Courting the Seasons [Romance- GxB,GxG][Fantasy]

[Harliqueen]

ethnic characters is always a nice mix up. The premise is interesting enough. Mother nature is dead kind of sets the mood.

Thank you so much It really does set the mood, though it's not really a dark or moody VN (well, except in some bits!), I promise

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So, update time! Finally been making some progress on the GUI, which is about 80% done!

I had a solid idea of what I wanted for the GUI for this visual novel- something pretty and soft, but clean and unobtrusive. Think I've managed to pull that off

I will post finalised screenshots when it's all, well, final! But, here are some WIP shots for now, the cream background will be replaced with something more fitting!

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[Harliqueen]

Update time!

More anatomy practice with the Courting the Seasons love interests!

This time it’s Fell



Excuse the half naked people, but I am trying to practice their anatomy as one the things I really wanted for the characters in Courting the Seasons was individuality, and one the main ways to achieve that is different body types.

Elisedd is muscled but very defined; Fell is muscled as well but more bulk, less definition; Gretchen is womanly but toned from being a scout; Theo is lithe, more like an athlete; and the secret romance, well… he’s a secret!

I’m excited to try out more of these warm ups!


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I've started working on the actual art assets now. First up is backgrounds.



Above is the grand foyer of the Gaia Court, the player’s new home!

I actually had almost finished the throne room too, but then my computer crashed and corrupted the file.

So this week’s update also comes with advice- Always back up your work!

[Harliqueen]

Update is a little late this time!

Just some WIP sketches of backgrounds this week. I'm changing up my schedule to focus on starting to get the demo together, exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time Still a ways off though, unfortunately.





The background above is heavily linked to the secret romance, and you won't see it unless on that route

[Harliqueen]

Update-

Still working on backgrounds, which is progressing a lot slower than I'd like but still going well.



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Also Theo and Gretchen were my muses for anatomy and shading practice this week



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My focus is on getting the demo up together, which I realise now is going to be quite a long demo! Will hopefully have an estimated release date for it at some point.

[minyan]

Aaaahhh everything looks so lovely. keep up the great work! Also, I think I've fallen in love with Theo.

[Harliqueen]

Aaaahhh everything looks so lovely. keep up the great work! Also, I think I've fallen in love with Theo.

Thank you so much! It's great to hear feedback, especially some like that

I think Theo is winning in the popularity stakes!

[Harliqueen]

Update time!

Worked on backgrounds until I couldn't take anymore But managed to get a good chunk done.


What's behind the red curtain?... You'll have to wait and see!

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But I finally moved onto sprites this week. I am starting on the 'misc' sprites to get back into the rhythm of things.

This is a servant sprite, who works at the Gaia Court. He's not important (you might not even see him depending on choices made), but he was a good place to start and a good example of the style I will be using for the sprites




That's all for this week. I will have more examples of sprites to show next time, probably even the love interest sprites!

[llamamama]

Really impressive work so far! I really like your approach towards relationship building by removing stats or bars - something that I'm trying to put more into practice, makes the characters develop more naturally c:

Really digging the character designs too - love how varied they look c:

Looking forward to any demos you may release!

[Harliqueen]

Really impressive work so far! I really like your approach towards relationship building by removing stats or bars - something that I'm trying to put more into practice, makes the characters develop more naturally c:

Really digging the character designs too - love how varied they look c:

Looking forward to any demos you may release!

Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear you think it's a good approach- I really want this visual novel to feel like the player can choose what they want, without having to worry about if that choice will affect their romance choice. I want people to be able to enjoy the story as well as the romances, that's one of the main purposes of how I've planned it out. (Plus the romance routes are really quite in-depth, so it worked out much better doing it this way )

Variation was key when it came to character design, so hopefully now I can do it with all of the characters and settings throughout

Thank you so much again for commenting, it's great to hear feedback! (Hopefully the demo will be out either end of September or sometime October- I think it will end up being quite a long demo, hence why it's taking longer than expected)

[UsaBerryHime]

I just have to comment on this again because it is freaking AMAZING. Oh my gosh, I love your art style so so sooo much! It just works so well on so many layers of character design and backgrounds i just--! Amazing<3 and i didn't appreciate the distinct features for everyone. Like I stop at hair styles haha, but you go all out like Fell's different eye colors and freckles and Theo's smudgey eye shadow! like those details are what truly make this so great! haha sorry again for that ramble >u<
Seriously amazed with your progress to! And that GUI, dang son, that's flawless! I did almost no GUI for my game please teach me your ways! (Did you come up with it yourself or read lots of tutorials? either way BE MY SENSEI )

[Harliqueen]

I just have to comment on this again because it is freaking AMAZING. Oh my gosh, I love your art style so so sooo much! It just works so well on so many layers of character design and backgrounds i just--! Amazing<3 and i didn't appreciate the distinct features for everyone. Like I stop at hair styles haha, but you go all out like Fell's different eye colors and freckles and Theo's smudgey eye shadow! like those details are what truly make this so great! haha sorry again for that ramble >u<
Seriously amazed with your progress to! And that GUI, dang son, that's flawless! I did almost no GUI for my game please teach me your ways! (Did you come up with it yourself or read lots of tutorials? either way BE MY SENSEI )

Thank you so much The art style took a bit of a change to how I originally planned it, but I'm pleased I decided to do it this way. And, you can ramble as much as you like!

Character variation was a big thing I wanted to concentrate on, so each of them ended up with their own uniqueness- hopefully the effort will pay off

The GUI was... interesting. I wanted something simple, so that helped, not having to go for anything too complicated to code in. I read a bunch of tutorials, though finding ones that concentrate on image buttons rather than imagemaps was a bit trickier. I found the Renpy Handbook tumblr a really useful place for tips- http://renpyhandbook.tumblr.com/ The Save/Load screen was what sent me round the twist! But, got there in the end and it's all looking pretty good.

Thank you so much for commenting again, it's really appreciated

[Hazel-Bun]

Nice stuff!

[Harliqueen]

Nice stuff!

Thank you so much

Update time! (Late again...)

So, Still working on sprites. Have finally managed to finish the courtier sprites, I haven't posted previews of them all, but here's another.



'Sneering Courtier 1', from the Autumn court. I will give her a name soon
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I'm moving onto the important character sprites now, which is exciting!

[Harliqueen]

Early update due to me going on vacation!

Meet Xanthe, your personal maid whilst at the Gaia Court.

She has worked at the court all her life and has served 7 Mother Natures before your arrival- so she has a handle on what's going on, even if you might not!



Next update will be in sometime around 14th September. Have a great weekend everyone!

[Harliqueen]

Back from vacation!

And ready to get stuck back into working on Courting the Seasons

Taking a break from art assets to focus on getting the first draft of the script ready for the demo, which I hope to put out sometime in October- a very exciting time