Pixelation

Critique => Devlogs & Projects => Topic started by: vertex on August 30, 2020, 03:19:31 pm

Title: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on August 30, 2020, 03:19:31 pm
Thought I should start a devlog somewhere so why not here.

'On the take' is a visual novel game with retro look and feel. Main inspiration is the old classic snatcher. You play as a cop solving and/or committing crime.

Tools:
Twine, Ren'Py, Python, Paint.net, Pyxel and Atom.

I'm no artist so here is my mockups/placeholder art.


Game menu / Logos:
(https://i.imgur.com/5TWBJhY.png) (https://i.imgur.com/Z4fXyzs.png)


Ingame:
(https://i.imgur.com/ilv1LvW.png) (https://i.imgur.com/PVRCeud.png)


And now for the fun part. Development tools:

Twinejs workflow
(https://i.imgur.com/to1zsM9.png)

My twine2renpy converter.
(https://i.imgur.com/J6RN2lv.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on August 31, 2020, 11:13:10 am
To help me set up goals I decided to compare my progress against snatcher. Made a visit over to junker hq. Downloaded the script files for sega saturn snatcher. Wrote a Python-script to analyze to code.

The (very rough) results ~:
8464 unique lines with 80148 words and 719 actions.

I planned about 20 scenes in 'on the take' so that would make it:
423 lines with 4007 words and 36 actions per scene.

Next step is too add a progress checker into the twine2renpy builder.
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 01, 2020, 06:55:25 am
Added a progress function in the build script.

(https://i.imgur.com/J5Mvd7f.png)

And as shown in report.txt
Code: [Select]
report
scenes: 21
1: streets
2: appartment
3: policestation
4: policeoffice
5: hospital
6: hotel
7: garage
8: restroom
9: policecomputer
10: hotelroom
11: scene10
12: scene11
13: scene12
14: scene13
15: scene14
16: scene15
17: scene16
18: scene17
19: scene18
20: scene19
21: scene20
variables: 2
lookAt's: 76
interact's: 61
wordcount: 1131 / 80148. 0.01%
actions: 219
unique actions: 44 / 719. 0.06%
lines: 353
unique lines: 90 / 8464. 0.01%
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 02, 2020, 07:58:38 am
Mockups to help create a Ren'py screen for the policestation computer.

(https://i.imgur.com/aIbWjec.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/r0HfJNA.png)

Inspiration:
We killed you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEm-podPO0

Simple solution is just to change out the background image and keep the regular text position. But it would be way better with a custom interface for the computer.

Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 02, 2020, 01:10:06 pm
Had a little extra time today so started implementing the faceid.

(https://i.imgur.com/4QdYqvD.gif)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 03, 2020, 05:27:25 am
Got labels working and then added the face and a random scan function.

(https://i.imgur.com/gBXbn3s.gif)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 04, 2020, 05:39:52 am
Friday update

New game menu and wiring up a couple of new rooms. Placeholder art is from snatchers.

(https://i.imgur.com/BgsHFIu.gif)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 05, 2020, 07:18:21 am
More work on putting the rooms together. Added more info to the build script to help me keep track up 'lookAt's. Here is an example of what the report.txt looks like.

Code: [Select]
report
scenes: 20
1: game
lookAt
2: garage
lookAt
3: home
lookAt
bed
pictures
fridge
floor
table
tv
laundry
disches
tvdinner
bills
4: hospital
lookAt
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
5: hospitalreception
lookAt
6: hospitalroom
lookAt
7: hotel
lookAt
8: hotelroom
lookAt
9: interrogation
lookAt
10: map
lookAt
11: morgue
lookAt
12: penthouse
lookAt
windows
couch
paintings
view
floor
lightning
piano
books
pillows
blinds
13: penthousebedroom
lookAt
14: policelab
lookAt
labworker
airvent
microscope
poster
zink
gloves
goggles
15: policelabcloseup
lookAt
16: policeoffice
lookAt
chief
photos
filecabinet
desk
bookshelf
hanger
cheif
awards
computer
map
17: policestation
lookAt
1
0
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
18: restroom
lookAt
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
19: streets
lookAt
Hector
Door
Street
20: tortureroom
lookAt
variables: 5
lookAt's: 91 / 200. 45.5%
interact's: 69 / 200. 34.5%
wordcount: 1515 / 80148. 0.02%
actions: 252
unique actions: 84 / 719. 0.12%
lines: 424
unique lines: 167 / 8464. 0.02%
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 06, 2020, 07:11:57 am
More lookAt's and more text. Also made a cute tracker-badge(?) to give us all a more fun-looking tracking overview.

(https://i.imgur.com/fe9bqx8.png)


Also a peek at the twine.

(https://i.imgur.com/f4SvMUW.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 07, 2020, 04:46:12 am
Work on each room and more work on the badge.

(https://i.imgur.com/2VQ2fu1.png)


Endgame minigame outline .
torture warning.
(https://i.imgur.com/8DoMMOI.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 08, 2020, 12:49:14 pm

Wiring rooms and adding game logic.

(https://i.imgur.com/ij0YxwY.png)


Important to leave room for more twine's.

(https://i.imgur.com/9Xthdyk.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 09, 2020, 06:20:27 am
Wiring and puzzles.

(https://i.imgur.com/KHrbT81.png)


Keeping the twine file in order.

(https://i.imgur.com/cUJ4DYl.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 10, 2020, 08:39:33 am
Now on twitter: https://twitter.com/questlogstudio


Not sure if I messed up the compiler or the source:D

(https://i.imgur.com/1SQ1VmE.png)


Forgot about this palette. Will be using it in the next mockups.

(https://i.imgur.com/Z75hAmq.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 11, 2020, 10:24:59 am
New and improved report:

(https://i.imgur.com/ibrPpmM.png)


Compiler refactoring:

(https://i.imgur.com/sSE4axp.png)

(https://i.imgur.com/VGtiOrr.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 12, 2020, 08:24:32 am
More twine-grind. But also report update again.

(https://i.imgur.com/iCJ154k.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 13, 2020, 07:30:13 am
Twine is opensource so I thought I should give customizing twine a try.


First dynamic icons:

(https://i.imgur.com/hpF0tfR.png)


Was going for a pico8 palette but never got further than unity gray:

(https://i.imgur.com/eRa9L1J.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 14, 2020, 08:05:19 am
Played around in blender blocking out the scenes with pico8 palette.

(https://i.imgur.com/X2XHJHH.png)

Tried to do a toon-shader effect but nothing yet.
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 15, 2020, 09:00:24 am
Procrastination with more stats.

(https://i.imgur.com/KGF0VQ1.png)


Mockup of the familiar and local hackerman.

(https://i.imgur.com/dD7TQ9u.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 16, 2020, 07:24:19 am
Report.

(https://i.imgur.com/uKTRxWU.png)


Added wordcounter to twine editor.

(https://i.imgur.com/cGKpk8t.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 17, 2020, 01:29:16 pm
Looking into snatchers can be weird.

(https://i.imgur.com/Koc4GK0.png)


Messing around with regex and js is never easy.

(https://i.imgur.com/f9z96rA.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 18, 2020, 07:48:25 am
The editor only counts dialog-words now.

(https://i.imgur.com/jSv2GLV.png)


And truncate the childnode title.

(https://i.imgur.com/thhkAEg.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 19, 2020, 06:54:48 am
First trying out dynamic colors:

(https://i.imgur.com/KRu2Tz9.png)


Then moved on to colored icons and icon for renpy scene element:

(https://i.imgur.com/J3glob5.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 20, 2020, 11:34:44 am
Trying to get shortcuts overlay in twine.

(https://i.imgur.com/ktuO4H9.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 21, 2020, 07:12:07 am
Scene shortcuts.

(https://i.imgur.com/VV3F0lK.png)


Scene sub-label counters.

(https://i.imgur.com/KmqfYEH.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 22, 2020, 09:40:26 am
Alerts added to help the player with new locations.

(https://i.imgur.com/VMauphC.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 23, 2020, 04:36:56 pm
Today it's a simple report.

(https://i.imgur.com/CpC1hD7.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 24, 2020, 06:04:35 pm
Just a fun one today. Most updated file in the project-folder.

(https://i.imgur.com/IAiQt3B.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 25, 2020, 06:45:07 pm
Inside the stations computer

(https://i.imgur.com/g1Pfvpt.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on September 27, 2020, 07:12:05 am
Progress is better than no progress.

(https://i.imgur.com/lrKeFoD.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 02, 2020, 10:49:28 am
After a couple of busy days it back to the fun.

Inventory:

(https://i.imgur.com/Ujf4HxC.png)


Fancier report:

(https://i.imgur.com/fa0dLPQ.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 04, 2020, 04:50:50 pm
More code and more puzzles.

(https://i.imgur.com/cNxYZJq.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 05, 2020, 05:59:57 pm
A bit of open the door puzzle.

(https://i.imgur.com/ptRVHfH.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 06, 2020, 05:49:11 pm
Babysteps.

(https://i.imgur.com/FxJTYYx.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 24, 2020, 04:14:42 pm
Been to long. Now after 3 hours of bug-hunting I'm back where I left off.

(https://i.imgur.com/8gFQGpT.png)

Missed u placeholder.
(https://i.imgur.com/DIp7nfv.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: bengo on October 25, 2020, 11:07:05 am
Neat stuff
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 25, 2020, 03:18:41 pm
Quote from: bengo on October 25, 2020, 11:07:05 am
Neat stuff
Thanks. Hopefully it will turn into to something playable.
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 25, 2020, 03:26:50 pm
Almost at 50k chars in Twine. Yey me.

(https://i.imgur.com/OtCTs2t.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 26, 2020, 07:05:40 pm
More fun stats today.

(https://i.imgur.com/XjlhXXu.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 27, 2020, 07:20:56 pm
It's a Secret to Everybody.
(https://i.imgur.com/Iz9oMuN.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 28, 2020, 01:43:05 pm
Been putting it off. But now the first 2 locations are wired from start to end. Next step is to fix the 'else' counter:D

(https://i.imgur.com/2CHg47S.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 29, 2020, 06:56:36 pm
A big mess.

(https://i.imgur.com/Y5uTkAm.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 30, 2020, 07:50:15 pm
Got in an hour of gamedev today.

(https://i.imgur.com/SdCscXj.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on October 31, 2020, 03:58:30 pm
New tools. Added shortcuts to the actors.

(https://i.imgur.com/TwhmQLJ.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 01, 2020, 06:53:04 pm
Mostly code changes.

(https://i.imgur.com/hAE42l0.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 02, 2020, 07:08:07 pm
Busy day today. 30 min gamedev before bed. Trying to name a new function.

(https://i.imgur.com/MaCauqz.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 04, 2020, 07:21:33 pm
Behind the inside of the computer?

(https://i.imgur.com/fzFf5mP.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 05, 2020, 06:52:47 pm
2k views here :D. All fun and games in the code.

(https://i.imgur.com/NyrM8oX.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 06, 2020, 03:46:29 pm
Puzzling progress.

(https://i.imgur.com/tIYQJnl.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 07, 2020, 07:59:15 pm
Fixed small bug kept the pickup icon from showing.

(https://i.imgur.com/ke88T6X.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 08, 2020, 07:01:47 pm
Much needed "Clean"-button added to the editor.

(https://i.imgur.com/28FZ4qW.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: eishiya on November 08, 2020, 07:13:29 pm
I wish you'd actually talk about what's going on in your posts. Three months of posts in and I still have no idea what this project is, what kind of work you're doing and what kind of work needs to be done, or what any of these images mean. I can't even tell if I'm looking at screenshots from some game engine, a custom engine, a story editor, or what. Makes it hard to get interested in the project!
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 09, 2020, 10:10:34 am
Quote from: eishiya on November 08, 2020, 07:13:29 pm
I wish you'd actually talk about what's going on in your posts. Three months of posts in and I still have no idea what this project is, what kind of work you're doing and what kind of work needs to be done, or what any of these images mean. I can't even tell if I'm looking at screenshots from some game engine, a custom engine, a story editor, or what. Makes it hard to get interested in the project!
It started as a way to keep up with the artist working on some initial art but morphed into a tracker.

The gamedev right now is just story-text being put into an editor so it's not very interesting unless your working on the project. But I will see what I can do to expand the progress text to make it more fun to read.
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 09, 2020, 06:42:25 pm
Let's get some more info into this one. Expanded the editor to have a better preview-style. So when showing off the game in the editor it's not a total mess. Still a huge mess.

(https://i.imgur.com/QsRUJID.png)

Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 10, 2020, 07:28:09 pm
Cleaning code so twine-stats are shrinking.

(https://i.imgur.com/v5RPoTS.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 11, 2020, 08:01:58 pm
A look inside the gamelogic. The code is written in twine.

(https://i.imgur.com/zO8aaEZ.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 12, 2020, 05:34:33 pm
To help identify dead ends in the story I added a much needed 'dead end'-icon.

(https://i.imgur.com/G9N8NVG.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 14, 2020, 03:56:28 pm
Progress. Wiring up more game-logic and adding main dialog.

(https://i.imgur.com/gi7xHy0.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 15, 2020, 07:26:59 pm
Trying out my own editor. Twine is a bit slow.

(https://i.imgur.com/p2F4V3T.png)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 16, 2020, 07:36:57 pm
The new editor is taking shape.

(https://i.imgur.com/7QcKN1b.gif)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 17, 2020, 06:15:04 pm
More fun with the new editor. Clean up next.

(https://i.imgur.com/fgr83uN.gif)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 18, 2020, 04:56:12 pm
Cleaned UI. Can now import the old data from twine.

(https://i.imgur.com/npLxG5f.gif)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 19, 2020, 06:01:58 pm
Arrows are not working but hey: it's rendering fast. Small win.

(https://i.imgur.com/7COuAIr.gif)
Title: Re: On the take - Visual novel
Post by: vertex on November 29, 2020, 01:39:36 pm
Break from the editor and back to the story. Takes a day to get my head back in the game. Hard to find the time with Christmas around the corner.

(https://i.imgur.com/0T2Ncs6.png)