NaNoRenO 2007- The ren'ai visual novel challenge!

[absinthe]

Well, I wasted copious amounts of time tinkering with the 'opening' to the game over the last few days, along with a Ren'Py Intro (happy with the look, displeased with the size) and a NaNo Intro (happy with the size, meh on the look). Oh, and deciding on fonts and digging up music. But I'm *really* happy with the way it all comes together.

I also figured out how I'm going to structure ending determination (yay) and the framework is (really) done.

So, anyway, now I'm staring at my screen, faced with actually having to write text. It's been slow going, but... it's going!

I'm discovering that the hard part isn't the plotting; it's putting in those darn menus so the player actually gets to interact with the interactive novel!

So ... if the hardest thing for me will be picking a name for it, then I'll be ahead of the game ^_^.

Hehehehe, I had the same problem! I decided on a working title of "Eidolon", but I've done exactly zero research on that name so I have no idea if it's a keeper.

Anyway, it sounds like we're all making progress -- I bet this ends up being the best NaNo yet.

ETA: Attached two versions of a "Powered By Ren'Py" intro.

The filesizes are just too large for the duration, quality, and content (it's six seconds of mostly white!), so I'm probably going back to the drawing board (after I get some more of my actual game written, have to have priorities, heh).

But I'd definitely like to hear if the direction I'm going with it seems attractive/useful/needs to be completely rethought/whatever.

[Mr. E]

I bet this ends up being the best NaNo yet.

I think many people here feel the same way you do, absinthe!
And now, the current status of my game. I'm still writing it and the current script is bigger than my other game! I guess it's because the story is much simpler and I've been really dedicating myself. I think that, by the end of the next week I will have finished the whole story. Graphics will be fairly easy, since I'll not be going for a well-polished look (again... Sorry everyone! Forgive me! ) But finishing my OTHER game is beginning to look insane to me. Ack, let's see how it goes after I finish my current NaNoRenO entry, Maybe being away from it for so long will refresh me and I'll make the rest of it at super speed? *prays hopefully*
Await further news when I'm feeling (relatively) sane...

[monele]

I'm discovering that the hard part isn't the plotting;

We'll need to exchange tips then ô_o;;...

[DaFool]

Don't tell me, you're doing lines on your backgrounds, right? I opted for lineless digital painting. Additionally, that's the style most animes use. I found it's a little quicker for me in the workflow.

I "sketch" with an airbrush my areas of color and then use Shift+Click to connect two points in Photoshop to make it smoother.

Ironically I am migrating my style from lineless to lineful, since I'm trying to get a more hand-drawn manga look. I'm still working in lineless for certain projects, just using polygonal lasso and floodfilling basic shapes, then all the rest is just shading.

Good luck to all here! Looks like you've been more productive in the past 5 days than I can achive in a month!

[ShiraiJunichi]

Tests, reading assignments, programming assignments... what's the deal?! School is definitely going to be taking time away from my being able to work on my project >_< . I'm worried this week won't be as productive as I'd like- but I think I'll still manage... somehow...

absinthe >>

Instead of animating it like a movie (with individual frames), why not just create an image of the text- then use Ren'Py to animate it moving down. And if you really want that small explosion near the end, you can animate that with individual frames (with images that only detail the little explosion- transparent everywhere else).
That would dramatically reduce file size, and it would allow you to change stuff without too much problem.

Also, I think it's a really good idea to include the URL to Ren'Py's home page

[absinthe]

Instead of animating it like a movie (with individual frames), why not just create an image of the text- then use Ren'Py to animate it moving down.

...

(silence)

...because I didn't think of that!

Hehehe. As I was going to bed the other morning after starting my NaNo, I had this brilliant idea about making a little mpg. That turned out to be ugly, so I took it apart to get this.

Sometimes I get too excited about a project and completely miss the simple way to accomplish it. So... could someone who understands how to make the Ren'Py motion functions work replicate the effect using it? Pleeeeeeease?

(Otherwise I'll take another stab at it in a few days.)

We'll need to exchange tips then ô_o;;...

Just remember the old trick from the pulps -- when you're stuck for what to have happen next, shoot somebody!

(Or at least dump them into trouble.)

[Watercolorheart]

Yeah, I don't have trouble with the general plot either ... it's the writing on a massive scale for a somewhat non-linear game and having slightly different details in different story lines (so that they don't all play exactly the same way.)

Oh, and doing uber-detailed backgrounds is killer too.

[pheriannath]

Well, it's a week into NaNoRenO, and I seem to have made some progress. I don't know whether I should be feeling good about this.

Let's see now:

The Good: I've actually done the prelude! Even added in background pics for both the main and preferences menus, a background and sound effects for one scene ^_^

The Bad: I've only done the pretty pictures and sounds for one scene. The rest of the prelude is simply black and silent and wordy, and as much imagination as I like to credit myself with...well, it just doesn't blow me away. There are, broadly categorised, about 4 scripted scenes in this prelude.

The Possibly Complicated: This prelude lasted me about 10 minutes to read through. I'm not sure if it's too much or just enough for my capabilities, considering that the main plot will probably be at least three times as long - and that my main delay factors are the pictures and snazzy sounds.

...For now, script goes first for me.

[denzil]

Well it's time for my progress report:
Well, I finally managed to start. First three days I spent installing Linux (Gentoo just takes it's time). I wanted to write the story in first week so it seems I will have to change my schedule a bit. But its' not that bad as I didn't planned anything too big.
But on the good side I made a nice progress today (and the day isn't over yet ) so I still should be able to finish without any bigger problems.

[rioka]

Wow! I'm glad to see that NaNoRenO is going strong this year. Junichi, if you need anything like past participants and everything, feel free to take it from the Ren'aiGames.net site.

[Jake]

So, yeah, status report... is it a week already?

After a week of independent research, I can conclude:

* Writing scripts is best done with an accompaniment of soundtrack music with no lyrics, so as not to distract me from the words I'm writing.
* Drawing is best done with an accompaniment of spoken-word or lyrically-driven music, so as to distract me from the fact that I'm not actually using my brain and prevent me getting bored.
* One glass of Badger's Golden Glory is approximately the right amount of alcohol to dull me enough that I can actually get on with work rather than getting distracted by every little thing that crops up.
* It's a lot harder to write parodies than patisches.
* All that planning was worth it.

I've got all the artwork done for the first milestone, at least to a basic level, and I've got all the artwork required for the second milestone mocked up so that programming can commence while I work on the finals. My project partner has laid down the skeleton of the game ready to write scenes into, and got probably a third of the way through his share of the scenes; I've managed markedly less, 'cause I keep getting stuck on the big angsty one. Writing angsty dialogue is really hard. :/

[pheriannath]

Trivia question!

How long was the longest completed NaNoRenO VN to date in terms of playing hours? (completed within NaNoRenO time, of course)

[chronoluminaire]

One week. Eek.

Well, I've written about three thousand words. As mine is an IntRenAiMo-style project, I've been finishing off a couple of part-written chapters and planning the content for the one chapter that was 0% written when the month started (as well as writing a nifty scene in it). It's all been in tiny scraps of time grabbed here and there, though, and I'm feeling the absence of a big writing session.

However, on the graphics front, SunKitten is being awesome as ever, and it looks like we're on track to release a game with event CGs on March 31st! Along with a few of the rest of you, by the sound of things Are there any games on the ren'ai archives with event CGs already?

Backgrounds are a bit undecided: I might end up with some processed-photo backgrounds and some 3D rendered ones, but I'll have to see how it looks. I don't want to lose the awesome 3D rendered work I've got, but my background artist is certainly not going to be able to get all of the backgrounds rendered by the end of the month.

And music is still a great big nothing so far. I'd love to have some music, as it would really add to the game, but I don't know what to do about the scene which features the lyrics to at least one fictional song being related, and I haven't gone looking for what free music there might be online.

Overall: Making progress; I'm going to have to pick up the pace, but I knew this week would be manic, and things should (should) get better from here on...

[Watercolorheart]

For Rook's Mark, it's proceeding swimmingly despite all the complications in my life (my grandmother had a stroke, my mom put my baby sister in daycare, my mom and dad are going through a divorce, etc.)

I know I'll be able to complete all sprites on time, and all writing. The only thing I am concerned with, is will I be able to meet the demands of a massive amount of backgrounds in only 3 weeks?

Well, if nothing else ... we got sound effects out the wazoo and Enerccio says he's working on the music.

[PyTom]

Are there any games on the ren'ai archives with event CGs already?

Yes. Moonlight Walks included a couple of event CGs, and Ori, Ochi, Onoe included some really nice ones. Those are just two that come to mind, because I worked on them. I'm sure there are more.