally feel that to be very fascinating actually. As player its more interessting to see a character develope or notice changed through the story. And if you are worried try playing Cinderella Phenomenon (otome) I think its a very good example of an character you gro to love as the main too isnt very endearing at the beginning!

Hmm for now no ideas come to mind, but if i think of some ideas i will hit you up in discord owo)7.
Have a nice day!

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Re: Chevalier ♦♦♦ [BxB] [Fantasy, drama]

#30 Post by Zelan »

Oh hey, I'm glad to see that you're posting again! I thought this was a cool idea when I first saw it, and I agree with Lesleigh, every single piece of art you've posted here is absolutely gorgeous.

It's definitely a good idea to be careful with how much work you give yourself and limit your scope; however, I am also very much in favor of a route for Noa! He's still my favorite. c:

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