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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsFor Emery: Point & Click/Interactive Novel about Grief
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Author Topic: For Emery: Point & Click/Interactive Novel about Grief  (Read 4308 times)
Sanud
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« on: November 18, 2017, 06:23:53 PM »






For Emery

itch.io
GameJolt


Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a game that I have up on Early Access at GameJolt and itch. I also launched a Patreon which doubles as a devlog to explain some of my thought processes in telling this story.

Features



For Emery is a point & click adventure game/interactive novel, with a basic inventory system where Germaine would be able to (eventually) store some items found in some levels. I took some inspiration from Samorost and Machinarium for the point & click mechanic and aesthetics (it does have a few Tim Burton-esque undertones too), though the storyline is a much longer story that I talked about in my GameJolt devlog.



Progress

Levels:
  • 0 more clicking/puzzle levels - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE
  • 0 more major cutscenes - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE

Assets:
  • 0 comic pages for the cutscenes - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE
  • 0 backgrounds for the clicking/puzzle levels - 30 Dec 2017 - I'M DONE
  • various clicking props - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE
  • SFX - 100% done - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE
  • Artwork polish - 90% - still feel like I could polish these in later builds
  • Credits page - 100%

To Do list:
  • Test the last two cutscenes - Done
  • Write some press release and blast away Decided to do a silent release instead
  • Launch the game!
« Last Edit: January 20, 2018, 02:04:21 AM by Sanud » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2017, 08:04:47 PM »

Looking cool! I'm always here for other story and emotion-focused projects!
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Sanud
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« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2017, 07:17:35 PM »

Looking cool! I'm always here for other story and emotion-focused projects!

Thanks nathy! Hope you'll enjoy the full version once it's done too Smiley

I've updated the devlog with some excerpts on the original script today.

Otherwise, production on the cutscene with the big reveal is going pretty smoothly. It's probably the longest cutscene in the game itself, as there are lots of tidbits to control in there, like animated box frames, "glitches", etc.

Can't wait to share it once it's done!
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« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2017, 04:01:21 PM »

So I did get feedback to include some drap and drop functionality, and truth be told, it was my original intention for the floating props at the dream scene. This is the resulting bug



However, yesterday night I finally figured out how to drag & drop!



Nevertheless, the bugs are still persistent!



What's up with Germaine's hand here despite tossing out all the props? Is it no wonder Germaine rhymes with pain? That bug shall be addressed in another day.

But there you go, it's a minor update, and the first half of the major cutscene is done. Second half will require me to set up a new scene. It's a bit weird to try and explain fully without spoiling it though.
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« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2017, 07:37:46 AM »

Pushed out a 0.4.2 Mac update and 0.4.1 Web and PC update - with the cutscenes as mentioned!

I've also been busy working up a presskit for journalists, and am pretty confident that pushing content up to the cutscene would be pivotal in getting people intrigued, but I must admit that the impostor syndrome is kicking in pretty hard.

With that said, there's also a game trailer out too (that features a little bit of the cutscene I was working on!



And if you do have even $1 to spare every month, please support my patreon too - I've just launched it in conjunction with contacting people Smiley https://www.patreon.com/sanud
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« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2017, 03:08:49 PM »

(Taken from my patreon)

Hey guys!
I'm back from my trip, so I should be in the stage where I can make progress with the game. However, it's going at a much slower pace than I like, with the holiday season and all.

However, I want to take a moment to thank Warp Door for featuring my work!

Anyway, what's holding me back a little more is the fact that I have been on a job hunt, and doing some of these tests for the job has taken time away from game production. It's more of a necessity on my part as I've been learning nothing but really bad practices at my current company (I think the only good thing that came out was the network), so my priorities are set on getting my skill sets and my moral compass (and career?) back on track.

I still have a tiny preview of the next level to come:



Because what game would be complete without a water level, right? Right??

Either way, I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season and staying warm (as I take another antihistamine. Thanks, trip.)

Until the next one, cheers!
« Last Edit: December 18, 2017, 03:23:29 PM by Sanud » Logged

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« Reply #6 on: December 19, 2017, 10:03:49 PM »

Ooh, it's great that you got featured on Warp Door! If you haven't gotten much other responses to the presskit, that's still a good sign that your game is interesting enough that journalists might be waiting for a bigger announcement, like a trailer or a launch date.

I finally read your message, btw! Since it's sometimes so easy to miss those on here, I thought I'd let you know I sent one back. Tongue
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« Reply #7 on: December 20, 2017, 08:11:15 AM »

interesting style. a black and white game like an old cartoon.  Smiley
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« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2017, 04:53:41 PM »

Ooh, it's great that you got featured on Warp Door! If you haven't gotten much other responses to the presskit, that's still a good sign that your game is interesting enough that journalists might be waiting for a bigger announcement, like a trailer or a launch date.

I finally read your message, btw! Since it's sometimes so easy to miss those on here, I thought I'd let you know I sent one back. Tongue

Yes I saw! Thank you for thta, and hopefully something does come out of your livestream if it happens Smiley

interesting style. a black and white game like an old cartoon.  Smiley

Thank you for your comment! Yeah, that's the style I'm going for.

In any case, Patch 0.5.0 is live with some changes to the storyline! I explain a little bit about that on my Patreon.



It's close to completion, I feel like it could actually go for a January launch date. But conventional indie wisdom (and checking out major game releases for this winter) says February would be better. On one hand, I'm an impatient little shit and want to launch it as soon as it's done in order to work on my next game, but on the other hand, launching it to the sound of silence could be...deafening :|

What's your advice?  
« Last Edit: December 29, 2017, 05:02:31 PM by Sanud » Logged

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« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2017, 08:03:54 PM »

Very interesting art style! It's got a Machinarium vibe to it that jives well with the story (which is also interesting)!

The item button sounds are super clicky and satisfying! It'd be great if the items would disappear if we clicked elsewhere though. Also, some of the interactables were really hard to find in the Nercomancer scene. I couldn't see the urn or the ice bucket which were on the same table haha. The Hint button helped a lot in those parts though, so good job on that too!

Keep up the great work and good luck with everything else in life! I'll be following!  Coffee
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« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2017, 06:40:14 PM »

Very interesting art style! It's got a Machinarium vibe to it that jives well with the story (which is also interesting)!

Ahh thank you! I was definitely inspired my Machinarium and Samorost while designing this, except I'm probably not as good as them in terms of the puzzle design  Shrug

The item button sounds are super clicky and satisfying! It'd be great if the items would disappear if we clicked elsewhere though.

This is actually an interesting bug that only appears for all of my web builds, but not in the standalone builds  WTF There is code that makes the UI retract back into Germaine that works in standalone. Unity is a strange beast.

Thanks so much with the comment once again :D
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« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2018, 04:20:06 PM »

I'm done with the art assets needed for the first branching path.

But man, I'm having feels like these two.



It's been a pretty wild ride, with a lot of self doubt creeping in especially at the early stages. Lots of thoughts like "Are these puzzles too easy? My art is so subpar compared to some other better VNs and games out there. Who do I think I am to try and create a game anyway?" But I slowly pulled through. And I certainly hope the finale of the story delivers its emotional punch from a lightweight like myself.
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« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2018, 07:38:51 PM »

edited my first post to the following updates:


Levels:
  • 0 more clicking/puzzle levels - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE
  • 1 more major cutscene - 7 Jan 2018

Assets:
  • 0 comic pages for the cutscenes - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE
  • 0 backgrounds for the clicking/puzzle levels - 30 Dec 2017 - I'M DONE
  • various clicking props - 7 Jan 2018 - I'M DONE
  • SFX - 85% done - 7 Jan 2018
  • Artwork polish - 90%
  • Credits page - 0%  Facepalm

Yeah, credits are important, and I completely overlooked that during development. But it shouldn't take too long, I think?

Also, here's how the final scene looks like:



Happy Screenshot Saturday!
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« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2018, 03:54:33 AM »

As I type this, I have sent a build for my best friend to try out and get feedback.

The file name was For Emery v1.0.zip

I messaged her "...I think I finished my game :O"

"HOOOO
LEEEEE
SHIIIIIIIT"
was her response.

I guess a better word for this would be a content lock since I've been keeping track of Wandering Ben's devlog - I'd trust a game veteran for terminologies like these. I feel like trying my luck at pitching to game journalists a couple more times before releasing the game at least 7 days later.

In the meantime, I've also reminisced about when it all began. I told my best friend I think I worked on this game since mid-January last year. But to my surprise, "spritesheet.psd" had a timestamp that said "Created: 7/1/17"

That's...surreal.  Tears of Joy
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« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2018, 06:03:16 PM »



Mark your calendars for a 20th January launch! *w*
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« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2018, 07:01:30 PM »

Oh, a story-focused project. Color me black and... Err, I mean, color me interested.
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« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2018, 12:12:24 AM »

Hey,

I have my post-mortem up. It's about time I should anyway.

With that out of the way, I should start a new thread once I'm ready to show the dev community what I'm up to then.

I've also started re-thinking about whether it serves me well to have a Patreon account. By most accounts, it's not sustainable to keep having to post towards a hypothetical audience, and I definitely want to explore topics beyond just game development in my writing in general, so I think I would shift towards posting on Medium for more in depth coverage, so that there is less pressure on crunching out updates, and more time given to writing well thought out posts too.

What are your experiences with Patreon in general? Did it help you or hinder you?

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pun ja fazeh/also made For Emery
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