NEW BLOG

Hello, all! Long time no see, I know.

This post is to let you know that I've moved my blog over to Tumblr and will be posting all updates there from now on.

The main reason for this is that I'd like my blog to be more interactive. The English visual novel community is awesome and I want to be a part of it - I want to be able to like and reblog stuff from other gamers and game developers, in addition to posting updates and fanart for my own projects. Tumblr is simply more accessible in that regard, and I think it will be really useful for getting the word out about new games like W.I.S.H.

I hope to see everyone on the new site!

Check out the New Blog

 

Finally, an Update!

The last few months have gone by in a blur. I graduated from university in December and spent January going on road trips, making a company website for someone (and getting paid for it!), and readjusting to life at home.

Work on W.I.S.H had been postponed first due to needing to finish up everything for graduation, and then because of a lack of resources. First, the artist doing my title screen art bailed on me after completing only a rough sketch of Seiko (pictured above), so that really sucked. Second, I couldn't figure out what I was going to do for the antagonist's sprite. Since "The Apparition" wasn't in the original cast of Starlit Dreams, I didn't have a character sprite for him, and I couldn't go back to the artist to commission one because 1) their style has changed since then and 2) they haven't been active for a while.

Some of my friends suggested having the Apparition as an off-screen voice, but the fact that Seiko/Ein has the "Sight" and can not only hear but see the Apparition is a crucial aspect of the plot. Another idea was to try to take pieces of the other sprites and combine them, but that ended up in disaster. Nothing was working. I was afraid I might have to scrap the whole idea, which was a depressing thought, so I did what I do best: I avoided the whole thing.

Recently, though, I started playing Absolute Obedience, one of the few BL visual novels that have been localized in the U.S. Although it didn't stack up against something like Togainu no Chi, it was still entertaining, and I realized that the episodic format it uses - where you choose your character and then choose a "mission" to play through - would be perfect for my other WIP, Lustful. So, I started working on that again, mostly by working on lining and coloring the character sketches, but also by thinking about what might go into it.

Inspiration breeds inspiration, and as I was thinking about Lustful, I had a "Eureka!" moment with regard to W.I.S.H. At the beginning of the game, you can choose which main character you want to play as, so what if the other, unused character were to be the Apparition? Without giving away any details about the ending, this actually makes sense in an alternate-timeline sort of way.

Anyway, now I have sprites for the Apparition and can finally resume working on W.I.S.H in confidence...that is, when I'm not working on, you know, finding a job and all that grown-up stuff I'm expected to do now that I'm a college graduate.

Thank you for your patience, everyone!

Old "Memoirs" Release and Other Stuff

The other day (October 31), I finally posted the old 2010 version of "Memoirs of an Angel," which has been sitting around collecting dust on my computer for the last two years. Though it was technically finished, I never posted it as a "completed game" because, first of all, I never got all the CGs I wanted, and second, because I started working on the remake almost immediately.

My full rant notes and details about the game can be found here, but the short version is that I was digging around for something and found the original "Memoirs" game on my backup drive, so I decided to dust it off, fix it up, and finally release it to the public. Major fixes include: reworking the code so that it's more "skip-friendly" (and the same text isn't repeated 10 times), replacing Duren's and Nefferon's sprites with the improved versions from the remake (no more ugly yellow raincoat for Neffy), adding a system to change Zuleika's outfit color and equip accessories unlocked in past playthroughs, making the dancing mini-game slightly more difficult based on feedback, making the character profiles more legible and adding credits to all outside artists' work, and restoring the audio to its original quality after I had significantly lowered the quality for previous versions.

A screenshot from the recently re-released Memoirs of an Angel (2010)

I hadn't expected much of a response since, again, this is just the old game, and honestly, the remake is/will be so much better that playing through the old game makes me laugh at how bad it is (at least compared to what I can do now). But to my surprise, I've had a pretty overwhelmingly positive response, and it was brought to my attention that a blurb for my game has even been posted on the English Otome Games Tumblr. Upon doing a search, I found a few other reviews for my game as well! It makes me happy to see that people like my game, but it definitely puts pressure on me to finish the remake, haha. I guess I better get on that, lest I incur the wrath of the fans...


In other news...
I've outlined every event for the first two weeks of the game (out of about two months) and am slowly starting to put "W.I.S.H" into Ren'py. So far, I've programmed all of the characters' sprites, including the main character's customizable sprite. I've decided to add multiple colors, but it's hard to find colors that go well with Seiko's sprite (I haven't added any for Ein yet). So...we'll see on that front.

I'm still waiting for the lineart for my title screen, but in the meantime, here is a scene from the prologue of the game:

"Look, there's a shooting star!" Well...there will be, once I add one.

I've also started work on a concept for a new game, this time an adult game catering to some certain fetishes. It is about an incubus/succubus (you can choose your gender) named Jade who has recently come of age and realizes that he/she needs to feed off of the sexual energy of others. But Jade can't just randomly walk up to people and say "Let's have sex;" that's just not his/her style. Instead, Jade must coerce them using other means...like manipulating their dreams, which may not always work out the way he/she wants. To make matters worse, Jade isn't the only sex demon around, and he/she soon finds out that when it comes to rivals, it's thrall or be enthralled! Can Jade navigate his/her life as a sex demon without pissing off friends and family or being made into some succubus' slave? We'll just have to find out. :D

Anyway, "Lustful," as it is tentatively called, may not be popular among my usual audience due to the content, but it's something I've wanted to do for a while (not necessarily with sex demons, though). It won't be nearly as plot-driven as "Memoirs" or "W.I.S.H," and will be mostly for fun. I've already commissioned sketches of the characters from Rai-Shi (Warning: NSFW), but will probably hold off on seriously working on it until I've made significant progress on "W.I.S.H."

That's all for this update. If you haven't already done so, please check out the "Memoirs of an Angel (2010)" thread. There is also a download link for the complete game on the left. If you like it, please be sure to let me know. :)