How to create a solid work flow?

[dracothrope]

Long time lurker, first-ish time poster (at least in ages, anyhow!)

I'm wondering, from VN writers who have published or even nearly finished their projects: what sort of work flow do you follow when you progress from idea-generating, to making writing/art assets, to polishing things up?

I ask because I've batted around a few ideas for VN's that ultimately became really complex and overwhelmed me before I could get down to the nitty gritty. Scrapping those, I have come up with a basic idea, done my darnedest to scrape away the worst of the portions that would add unneeded complexity (at least from the start! I know how easy it is to make things much bigger than they ought to be!) and now I'm working on writing up the first chunk of branches -- actually, I'm not even using Ren'py for that, I'm just throwing together some simple webpages with links to each new option, since I know how to do that and won't have to be teaching myself Ren'py at the same time that I'm writing. I've also done an rough art-y lineup of the four characters that the player will be interacting with most frequently, and have done some mockups of how I'd like to the VN to look like, or at least jotted notes down as choice making interraction results comes to me. I'm just feeling a touch anxious about how to launch into actual production. Any tips, suggestions or warnings?

Thanks for your time! It's much appreciated!

[kaleidofish]

Hm, I think there have been a few topics like this around already, but I'll answer this anyway.

For me, organization is key. I'm the kind of person that has a million things going on all at once, so I *have* to organize myself. If you have Windows 7, you probably know about the "Sticky Notes" feature. Yeah, I've got tons of those all over my desktop to keep myself on track. My process goes like this - get an idea, write that idea down, think about if the idea is good enough (and possible) for me to make it into a VN, and then once I'm passed the idea stage, I design the characters & setting and outline the plot. Basically, I plan everything out, even things that may never be seen in the actual VN. It's easier for me to write according to a guideline for the scenes, so I do it that way. And, if I deviate from the guideline, I make note of that. Your web page idea is good, too, though. Whatever's easiest for you.

I either sketch out a diagram of the branches or use Microsoft Paint, so I can have a visual version of my outline that I can keep track of. After that, the writing phase starts. I write directly into Ren'Py. That way, I can lay out the code and leave #comments for myself throughout the script. It goes back to what I said: "for me, organization is key." Now, the BIGGEST mistake I made with my NaNoReNo project was that I didn't plan out the artwork as I was writing. Since I'm a writer who works with artists, I normally plan things out with them or have my free sprites already programmed in, but since I was my own artist, I didn't bother to plan anything out. Huge mistake. I drew a lot more than I had to because I didn't organize myself properly. My hands still hurt when I look at index cards...

The project I'm going to release next (In This Dream of Ours) went better for me than my NaNoReNo project. I had a general idea, made notes, wrote the whole thing into Ren'Py, found free art resources, coded in the art, found free music, coded in the music, and now I'm in the polishing stage where I'm adding some bonus features before I post it up. Much, much smoother.

[clannadman]

I have a very hectic way of working. I usually start a project, get halfway and then put it on the backburner while I work on something else. It helps to get the groundwork out of the way and at least get to this point, because when you come back to it later on, it seems appealing. I know it's weird but I have rapid bursts then lose interest, then gain interest a month later and have another rapid burst of writing/programming/art etc. It also depends on whether you're working alone or in a team. I generally work alone (I've been let down a lot before) so it's easy for me to skip back and forth between projects. Ideally, you should know your branching and plot before you even start programming or working on art but I sort of do it all as I go, not certain of the ending until a few weeks before release.

[dracothrope]

Thanks for your input, you guys! (I hadn't known about sticky notes, but now that I've found them, I suspect my desktop will never be the same!) I'll try that orderly method -- I also get bouts of high interest and then backburner things, but I tend to have a more difficult time getting to the finish line with projects I've already begun. Finding ways to make that more appealing are in high demand for me!

[Cain]

Have you tried mindmapping?
It is the process of writing your ideas down in a hierarchical way,
so you can easily structure that amazing plot you have in mind.
There's plenty of software available to help you out too!

I haven't tried this one out yet, but it's free & open-source, so looks promising:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freeplane/

On a side-note: while it may not directly be related to a flow of work:
in case you should find yourself in an dreadful art-block, just remember...
One line a day is better than zero a week.

Just my two cents of arty advise