CG Question

Questions, skill improvement, and respectful critique involving art assets.
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Fisseha
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CG Question

#1 Post by Fisseha »

When should one make CGs?

I don't mean "when" in production, but when in the story should CGs be included?

Besides action scenes and kissing scenes, I mean.
I'm an artist, and probably a weaboo.

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Mammon
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Re: CG Question

#2 Post by Mammon »

As little as possible. CGs, and art in general, are a lot of work and easily underestimated by newcomers. I don't know how big you intend your game to be and how much assets you envision, but it's almost inevitable that the workload will be greater than anticipated.

I recommend: Write the story and see where your writing needs a CG. Try to avoid it as much as possible, if it can be shown by the sprites or described accurately then it shouldn't be a CG. If at all possible, don't have any CGs except for the ones which you deem aesthetically necessary like the kissing and fighting scenes. And make sure to minimise or simplify these; don't be afraid to make all the kissing scenes almost the same with the same MC but a different layer for each love interest, and try to minimise any action scene to just one CG if at all possible.

I say this assuming this will be your first project. The advice above I give to anyone who hasn't experienced the workload of a project and the making of a CG firsthand yet, and you shouldn't be at all pressured to make a lot of CGs for your project if it's your first. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, just focus on releasing it. That's already a big achievement. Don't feel bad cutting corners and minimalising your workload.
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Want some CC sprites?

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mitoky
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Re: CG Question

#3 Post by mitoky »

I think CG's should be mainly during important events. I am saying mainly since that deepens on creator and on making additional CG's when wanted.

Important moments would be romance for example (kiss, a bounding moment) or major plot points (a fight, maybe a touching moment, tragic (main cast dies) etc.
But as Mammon said, first focus on the really needed ones.

What i would recommend is to leave CG's for last. Write your script normally and work on everything and make notes where you would want a CG or deem important, (major = to be included 100% and minor = preferbly included but could be left out). Then you can, once all done, decide which major ones are (overall in the story seen) minor or which minor ones are major. Again, major only if it really HAS to be major, not deciding based on "i want this" but "the story NEEDS this" so keep the amouth small!
In the end you should have a list of CG's to be included and one with potentional ones.

Ideally, if you make a demo, you will already know how long a CG takes you and then you can decide based on that if you are fine with drawing each cg individually or use Mammon's method of re-using CG's. Once you have all CG's drawn and have spare time you can then think of adding a few minor CG's if you want, but really only after major ones are done.
Including extra art when you have time and know roughly how much time is needed is always possible, but planning too many ahead and then not making is can be very discouraging. So focus on the main ones first.

ladyguitarist256
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Re: CG Question

#4 Post by ladyguitarist256 »

I agree with much of what has been said. One thing though: reusing CGs is an option if you're just starting out, this is your first visual novel, or you are not very experienced in drawing a variety of scenes, but I would advise against it generally. Some players expect unique scenes specific to the route that they're playing, and making all of them the same can severely detract from your replay value. If at all possible, I would find out which plot points are most important and draw 1-2 unique CG per route.

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puppetbomb
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Re: CG Question

#5 Post by puppetbomb »

+1 to not adding CGs until you have everything figured out.

Another option that hadn't been mentioned is making a custom sprite pose. I imagine that it would be a time-saver for most instances rather than a full-on CG.

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