Hi you guys.
It's been a while. I figure I should be less rigid. If I want to share updates with you guys, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to. So, I'll post when I have something I want to share with you, but on no set schedule.
A bit has happened in my life since my last post in this thread...
I started working on A Lily from the Lightless Water, as I may have mentioned here. When I started that project, I was wanting to get a ~19k word demo of it completed by Halloween, which seemed manageable. However, after a time, I got a full time job. This is my first full time job and, of course, it's been difficult to get used to. It's a mixed bag, but I'm mainly just glad that it seems I don't have to worry about money much, anymore. However, it's left me with much less time to myself and, as a result, I wasn't able to complete that demo of A Lily from the Lightless Water by Halloween. Now, it only really made sense to release a demo of Lily at all because of Halloween so, at this point, I'll just work on that game until it's entirely done, since I'm planning on it being a rather short VN anyway (between 80k-100k words long).
As for The Silent Column, I confess that I've been enjoying writing it lately, even though one could say I could have used that time to work on Lily. The thing is, I was enjoying writing, and the planned demo for Lily was already written. What was needed was the art and music, which take more time and commitment, in my opinion, than writing. Writing is nice and easy and I can just pick up my laptop and do it to relax, or put it back down again and stop. ^^ And I felt like being in the world of The Silent Column specifically, so, that's what I did. Also, my laptop's screen died after about 5 or 6 years of use and, thanks to the job, I was able to get myself a new one, which I'm grateful about.
Now, speaking more specifically about The Silent Column...
I spoke before about how, because this project is my baby, it can be hard to draw boundaries for it. Even questions like "How many heroines should there be?" or "How long should it roughly be?" can be tough to answer. Right now, though, I'm aiming for it to have a pretty straight-forward structure and to not be absurdly long, while still being a substantial length. There are a lot of questions and ideas relating to the story, but... I think it would be nice for the project to be a sweet visual novel. Here's what I'm thinking:
Three heroines: Amy, Thidria, and Serra.
The common route is ~50k words long: ~5k for the intro, ~15k per heroine.
After the common route, the player can choose one of the three heroines and go on their path: ~100k per heroine route.
That's all I'm thinking for the structure. I think that's quiet and sweet. I might end up lengthening some things later on, but the basic structure I want to keep the same.
As I said, there are a lot of ideas relating to this project... but, I've been thinking that it could feel nice to learn little things about the world here and there while you're with your girl.
At the end of the day... I want the story to be a sweet and romantic one. That's what matters the most, not all of the many events. When I've tried to depict a bunch of the events, things started to feel scattered and misguided. So, I think the focus should be on these three sweet girls and the love the main character has with them.
Some things may be learned while you're with them but the point is you being with them, not the events.
Another reason I'm posting is because I drew a sprite of Serra, today. I like it... I think she looks cute.
Anyway, take care everyone. I'll see you next time.
By the way, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Either here or in PMs.