Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [Comedy][Action][GxB][NaNoRenO2020+][COMPLETED]

[Kokoro Hane]

DAY 14.

Despite the delay, I completed the script! All endings are written out and the final scripts sent over to my voice actors!

I know I said my target count was 10k and the overdrive was 12k, well I kind of ended up with 15k+. Whoops.... oh well, it's done so no need to worry about it.

overdrive.png (10.87 KiB) Viewed 2679 times

Tomorrow begins the easy part; image placement.
And then cutting and applying lines I have so far, and as they are received.

BACK ON SCHEDULE!

[Kokoro Hane]

Day 15!

So today, I mostly took a break to avoid burnout. Took some naps and just relaxed!

Of course by nightfall, I did get to work on image placements! I first had to set the sprites and BGs up to the right size (so scaling, cropping, etc.) and then put in their variables, and lastly, begin scripting in image statements.

Currently, I've placed images up until this point~

Anyway that is all for the night. Tomorrow I'll work a lot more on this! 'Twill be fun when I get to the first battle scene.

I basically have all I need asset wise, buuuut.... an arcade background. So if anyone knows of a good free to use arcade background, I would be most greatful! I used to have one but I dunno if I backed it up or not, so yeah.....

[Kokoro Hane]

Day 16!

Today I've worked on nothing but image statements. I also collected a few sound effects and added them into the game (it's really boring test reading through the battle scenes and hearing no sound, so I applied them as I went along too). I've placed images past the second enemy encounter, and am almost to the third encounter! (There's a total of 5 encounters, with the final being at the very end of the game). At this rate, I think I can have the visual aspect of the game completed within the next couple days! Which means.... voice application is next~

Anyway, so that is all I have to update for today! I'll leave you guys a few screenshots~ (Sayumi is working on the GUI, so we'll have a prettier textbox than shown, but for now it's the default).

[kohdrams]

You guys look like you're having fun making this VN. I'm hoping I can feel that passion when I get the chance to play your game. Keep it up guys!

[Kokoro Hane]

You guys look like you're having fun making this VN. I'm hoping I can feel that passion when I get the chance to play your game. Keep it up guys!

Thank you so much! Yeah, we're all definitely having a lot of fun! ^^

[LiamWinterdale]

You guys look like you're having fun making this VN. I'm hoping I can feel that passion when I get the chance to play your game. Keep it up guys!

Heck yeh!
I sure hope you'll feel our passion during your playthrough~ *^*)/

And the updates are looking great, Kokoro! Let's keep it up ^w^)b

[Kokoro Hane]

DAY 18.

Liam has finished coloring the secondary CG batch (which are 5 & 6) and is moving onto drafting the cover art!

I am getting ever so closer to finishing all the image statements, and I've added a few more sound effects. As far as the branching goes, I've gotten all the image statements up to ONE ENDING! That means only 2 endings remain.

Sayumi101 worked on implementing a pretty textbox for our game! We may still experiment with size (I might want it a tiny bit smaller) as well as color. I chose this purple texture, but I am also curious to color it black and see what it would look like. We shall see, but I want to know.... what do you guys think? (and yeah I might want to hunt down a different font....)

My project folder is already nearly 60MB. Oh boy.... haha. For a short game? We're breaking 100MB once voice acting is implemented, I know it xD

[Kokoro Hane]

DAY 19.

Hello lovelies!

I got another task scratched off the list, and that is adding IMAGE STATEMENTS! I always test the game at the scenes I added images over and over as I go along, so the game is running fabulously. Variables do what they're supposed to do, I got most of the important sound effects in, it's really lookin' like a visual novel! I'm gonna take a little break and then probably add some more music tracks tonight, but the bulk of the work is done!

Today Liam sent me a FABULOUS draft for the cover art! I had given him a different idea, but he decided, to help match the title better (since the tone I gave for the other was too serious... I admit) he came up with A BETTER CONCEPT and I love it. I know you guys are gonna love it too! Being a cover art, yes, we can share progress on how that art looks~

Sayumi101 is working more on our very fancy purple GUI. I was also sent a black version of the textbox. My goal is to have the purple textbox default, but I'm include the black one too for those who prefer black over purple. I won't archive the textbox GUI stuff so it can be replaced at will!

I received all of Noah's lines today, as well as a bulk of Sora's. Honestly, most of my VAs have sent in most of or all of their work already, there's only a few left that need to send in or complete. Tomorrow I will begin voice applying. It's a tedious job, but worth the results. So it's very likely we'll be able to get the fully voiced version out on the get go if all goes well~ Wish us luck!

[EmbraceofDestiny]

DAY 19.

Hello lovelies!

I got another task scratched off the list, and that is adding IMAGE STATEMENTS! I always test the game at the scenes I added images over and over as I go along, so the game is running fabulously. Variables do what they're supposed to do, I got most of the important sound effects in, it's really lookin' like a visual novel! I'm gonna take a little break and then probably add some more music tracks tonight, but the bulk of the work is done!

Today Liam sent me a FABULOUS draft for the cover art! I had given him a different idea, but he decided, to help match the title better (since the tone I gave for the other was too serious... I admit) he came up with A BETTER CONCEPT and I love it. I know you guys are gonna love it too! Being a cover art, yes, we can share progress on how that art looks~

Sayumi101 is working more on our very fancy purple GUI. I was also sent a black version of the textbox. My goal is to have the purple textbox default, but I'm include the black one too for those who prefer black over purple. I won't archive the textbox GUI stuff so it can be replaced at will!

I received all of Noah's lines today, as well as a bulk of Sora's. Honestly, most of my VAs have sent in most of or all of their work already, there's only a few left that need to send in or complete. Tomorrow I will begin voice applying. It's a tedious job, but worth the results. So it's very likely we'll be able to get the fully voiced version out on the get go if all goes well~ Wish us luck!

Keep it up and don’t get burnt out!!!

[Kokoro Hane]

Keep it up and don’t get burnt out!!!

Don't worry, I always make sure to take lots of breaks and get plenty of sleep~

[Kokoro Hane]

DAY 20.

Crossed a major milestone today!

Music and sound effect placement IS DONE! By voiceless standards, this game is essentially "done". The next stage is voice acting. However, this is an important safety point, which means, even if voice acting is late, THE GAME IS NOW GUARANTEED TO BE RELEASED ON APRIL 1ST! I already mentioned the back up plan if voicing is late/not applied on time, we'll release the game voiceless and release a V2 with voices, so now that I finished placing images, music, and sounds... that is now possible. BUT! Since we've been on schedule for the most part, releasing the game with voices by April 1 is highly possible~

Which leads me to the next stage.... VOICE APPLICATION. So what I'm going to do first and foremost is cut and level lines. They will not go into the project's main folder immediately. I will put them in a separate folder first, all leveled and cut up, then move them into the main folder. I will apply all voice acting I have on hand so far and cut and level as I go along when the rest come in (which isn't that much, the bulk of everything is done).

Lastly, here's some more screencaps:

How we handle bloody scenes! Off screen death with bloodsplat effect. There will be no gore or graphic depictions of violence, but there is blood and mentions of death, and it's enough to get the picture. Most blood visually appears in these splat effects, and wounds are mentioned, but again, nothing graphically detailed.

One of the opponents Noah will be fighting in an enemy encounter! Who is this strange girl?

There's something sinister about this man!

I finally got my favorite music code to work! Yeah I know it's old, but it's my favorite code. I figured out why it wasn't working, I forgot a piece of the code that goes into options.rpy lol. Now it works flawlessly. The game uses a collection of free to use/Creative Commons assets from resources such as SENTiVE, TAM Music Factory, CAMeLIA, Timeless Berry, H/MIX, Alcaknight, and Kevin MacLeod--for a total of 28 in-game tracks + the menu song. The opening theme will be "Uka" from SENTiVE and the ending theme "Black World -2nd mix-" from Trial and Error.

Anyway here's a screencap of page 1 of the music room (??? means not unlocked, I just sporadically jumped through saves to unlock them). Doesn't look like anything yet, but the reason I placed the list on the side like that is to showcase imagery. I know there is a way to make the background change depending on the song, but I can't remember how to do that lol, so I think I'll put one of the chibis here or something~

And that is all the updates for now!

[Kokoro Hane]

Day 21!

Good morning ^^

Yesterday I didn't get to cutting lines as I was adding some "finishing touches" to the game, such as ending title cards and the music room, but now that that's all out of the way, I'll focus on line cutting today for sure! I'll be starting off with the villains first.

So I have a couple things to show you today!

First off, the music room is really starting to look fabulous~

Also, here's the fabulous sketch by Liam Winterdale for the game's cover art! I added all the text on it to "watermark" it so to speak xD

And that's all for today! You guys have a happy and safe weekend ^^

[Kokoro Hane]

DAY 22

So for the next couple days or so (mostly today and tomorrow) I will be doing nothing but cutting lines! I already finished a few batches! Once they're all cut, I'll be adding them into the game straightaway, and as the final batches come in (which aren't too many) I'll quickly cut and add them too. We're very much on schedule ^^

I'm also hoping to get to working on the OP&ED videos soon. Credits will be the easiest to make, so I'll probably start on that first, then the opening.

[Kokoro Hane]

Day 23!

So I'll still be cutting a ton of lines today, but first I have to get a few design things out of the way. I already got the music room, now I am working on the CG Gallery! I temporarily have both these rooms accessible in the main menu, but will be moving it under an extras tab--I just have it temporarily placed there so I can access its function.

My plan is once I get Liam's cover art (it's almost done, can't wait to show you guys!!) I will compile a voiceless version of the game as a backup. Currently, we are still on schedule for the voiced version, but as things are hectic for everyone this is just a precaution in case a voiced version has to be released at a later date if life happens. And that is OK. However, even if we do get the voiced version out on time, I am still going to upload the voiceless version. Reason being is I know there are some VN players that prefer to read, and I think it is only fair to provide a version without the voice files, that way the game takes less MB (since adding voices will up the MB count). Both versions will be properly marked. Voiced download will be above the voiceless download, since I intended the game to be voiced, but it'll be available with no voice for those who prefer ^^

That said, we are still on schedule so the voiced version being released on April 1st is, as of now, still a go, unless otherwise specified!

Anyway, here's the CG gallery (without any CGs unlocked yet, still need to add persistent variables). I found this pretty image on Pixabay. I modified the girl's hair ever so slightly so she appears more like Annelise!

[Kokoro Hane]

Day 24!

Before I get to some more line cutting today, I'm going to do some "finishing touches". Mainly setting up the extras menu, which shouldn't take long really. I got Liam's finalized cover art, so now our menu has a pretty image to look at! Today I'm going to compile the voiceless edition of the game and test play to figure out an average gameplay length. I will then upload the build but keep it hidden until jam's end, I just want to upload early since it takes a looooong time to upload haha, and the voiced version will probably take longer lol. This game already (unpacked) is 150MB. That's WITHOUT voices. And 800x600 res xD

Now as many of you know, NaNo got extended by 2 weeks for those affected by the world's current situation. I've already contacted my team and asked for input on their opinion. For now, we're still following through with the voiceless version of the game being released by itself on April 1st if the voiced version gets delayed for any reason. But I'll see what my team's input is if we'll need the extra deadline or not (in case any of them have been affected), but as of now, we'll be following the traditional NaNo guidelines (or not later than the 3rd, the original closing date).

Lastly, here's some images to show! Here's an idea of what the menu looks like. Since the logo is still being made, the cooltext logo is in its place for now. I think I will use this as a way to tell a difference between the unvoiced and voiced version, so since I am compiling voiceless version today, the menu will look something like this---

And here is a sketch of Liam's logo design! I think it's looking fabulous, don't you? ^^