no. -04 :: welcome back
:: hello again!
things have been rather busy with graduation and moving back across the ocean, but now i’m home and unemployed. which is stressful, but means i can work on my game again! um, yay… I think…
its been so frustrating not having the time to sit down and do what needs to be done, so i’m trying to make the most of unemployment even if money is a bit… stressful. putting myself back in the dev mindset has been tough too, especially with how much has been changing since i first started- even just conceptually.
i think that’s sort of the beautiful thing about a long-term project… it’s been growing with me. sure, i’m still stuck in scripting. but watching the script direction change and evolve alongside me is… a bit cathartic, in a way. art really does reflect us more than we realize.
there’s been a lot i wanted to change about my approach. a mutual of mine quite wisely told me that ‘making the game’ is only half of gamedev.. the rest is learning HOW to make things. i did learn a lot about that! being exposed to so many new tools and styles of working has been really cool. it’s also taught me what’s not working, and what i should be learning instead…
:: checking back in...
well, i’ll always draw in clip studio. she’ll never not be that girl to me.
i took my first foray into real graphic design with figma, and it really kind of revolutionized the look of my game!
i always knew what i wanted it to be, but i was constantly frustrated in not having the tools at hand to reach that look…
figma closed so much of the gap, it’s kind of unreal.
learning the language of vectors and scaling and ui was quite frustrating, but really rewarding… here's a quick check-in on one of my screens, reworked in vectors! far from complete, but so polished and already and in a fraction of the time/frustration...
everything really does go hand in hand... refining ui sends me back towards reworking sprite visual style, and then over to backgrounds to match those sprites, and then back to the ui to accommodate the reimagined backgrounds... i kind of love it. though i do worry if i'll ever really reach a final version instead of constant reiteration...
:: an affinity for-
as much as i love figma, i learned pretty quick it wasn’t quite where i needed it to be- particularly with non-destructive editing, perspective tools, and general typography options.
i was at a point where i was running assets through multiple programs and then back to figma as pngs, which is… bad. its fine for a mockup, but not exactly usable.
after a lot of recommendations, i sat down with affinity! and WOW, it really is quite the suite.
it feels like everything that i was fighting to make figma do is just there in one click. there’ll certainly be a learning curve with mastering all these new little buttons, but to say i’m impressed is an understatement…
wow…. his pixels! so easy to make cool little effects…
i LOVE the nondestructive filters. and perspective is so easy! its right there!
there’s just, er, one problem… my images are so blurry! even on export...
i did a bit of research into why everything was so messed up, and i guess affinity doesnt really like resizing and creating dpi conflicts… so maybe its not my one-step suite for all aspects of ui design, since im constantly moving and cropping and shifting my little sprites and pictures…
still, i think learning it will be worthwhile!
i’m thinking that my workflow will start in figma for the basic layout constructions,
and then move to affinity for refining effects and text once everything has a confirmed size and position…
every day im punished for my indecision… yes i do want to still have the option to move everything around at any point…. i can always make it better ♡
oh my god its happening. okay.
:: blender.
i tried aaaages ago on my old laptop to learn blender, and it always crashed when i tried to move the camera, so i gave up on that. but i have a different, less macbook laptop now. so i downloaded blender again!
its not what you think, i swear!
my game isnt changing from 2D, but i’m frankly just not an animator.
there are so many things like cg sequences, background motions and menu designs that are just
way better suited to 3d technology.
why would i spend time drawing a cube spinning frame by frame when blender can do that for me.
i have one million other things to draw and write...
i especially want to play with shifting perspectives and depths between carmine’s scenes in, out, and around his body, which i can achieve way more successfully by building environments in 3D. i can’t wait!
:: yea so heres my donut.
well obviously.
i followed like, 40 minutes of the donut tutorial the other night. i’m gonna come back to it! i just didnt want to do the whole thing in one go and risk not retaining anything.
check out my donut and coffee cup with a skinny ass handle.
im getting so good at uhh… bevel and extrusions? figuring out what a face and a vertice and an edge is?
i want to feel more confident on all that before i move anywhere silly… but 3D is coming to me easier than i thought it would! i was so scared my mind wouldnt be able to process it given my exclusively 2d background…. i jus b spinning things.
i made the 1mm mimi after i got bored of the donut. i have on my propeller hat and lollipop rn.
im so proud of him ok. i printed him out and put him on my wall. i love him.
:: and now?
theres something very freeing about learning new art mediums…
no pressure whatsoever… just goofing off in there and clicking shit.
like i just got here. im expected to draw good cuz ive been doing it for like, 15 years or whatever, but i just learned what a polygon was yesterday. this is all u get. its awesome.
blender is going to be a slow journey for me, but im not discouraged yet, and thats all that rly matters i think!
the more i see of what other creators can do, the more inspired i am to stick with it!
though, i guess tiktok found out i installed the app cuz my whole fyp is now insane shit from the pros…
its a little bit overwhelming. one day at a time…
to be realistic, my hope is to use blender to animate the hair of characters, create temporary abstract environments with more depth, and subtle animations of 3d ui things. if i happen to get pretty good, i might even consider building some scene backgrounds in there.
honestly, its a reduction in scope creep imo…
the less i have to draw with a pen, the more feasible pulling things off becomes!
just a temporary slowdown while i learn how to do it ^^
...we always end up back here.
honestly, sometimes i feel a bit frustrated about not really being able to share cuter visual dev updates,
like building beautiful scenes and sprites and stuff…
i mean, i will eventually, but the whole writing end is holding me back a bit.
thats what i get for making a narrative game, i guess...
maybe my next one will be entirely text free.
still, i think i can confidentaly say now that im getting somewhere with it all.
i told myself i was going to sit down and define some of the more abstract lore,
and ive ended up with some pretty severe adjustments to the plot and premise.
i feel really good about the changes! but having less to show than ever is so… idk. not really disheartening, but feels a bit silly given how long ive been working on it.
i mean, id rather make something thats really what i want than tough it out on a premise im not interested in anymore. i stand by that!
i’ve been working hard to give each of the routes a really clear identity, and formulate obsidian to work for me instead of against me. i tend to come up with one off scenes and lines throughout my day instead of a coherent storyboard, so now i have a little table where i can punch in all my thoughts and tag them to examine later.
i hope to do a proper obsidian showcase when my vault build is in a better place... its been great, but im definitely still learning the intricacies of it all (especially plugins)
you know, i've noticed i don't have an issue coming up with crazy climactic scenes, but i am really struggling with true filler padding. i just some things for riiiight in the middle... carmine is so chronically unemployed, i'm realizing i kind of have no clue what he even does all day... lie in bed i guess... i get him...
but i'm really close to jumping right back into scripting, i can feel it!
once i have a lot of writing out of the way again, i can really dive back into development.
i've settled on the choice to move to godot by now,
but i don’t want to overwhelm myself with MORE new programs just yet.
i've gotta put sprinkles on this donut first...
though, it's not like theres a lot i could program right now anyway. better not to waste my time! as much as i'd like to have cute little appealing progress updates and videos to share, most of dev right now is just me typing away and thinking about things... so unglamorous.
i think more than anything else, gamedev is teaching me patience!
i’m proud of how much ive been able to stick to this, even with everything that’s gone wrong and needed to start from scratch… i’m prone to canning things when there are signs to go back to square 1, so the fact that i've yet to give up and continue to work hard makes me feel very confident that someday, i'll be able to pull it off!
:: one last thing!
right! i love this little website, but it does suffer in a lack of… interaction.
i want to talk to others, and share my work and ideas without feeling like these pages act as a divider...
:: contact.
it’s not very well advertised, but i have a STRAWPAGE for simple comments-
if you’d like to hear more about aspects of development or have questions for future posts
(or anything to say, really), please feel free to use it all you like!
:: and community!
i’ve also started setting up a DISCORD SERVER!
i know most people don't really want to join more servers,
but im hoping it can become more of a place for broad gamedev talk than just me rambling and sharing pixel by pixel images…
if joining the start of a little community here sounds like fun to you, maybe give it a shot! it really is quite small at the moment, but i hope to make something rather cool of it...
that’s all for now! devposts will… probably be more frequent for a bit. lots and lots of writing ahead! i'm going to cherish unemployment as best i can!!