Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #123

Hiya there! I'm back with another dev log, rejoice!

I hope everyone is doing well in these wild times and keeping safe out there! The weather around here seems to flip-flop from dull and grey, to sweltering heat, so I never know what to expect each day. It's like a roll of the die every time I go to bed. Sometimes I wake up freezing, other times completely drenched in sweat. The fun times never end!

But enough rambling about the weather--let's move on to the more important topic at hand! Namely, what have I been up to in the last couple of weeks since the last dev log? In short, I've been fleshing out several more h-scenes and sending them out to get voiced (which is quite a process in itself, between formatting them for VAs and adding directions under each line and so on)--and for a lot of these scenes I've got the voice clips back in recent days, too. I always look forward to hearing these scenes come to life, as the VAs have done a fantastic job portraying each character! I truly am grateful to be able to work alongside such talented people, who take the time out of their day to read my silly little scripts. And it really means a lot to me as well when they say how much they enjoy their roles on Quest Failed.

New scenes that have recently been delivered to me include:

- A fun scene with Anna, relating back to the CG tease in the previous dev log. Venus LeMay really enjoyed this scene, and the casual manner in which she got to portray Anna with the lazy handjob. This h-scene is incredibly lighthearted for a nice chance of pace compared to the usual grueling scenes that Matt endures--and was a lot of fun to write, too--so look forward to it soon!

- Another scene with everybody's favourite hiss mistress Lucille! Quite a long scene at that, too, as young Matthew shares a more intimate moment with the sultry snek the more she warms up to him. We've come a long way from poison tea and ruthless slapping! This marks the third h-scene of hers that has been voiced in Chapter Two so far. And she still has a fourth h-scene to go! I really went all out with the Lucille scenes to make up for her lack of content in the first game. Now you'll truly be able to spend time with her and get to know her! And...maybe something special will happen if you stick with things to the end. Who can say~?

- An important story scene, featuring voiced lines from Ren, Cynthia--and even the hooded girl. They all clash at long last in an epic shounen-worthy battle, and important information comes to light! I don't have too many non-CG scenes voiced, but I felt in this particular case it would benefit from some voice just to add to the drama. I hope you'll all enjoy the effort put into the fight scenes!

Alongside these scenes, there's some pending ones for other characters, too. These last few weeks have been quite an active period for voicework as it all continues to come together! I can only imagine how many voicelines will be present in the game when it's all done. I think I'll have to look up the total runtime for the audio in the end just to see what it totals to. It'll be an interesting statistic, I'm sure. Just like the amount of image files I have, with sprites and CGs being chopped up into a million layers--almost like puzzles you have to stitch back together in the script.

Some more SFX work is steadily being delivered, too, as I work to increase the audio files I have to work with. As of a few days ago, I have some nice ambient wilderness soundscapes I'm going to try and use to fill the gaps when I don't want music blaring all the time, to create more of a natural atmosphere. In addition, I think I'll want to pursue getting some effects to accompany some of the more playful monster interactions. You know, things like tentacles tightening in, slimy noises, those sorts of fun things! Though this is admittedly lower in the priority list right now as I focus on writing and getting scenes voiced.

So, it's been an incredibly hectic--but productive time, and I'm happy with how things are turning out. I'm also looking to wrap up the arc of two linked characters quite soon, and hope I can pull off what I've been envisioning all this time since their initial conception. I don't want to spoil too much, for who the characters are, or how things end, but I've put a lot of thought into their relationship--and hope I can stick the landing!

When I think about--that's pretty much how it is for most of the content. I've had lots of planned for months, if not years at this point, and finally being able to get to the point where I'm able to properly write these moments outside of their initial outline has been an incredibly rewarding, and relieving experience; knowing that I'm inching just a little bit closer to the finish line each time. We're all gonna make it through this, darn it! Even if it kills me!

So yeah--my main goals for the following week or two will be to continue to flesh out the h-scenes I'm in the middle of, and to sort through all the audio sent my way and clip it into separate lines ready to be inserted into the game. Along with sending off, and editing new scenes to be voiced. I foresee busy, busy, busy times ahead--but I'm going to do my best to keep up with things as best I can and avoid getting crushed under the pressure of it all!

Look forward to the next dev log installment, where I'll showcase a new CG scene featuring a character we haven't really seen a whole lot of in a while. It'll be a fun treat. I hope!

Until next time~