Also I’ve noticed I never actually gave feedback other than the AI stuff. I agree with most points. The game so far is charming, I like the comedy personally, the chase sequence was super fun. Overall, it’s really good! With lots of potential.
As a question, will the game feature female-content only? Or male kink content too?
Pretty good game I don’t have any problems with it due to it being short. I love the art can’t wait for more!
1 Like
The Art in this is fantastic. Wow.
you should probably scroll up a bit
@PancakesAndChill
I’m not into male weight gain or expansion stuff so I have no plans for it even though there isn’t really a good reason why it couldn’t happen. I know this is probably disappointing for people that are into male fetish content. I will say however that I’m weird and dislike when male characters are ignored and I appreciate a well-balanced cast. Not to give any false promises, but I’m not put off to the idea completely: I wouldn’t mind doing a mutual gain scenario (this isn’t planned currently).
@Geshoto & @kenzorth
Well, I’m glad you like the art because I’m about to remove most of it! Haha!
I’m going to replace all the AI-generated art even if some people think it looks good. If I wasn’t sharing this to the public and was just doing my own thing like I had been then I don’t think it would really matter, but since I am I think if I continue using this method I’m going to create a lot of drama and debate which isn’t something I foresaw or want.
The next build is going to replace this current one.
Considering that the aesthetic is pretty retro already with old references, I’ve decided to go with a pixelated style. I actually have some experience with pixel art so this is probably the correct path to take. And by some experience I mean it’s the only kind of art I’ve done in the past when I was like a teenager.
I plan on having:
- All AI-generated images will be replaced. I’ve done some of the portraits and I probably won’t have all the CGs redone for the next build just to save some time.
- Updated UI and Font. This is easy and will give it a more unique look.
- Finish Veska’s character sprite, it’s not finished.
- Fix the couple bugs that people have mentioned.
And hopefully so that this isn’t just a cleanup and bug-fix:
- A scene that was cut for time (a cutscene?) will be added, involving Cody.
- A couple preview scenes of the next episode.
Here’s an example screenshot that shows the new UI and art:
11 Likes
I fully support the art decision, I think it’s a step in the right direction.
Regarding the male content, understandable. I’m a bit saddened but should there be a mutual stuffing/wg scenario one day I’d def be interested.
3 Likes
Yoo, huge props for actually wanting to go through with your own art! As much as making AI art is easy, the precision and intent of an actual art is irreplacable. The expressions on the pic you posted add a lot to this scene already.
Also yay Cody lore!
3 Likes
Art Update:
- AI-generated images have been removed.
- All portraits/sprites have been redrawn or completed, a couple new ones were added.
- A couple new CGs were added, most are still WIP though.
- A new (short) scene was added to the main episode.
- A couple (short) preview scenes were added of the next episode.
File 20 has a save that’s at the end of the current episode if you want to skip to the preview, although this misses a couple new things.
I’ve mainly focused on redoing things. The preview of next episode is not final and subject to change. I just wanted to at least have a little something for returning people.
4 Likes
I’d stick with AI + add footstep sounds when leaving / entering areas + use this plugin for dialogue.
u could join the griimimic / some bullshit server too for epic RPG Maker tips & tricks
2 Likes
@Moinaushniki
I don’t see the point in AI art if I can’t get the results I want. I added sound effects for some of the stairs, but it isn’t really something I’ve bothered with. I would probably want to do door sounds in the future at least. I wouldn’t mind having dialogue blipping so I can consider that. Lastly, I’m already in that Discord but I don’t like using it so I usually lurk whenever I do (unless there’s an Archerquest test build >_>).
…
I’m going to sound like a blog now.
I guess it’s been a week since I did the hotfix update. I bumrush’d that one pretty hard to get it out as soon as possible. I don’t plan on having another build release until the next episode is fully playable. I think this will take awhile…I don’t expect to have something I’m happy with until after this year is over. For reference the current build took me over three months to finish. Initial concepts started in the middle of June and as you can see there wasn’t a release until the beginning of this month, and I still made a lot of shortcuts.
I enjoy going at a casual pace when I have free time. I might do one sprite on a given day, or an entire scene if I’m feeling motivated. I think because I have this sequence of scenes I want to make I can pick and choose whatever I feel most like doing at any moment instead of doing it in the same linear order you would see the game in.
Let me share a bit, here’s what I had for the Hogo-5 episode:
Summary
1. Intro (couple CGs)
2. Mira party - bridge and dekec fruit (CG to introduce characters)
3. Mira party - vine swing
4. Cody and Veska intro (CG to introduce characters)
5. Mira party - Approaching the Pac-Cave
6. Mira party - Exploring the Pac-Cave, falling into Pac-Depths
7. Cody speaks with Commander
8. Cody and Veska stuffing (highlight moment, a few CGs here)
9. Cody goes to the tower and back, Veska is gone (I was going to make a transceiver tower map with maybe more involvement, but decided to cut it out. The purpose was to show Cody was in fact wasting a lot of time to do this, which I hope is still clear even if it’s less convincing. I also played with the idea of Cody getting in a wild goose chase with the Frog where he is unable to catch it for awhile, but decided to cut that as well.)
10. Mira party - Defeating the Pac-Monster (really wanted to have a music montage somewhere, the pac-man idea was first and the song came second. In other words, I didn’t do a pac-man thing because of the song itself. This part was very time-consuming and also hopefully the funniest part.)
11. Mira party - Escaping the Pac-Depths and rescuing Veska
12. Mira party - Taking a rest with Veska, catching up on things
13. Climax Confrontation between the main gang and Cody (very serious scene, want at least one CG with everyone)
14. Epilogue with The Question
This is a summary of the events with some general comments, some of it isn’t true but whatever. I won’t share the next episode summary, but I also expect it to be 14-15 scenes. The scenes I make seem to be around 2 minutes on average, but this varies. Veeery roughly I would say each 2 minutes of playtime takes me about 1 week in real life. Although once I have a map done and all the art I need for a scene I can pump out the script pretty fast.
Okay that’s enough nitty-gritty stuff, let’s discuss the plan for next build.
My plan for the next build:
- New title screen art with a proper title (It’s probably going to be The Abugida Effect which I don’t think needs to be spoiled but it’s funny so).
- Finalize the Hogo-5 episode, currently it’s missing some CGs that I gutted out. I think after some small changes I’m not touching this episode again (unless I retcon plot elements to cover my ass).
- The entire next episode. I want each episode to be about 30 minutes and have a clear beginning, middle, and conclusion while still having an overarching story. The goal is to have clear dividing points in the narrative, and give the reader convenient stopping points where they can resume later. Ideally, in the future, when there’s many episodes this will matter more. Also, I don’t want to release an episode until it’s finished. Reading half of an episode would not be satisfying…I included brief preview scenes in the hotfix art update because I wanted there to be at least something more.
I think realistically a release could happen in January or February, although I’m not promising anything. I’m also looking forward to some game releases myself later this year and in January so that may hurt my productivity, hehe…
That’s about it. I’ve been trying to practice my pixel art. I’ve been using PaintNet for years as a general utility software, so that’s what I’ve been using to make the pixel art myself. However, someone I know that does pixel art uses GraphicsGale and it seems like a better software, although I have almost no experience using GraphicsGale so we’ll have to see.
Finally, how about some crappy previews? I’ll spoil all of these as well.
4 Likes
I’m not sure how open I should be with development since seeing everything new for the first time is definitely more exciting. I think I will share non-story related content when I feel it’s substantial enough progress because it’s completely up to someone whether they want to read my progress or not before playing. What this also means is that if you don’t hear anything from me it’s because I’m doing purely story stuff or jack shit.
Anyway, first let’s talk about video game intros. Specifically, let’s talk about Genesis/Mega Drive intros. Some of my personal favorites includes Gleylancer, Mega Turrican, and Star Cruiser. Gleylancer has extremely impressive character art and animations. Mega Turrican has…hilarious character art that I honestly like a lot still. Star Cruiser has very impressive 3D models of the stars and ship. And of course, all three games have great soundtracks that I’ve pulled from. There’s many other game openings I like, but let’s leave it at these three.
I would like to have a title sequence in the same style as Gleylancer or Mega Turrican, although it would be a difficult endeavor and I’m not sure how you would allow the player to skip the intro if they just want to go straight to the title screen. Maybe I could have a cutscene sequence after a New Game in this case that the player could skip beforehand. Star Cruiser on the other hand has a simple opening besides the 3D effects. So I decided to recreate that intro for this game and I’m pretty happy with the result. In the future I would like to utilize the rough draft I have drawn up in the previous post, because I would want a title sequence with characters in it, however for now I am happy with this generic space intro sequence that shows off the actual title of this game: The Abugida Effect!
Moving on, I’ve mainly been doing art this week. I have touched up existing portraits, created new portraits, and completely redrew Phil because he looked like shit compared to everyone else. I’m happy how much better the first person I drew looks now compared to a few weeks ago. I’ve updated the character sprites so they match better and start looking less like bad Phantasy Star edits. I also tried drawing tilesets for Hogo-5 and they look…okay. It’s a ton of work making tilesets for everything though so it’s probably one of the last things I want to do. It’s a lot easier to just take existing tilesets and modify them for now. As a “final” release I would not want a single stock asset to be here, whether it’s my art or not I don’t want any stock RPGMaker art in this.
I’ve made rough maps inside of the UG Rhea for the next episode. It’s a bit drab I need to figure out how to make it look more pleasing than “grey rooms”. In addition, I need to draw a proper exterior shot of the ship so people know what it even looks like. I also want to create a map screen so people know how the hell to get around without getting lost. Although I probably won’t give player free reign of movement in this episode as it’s already ambitious enough.
Speaking of ambitious, not counting the characters introduced in the very short preview there’s still…finger counting nine more characters that will be appearing. I’ve drawn early portraits for two of them so far. One of them is in the video I will be uploading. I’ve also made generic art for crew members that have blue or pink silhouettes. I could have them drawn in and look as generic as possible with shaded out eyes or something, but I like this for now. I need to show some liveliness onboard. I’ll probably need to retroactively add in characters into generic slots in the future too, but whatever.
Lastly, I have an idea for a minigame. It would require a bit of work, but it would be exciting to do. I’m hoping I can implement what I’m thinking, it would require some practicing. I’m going to leave what it is as a surprise. Otherwise, the general outline of the next episode is set. It will have at least one fetish scene which is an important goal of each update. I have an idea for a second one, although I’m probably cutting it.
Here’s a video demo that shows the new title sequence and some of the updated character sprites/portraits:
4 Likes
It’s me again with another weekly report. I’ve actually been focusing on this quite a bit when I’m not playing The Talos Principle 2 (by some sheer coincidence there’s a Miranda in that too) so progress has felt a lot faster than when I started the first build. I tied all the new scenes together today to see how long the current script is at a normal pace and it’s already 17 minutes long. My best estimate is that I’m 40% done with the script so the next episode will probably be around 40 minutes if I don’t cut anything. This progress is very misleading though because almost all of the new art is missing or placeholders.
To summarize (in order of completion):
- The outline was finalized last week. This is just a rough summary though and basically bullet points I’m following with some flex room.
- Most of the new maps are done. I’m only missing two or three. They’re using default RPGMaker tiles, I would like to redraw them in the future. I am planning to redraw all the Hogo-5 tiles at least because there’s not that much. I did some of it last week, but didn’t share what it looked like. I guess I can do that.
- Less than half of the actual script is finished, this includes dialogue as well as any RPGMaker shenanigans. I’m definitely leaving the hardest stuff for last again so…
- Probably less than 15% of the new art is completed, if that. This will probably be the second last thing I finish and also be the largest effort.
- Still debating whether to try to have the minigame or not. I’m leaving it as the very last thing so I can just cut it if I’m not feeling it.
The only new in-game art I’ve done since last week are two CGs and some rough portrait drafts for some of the new characters. The CGs are one for a sexy scene (navels are hot) and one for a comedy scene. Neither CG is chibi or SD art. I spent a lot more time on them, as practice for lighting/shading. I think I’ve spent the most time I’ve spent on a single piece of art on the sexy one so far. I’m not sharing either because I want them first seen in the game. I’m probably not sharing any more CGs until the next build is out.
Something I really want to do is unify the…uniforms. Currently, the crews outfits are a bit slapdash because the party that traveled outside were wearing their spacesuits, but inside the ship there’s proper uniforms. What this means is I need to draw indoor portraits for most of the existing characters because they wouldn’t be wearing the spacesuits while in the ship. I could just ignore it for now, but it’s been bothering me and something I want to address. For new characters it’s not a problem since I don’t need to give them two outfits (for now).
Here’s what the shoddy tilesets I made last week look like:
Here’s an example of what Miranda’s indoor outfit would look like (I did this as more practice, this graphic won’t be in the actual game):
11 Likes
this looks pretty interesting!
@Lundar
Thanks. I hope it’s pretty interesting.
I haven’t said anything because there hasn’t been anything I want to share. I was thinking about posting weekly, but the first and second week both came and I was like “there’s nothing I want to share” so it would just be a pointless fluff post which I’m not a fan of.
A few days ago I uploaded a minor update that finalizes more things in the Hogo-5 episode and adds in the new title. I want to drop the Hogo-5 subtitle in the future I’m just leaving it on for now so people are aware it’s the same game.
As for the Ruby episode, I’ve surprisingly done a lot:
- All the maps are done. I want to make custom tilesets I’m happy with at some point, but that feels like probably a 1.0 final release thing.
- The script is nearly finished. It’s like 90% done I’m in the fine-tuning stage. It’s around 30-40 minutes long so my rough estimate was fairly accurate.
- I did a lot more of the art. Portraits are done for a lot of the new characters. There’s a couple I still need to do, but not a lot. There’s three or four CGs left I want to make and about four characters need in-game sprites. I sort of cut one of the new characters out, but I put a new one in that doesn’t require anything except portrait art right now. I’m at least 50% done with the art, if not 60%.
- I’m probably going to ditch the minigame idea for now. It’s not fetish-related and this episode is already more of an intermission so I think that kind of excitement is unnecessary.
I said before I probably wouldn’t be happy with a release until next year, as in January or February. However, I think I could actually have something decent in December. I’m not going to give a hard date but I’m pretty confident I could have a playable build soon. I was really slow making the Hogo-5 episode, but I’ve been motivated lately and have more experience now than “literally no experience”.
Here’s a sneak peak of the bridge with the Admiral doing the cool eye thing:
10 Likes
Just played throught the game with the new update and I must say I really like the art. Imo it’s fine to use ai, but the original art always add more soul to the game. Also I’m all for waiting a bit longer to get a better update. If the development is going good then fine, but there’s no need to rush anything.
@ejkda3
I still think it’s funny you joined the forum just so you could post in this thread literally hours after I made it.
I redid a certain shady Commander’s portraits yesterday since they’ve been untouched the entire time and looked pretty poor. I would probably share one but I’m not at home.
Side observation: Last week I saw the Scott Pilgrim video game for the first time and thought “man the pixel art in this is really crisp”. That’s what we need, goofy ass space drama with nice style.
2 Likes
Surprise, it’s the next episode.
Growing Ruby Update:
- I’ve added the next episode to the game.
- That’s it.
- Okay really, some graphics are still WIP and I might flesh out scenes a little more in the future.
File 20 has a save that’s at the start of the next episode.
Sorry if some details in the update are vague: For one thing I don’t want episodes to be too long, and for the other thing I don’t want to “lock-in” plot details when I’m not confident in them. I’m surprised I haven’t massively retcon’d anything yet.
I’ll probably add a little more to this episode before doing another one, but I was looking at my work schedule for this month and man there are a lot of deadlines when the end of the year comes around. I got everything pretty finalized tonight and I’m happy enough with the result so I think it’s worth releasing now.
I already have a rough idea of what I want the next episode to be, although that will only be half of it, maybe I can split it into two parts. I don’t know. It’s not something I’m thinking about focusing on right now.
As for THIS episode itself, fetish content includes some belly stuffing (including burping), minor weight gain(!), and minor inflation(!). I acknowledge it’s not a huge amount, however hopefully that’s okay.
What questions will be answered? Will the mysteries ever unravel, or will more fall into its place?
6 Likes
This is a good game I like it.
@Bob_Bryggs:
Thanks.
…
I had some free time recently, so I’ve made a little update:
-
Added an episode select when you start a new game. This way I don’t need to include a save file each time, and also puts the building blocks in for an eventual Episode 1. I haven’t been designing this game to handle transferring saves very well, so I think this is the best solution…just give you a way to jump anywhere in the story.
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Improved the appearance of some of the older character sprites, mainly got sick of looking at the Chaz bowlcut for James.
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Added a scene to the Ruby episode that I wanted to include before, introduces a new character(!) that may do things next episode, and some lore.
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Very short preview of the next episode. I have more actually written with the script and maps completed, but the graphics are not finished.
It’s probably annoying to see new content inside of existing episodes, but everything is really WIP. The shortness of an episode hopefully alleviates that.
The overall outline for the next episode is basically complete, although I don’t know when I’ll do all of it.
3 Likes
I’m finally working through my backlog of “I swear I’ll play this soon” games after weeks of procrastinating (oh no, a slew of games to play over the holidays, however will I cope?), decided to start from the beginning to see the new artwork. Gotta say this game is looking great, I love all the different expressions you’ve given each character and how unique they all feel from each other.
I don’t think I noticed it before, but the music choices and sound effects are amazing. I always enjoy seeing songs pulled from multiple sources blending so well together, and each one fits the context it’s played in beautifully. I’m currently only (what I assume to be) halfway through the 2nd (technically 3rd?) episode, but I’m looking forward to completing that soon.
That naming scheme may get a little confusing, maybe roll them all back and have the first one be a prologue/episode 0? Only other suggestion I have is to add a sound clip/jingle to the start and end of each episode, it would sell the whole episodic release theme a bit better imo.
Some typos I found while playing
I see what this is
I’m not supposed to
does as she’s told
entire feeding session
who you even were, Veska, after the kidnapping
skipped by it too quickly but the text before this should be “should have”, not “should of”
Mira is quite athletic, and, being part of the combat team, trains in CQC as well (I’m a stickler for the correct use of a comma). The second sentence also doesn’t make much sense to me. Is it meant to be referring to the accompanying image, in which case it should be Riley instead of Cody? Or is it referring to her CQC training, in which case what was she shook up about?
Minor issue, but Mira’s front sprite makes it look like she has a massive goofy smile the entire time which, while certainly in character, does look a bit out of place when compared to everyone else.
1 Like