An exceedingly ambitious cyberpunk visual novel about bugs, gods, and bug gods, conceptually laid here so I can be paranoidly motivated that someone might see my progress (or lack thereof) on this passion project. I want to be the best it could be so any questions, ideas, etc. are more than welcome. Otherwise, I'll mostly use updates as a brain dump in between concrete progress.
Why bugs? There are too few fictional works about bugs in a mythological sense and much less about bug-related Gods. Understandable, because bugs are majorly considered to be gross and weird. Nevertheless, they are still neat, everywhere, and important.
Why Cyberpunk? Because you know what else is gross and weird? Corruption exacerbated by heedless technological advancement!
…mostly kidding. Cyberpunk is cool, to put it simply. There are still some connections, such as insect populations threatened by environmental concerns. Environmentalism in turn often shows up in cyberpunk. It works, I promise.
8 routes, 7 main and a finale. The 7 main routes will be each divided into 8(ish?) chapters each. Naturally, each route corresponds to a particular character or set of characters. Each route’s chapters will occur simultaneously with the other routes. Chapter A1 occurs roughly at the same time as B1, and so on.
The routes and their respective chapters can be played in any order, consequentially influencing the other paths. Of course, you would have to play chapter A1 before A2, but in between any chapter you could start or continue another route instead. At its simplest this system will provide different perspectives and at its most complex it will change possibilities and endings across the board depending not only on one's choices but the order those choices are made.
The idea is to give significance to player choices and weight to favored characters, even while playing through other routes. As a plus (though a secondary priority) this also means greater replay value,
- Research (92% complete) - Several months’ worth of research accumulated into a comprehensive document of bug-related symbolism, myths, references, and pop culture. I have been thorough, but there is always something more to find. .
- Conceptualization (74%) - Planning the routes, plot, solidifying the characters. I have great sheets of paper affixed to my walls where I have physically drawn out the routes and choices.
- Drafting - (7%) scripting out the whole thing. Inevitably time-consuming, but getting the research and difficult planning out of the way first should pay off.
- Review - Cleaning up the first draft before shoving it into Ren'Py
- Programming - (3%) this may take awhile as my programming experience is minimal, but as long as I am inspired I can learn quickly. With placeholders and a script ready it will at least be straightforward.
- Placeholder Assets - (50%) scavenging together resources. Not difficult, just accumulating building blocks I can swap out later. Will make it easier to plan/budget for commissions.
- Demo - to be worked on in the midst of drafting, commissions, and programming.
- ($) Sprite commissions - I can’t draw, and the art is a VN’s first impression. I can conceivably manage just about everything else (eventually) but I know my limits. Best leave some things to professionals.
- ($) (3%) CG commissions - Naturally
- ($) BG commissions - Not as high of a priority, but still important.
- (?) GUI - Can probably figure this out, but may hire someone if necessary.
- (?) Music commissions - Not strictly necessary, I can find something somewhere, but it would be such a nice touch.
- Again, best to leave some things to professionals, but I'm in no rush. If interested feel free to reach out and otherwise I will just find people when needed.
- Artists: Sprites, GUI, BG, CG
- Composer
- Editor/Proofreader
- Social Media Specialist / Community Manager (because I don't want to worry about it)
1/14/22 - First post. Already done with research, 25% done with planning and 10% placeholder assets.
1/23/22 - Another chunk of planning done, roughly 31% complete. Better elucidated necessary positions. Bee.
1/30/22 - More planning, overcame a hurdle and may ramp things up. 36% complete. Butterfly.
2/6/22 - +8% towards planning, +40% to placeholder assets.
2/20/22 - 60% done with planning, Beetle
2/28/22 - Moving updates to Mondays, slight overall progress after replanning a route.
3/7/22 - Length, absolute basics of programming.
3/15/22 - 72% conceptualization, general planning. Snail.
3/28/22 - Now updating every other week. 2% writing, problem-solving, routing-making. Misc. other progress.
4/11/22 - +5% towards draft, poor estimates, resolve.
5/3/22, persistence, progress, duality, etc. etc.
7/12/22 - coming back to updates woohoo.