4/23
It is finished.... Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, especially considering it's the first game I've ever made. It's probably a lot more polished than most people's first games tbh. Should be released sometime in May, following the fic it's based on.

4/4
The main game is done! :D ... For the most part, lol. I'm sure I'll tinker with things, and the menus need some sprucing up. The only remaining part is the epilogue. I'm taking a one-week break from coding/art/writing, and I'll pick this back up next week and finish it up.

3/28
More background art and scene work! Level 1 is done (I'm sure I'll find things to tweak though). Level 2 is mostly fully scripted; I'll go back and tweak sounds, timing, etc. The remaining assets for level 2 are mostly scenes/illustrations. Only a few to go, and then I'll patch Level 3 together with the battle I've already scripted and the remainder of the story. Then there will be an epilogue with all new assets/character sprites because timeskip. =____= But I should be able to make the May release date, barring any IRL emergencies.

3/21
Filling in the unfinished assets for Level 1. Most of them are full illustrations, so my output has slowed down. x___x But I managed to finally get a design on paper for the monster. Tweaked some parts of the narrative and added some things. Also added a choice menu to Level 0 for a little more interactivity.

3/16
Completed some more character assets (6). Level 0 is mostly finished, save for some nitpicky transition adjustments. Onward to filling in the gaps of Level 1!

It's really exciting to see this thing come together. I've wanted to do a VN/Kinetic Novel for a long time, but was too intimidated by the amount of artwork and programming I would need to do. But the programming is fun! Like solving a puzzle, and the art workload isn't so bad if I take it piece by piece, instead of looking at the big picture.

3/14
did lots of asset art over the weekend! 7 backgrounds (!!!!), 8 character models, and one illustrated scene (almost) done :DDDD still tons more to do, but it's fun to see this come together :D hopefully I can finish it all in time to post the VN for a fandom event in May ^__^

3/13
Did I actually manage to code the battle scene in less than eight hours???

Y E A H

Granted, it's not much of a battle, since there's no interactivity beyond clicking through dialogue (and a fun "can't escape!" text box if you click on "RUN" in the menu). I still need to make character sprites, but most of the interface, music, and sounds are in place.

Also I want to figure out how to overlay attack effects over the sprites? But even if I don't, it's still serviceable enough to be a decent Pokemon-style battle for the lulz.

I think I'll go back and add more narrative inbetween the attack commands later. I just wanted to get this one out of the way, since it felt like the most daunting coding task I had.

Time to work on artwork assets! Later though, it's almost 7 am T__T

3/12
Fun Things I Accomplished Tonight:

added some sound effects and special music to the reoccurring spoopy level

got the glitch effect working on characters and scenes! :D

ended chapter 2!!!! 2 more to go!!!

it doesn't feel like i accomplished much tonight except i finished a whole (long) chapter??

maybe im just tired tonight but im feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the dang assets i have to draw =____= not so much the character models, but the backgrounds... if anyone knows where to find good hi-res anime/cartoon background assets, lmk.

3/10
so i randomly decided to turn one of my short(er) WIPs into a visual kinetic novel....

also i've never made a game before or completed a narrative comic.

so this should be totally doable /s

posting here to keep myself accountable, as well as offer progress screenshots/updates if anyone's interested! it's mostly a project For Me, since mine will be the first visual novel for the fandom (that I know about???? but probably)

i'm teaching myself how to use Ren'Py along the way... tips and tricks are very much welcomed since i'm baby coder

right now i'm using placeholder assets as i go, and when it's "done" i'll go back and draw them later.

Fun Things I've Already Taught Myself Through Google Searches:

changing the font for the character names

adding menu music and changing the main menu background

commenting out assets i haven't yet made and characters who don't exist in the script yet (ex. character A doesn't have a 'blush' or 'smile' image yet but we're declaring them anyway)

NVL mode with custom font for a epistolary portion of the story

Fun Things I Plan to Add:

a Pokemon-style "final battle" with pixel graphics and an 8-bit theme (after looking into how difficult implementing an actual battle system would be, I decided to keep the kinetic storytelling and just use sprite graphics and 8-bit music to tell the story during the final battle?? so the fight isn't really "playable", you're just clicking on things to keep the story going)

maybe glitchy transitions for when the monster appears?

sound effects... maybe??? idk if it really needs them, except for the liminal space sections

at some point i have to actually design the stupid monster i made up and i'm angry about it because i'm terrible at creature design

what do y'all enjoy in visual novels? keep in mind this one doesn't have story branches or anything really playable, so it's really just visual storytelling with limited interactivity. but if there are things that improve your experience as a reader/player, let me know!