{"id":62,"date":"2014-01-19T00:15:01","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T05:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/?p=62"},"modified":"2014-01-18T21:34:46","modified_gmt":"2014-01-19T02:34:46","slug":"progress-report-january-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/progress-report-january-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Progress Report: January 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

I started working Aurora\u2019s Nightmare back in the summer of 2011, though the original idea and early planning came long before (maybe I\u2019ll talk about that in a future post).\u00a0 However, work on it has been rather sporadic since it often has to take a backseat to both my current full time job (Professor of Game Design) and some of my other side jobs and projects (most recently, the writing I did for EverQuest Next).\u00a0 So how far along is it now?\u00a0 I\u2019ve prepared the following chart to track its development progress.<\/p>\n

\"Aurora's<\/a>
Aurora’s Nightmare Progress Jan 19 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And that\u2019s the chart.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty simplistic now, but I think I\u2019ll slowly make it fancier each time it\u2019s posted.\u00a0 Anyway, since this is its first appearance, I think some explanations are in order.\u00a0 The color scheme is simple.\u00a0 Red stands for completion (in terms of both the progress bars and text), black for everything else.<\/p>\n

The story section represents the plot and script.\u00a0 At present, I\u2019ve completed all the initial setting and character development and have a rough plan of what\u2019s going to happen in each of the three main story paths or routes, completing the planning section.
\nIn terms of fully written script, I\u2019ve got around 87 pages so far, which encompasses the entirety of the common route (things that happen at the beginning of the game before it has any major splits) and the first part of the first route (I\u2019ll talk a bit more in-depth about the routes and what sets them apart in future updates).\u00a0 I\u2019m expecting the story to end up somewhere between 600 \u2013 800 pages.\u00a0 Though it\u2019s still too early for me to say for sure.
\nFinally, editing is the process of going back over the completed script, fine tuning things, fixing typos, and so on.\u00a0 I tend do a lot of rereading and light editing as I write, but I decided to have the editing bar represent the final couple of passes only (after the first draft is completed).\u00a0 I tend to be pretty fast when it comes to editing so, once this phrase rolls around, it\u2019s likely to be completed fairly quickly.<\/p>\n

Character art refers to all the different poses for each character (visual novels tend to switch between a large number of still images, rather than use full animation).\u00a0 The characters designs and sketches, done by artist Hanbee Lee, are all complete.\u00a0 However, she\u2019s not really a digital artist so, while she made a lot of great drawings, they need some additional work before they can be used in-game.
\nClean-up and coloring is just what it says.\u00a0 I clean up her original sketches so they\u2019ll look better on a computer (which mostly involves retracing a lot of lines along with some mostly minor editing) and then color them in.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m currently working on.\u00a0 It\u2019s proven to be more time consuming than I originally estimated, but is progressing smoothly.
\nFinally, shading is the final pass on the colored images, adding shadows, light reflection, and other visual tweaks and improvements.\u00a0 Right now, the shading is being handled by my friend Brian Morris.
\nI\u2019ll note that, in terms of the progress bars for both clean-up and shading, they\u2019re not entirely accurate since some poses take a lot more work than others.\u00a0 For example, cleanup and coloring on an original full body pose could take me anywhere from 6 \u2013 10 hours, while doing a derivative pose with a different expression might only take 2 \u2013 3.\u00a0 If you were to look at it in that regard, you could probably add around 15% to both of those gauges.<\/p>\n

Background art are the images that go behind the character art to show you where the current scene is taking place.\u00a0 Since Aurora\u2019s Nightmare isn\u2019t a globetrotting epic or cross stellar adventure, relatively few backgrounds are needed compared to the character poses.\u00a0 But the backgrounds do require considerably more work.
\nAt present, I have a complete list of necessary background images along with text descriptions of what they should look like, completing the planning phase.\u00a0 None of the backgrounds are finished, however.\u00a0 At present, I\u2019m just starting to look into hiring an artist to create the backgrounds.\u00a0 I could do them myself, but that would take a while and require a somewhat different art style than I\u2019d prefer.<\/p>\n

Sound covers music and sound effects.\u00a0 At present, I have a complete list of necessary musical tracks, though I\u2019m holding off on compiling a sound effect list until the script is near completion, which is why that gauge isn\u2019t quite full.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done a little bit of work on the music front in terms of finding a composer but haven\u2019t made much progress yet.\u00a0 I\u2019m shooting for 18 unique tracks, but that number could increase or decrease a bit once I start working with the composer.
\nFor sound effects\u2026\u00a0 I\u2019ll probably do things the quick and easy way and just buy what I need from a sound effects library, but we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

The final phase section is the final tasks that need to be done before the game is released.\u00a0 Compilation refers to taking all the assets (script, art, and sound) and putting them together in the engine to make the actual game.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done a bit of early planning in that regard but naturally this is a phase that won\u2019t progress much until nearly everything else is finished or near finished.
\nBug testing will require playing through everything multiple times to ensure it all works properly.\u00a0 I might do that myself, I might bring in some friends, or I might have semi-public beta test for people who pre-order the game or something like that.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t worked out the details yet.<\/p>\n

And finally, the last section is for things I\u2019d like to add to Aurora\u2019s Nightmare should the opportunity arise, but are iffy and low priority due to budget and\/or technical issues.
\nFor ports, the initial release will be for PC but I\u2019m hoping to get an Android version out at the same time or relatively soon after.\u00a0 Other potential platforms include iOS, Windows Phone, 3DS and Vita.
\nIn visual novels, CGs are special high quality images used to accentuate key scenes.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to have some in Aurora\u2019s Nightmare (and, for this section, they\u2019re a fairly high priority) but I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll have the budget to pay for that much more artwork.
\nSome visual novels even have animated opening movies that play at or near the beginning of the game, often accompanied by a theme song.\u00a0 That\u2019d be a really cool addition, and I have the perfect song in mind, but it could easily triple or quadruple my current budget so it\u2019s looking fairly unlikely at present.
\nVoice acting is another thing in the cool but overly expensive category.\u00a0 Unless I went with an all amateur cast, which could be more affordable.\u00a0 That said, I\u2019m not putting voice acting into Aurora\u2019s Nightmare unless I\u2019m extremely happy with the quality, so it would have to be a really good amateur cast.\u00a0 Anyway, this could happen but it\u2019s probably the least likely feature on the list.
\nLastly, translation into Japanese! \u00a0Why?\u00a0 Well, Japan is the home of visual novels and they\u2019re a whole lot more popular there than they are in the US.\u00a0 In fact, I think there\u2019s a very real possibility that Aurora\u2019s Nightmare would sell far better in Japan than it will here.\u00a0 Problem is, my Japanese isn\u2019t anywhere near good enough to translate something of this scale and complexity, much less make it sound good.\u00a0 But I do have some friends who could potentially handle it\u2026
\nSo, that\u2019s how things stand.\u00a0 I\u2019ll repost this chart, along with updates on the current status of things, every month or two so you can track the progress.\u00a0 See you next time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I started working Aurora\u2019s Nightmare back in the summer of 2011, though the original idea and early planning came long before (maybe I\u2019ll talk about that in a future post).\u00a0 However, work on it has been rather sporadic since it often has to take a backseat to both my current full time job (Professor of … Continue reading Progress Report: January 2014<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2,5,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-design","category-music-and-sound","category-production-business","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64,"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions\/64"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penandswordgames.com\/AurorasNightmare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}