VN Ren'Py Newbie nobody? Nobewbie? (・ε・) 。。。 Wassup!

Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 18, 2019

Wassup dudes and dudettes!

Thanks for coming in! I hope y'all are doing good today.

Well, I'm BeeBeeS (B-Bs? B-B-S? It's up to you how you want to say it) and I have an infatuation with setting up scenes and taking pictures! A little bit of history is that I used to do a lot of Show your Skyrim Counterpart pics over at the LoversLab, but I decided it was time to move on... (Sadly, I can't show any of them because they've been deleted...) I suppose one of my biggest strengths (and weaknesses) is attention to detail.
I like creating, so I told myself, "I will create a visual novel." - and that's where i'm at - also I have to give credit to the many of the creators on this forum for being a huge inspiration. So far, I've been having a lot of fun learning how to work with my new toolkit and it's inspiring to see my work come to life as I continue my journey.

So if you haven't left this page already I guess you deserve some (semi-obscure, purposely hidden) details of my current project!
Or you can just look at the pictures and guess what kind of quality I'm aiming for.

Planned things so far...
Genre:

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What to expect and my thoughts:

- I'm a native English speaker so if you catch any grammar issues... I'll probably just die of embarrassment or something.

(I'm constantly proofreading the script, reading the code, and testing the game to ensure there are no errors and to make sure the story still makes sense)

- Its a Sci-Fi Visual Novel (VN) that takes place in... the 'real world' AND... 'another world'?
- Visual Novel will be referred to as VN.

- I'm using RenPy because it is easy to work with for a newb like me - RenPy also works well and it's been easy learning to code with it

.

- I'm using Koikatu/Koikatsu/CharaStudio for renders (because I like the graphics/characters/possibilities/complete freedom). - Also, the graphics fit extremely well for the setting/plot.

- I have a story laid out pretty well, so I'm settling with a kinetic VN.
- My reasoning for going with a kinetic VN is that it is easier and I will be creating hand-creating maps/poses/etc.. I would also like for the players to see all the content in one playthrough rather than starting the game over and skipping the game until the player finds that missing scene. Kinetic VNs would also be an easier workload for me as well. Overall, different choices means different dialogue and the same outcome. I'd rather have good character development than scenes that happen for no good reason.
- I'm a romantic so I'd want to have a nice story above all. (Any game recommendations?)

- There will be videos and animations (I have been practicing splicing, looping, etc.). - Since Koikatu/Koikatsu/CharaStudio has a limited range of phonemes and expressions, so I thought of the idea to make it more lifelike by creating videos for (maybe just important?) dialogue scenes with mouth animations. I would need feedback on the best transitions when I create some samples.
- Note: A phoneme is any of the distinct sounds for a word such as Aah, BigAah, BMP, DST, Eee, Eh, Oh, R, W, etc..
- Note: We'll see how much the workload is when I've chosen a good speaking animation. The one's that match word for word haven't been too bad, but we'll look at it later...

- Scenes will have first person PoV and third person.
- Note: PoV stands for Point of View.

So... yeah, the concept art and WIP stuff...
All pictures shown were made in Koikatu/Koikatsu/CharaStudio without any editing/shopping. I think the pics show some of the capability Illusion games can offer!
- Note: WIP stands for Work In Progress.

First up! Some simple splashes displaying some of the potential models of the game. I can honestly get stuck creating and designing characters all day! However, I've decided to showcase some of my favorites to show some diversity in character design.

Without further ado - enjoy the showcase!

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And some WIP stuff... It will look completely different once it's finished.

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Uhh... Sorry about putting everything inside spoilers (old habit). I hope you enjoyed reading my introduction post / I guess it turned into a blog / teaser of my project! I don't think much was revealed besides concept art, the endless possibilities of scenes/character, some of my plans, and quality to expect. I'm also open to feedback or tips on just about anything and everything.
As you can see, I am very excited working with this project. I've had the more and more motivation and excitement as I get better and learn new things! I think Koikatu/Koikatsu/CharaStudio has a ton of potential if you're willing to put in the time and effort!

See something wrong? Give me some feedback!
Have a favorite picture or splash? Please let me know!

And ESPECIALLY thanks for coming in to say hi and i'm very excited to be a part of this community!

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BeeBeeS

End

u z i · Dec 18, 2019

BeeBeeS said:
Or you can just look at the pictures and guess what kind of quality I'm aiming for.

...you got me XD but i did read the rest of it after looking at the images

BeeBeeS said:
My reasoning for going with a kinetic VN is that it is easier and I will be creating hand-creating maps/poses/etc.. I would also like for the players to see all the content in one playthrough rather than starting the game over and skipping the game until the player finds that missing scene. Kinetic VNs would also be an easier workload for me as well. Overall, different choices means different dialogue and the same outcome. I'd rather have good character development than scenes that happen for no good reason.

i hate it when in VNs you make the "wrong" choices and miss out on some scenes. i don't like using walkthroughs as well. so this gets a huge thumbs up for from me

overall this looks really exciting. all the best for your project and welcome to the forum

Malonsmilk · Dec 18, 2019

This sounds nice and it looks like you've already got a plan for it. Can't wait to see what this turns into

Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 18, 2019

u z i 3 8 5 4 said:
...you got me XD but i did read the rest of it after looking at the images

i hate it when in VNs you make the "wrong" choices and miss out on some scenes. i don't like using walkthroughs as well. so this gets a huge thumbs up for from me

overall this looks really exciting. all the best for your project and welcome to the forum

Yo yo!

It's nice to meet you u z i 3 8 5 4 and thanks for the extra motivation!

It means a lot. A real lot. I mean it!

I do the exact same thing when looking at previews, so I thought I could relate to someone!

Anyways...

I completely agree with you about walkthroughs. Having walkthroughs is like those books... I forget what they're called, I'll just dub it "Adventure books"

! Anyways, those "Adventure Books" where they give you two options, A (Skip to Page 84) and B (Skip to Page 53), and if you do option A you're lead astray and end up dying in a riot by bleeding out from being stabbed in the chest by a pitchfork by a no-name person...
Option B though you end up living in a completely different scenario with another set of options...
The same context can be applied to video games.

My opinion is that walkthroughs tend to devalue those "Adventure Books"/games, so I'm just creating the VN to suit my taste! It's a personal project after all.

Malonsmilk said:
This sounds nice and it looks like you've already got a plan for it. Can't wait to see what this turns into

Thank you for the kind words Malonsmilk! I'm glad to have your support! I'm very excited to see my development journey as I come back and post updates. I'll update everyone as much as possible!

Of course, I just said I would update everyone as much as possible so:

Right now, I'm just creating some opening animations where the characters just say something real quick and then it takes you to the title screen... Some of the videos had already been finished before this post and it looks, plays, and sounds nice with the sound I chose

, but... I may need to go back and change/tweak it if I get enough opinions on changing the dialogue animations (because consistency!).

Also I need to redo some of the videos because I...sort of..kinda..you know those before and after shots? I did those before I did this post!

And...

Yeah, the dialogue sampling. We'll just have to see. I'll post some samples of different dialogue animations and we can do some "think tank" on it soon! I swear!

Also I just learned I can blend animations together using the IK function in CharaStudio (like one idle + another idle animation), I don't know how I didn't stumble upon this earlier! It'll be fun looking at all the possibilities!
- Note: If the neck looks funky, try messing with the Head Operation/Neck Control. My best results are just to have the option on 'Follow', use the camera to adjust the neck, then use the 'Fixed' option.

Here's some examples and a small walkthrough - If I forget I can come back and use this thread

:

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These are just some of my thoughts and what I'm currently working on.

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Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 19, 2019

Wassup, so I'm back with another update.

Yeah, I know. "Already?"

Check it.

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So I manually added shadows, added some doohickies because the room felt and looked pretty basic. Also updated the lights to fit the theme of the place. (I know, I haven't told you about it.) It's a huge improvement.

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I don't know how often I'll do updates, but I'm thinking of just doing it when something happens or when I get excited about something (of course without spoiling anything)!

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Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 21, 2019

Sup dudes,

I'm back with another update. It's a small update, but it takes time to execute a vision.

Anyways, its just finished another map. This was how one of the important rooms looked when I finished the last update.

Check it.

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Now the overhaul.

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Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 22, 2019

Check it.

Another day, another room finished. This one was kind of a rough one to make because it's a decent sized room.
I took some screenshots of the creation process, but I got carried away and forgot doing them halfway through.
You can take a pretty solid guess at what's going on with my thought process as I walk you through and explain.

Also, I only need to complete the entrance now. I have some ideas on how I want it to look, then this very important map can finally be completed.

Here's the base room:

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Figuring out how to fill in space - with good reasons.

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So I then started making the room a bit darker using some transparent objects.
- Note: I had one of them visions after taking this next shot.

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I kind of got carried away here and forgot taking screenshots, so I'll explain what I did.

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I said screw it, let's just worry about the roadblock later

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All I wanted is a leather wall, just one leather wall. And she wouldn't give it to me.
None of the options were working. So I just settled for the next thing that worked...
Oh yeah, and I finished the map in these pictures because I got even more carried away, sorry!

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I took pics of some other angles (there's five pictures in the spoiler). It honestly looks pretty nice when you're viewing it from a normal height.

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"Colored Shadows" on top of objects on top of "Circle Shadows" on top of objects.
It may not look the best when you're viewing it from the sky, but the setup for scenes is amazing!

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Three rooms are finished. Now I have to do the entrance and we're done with this map.

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Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 22, 2019

Don't think i'm just messing around making pictures! I am definitely working on RenPy! But for this post, we're talking about the videos I said all the way back in post 1. (Videos, yay!)

So I have some things that I'm looking at for the current build and I'm thinking of just straight up overhauling it (some of them do need it because of character redesigns).

Introductions leave a strong impression, so I'd like this to be nice.
The intro is roughly 1300 renders smacked into a 27 second .webm. (3.22 MB)
I think it came out alright, but I am a noob and all of this was made inside Koikatu.
The glaring issue I see is that janky angle towards the end of the video.
It runs perfectly well in Renpy as well as the transition to the next .webm.

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So, here's some ideas I have of overhauling the intro.
First of all, I'm thinking of having the MC on the scene. I'm also thinking of doubling the amount of renders (mainly because of the red rays, the moving circles and green arrows).
Doubling the render will allow those animations to look much more crisp. You can notice some of the issues with the green arrows as it looks like it's lagging (it isn't though). So I'm thinking of reducing the amount of arrows and making it larger.

Here's some examples to help you understand my vision.
I'll be separating them into more spoilers by image sequence.

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It introduces the MC earlier, so that's a good thing.
Think the first idea was better? Just tell me and save me some work!

The next preview I mentioned in post 1.
If you wanted to take a look at it.

BeeBeeS said:
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And here it is. The actual video. This happens after the first animation/welcome sequence that you saw earlier:

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Since I always end with a character shot. Here's my startup sequence for the game. I have to redo some of them due to new design/character changes.

When you startup the game there is a chance to get one of these welcoming animations. (Be warned, old character designs.)
(Also dialogue animations)...

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More in the next post...

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Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 22, 2019

Continuation of the last post...

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After 7 seconds (or you can click early), it'll fade into the Title Screen.
I'm thinking of going with a more simple title screen, but this is what it is at the moment.
Of course, these are the old character designs

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If you have any questions, i'd be happy to answer to the best of my knowledge.
Any feedback is appreciated as well!

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Zachy · Dec 23, 2019

Hey there, welcome to the rice fields!

Your work is amazing so far, but I think you should create a post in the Programming, Development & Art sub-forum, or maybe even the General Discussions one.
That way, you'll get a lot more of feedback and hype on your project.

Good luck!

Deleted member 1866322 · Dec 24, 2019

Zachy said:
Hey there, welcome to the rice fields!

Your work is amazing so far, but I think you should create a post in the Programming, Development & Art sub-forum, or maybe even the General Discussions one.
That way, you'll get a lot more of feedback and hype on your project.

Good luck!

Thank you for the warm greeting. Your kind words made me happy!

And creating a post in another forum:

(・ε・) 。。。

Deleted member 1866322 · Jan 5, 2020

Last update in this thread before I open an official thread in the GD with all the reveals: official title, story preview, some dialogue/personality previews, and the main characters + names I picked out! Kinda scared, pretty nervous - very excited!
I'll open the floodgates and you can bash me for being an awful person, dev, etc. for ruining what little there was here... in a couple of days! And I mean it. If something sucks I definitely want to hear it. I'm having fun doing this and I could be blinded by how much fun i'm having, but I really want y'all to have fun with the VN as well!
Also, time to break that habit of putting everything into spoilers - after this post tho cause I want to test something... (explained later).

Anyways, a busy Holiday week... I was able to get some things accomplished despite being busy!.. Not going to link images this time, because... the preview!
Some things accomplished:

-Cutting of a lot of (bad) ideas. No- Yay maybe?
- I have an idea for where I'd want EP.1 to end. I'll update the tags according to the content. - So, prepare for disappointment! Everything I do is for the sake of the story! No shoe-horning or cutting corners to satisfy the I only want to see the sexy-sex audience.
-Two maps finished! Yay!
-Lots of new characters! Yay!
-New main menu. Yay!
-New text and new name box. Yay!
-Music. Yay!
-Some more story animations. Yay!
-Progress with RenPy (Story, dialogue, implementing renders, music, U.I., etc.). Yay!
-So, a lot of overhauling for just about everything - characters included. Yay!
I'm happy with the main characters I've chosen (and created) and i'll stop touching because it's time to get the ball rolling!
- Of course, I still need to create more background/story characters!

As for the spoiler:
I'm testing another platform to upload .webms (def not an image, and it's the OLD character design!) - Wasn't a fan of streamable because of ads - YUCK!

One last hit before the floodgates are open!

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(・ε・) 。。。

Lemon Mint · Jan 5, 2020

Oh hi! Your stuff looks interesting. Here's hoping I remember to check it out once the game is actually out...

Deleted member 1866322 · Jan 5, 2020

Lemon Mint said:
Oh hi! Your stuff looks interesting. Here's hoping I remember to check it out once the game is actually out...

Cheers!

It really does means a lot just having you look at the work! And I really do mean it!

(・ε・) 。。。

Dead_Pianist · Apr 25, 2020

hey ur vn looks intresting so did u finished it?
And i am also thinking about using koikatsu characters but i donno is it safe or not?

Deleted member 1866322 · Apr 26, 2020

Dead_Pianist said:
hey ur vn looks intresting so did u finished it?
And i am also thinking about using koikatsu characters but i donno is it safe or not?

Oh, wow, thanks for showing interest in this old project!
Never thought I'd see this thread again.
Thank you for giving me that nostalgic feeling again. ( *o*)

To answer your questions, yes and no. I finished two chapters of the VN, but I chose not to release it because I wasn't happy with some of the choices I made during the development process. I changed lots of these design decisions trying to appease everyone, but it was designs I, myself, didn't like.
If you find my other thread you'd see documentation of all the edits/changes I kept making with my designs. Eventually, I got to a point where I could release it, but I wasn't happy at all with the revisions I did for this VN.
At that point, I said I wanted this project abandoned, dead and forgotten, but, to be honest... I still have lots of love for this project and I'll continue to make regretful decisions until I return to it.
I consider myself a failure as a developer and reading over this thread absolutely breaks my heart thinking what I've done to this VN.
I will remake this VN with my original ideas and more once I break out of the terrible loop I'm in.
Since then I've learned that you shouldn't expect everyone to love your game and don't expect or try to appease everyone. In the end it just hurts everyone including yourself. Don't make these same mistakes I made for your development cycle.

As of right now, I've been doing art/scenes until I can afford to upgrade my hardware.
You can see some of my visions come out from this VN in the Illusion Art thread I've been frequenting.
I was in the midst of creating another render inspired by this project when I saw your message pop up on my feed.
Making art based on this project has helped me coped with the ill-feelings I've had since abandoning it, but I can't abandon it.
This is the W.I.P. that was originally going to be seen only by my own eyes. A reminder of some of the things I wanted out of this project that no one was supposed to see.
I'll post this one regardless of how it turns out. ( ＾－＾）

To answer your question about Koikatsu:
Koikatsu, I believe, is a some-what of a risky choice. Honey Select and Daz Studio would be your safest options, because that is what people have been accustomed to over the years.
It goes without saying that Koikatsu can be as successful as any of these and it shouldn't discourage you from doing what you want to do or what you love. An example is Corrupted Kingdoms.

CharaStudio/Koikatsu has a ton of customization, freedom, mods, and effects that make it all worthwhile to use or just to play around with. I would personally recommend it to anyone that shows interest in its art style. You can only get better when you constantly work with something.

The absolute most important traits to have in your game is good writing, grammar and a coherent story. Overall, people want to feel the same passion you're putting into your own creation.

Feel free to ask questions, I'll do my absolute best to answer them.
If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the Koikatu

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. I don't post any of my works there due to my own anxiety, but I did learn quite a few tricks since joining.

This reply is a bit bitter-sweet for me, but despite the negative things I've said about myself, this was a major morale boost and exactly what I needed to go forward.
Thank you.
And, the absolute, best of luck with your project!

Warmest regards,

B.

(・ε・) 。。。

Dead_Pianist · Apr 28, 2020

hey Thanks for ur nice reply,

And i am looking forward to see how ur VN will be,
i saw ur posts on this VN and you shouldn't worry about the worng or bad choices. if u wont show it to other people then whats the point u cant get a single reaction or feedback. " it's not like you are always going to make bad choices in every VN, I am sure that if u get other peoples reactions and feedbacks then in ur next VN you'll do better.

And about koikatsu, i'll use only characters not the BGs scene models (I can make them by my self in Blender)
its just png characters that i am using,

Check this out,

This is a test render and i added some effects using GIMP:

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So i dont understand how they gonna know that these characters are made using Koikatsu?

I can make exactly same characters using blender but u know its a lot of work!

Deleted member 1866322 · Apr 28, 2020

Dead_Pianist said:
-Snip!-

That's honestly a really cool idea using Blender for BGs and editing character portraits through GIMP.
Blender takes a lot of skill, so I can already tell you're talented!

I understand its a test render and you may already know this, but I think one way to boost the appeal of your character portraits is to adjust the character lighting.
An important part to character portraits is the face and eyes.
For example you can go from the lighting pointing downwards casting shadows over the eyes:

To less shadows:

Specifically for your test render, you can adjust the horizontal shadows a tad to make the character's shadows align with the shadows you've created in GIMP:

It may also be worthwhile to play with some of the scene effects to create a good base for your portraits as well.
Overall the character portraits will look cleaner and remove some of those Koikatsu vibes before you start editing in GIMP.

Dead_Pianist said:
So i dont understand how they gonna know that these characters are made using Koikatsu?

I believe the best way to answer this is to use an example:
Just take a look at Lily's Handmaid. The characters look like a rendition of Koikatsu or Custom Maid 3D 2 (CM3D2), but we won't know for sure unless they tell us. To me it seems like they made a render, traced it, and then added their own effects to it.
The same philosophy can go for your test render; people won't know its Koikatsu unless you tell them.

Dead_Pianist · Apr 28, 2020

Thanks for the lighting tips.

and

After reading this :

Now i am really afraid about this using Koikatsu characters for my VN

if i put my Visual novel on itch io for free is it still bad (Using koikatsu)?

Deleted member 1866322 · Apr 28, 2020

Dead_Pianist said:
-Snip!-

You have nothing to worry about. You aren't tracing artwork and whatever pictures or renders you take in Koikatsu/CharaStudio are legally yours.

Also Illusion is a pretty laid back company. You can see all the Honey Select games on F95 which are made by Illusion as well as those games having a solid backing.

The best possible example I can give you is

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which is on itch.io as well as Patreon. It's made in Honey Studio (exactly the same as CharaStudio, but for Honey Select. Both of these programs are made by Illusion as well).
F95 Link: Harem Hotel

Again, whatever renders you take are yours because you created it. Overall, just keep the game "free" and you should be fine legally.

~
A bit on the same topic of plagiarism:
If something is under a Creative Commons, then just drop their name, a link to their website or song ~ basically just follow whatever it asks to the bare minimum.

It could be as simple as making a Legal.txt inside your game folder, grab a random song off

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, and crediting the author(s).

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VN Ren'Py Newbie nobody? Nobewbie? (・ε・) 。。。 Wassup!