Most backgrounds are finished and I only have 6 more to make in Home Design 3D.
Story paths are currently being written and worked on as I aim for 12 different endings if possible.
All androids have been given names and stories, I’m still working on personality potential for them all too. Human side characters are still being sussed out and written in order to fit story paths, this will include a colleague, a living relative, an old friend and a boss.
Artwork on characters yet again will begin soon and Robert will be first revealed character when he is done.
That was this update and I hope you guys stay tuned for more
All current backgrounds are completed and I shall be sorting out the background resources very soon.
Story paths are currently being worked on.
Artwork assets are to begin soon and reveals will happen soon as some artwork for the game is done.
I am also in process of hunting down appropriate music for the settings and am realistically trying to get some royalty free music for chilling in Roberts apartment.
Wasn’t a lot to update but the game is slowly coming together and I am still looking at a playable early release in May 2022. stay tuned guys
It’s been a long time since the last update but it’s about time I let you guys know why the Project has recently been on a massive hiatus as well as the current progress.
Story
The story of the game has received a re-write twice in the last year to the extent I had to scrap an entire test story after a proof reader described it as uninspired and cliché in it’s story telling as well as the original ending being too happily ever after to be taken seriously as a story. After getting this feedback I immediately scrapped the entire script as took another 2 months to write the entire re-write to which I didn’t like it after reading it back aloud. Currently the Story is yet again undergoing a re-write but it’s more to tweaking story rather than total overhaul but I promise it’ll be a lot better than I originally wrote.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds are done and are ready to go, all backgrounds are still made using home designer 3D tool which may be basic in design but is a good tool when concepting backgrounds, I shall also be using this tool when designing 2D rooms in future projects too by use of drawing over the screenshots.
Sound Design
Recently a VN I recently released called Melt Their Hearts really pushed me to be more efficient when selecting background music to suit the mood of a scene, a lot of music I have been using recently is royalty free and will be credited and link in both credits and itch page. I’ll keep music selection secret until release and am currently gathering background ambiance for non-music background sounds.
Characters
Robert is still the main character for the VN and he will only have one android in the story but will come across others throughout the story. I wish to spoil potential characters and encounters with overly detailing the other characters but stay tuned.
Reasons for hiatus
Ok, now I need to address the biggest reason for the hiatus on the project.
During the previous update last March I was more than confident to be able to get the VN released by May but as you can tell that didn’t happen and here’s why.
I made the decision that all the characters should be 3D rather than 2D in order to fit the backgrounds, I don’t know how to model 3D characters so I scouted Fiverr for someone who could, After much decision making I settled on a 3D character designer who had an extensive portfolio and a good reputation so I went to them. I commissioned all 8 characters with emotions and expressions and they told me the work can be done no problem, I handed over $1400 and waited. After 2 months went by with no update I messaged the designer and they responded saying they hadn’t gotten around to the work despite our agreed time limit, Thinking that the designer probably had other clients I cut them some slack and waited a little longer to at which point I had missed the May release I had personally set myself and going into June I messaged them again and they said they had started the first image, another month later and I got an Android render that did not meet the standard I had expected and was understandably annoyed. I requested a refund and before Fiverr could process it the designer had deleted their account and I had no way of contacting them which left me $1400 out of pocket. Safe to say after this incident I lost motivation for the project and put it on the backburner for a while.
What’s next?
My next step is to find a 3D character artist in the community to make the characters and hopefully be able to start work after 18 months of just spit balling ideas. The project is now going to be a VN story rather than a game as it plays into my ability to write and will be released when it’s fully written.
Final thoughts
Again I apologise for the delays and I will get the VN out without rushing it as soon as I can, I do plan working on other projects at the same time but none are to the scale of Project Android. I don’t want to follow the modern indie industry trend of launching in parts and I’d rather release the whole work once it is completed in order to give people the full experience without having to pay multiple times for chapters or suffer Yandere Simulator style feature creep, that being said I plan that the VN will cost roughly $5 on launch and will have a minimum read time of 10 hours.
I hope you guys have a good day and I look forward to the VN progress in due time.
