Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #125

Heya, everyone!

I hope you're doing well and that your August is off to a fun start! I've been surviving myself, chipping away at things slowly but surely~

For this week's dev log I'll be detailing everything I'll be doing for the coming week. Which will largely consist of prepping for the next big alpha launch--exciting times! Just so you have a good idea of where I'm at with things, and what's to come!

So, to start with, here's everything done so far:

- All the major story related dialogue I want to include in this build is done. Including a conclusion to an epic war, along with all the relevant CG art and voice lines. (As some story segments will be partially voiced for dramatic effect!)

- All the h-scenes I want to include in this build have been written, and most have their voice lines sent in too! A couple of fun ones and one that isn't so fun. Outside of this scope, there's another I'm seeing if I can wrap up in time, since it's partially done already--but I might leave it for another build if it proves to be too cumbersome.

- CG and voice lines have been added for a few smaller moments that already existed in the script, but I decided I wanted to properly emphasize them now. These mostly relate to more affectionate/intimate moments with characters that aren't necessarily explicit, but still get steamy in their own way. Yes, I talk of course of those lovely hugs and kissus that are loaded into Chapter Two. <3 Because it's no fun if it's just ALL h-scenes. Sometimes we just gotta have some cuddly moments too.

And here's what I intend to do to complete the build:

- Add appropriate scripting directions for everything newly written so far. This includes sprite expressions, background transitions, and for the battlefield stuff--a lot of custom flashy combat effects too. I'll really need to showcase these in a video soon, if I haven't already! (My old brain is failing me with this many dev logs, haha.) Additionally, all the h-scenes will need their CG scenes given the same treatment. This sort of work isn't too strenuous in itself, but when the story scenes have lots of back and forth with different characters, and everyone's expressions are split up into eyebrows, eyes and mouths, along with body poses (some characters even have their left and right arms split into variations!) it can certainly take a lot of busy work to get everything done. It doesn't help that I like to change character expressions almost every line, just to keep them feeling lively and animated. This is usually what takes the main bulk of time next to actually writing the darn lines.

- Edit and insert voice lines into all of the new scenes. Again, not incredibly difficult work or anything, but time-consuming in its own way, when some audio files sent to me are an hour+ of raw audio and various takes for lines. I dunno if the audio editing side of things interests people much or if they'd like to get a deeper insight into how I go about getting the voice acting done, delivered and then put into the game--but this sorta work can be fun in its own way too. There's almost a rhythm I get into when I cut and clip lines into their own separate .ogg files, and go back and forth between lines trying to painstakingly decide what sounds best. Sometimes, I even cut and clip from two different takes and mash them together into a super take. (And hopefully my audio editing isn't clumsy enough for people to notice that, haha) Again--if the voice acting side of QF interests people enough I could do a more indepth post on it in the future! Maybe even get in some thoughts from some of the super talented VAs on what they think about voicing for the project--since I'm sure everyone has been having a super awesome time onboard!

- Script/program in all of the new variables/conditional statements for everything added thus far and make sure it behaves itself. I'm not a programming genius, and I tackle this project with decaying college knowledge of programming--but thankfully all of the branching routes and such don't take too much out of me. And in some cases, to even my own surprise, the game has been built in a way that it accepts new branches and routes to its open-ended gameplay without anything breaking down. There's a lot of work behind the scenes for this stuff, and honestly I'd be embarrassed if people actually looked the 'programming' I have holding this stuff together, but I've learned a lot about RenPy from this game, and I hope future Chapters will go a lot more smoothly with everything I've learned!

- Finally, if I have time, I want to go back over some of the lingering h-scenes I've had half-completed for a little while now and see if I can finalise them in time, too. Just so this update proves to be quite a good chunk of content for people to sink their teeth into! But this hinges on how quickly I can do everything else first without delaying 0.11 for too much longer.

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So, to sum things up: writing's done for the most part. Just gotta add in scripting for sprite expressions and get voices ready for the h-scenes! There's a chance one h-scene might not be voiced, depending on how soon I receive the lines, but here's hoping everything works out!

I realise this has been quite a dry, technical dev log--and I hope that the post I make next week will be a little more lighthearted with some fun art to share!

Though for future dev logs, is there anything you might want to see/learn about in particular? Be it something relating to the QF world/characters, something relating to the game design itself, or otherwise? I'd still be happy to make a post on the VA side of things too with input from the VAs themselves as well, since it's been a long time since I made a post like that, and the cast has grown considerably, haha.

Let me know though--and I'll do my best to write something up that you might want to see!

Until next time~