End of the Month Round-up - Kaela's Corner VN

I didn't actually say I'd be doing an update like this, but I figure I should probably do something to appraise you guys on how my latest project is going :P

Creating a whole visual novel practically on my own has definitely proven to be a bigger undertaking than I expected, but except for funds to continue buying the art, things are going well!

My aim when I first made the announcement was to have the demo for chapter 1 done as soon as possible, but the more I worked on it, the more I wanted to get things started strong. To that end, I pivoted my focus more towards replacing placeholder assets and creating a more permanent UI. It'll take longer to get the first demo out, but I feel a lot better having a more polished start without temporary assets squatting in every corner.

I've already finished an animated main menu to replace the static old placeholder that was in the announcement. It's nothing special, but I think it works! I may play with it more in the future, though.

The big roadblock that prompted me to change my focus in the first place was backgrounds for the scenes. The asset packs out there just weren't enough to suit my needs, so I thought "fuck it!"

Just gotta get some barebones assets and put my mild amount of 3d art skills to work! 

And voila!

The upside is that I have a lot more freedom for creating scenes (as long as I can find/buy the assets to construct things). The downside is that this is yet another task to get done :x It's also not ideal to use 3d with 2d, but commissioning backgrounds would have been prohibitively expensive. I'm going to tweak things to try and make the blending between the two look nice.

So anyways, here's the basic rundown of what's been going on!

What I've done:

- Created an animated menu

- Wrote the basic code for the esteem system to be used going forward

- Wrote/coded some of the intro/chapter 1

- Created some of the main backgrounds for the first areas of the game

- Basically a lot of trial and error to figure out the best way to do all this crap >_<

What needs to be done to release Chapter 1:

- Finish writing/coding chapter 1 (duh)

- Add sounds/music

- Finish the background assets for chapter 1

What I would like to do soon:

- Replace the default UI with something more unique

- Commission the artist for some of the initial CGs (when the budget allows)

- Re-write the story outline (it got deleted somehow and I am very sad about it)

I think that's all I've got to say for now! I was hoping to keep the art assets flowing at a constant rate, but unfortunately, my usual work has been on hold for almost three weeks and my financial situation wouldn't allow it :x

But I'm hoping to get them coming again with this month's Patreon funds!

Thank you everyone for your support, and I hope it'll be worth the wait!