Note: Just like the other logs on this website, this is in reverse chronological order, so it's newest entries first (as much as possible, anyway).
Also, I made myself a template version of a Game Design Document, mostly for my reference, but if people can find this sorta thing helpful, why not?
Did a bit more writing today. Didn't do that much, though, cause there was something else I needed to take care of.
Been having more ideas for details for some of the other games I'm planning, so I just had to take down some more notes for those. And because of that, I've only recently finished outlining Leaning on a Stranger in Twine, including some points in the whole thing that have conditions. Hopefully, I can get them implemented, but I have to actually write the story first. (Gotta do this, or I'll be overwhelmed when time comes to actually write lol)
Also thinking of making separate dev pages for the different stories, just so it's a little clearer what's being done?? I dunno. If that happens, I'll basically put the short version of the updates here.
Made quite a few notes on various stories in the past few days, so putting them down in either their documents or Twine for now. Particularly did a lot while waiting earlier before the job-related thing I was gonna do.
Couldn't really concentrate on this as much as I'd hoped, mostly because there are other personal stuff in mind, but I've gotten some stuff down for Leaning on a Stranger on Twine. Laid down the passages and written some of them down.
Okay, the story for Leaning on a Stranger has been outlined, more or less, and so I can pretty much say the GDD is done. I think it would naturally change a bit when it gets to the actual writing part, but yeah, it's pretty much laid out for now. I don't think I should put too much time into making the summary outline perfect when I can fine-tune it more in the writing stage. Besides, it's gonna be the first game/story so yeah, the goal is to finish something.
As for Petrichor and Petrol, it will be more of a "bounce-off" story, where I can kind of jump to if I get stuck on Leaning on a Stranger until I finish it. Although at this point, I don't know if I would need to jump stories, but it would be okay to prepare for this unpredictability.
This entry was actually done on the 27th, but the activity was done on the 26th, hence the date.
Anyway, not too much this day aside from adding more to Leaning on a Stranger's story summary. It's almost there, I can feel it. I just have to outline some stuff in the middle, and I'm liking it so far. And I could tell that it has certainly matured since the first iteration of the story.
Now that I'm thinking about it... Text-based IF really is more story than game, huh? But you know what, it's all good. Maybe this log could also become a story writing log too!
Have been writing more of the story summary part of Leaning on a Stranger. When I get that part down, the GDD for it will be officially done. As much as I find it hard to outline the story, I gotta if I want to actually finish it. It's the same with Petrichor and Petrol, but I also have to finish the character list, since there are several.
Considering that I made myself a game design document template, I guess I have to bite the bullet and rewrite what I already have for Leaning on a Stranger (and also actually write one for Petrichor and Petrol). Not because of a change in format, but mostly because of the spur-of-the-moment changes I've made in the past few work sessions... such as the change in "game engine" (I don't think Twine could really be called a game engine, but there.)
But at least now, I have a more concrete idea of stuff. I guess I actually needed time to think lol
As rough as this started, and as embarrassing as this may all be for me and you, I'm keeping the log for posterity. And to remind myself that I have a very messy thought process.
I was supposed to update yesterday, but apparently there was maintenance.
Scrapped the supposedly much smaller thing, since the contents of it aren't something I believe I should promote, in the sense that it might lead people to believe certain things that aren't true regarding a topic I consider important, even though I know what I'm doing is fiction. So, Leaning on a Stranger it is. But in case I get too stuck, there's also Petrichor and Petrol, which is pretty much going to be a collection of short stories around the theme of being stuck in traffic in the rain, but with a small bit of underlying story.
Also kind of nearly got myself into tutorial hell with the different possible story formats for Twine, but thankfully, since nothing was getting into my head yesterday, I am sticking with Harlowe. I'm a beginner at this, after all.
Progress-wise, I'm pretty much done with the text up to the second passage of Leaning on a Stranger except for the choices there, which I want to do a certain thing with, but couldn't, for the life of me, figure out yet without errors appearing. The whole story itself hasn't been completely outlined, but I fear I might get stuck outlining if I try to push myself to finalize the major details before actually writing. I know how it will progress and end, at least. It's the middle that's a little fuzzy unless I work on it for realsies, and that's based on how I've worked before in novel apps.
With Petrichor and Petrol, I pretty much started working on it directly, mostly because two of the branches/stories there are stuff I've already written before (I just have to remember them lol). So far, I'm done with the text of the first passage and starting on one of the branch passages.
Still conceptualizing things too big right now, and so I moved to a much smaller thing, to be actually made in Twine. I just have to be able to put something out first and not worry so much about it.
Definitely had not worked on any VN-related stuff until today. The whole job-related thing wore me out for some reason, despite only being for half a day or so. Yeah, there's this personal issue of having some form of hangover from major activities... Gotta get over that somehow.
Got a little confused with the story flow, so putting it down in Twine now, just to be clear about it. Kind of scared of committing scope creep, since there are three branches at the beginning and those could branch out too, instead of just two at the end in the original story... Might have to cut some things cause I think I might be overthinking some of the character choices.
Oof.
EDIT: Okay, I pretty much redid it, but yes, still on Twine. And yes, it looks more manageable now and actually closer to the original story and also the inspiration for it. Would have to leave it unfinished for now cause I'm sleepy and need to be up early tomorrow.
I'm still at that summary thing (I haven't really been doing this every day, since I've been doing other things too), and I'm finding myself expanding on the story that I started with. Not in the sense that it added more to the end of it to make it longer, but rather it added more to the middle of it. So, more branches with the choices, but roughly the same length as the first iteration of this story.
Also realized that for some reason, it's a lot less angsty than when I first wrote it. Maybe I gained some maturity or mellowed out? Or maybe because I've been thinking about it for a while? Or maybe both?
Gonna have to start work again on this on Monday, maybe? Or probably Wednesday, since I have something to do on Tuesday and I don't know if I'll be up for it when I return home.
Started with the outline for the story today. At first, I tried to go with a rough, bullet-type flow, but I started to get into the details I shouldn't be at this stage, like what kind of stuff is going to appear and play on the screen, so I stopped that for now, since that's for later.
I realized I summarize things better in paragraphs, so I started writing it in the same document. I think I should have separated the two, but I didn't yet.
I've been interested in making games for a while, but haven't really done anything back then. I've been putting out ideas and concept stuff before (particularly for visual novels), but none of them have really come to fruition, mostly because I've been busy with work.
I haven't been really organized, so I'm really surprised that I've been able to do a document for what I think would be a short visual novel. As for now, I'm calling it Leaning on a Stranger. I'd put out the idea before, but as I said, I haven't done anything concrete with it (except for a short story).