New Artwork

Introduction
I have to say that progress has been super slow. But I totally have a legit reason and that is because of MIDTERMS. I finally have some time to breathe to get this posted and then go back to studying. So there's not much to expect in this post. Still, I did make some important changes so I need to make an update post before I confuse myself.

Plot
Hahahah! What plot? Just kidding. Thank goodness for these update posts. I still have last times ideas all pretty and posted on my blog. That's wonderful! Mainly because I forgot all about the student council that is supposed to be the main antagonist of the story. I made no progress in the plot so far. The farthest I've gotten is the first choice scene where the player gets to choose what to do with Mio. It's like the first step of wooing the guys kind of scene, except the player doesn't know where each guy is located.

Anyways, it's the "starting to get to know the guys" first step and that is all I have done on the plot side. The student council is still nonexistent at this point and I think they will remain nonexistent since I want to get character art done first.

Art
I changed my art style and it made everything better significantly. So I'm scrapping the old picture of Mio and using my new picture. So far, all of Mio's facial expressions are done. I'm too lazy to add anymore. Maybe I might, or maybe I won't. I made a ton, so I think it's best if I just stop there and move on.

Actually that's what I did. I was able to get Kale's art done. I only has his normal done. I'll work on the rest of his expressions next. However, I changed my art style again, so Mio might be the odd one out since I feel that the burn tool is much easier to use for shading instead of grabbing three different shades of a color and coloring places where the respective colors will most likely be and then going back and blurring it all together. I also want to say that the blur tool isn't very strong and hardly works in the program I'm using. So yes, burning and dodging forever.

I guess this game might end up being the test subject for my art styles or something.

Mio:

Kale:

Characters
I don't think I've added any new characters. However, Mio's personality developed because of how her picture turned out. So I'm adding more to Mio's personality.

I've also developed Kale's personality as I've drawn him, but it's not really supposed to be revealed without giving a ton of spoilers in the game... READ AT YOUR ON RISK? 8D? Not that I really expect many people reading though, but I do know these kinds of things bother people. XD

Mio: I said that her personality was kind of nonexistent as her different responses kind of give her all kinds of personalities, but I've managed to tone that down for the sake of consistency. Mio's personality is that of a serious, no-nonsense girl. She's somewhat blunt and a bit of a loner since she's not really the uselessly friendly type.

Despite her serious nature, she's actually really passive and is easy to push around--which is why Lydia became such good friends with her in middle school. Mio is easily swept into other people's flow. She is also easily startled.

I think her personality will just keep getting more and more detailed as I keep going with this game. As much as I wanted to keep her personality vague for the sake of the players, I can't really do that because her character art turned out more serious than I expected and because this is just a visual novel with many different endings for Mio. Besides, I think people prefer to have a character with a personality--as long as it isn't annoying. Although I don't know if people will like Mio much since she's kind of serious...

Kale: In general, he's gentlemanly and nice to everyone. He is very laid back and doesn't seem to stress out about anything. He has the strange ability to sneak up on people without them realizing it. Kale is calm and understanding, but he is very hard to read since he usually keeps the same smile on his face. Overall, he's a very sociable and friendly guy.

SPOILER SECTION. I strike it because it makes it harder to read. I'm awesome right?
Deep inside, he is fairly manipulative and quite the opportunist. He's like a predator. He's pretty good at sneaking around, and when he doesn't seem like he's listening, he actually is listening. He has a good memory and tries to stay informed about everything, mainly for blackmail purposes. He's a bit of a sadist since he enjoys teasing people and if they give him the reaction he likes he will continue to keep teasing them.

When someone actually makes him mad, he is unforgiving and ruthless. He holds grudges and once someone has gotten on his wrong side, they will remain on that bad side unless they do him a great favor to earn his forgiveness. 

Kale plays the guitar and sings. He enjoys rock and heavy metal which is where his singing style comes from. He rarely performs in public mainly because it contradicts the kind of personality he has displayed before people. 

Yes, I think a lot when I'm drawing people. ; w; I'm writing this down so I could remember that I even came up with all this so I won't forget.

Conclusion:
So asides from some character developing, I hardly have any work done. I'll work on more later, but I have to pass my midterms first. Hopefully I'll get more work done soon! D8<

Delightful Teatime Club Project

Intro:
So I think I'll be labeling everything for the sake of skimming. I'm a lazy person and even I can't stand my own ranting. So labels are wonderful and helpful when it comes to blogging or writing long rants that have information I might need later.

Upon seeing my blog, a friend of mine showed me Ren'Py which is a program that can be used to make otome games! So I decided that I should go for it!

Right now, I'm going at it alone, which kind of stinks since I don't have much input on what I'm doing. The help that I'm getting is from the super kind artists in the world that allow their work to be used for free. Of course I'm giving credit to them.

So other than those super nice people, I'm at it on my own.

I've spent the past day busting my brain into smithereens trying to grasp the system that is being used in Ren'Py. So far, I've got the basics down. I don't think anyone should expect a lot from me, and I doubt anyone is. I'm starting up this little project so I can keep track of what I'm doing and what I'm learning so I can look back at this and be like "Oh yeah! On that date I learned how to make this! I should try looking back at it because I usually forget stuff!"

So everything is subject to changes. I might add more to the plot or change things around. It all depends on what happens in the future. I just thought i'd get this out to remind myself not to work myself into a dead end.

Plot:
Okay, so enough with the intros. Let's move on with the little idea that started in my head. I thought I'd start with a very simple plot which is a high school plot. I'm just going to make a visual novel. I don't think I have the skills to add things like the bars of skills and bars of love points yet like in the other games I've seen.

The basic plot of the Delightful Teatime Club is about a girl named Mio who is now a freshman in high school. She's going to be attending Levine High School and it is well known for having a lot of exotic clubs. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mio gets stuck joining the Delightful Teatime Club which is often confused with being a host club because asides from Mio, the club is full of guys.

As Mio progresses in her high school life, she may fall in love, make rivals, or encounter unforeseen events (ahahahah I'm so vague, aren't I?).

The progress of the plot is still a tiny idea and is subject to change and improvements in the future! Right now, this is all I have.

Characters:
Mio: The heroine of the story. Her personality kind of varies depending on the choices that the player picks for her. Although her main personality is that of a blunt and slightly sarcastic girl who may veer a little towards the tomboy side.

Lydia: Mio's best friend from middle school. She's sportsy, pushy, and tomboyish. Her joy in life is tackling people. She's very loud and very blunt.

Mom: Mio has a mother, of course! She is an exotic woman who yearns for girl talk and girly things, but due to her exotic nature and unusual strength, she sort of scares them away. A doting mother when she wants to be, Mio's mother is a good cook and is apparently nameless except for Mom because I'm such a lazy and horrible person.

As for the guys, I have already their names and the idea of their personalities in my head, but I think I'll experiment with their character development a little more before I put them down. So here's the list of names of Mio's club members: Kale, Gil, Roy, Pierre, Alex, and Matthew.

Character art:
I have none done so far. I plan to work on Mio's art the moment I finish this blog. So this will take a while and the production that I have will be character art-less. Well, good luck to me!

Gameplay:
As of right now, it's a visual novel. Choices and everything can be made through the game and the way I'm setting it up is making the game so long that I know I will cry tears of blood once I get further and further through the game.

As I mentioned in the plot section, I don't know if I'll be able to implement relationship bars and skill bars or any kind of bars in particular. The relationship points will remain unknown to the player as they progress through the game so the ending will hit them with a surprise. I have a feeling that this will cause a lot of negative feedback if I have anyone try to play it since it's hard to tell if she's getting the guy she wants.

So far the ending seems simple. At the end (it will come at some point but that requires a lot of future planing), the boy with the most relationship points will trigger the ending and stuff happens. I think I might even have an alone ending if someone just decided to play around and just make everyone hate her character. There are also friendship endings where the person with the most points happens to be a female character.

Progress:
Hahah, you're joking! What progress? Just kidding. There's like a tiny bit of progress. Thanks to the wonderful people who are so kind, I have the background and music implemented as well as the some of the script done.

Now, I will be working on Mio's character art! I think I'll post up some of my pictures (if I finish) in my next post!