Yearning: A Gay Story [BxB][School/Slice of Life/Coming Out][16+]

[bobconway]

So cute! A shame there's no shirtless version, but I can wait...

Ask and ye shall receive. I think you're horrified Jake, though.

I also note that you've been starting work on a sequel; do you have any early news, or are you looking for suggestions?

(If the latter, I'd quite like to see a full Elliot romance, or at least an ending happier than "slowly recovering", if it's possible, of course...)

The sequel (ZAGS, of course) has you play as Juan through the second semester of MC's (Chris') freshman year, and is going to be a significantly more traditional stat-based dating sim.
Through writing YAGS, Juan ended up becoming the most interesting character to me, maybe because his storyline is in a lot of ways the opposite of his outward-facing character. So along the lines of the fics I'm writing now, I wanted to revisit some key scenes from YAGS with him, and then jump off from there to see how he handles coming out and dating and everything.
We'll see how it turns out, and I will never turn down suggestions, even if they end up not working with the game.

It's also worth noting that I'm normally really bad at following up on personal projects, so the fact that I've both already commissioned (and received) some backgrounds for it, and started talking about it a bit is more for personal motivation to continue the project, than anything else.

This is looking really fantastic.

I love the approach you took to the game, in terms of sketching it out and just working on assets as you can. Art is almost always the biggest time sink, and you have such a mature approach to the way you're handling your development.

Thank you!

I have to note though that the development process for this game has been extremely non-standard because this didn't start out as a game I wanted to release? I had almost all of the first cut of the game written before I even started talking to artists, and the game itself (writing-wise) has been done (and fully playable) for something like 4 months now. I've just been making tweaks since then.

So, given that I have no ability to draw and such, I'm just looking for ways to occupy myself as additional game assets trickle in.

(Working on a direct sequel next was a way to both reuse these assets, so I won't be blocked on them again for the finished game, and also to revisit these characters again, because I've kind of grown to love writing them.)

[ParrotWatcher]

Ask and ye shall receive. I think you're horrified Jake, though.

Sorry Jake... Not really...

The sequel (ZAGS, of course) has you play as Juan through the second semester of MC's (Chris') freshman year, and is going to be a significantly more traditional stat-based dating sim.
Through writing YAGS, Juan ended up becoming the most interesting character to me, maybe because his storyline is in a lot of ways the opposite of his outward-facing character. So along the lines of the fics I'm writing now, I wanted to revisit some key scenes from YAGS with him, and then jump off from there to see how he handles coming out and dating and everything.
We'll see how it turns out, and I will never turn down suggestions, even if they end up not working with the game.

So, if it's Juan, an Elliot route would make even more sense! I mean, I know he was back at home by then in the YAGS epilogue, but as one of the most interesting characters in the story, I feel it's very sad that he doesn't get any kind of "happily ever after", especially since it was due to homophobia...

[Nalassa]

I could second a

Juan/Elliott path in ZAGS. I like Juan despite that one moment in his romance, and potential conflict with his family (like in his romance) definitely offers a good ground for future plotlines.

Currently i'm waiting for your Dan sprites so I can replay the Dan route when implemented - i'm trying to do them when done so I can enjoy the changes over time.

[bobconway]

So, if it's Juan, an Elliot route would make even more sense! I mean, I know he was back at home by then in the YAGS epilogue, but as one of the most interesting characters in the story, I feel it's very sad that he doesn't get any kind of "happily ever after", especially since it was due to homophobia...

I could second a

Juan/Elliott path in ZAGS. I like Juan despite that one moment in his romance, and potential conflict with his family (like in his romance) definitely offers a good ground for future plotlines.

I hear you, but I also feel like there has to be *some* kind of lasting effect from those events. I feel like

Juan was traumatized enough by that event, particularly in the storyline where you're not dating him where his anguish led to him coming out, that losing Elliot has a large effect on how he deals with both his sexuality and potential relationships with others. Having Elliot return would be nice, sure, but it also feels somehow too convenient?

I do want to include Elliot in some way, but I was thinking more along the lines of Janet-style messaging.

We'll see.

Really, I kind of like that there's no "happily ever after" there, and find myself strangely reluctant to revise that.

There's also the point where I'm actively trying to be better at diversity in ZAGS. I didn't really pay it any mind in YAGS, so I want to make sure there's a good representation of different people in the ZAGS dating pool.
I don't want the branching to spiral out of control (like I felt like it did at times with YAGS), so there's already some inherent limitation on how many dateable guys there are

and James and Nate already fill the "white dudes" quota, plus there's Dan

.

I don't know. We'll see. Your thoughts have been noted, and I will simmer on them for a while.

Currently i'm waiting for your Dan sprites so I can replay the Dan route when implemented - i'm trying to do them when done so I can enjoy the changes over time.

My artist estimates mid-March for that, and if Nanoreno isn't consuming my life, I'll try to push a new build as soon as possible after I get them.
But sprite dates have been slipping a lot recently due to his webcomic, so don't bet on that.


Also, just to say it here as well: Thank you for both (and everyone else) for your comments and thoughts. There are few things as wonderful as hearing from people that enjoy something you've made.

[ParrotWatcher]

I hear you, but I also feel like there has to be *some* kind of lasting effect from those events. I feel like

Juan was traumatized enough by that event, particularly in the storyline where you're not dating him where his anguish led to him coming out, that losing Elliot has a large effect on how he deals with both his sexuality and potential relationships with others. Having Elliot return would be nice, sure, but it also feels somehow too convenient?

I do want to include Elliot in some way, but I was thinking more along the lines of Janet-style messaging.

We'll see.

Really, I kind of like that there's no "happily ever after" there, and find myself strangely reluctant to revise that.

I don't know. The way I see it, if there's no "happily ever after", it means Robert won.

Maybe you could have him as a secret route, like with Adam in YAGS, where it's rather more difficult, but not impossible.

There's also the point where I'm actively trying to be better at diversity in ZAGS. I didn't really pay it any mind in YAGS, so I want to make sure there's a good representation of different people in the ZAGS dating pool.
I don't want the branching to spiral out of control (like I felt like it did at times with YAGS), so there's already some inherent limitation on how many dateable guys there are

and James and Nate already fill the "white dudes" quota, plus there's Dan

.

Well, if I recall, neither

Nate nor Elliot

have official sprites yet, so who's to say that they're "white dudes"?

EDIT:

And do we really need all of them? I like James, but he could easily be replaced by someone else. (If I recall, Dan and Nate have had a foursome with Juan, so they do make more sense...) Actually, what were you planning on doing with Chris, or is that a spoiler?

[ypressgames]

Looks great! Good luck with this.

[bobconway]

I don't know. The way I see it, if there's no "happily ever after", it means Robert won.

I can understand that viewpoint, but I still don't think I agree with it? It feels like it cheapens the entire series of events somehow if everything goes back to normal in the end, and they can just pick up where they left off.

We'll see if I feel like I can work it in somehow once I start more serious planning (such as a secret route, like you suggested), but I really feel strange doing it.

Well, if I recall, neither

Nate nor Elliot

have official sprites yet, so who's to say that they're "white dudes"?

I did a race swap much earlier on with Nik, but that was early enough in the process (before the entire game was written and I was more into the writing process) that it felt like it didn't matter.

I have concerns with

swapping Elliot since having Robert beat up, for example, a black guy is probably not a good idea, and draws racism into the equation where that absolutely shouldn't be part of the motivation

, but I could look at what I can do with Nate. But I don't think that really solves the issue anyway

if you want an Elliot route

, and I'm also reluctant to make changes like this to the game at this point, when I'm really trying to put it to rest and start on the next thing.

(Yes, that's kind of a cop-out.)

And do we really need all of them? I like James, but he could easily be replaced by someone else. (If I recall, Dan and Nate have had a foursome with Juan, so they do make more sense...) Actually, what were you planning on doing with Chris, or is that a spoiler?

Everything is subject to (and likely will) change, but I'll note that

James and Nate are the only two potentially dateable white guys, and Nate likely only as part of a duo with Jake; James I'm honestly still unsure about, because I don't think he and Juan have personalities that would mesh, even if Juan has a serious crush on him . So maybe this is all moot anyway

.

At the same time I don't want to add too many new characters, since part of the reason for making a sequel is to limit the number of new assets I'll need to commission (and subsequently wait on).

As much as I appreciate this discussion, can we table this for now or move this to PMs? I still want to hear your thoughts and suggestions, of course, but I'm wary of derailing this thread with a bunch of theoreticals about a separate game.

Looks great! Good luck with this.

Thank you!

[bobconway]

Annnnd we have a new build! My sprite artist kind of crunched the past couple of days to get me a finished Dan sprite, and so there's a new build with both him and Jake.
They're looking pretty good!



The original post has also been updated with some new screenshots. You can grab a copy of the new build at the usual place.

Next up: Juan sprites. Also I hope to get music for the game in the next month or two, which will allow me to stage music.

Things are coming together!

Overall asset progress:
Sprites: 29% (4/14 finished)
Backgrounds: 84% (16/19 finished)
Music: 8% (1/12 finished)

[bobconway]

I apologize for the lack of updates around here. It's been a crazy few months -- my sprite artist has been under insane deadlines for his webcomic, so there's been no progress on sprites, and my background artist seems to have had personal things come up.

However, there is good news, and some progress! I found a new background artist to finish up the remaining backgrounds, and I have almost all of the music (as demo versions of the tracks), so I wanted to share that, at least.

Here's the final two backgrounds, via the talents of Vui Huynh:



And here's a preview of one of the tracks, nominally intended for the frat house:


Once I free up from my Yaoijam project, Xenopathy, I'll start staging music into the game.

Hopefully the next update will have more to update, as well as an actual new build associated with it.

Overall asset progress:
Sprites: 29% (4/14 finished)
Backgrounds: 100% (19/19 finished)
Music: 86% (demo tracks only; 12/14 finished)

As always, the game is fully playable now, albeit with placeholder assets, at the usual place: https://yags-game.tumblr.com/download

[bobconway]

One small update before I disappear for another month or two: I've thrown together a preliminary trailer for the game.

Obviously, it'll need to be revised as I get final sprites, and I may want to clean up/change the example scenes, but here's a WIP version of it anyway.


Any feedback or suggestions are, as always, welcome. (The entire trailer is actually created as a RenPy game, so it's extremely easy to make updates or changes. The writeup, for those curious, is here.)


I've also started staging music into the game itself, so the next update will definitely feature music, hopefully throughout the entire game. (With luck, it'll also feature a new sprite or two, but that's up to the availability of my sprite artist.)


I also want to again thank everyone that's following this thread, that has played the game, or that has messaged me about YAGS. You all are the best.

[ParrotWatcher]

That looks great!

I do have one suggestion to make, though: all the guys should be shirtless... Uh, I mean: I probably wouldn't have just Nikhil with the romanceable guys. Either have only the romanceable guys (and probably skip Adam, too, in that case), or have several other guys (like Elliot and Nate) there, too. I guess it just feels more like lying if there's only one fake love interest than if there are several?

Anyway, good luck with finishing off the game. And with your YaoiJam project, too.

[illuminate001]

I just wanted to pile on with what ParrotWatcher said say "Yes BOB! You can do it!" in terms of YAGS' production. I know you've had some distractions lately on top of our YaoiJam project (which seems to be going swimmingly, I need to hit up PM soon about progress) but you always have a good handle on what needs to get done and how far you are in production and where you should be.

[bobconway]

Thank you both for the thoughts and encouragement! Other than music staging and some final cleanup, I think the game is actually done at this point, and just waiting on sprites.

But I totally get that sprites (and, particularly, getting rid of the stick figure placeholders) are a rather major missing piece. Here's hoping this doesn't end up getting pushed into 2019, but I really have no estimate right now on timeline for the remaining ones.

I know I keep saying so, but I really do intend to start ZAGS development soon. I was somewhat waiting on the music, since the intro to ZAGS is scenes from YAGS and I didn't want to have to re-stage them, but now that I have the tracks, there's really no excuse.

I just need to stop getting myself involved with jam-related projects. But they're just so addicting...

(And on the plus side, ZAGS will reuse a ton of stuff from YAGS, and so won't be subject to the same release delays waiting on assets. Which was actually half the reason I wanted to make a sequel in the first place.)

I probably wouldn't have just Nikhil with the romanceable guys. Either have only the romanceable guys (and probably skip Adam, too, in that case), or have several other guys (like Elliot and Nate) there, too. I guess it just feels more like lying if there's only one fake love interest than if there are several?

This is a good point, and I will definitely make this change. If I'm going to be vague, I should be appropriately vague.

I should totally include Robert too because

(No. No, I really shouldn't.)

[bobconway]

It's been a while! Sorry for the lack of updates, but there just hasn't been much to report.

Unfortunately, I don't have any new sprites to show, but I did get demo versions of all of the game music tracks, and (finally) finished staging music throughout the game. There's a new build up at the usual place with those changes, as well as the final three game backgrounds.


I think you're overlooking a few important things, Adam...

Overall asset progress:
Sprites: 29% (4/14 finished)
Backgrounds: 100% (19/19 finished)
Music: 100% (demo tracks only; 14/14 finished)

I'm hoping to have sprite updates to show in the near future (but that depends entirely on my artist), and there's still a bunch of cleanup I have to finish up (like adding in Elliot's alternate pose).
However, I'm approaching the point where I think the game will be done (minus final sprites), and could use some beta testing once I hit that point.

If you'd be interested in helping beta test YAGS in the near future, please send me a PM expressing your interest!
I have some YAGS stickers that I could possibly send out in exchange.

[bobconway]

I wanted to post an update because today is the one-year anniversary of the first public release of YAGS. I posted a sequence of screenshots showing how the game has changed over the past year, and we've really come a long way, even just visually. But of course, there's also been a bunch of writing and story changes during that time.

A lot of that progress is thanks to all of the feedback and support from all of you on these forums, and the game is much better for it, so thank you to everyone!

I also have some sprite progress to report! We've started up again, and Juan pencils are done. His inks are in progress, and I'm hoping to have his final sprite sometime next week.


My sprite artist has finished his larger project for now, and I'm hoping this is the start of more sustained progress, so if all goes as planned, expect a lot more sprites being shown off in the coming months. I don't think we're going to be done by the end of the year at this point, but with luck, it won't take us too far into next year.