Visual Novel Dev log # 2

lots of ocean in these fish

Previous month's dev log / Next month’s dev log

curiosity as a survival mechanismThis is the second dev log for the visual novel project

I have started putting a minimal version of the game together now with rough assets, like a storyboard - and I have an idea about the story and pacing now.

However, for the most part, this month has been filled with learning how to do things that I didn’t know how to do before.

I don’t want to spoil the story or the game too much in these dev logs

- Which makes it a bit paradoxical to write these

- As if, I have to paint a picture in your heads of a thing behind a curtain.

- Trust me, it’s totally there, there will be a game behind this curtain in 3 to 5 months

your presentation will be perfect

Environment

I don’t want the environment to be the focus of the game, but I still want it to be thought out - like building a little stage to dance on. I already knew the general tone, etc., and what sort of real world places inspired me - so much of the work was just mapping it out and thinking more concretely.

It is also a little hard to write too much about it here without spoiling the story.

1. It’s supposed to be a place that ‘just is’ to the people who live there

2. Everything is a dark pink

3. It is vaguely based on a school + hospital + office building

4. It produces certain kinds of people

5. There is both a computer room and a meeting room

6. There is a nurse on the downstairs floor

this is where they live - there are two floors on the sourthern side and the rest is on top of a small hill

I also made a rough floor plan. I’ve never really done that before, but it helped me imagine the space etc. - I don’t know if it’s that helpful for a VN game though:

Her bedroom

I’ve also started doing more reading than usual - to make the presentations in the game

1. This is so fun, it’s like preparing to give talks in university - except, here there are no philosophy students (including myself) - thank God.

2. Talking about the topics might both be boxing myself in, and I also don’t want to spoil it.

3. I have a strong preference for non-fiction. I think that the "real world" and our disgusting explanations of it are where some of the most unhinged and powerful stories happen.

4. It’s fun to think about what kind of slides the various characters would make.

5. I got the idea for the game when I was sitting on the bus, going home last February. I thought of a kind of talk that I really wanted to give. However, it seemed a little out of place for everywhere that I knew of where I could be allowed to give a talk.

I also did these drawings, just for fun - I want some of the game to feel like this:

this kind of vividness

the light in the upper right hand corner

I’ve been thinking about putting a version of her in the game where she is old and working herself to death.

Voices without vocal chords

I’ve started working a bit more with the voices as well - I still haven’t found the perfect vocaloids for it.

I’ve been trying to put them through this drum modeling synth called visco, because it’s fun and I like how much you can change the generated sounds.

I really like that you can speed them down without losing the pitch - you can get this sort of effect that’s similar to the one in last month’s post:

You can also combine completely different sound models - so in theory, I could pick multiple vocaloids and try to blend their models.

The only problem so far, is that visco is a drum modeling kit, so it does not seem like you can load in very long samples. You can absolutely get around this by splitting samples into small pieces and putting them together later.

Like with this voicevox sample:

Becomes:

And, I suppose that the bonus that you get for doing all of that is individual control of the different pieces.

Now, this is the part where you say that it seems very long and convoluted process to make some ghostly voices that can barely be understood.

And, there are probably more economic ways to do this - but the problem is that I like this and I like how it sounds. Wouldn’t it be kind of cute if the whole game had voices like that?

I think most of all I am excited about how much I can mess with it later. The prospect of blending things that do not normally go together is just a thrill.

Also it sounds so violent when you put a whole song in there:

Lastly, I would like to say: thank you for all of the encouragement that I have recieved after the post last month

I was a little surprised,

It really does help,

thank you

So, please check in on me again on the 10th next month╰( ´ ︶ ` )╯

I should have fully finished writing the story and made a bunch of final assets by then

About the Author

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Hello anonymous,

Thank you for reading my dev log post!

It’s spring in Denmark and I got a sunburn from going outside for the first time in a week

Please take care anonymous, and remember to breath the air