Voices? Done. Exported, edited, balanced and saved. With that, the last task is complete.
There are some lingering issues: temp menu designs, no voice-specific volume slider, auto-mode doesn't pause for voices either... but the essentials are all there. I even managed to squeeze in a credits sequence, so we're not relying on a Readme.txt for that anymore.
Still, let's do a test run. Here, for one last time, are my playthrough notes.
After fixing all those issues, I did another full playthrough to test out auto mode, and the story's length seems to be around 30-35 minutes. It's very short, but man is it a good 35 minutes. I'm really proud of how it's all come together. Some of the cuts are just *chef's kiss* and in combination with the sound effects, it's... wow.
I mean, if this wasn't only 35 minutes, if this was like... a full-fledged release, it'd be impressive. So many of my criticisms towards it are things that'd easily vanish from a full build. We use backgrounds very well, but most of them are stock assets. Same with sound effects; great usage, not the best material.
Voice implementation's pretty shoddy, but that's because I ran out of time. The production quality is good, better than most VNs I've read to be honest, but... there are like a few hundred lines of text, so it's not exactly something to go mad for.
The goal of this NaNoRenO was twofold: to learn an engine capable of capturing a very specific style of direction—one that I could translate storyboard ideas over to without compromising on any level—and to attempt to do it at a near-commercial level.
In both regards, I think I've succeeded. We've developed an incredibly good shell, and although it's relatively hollow... it looks and sounds
so good. As a proof of concept, the potential is astronomical. I feel like I could make a movie with this thing.
If you went back in time to... hell, even the version of me that made 'By Your Side' which wasn't too long ago, that retro-me would be impressed by how far I've come.
Go all the way back to the Taka of yore that still actively read VNs—hot off the disappointing duo of Little Busters! and Umineko 8 that ultimately killed my interest in reading—and he might've not completely given up on the industry. That would've been a mistake, I'm not gonna do that, even if I do somehow travel back in time with a build of this specific game for some reason, but... what was I talking about?
Y'know, some awkward news that hit during the development of this game is that... after years of being a fan-made OC, Aoi's being canonized as an official Interlunium character. Not because of this game or anything, it was a complete coincidence. I'm very happy, but it's poor timing, frankly.
So now we're in this weird situation where I've just finished a story, gotten the big news, and now I'm releasing a non-canon story for my own character. Alt-canon maybe?
I feel like one of those Star Wars authors who was working on Extended Universe material when the Disney acquisition took place... Although I think most people prefer pre-Disney, so uh... maybe that analogy is unintentionally rude. The Interlunium writers are way better than Disney's, I swear.
So yeah, it's been a strange month, that's for sure. Still, I'm proud of her. 2023 is the year of Yoshioka apparently. Step aside Rabbit, the zodiac's got a new member!
But hey, development over, project's a success, it's as good as it gets for a NaNoRenO. I was really panicking towards the end, but once it was 100% playable, the relaxation really kicked in.
And now I can take a break! That'll be nice. Exciting almost. I
do have to catch up on a month of real-world responsibilities, which is notably less exciting, but eh... out of sight, out of mind! I'll just shut my eyes and go to sleep.
But before I do that, I've got a game to ship. I've come up with this package system: there are the core files, which include the exe and the DLLs and stuff, and Chapter 1 'Startling Blue' which contains the script, images and sounds for the chapter. This means, in a potential future where I come back to add more (once again, no promises) I can distribute a Chapter 2 package that doesn't interfere with the pre-established installation at all. Sounds neat. Modular. Doesn't "modular" sound like a '90s synonym for "cool"? Totally modular dude.
If my previous NaNoRenO project was cursed by the Gods who beset upon me physical injuries and the outbreak of a certain virus slowly taking members of my team off the project... this year, they definitely blessed me.
Not only did we finish in time somehow, but... we ended up with exactly 100 voice lines for Aoi. That wasn't planned at all, and neither was the fact that this final update is my 100th post on Lemmasoft, the only place other than my blog where I publish these posts.
The stars have aligned, so it's finally time to upload this introductory slice of Yoshioka Aoi's story.
At this point, that word sounds funny to me almost: "introductory". It's a little bit bittersweet, I think.
To the people who pick this novel up and check it out, this will be an opportunity to say hello to Aoi for the first time... But for me, at least for now, this is a goodbye.
It's been a month of non-stop hard work that took over my life, but even before that, Aoi has been in the back of my mind for 5 years now.
Today I finally set her free. She's off to do her own thing, to see the world, and to meet new people. All that's left for me to do is to see her off and hope the world treats her well.
Despite how short the story is, how long and rambly the devlogs are, and how niche the audience is... Despite the poor initial planning, the mid-month engine switch, the overly ambitious sprite animation that took half the month to make, the last-minute menus, the synthesized singing, the cancelled window BG, that day where I forgot to sleep and all the resulting health issues I'm still being annoyed by, the sudden non-canonicity of the game, and the fact that it's basically just a blatant Idolmaster ripoff with better programming(?) and lower production costs...
Despite how crazy this month has been, I really... really hope the world treats her well.
