The Silent Column (Closed)

[SelLi]

Current word count: 21,262 words.

[SelLi]

Josephine. ^-^

[SelLi]

Kina.

[SelLi]

Hi everyone! The current word count of The Silent Column is currently 27,153 words!
I've been writing Amy's route and adding a few choices~ like whether or not to kiss her~ ^_^
Very thankfully, I'm going to start getting trained for a real job...! As I apparently will be having a real job, now, I could see myself writing less due to having less time to write, perhaps writing very slightly more due to having a more structured schedule, or perhaps writing about the same as I was, before. Regardless of how this will effect my writing, I wanted to let you guys know.
See you guys next time.

[SelLi]

I did a close up of Amy.

[SelLi]

For a while, I've simply been writing in sequence and not looking back at the whole body of writing very much. I'm glad that I have been. In the past I wouldn't write in sequence and, as a result, many pieces of writing would just "fly away" without having any place to naturally grow out of the story. Writing in sequence feels like the proper way to write: like I'm building a more and more firm foundation and each piece of writing is guaranteed a place.
Recently, though, I've been rereading the whole body of writing. I'm happy with it and have been editing it grammatically and spelling-wise.
Also, now that I've already built this foundation, I'm experimenting with adding choices. I'm also noticing that I can simply add more scenes between other scenes. Which, I think, will lengthen and enrich the story. ^^
On the first day, Tashen talks with Kina about the glass orb that's in her room and tells her that he'll bring it with him tomorrow and talk with the doctor. Then, he goes home and finds the glass orb in her room where she said it would be. But there's no reason that bringing it back to her right then wouldn't be an option: he doesn't have to wait to bring it to her the next day, especially since the hospital that Kina's staying at is quite close. So, I think I'll put a choice there for him to take it to her right then or wait to take it to her the next day.
After adding that choice, during the second day, things will go differently depending on whether or not Tashen brought the orb to her and spent more time with her the previous day.
Day two has so far been quite barren, with only one or two relatively short scenes before the day ends. Day one has more going on in it, and day one starts when the day's just about over. There's a lot of stuff I can play with and add to in day two. So I think I will.
During the night of day two, Tashen meets Serra when she knocks hard on his door in the middle of the night but, maybe, depending on a choice, you might meet her in some other fashion during some other time, instead. Either during day two, some other way during the night, or some way during day three.
Basically... with this solid foundation of story built, I think I can do more experimentation and branch things off of the base, expanding the story naturally and growing it well. As long as I keep on writing in sequence, little to none of the writing should end up getting lost. And as long as I don't take on an absurd amount of branches, I should probably be fine. The story will take longer to write the more choices I add to it, but it isn't inherently irresponsible to take longer telling a more complex story. As long as I try to be wise and sober in adding choices and growing the story healthily, I think it'll be fine.
On a note unrelated to the writing, I made a close up sprite of Amy, recently - as I posted about before - and I like the idea of close up sprites like that. They feel more special than normal sprites, but also aren't as specific as CGs. Having normal sprites, close up sprites, and the occasional CG might help the VN feel... richer. You know? Also, I might end up having an easier time making close up sprites than normal sprites. Normal sprites are designed to be generic and I think that somehow makes them harder to make... for me. I feel like something being truly generic is a really unnatural concept that's hard to wrap my mind around and an idea that I tend to over think. But close up sprites feel more... personal. And more expressive.
Anyway, I'll see you guys in the next update. Stay safe and healthy, everyone.

[SelLi]

Hey everyone~
I was thinking about The Silent Column when this comment on this thread really spoke to me. I was already feeling that I should put down this project and start a small project for fun and was looking for a place to post my thoughts about doing such a thing, and then I came across that post.
I've talked about doing this before but I just ended up not doing it. I think it would feel unnatural to honestly put this project down and work on a small project to completion for fun, but that's just because I'm not used to doing such a thing. I think it would actually be really healthy for me as a person and as a creator. So... that's what I'll do. Development on The Silent Column is on hold.

[SelLi]

Hi you guys, I haven't posted in this thread for a while. I hope you're doing well and staying cool this summer.
After my last post, I took some time to think of an idea for another visual novel, and I am liking that idea so far.
I've still been working on The Silent Column, though: just not updating this thread.
I was thinking about challenging myself with time restraints - setting alarms while I draw and write and so on - and have found that this time-restrained method seems to yield some good results. I'd like to keep creating with these timers as it helps me focus on things and simply finish things. Wanting to keep creating with timers, it just follows to put a time restraint on a larger part of The Silent Column. So, I'm going to try to push myself to get a demo, or a Part 1, of The Silent Column done by July 31st. I'll upload it to my itch.io and not delete it, and I'll post the link here - and probably in a demo thread, as well - when it's done. I don't know how much I'll update this thread during July but I'll see you on the 31st.
That said, though, here's a picture of Serra that I drew in 1 hour and 50 minutes using timers (not including breaks) :

(I don't know what I'll do for the music: I might end up composing something myself or I might simply use some royalty free music if I run out of time.)
See you on the 31st.

[SelLi]

I drew Lockette. Here's how she looks next to Serra:

[SelLi]

Hi you guys, I'm still going to be working on The Silent Column and I'll try to work on it quite a lot, but between having a (part time) job and it just being... really... really hot these days where I live (I don't have AC) I don't know if I'll meet that deadline of July 31st. On the 31st I'll share a (hopefully) big update with you guys, though, but I don't know if I'll have any final product done at that point. I am still working on the demo / part 1 of TSC, though, and I'll keep you guys posted.

[SelLi]

Amy. This picture of her seems rather simple and misty-eyed, while still looking quite nice in my opinion. I drew her to match Lockette and Serra. I may be able to get something done by the 31st after all, but there's still much work to do, especially artwork.

[SelLi]

Did a background. I think it ended up looking laid-back: I like that.

And here it is with the girls~

[SelLi]

Hi you guys.
I was dealing with some personal things this month, along with dealing with work and working on some other projects, so The Silent Column was put on the back-burner: I haven't created any new art assets or music, and I haven't written much at all.

That said, though... as you may know, I have a tendency to write and rewrite things, and when I'd restart this story, I'd write different scenes. So... today I've been tying scenes from some of those different "reboots" together and blending where they meet a little bit. I feel that... because this project is a very personal one for me, I keep rebooting it because I want it to be perfect. But... it'll never be perfect: even if I could have it be the perfect story that I think of one day, my idea of that perfect story changes, so... it isn't really attainable. I feel that tying these scenes together from different versions of the story helps the story feel... more human and organic. With strange flaws(?) and oddities. As long as things are going generally in a good direction without weird inconsistencies / plot holes, I feel like it'll be fine and just add a bit of human texture.

According to lint, as the story stands right now:

The game contains 2,991 dialogue blocks, containing 31,566 words and 161,159
characters, for an average of 10.6 words and 54 characters per block.

This isn't exactly the big booming update that I was hoping for, and I don't know when I'll have a demo to release to you all or anything but... I'll just keep working on the project.
I don't know when I'll update this thread but I don't expect to update it very often, really. But it's nice to know that the project is moving.
Thank you everyone, be good to yourselves.
(And stay sane, especially in these times)
<3

[SelLi]

Hello everyone. After a bit more writing, some blending, and some general and continuity editing... I feel that I've reached a good stopping point for The Silent Column, Part 1. The word count for the part is 33,979 words. I'll likely comb through the text some more and make some more light edits where I see them, but I've already done that quite a bit. All in all, I feel... good about this part of The Silent Column. (Which I'm very happy with: it's great that I'm actually satisfied with this part after many years of brain-storming, world building, and writing this project that's very personal to me.) I'll mainly be focusing on creating the art assents, now. After that - or at the same time - I'll probably try to compose some music. I'm not very great at composing as I haven't done it often, but this is a really personal project and while I'm not a prodigy, I might be able to make some music that sounds at least 'okay'. However, once the art is done, if the songs aren't anywhere near being completed, perhaps I'll just shop online for some songs so that I can share the part with you guys and the world. See you later, you guys.

[SelLi]