Glorious day to you all! It's been a while since the last update.

So, to catch you guys up to speed on the behind the scenes, I've been working on "Crimson Chase" which was going to be a book with chapters. Each chapter was going to be a fully fleshed out short story that told a little bit more of the character's arcs. For instance, the chapter titled "Arachnophobia" was themed around spiders. The original goal was that each chapter would not be more than 2,000 words. There would be 7 chapters like this, so that would be a minimum of 14,000 words. I nicknamed these chapters "Mask Horror" stories. However, my estimation was WAY off, I realized "Crimson Chase" is turning more into a novel. I can't work on a longer story right now because I want to get to "Butterfly Kisses" and "A Long Journey VN" before my time runs out (my deadline was November). What I will do for now is finish off those seven chapters and submit them to online zines, and in the future, years from now, I may come back and finish "Crimson Chase."

Speaking of "A Long Journey VN..." I've been working on some designs for the reboot this year! Here's some of my WIP environmental models.

I just need to add some paint, some props, some resin for the pond, and then decorate the pond, and it's done! You'll notice the crystals sticking out of the ground -- that's because this is the Quartz region that ALJ VN takes place in. Doing some sculptures like these really jogged my creative juices. I can base my 2D art off of these.

As for "Butterfly Kisses," let's just say doing all these "Chase" short stories first had really paid off in the end. I've learned so much about feeling and good storytelling. Donald Maass's book "The Emotional Craft of Fiction," has really been a game changer for me. I'm really proud (for the first time) how well this manga's story is going to turn out.

Well, "Azure Chase" is being released at the end of this month. I gotta get back to work. Enjoy your weekend, internet.

~Rox

Well, as I promised, there would be some updates coming to the website. I've added some thumbnails finally to the older projects, and I should get some for the new ones. They'll be coming once I've gotten them to a good enough place. However, my main goal is still to produce content 90% of the time.

Currently, I've got a series of 6 (maybe 7) short stories I'm working on. They are all Horror/Sci-Fi with some elements of drama (and the occasional humor bits), following an alien succubus that just wants to take down its mortal enemy - the protector all humans, the Guardian Knight. Here's a sketch of "Fred." He's a completely new character to the universe.

It feels good to be in the most productive time of my life. My goal is to finish the "Rose Festival" Board game and the 6 short stories by June. The "Butterfly Kisses" Manga vol. 1-3 should be done by November. Then, I'm circling back to "A Long Journey."

The reason for this is when I started my "A Long Journey," I got some feedback that my artwork wasn't that good and my writing stunk, which, I also kind of felt. That feedback has helped push me to train harder. After those projects are done, I feel like I'll be at a good enough level to which I'll finally be proud of my game.

The even better new is that the platform I've picked to build the game on is going to be super stable and easy for me to work with, instead of building it all from scratch. Not only that, I've kind of found a plot I like for ALJ now. The center of the conflict was between Warrick and Auferre. Why not just start the story there? So that's what my plan is going to be.

So that's the progress update for me. Thank you all for continuing to follow my work. I appreciate every one of you.

Also, short stories are going to be found on Amazon when they are completed.

~Roxana

Wow. It's been over a month since my last update. I apologize for that. Moving and dealing with a new area has been a hassle. Also, been working on a lot of things behind the scenes. Even created a new app game for google play for this series. It's called "Mahou Shoujo Anime Director VN" (long name, isn't it?) and you can check it out on the "Games" page of this site.

Anyways, for your patience, I wanted to reward you. Each episode will have it's own unique cover. Here are the ones for the first 6. Now remember, I'm remaking this entire series so I don't have any updated game files. Rest assured, A Long Journey VN is still under development. In fact, check out that game's page to see the updates I've made to it. It has a better user flow now (hopefully).

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. Other than that, enjoy!

AAHHHH!! Munster!!! Wait.... who's that girl?

What lurks underneath? I promise you, it ain't no goldfish... hahahahaha

As for where I was two years before when I promised my grand vision (artwork, choices, story, gameplay)… I’d say… I’m about 50% there. After all the experience and practice I’ve gotten through writing so much, I feel like I’m miles from where I was before. I don’t think the first stories I wrote were very engaging at all. I’m still working on it, but for all you who have been with me since Day 1, it’s night and day. Episode 4 is going to be even better written.

But writing a visual novel is just half the story. What I never factored in was the effective placement of cutscenes and character movement/emotion. That really is the other 50% that makes Visual novels so enjoyable. I never knew that when I started, but since practicing, I’ve gotten some of the understanding of it…. Need to work on it a bit more…


Programming is the skill I’ve really grown the most in. Hopefully this version will have better performance than the others and more solid saving/loading (a feature that I have historically struggled with).

Art is WAY behind where I wanted to be. I haven’t even been able to draw in the art style that I really want to, and it drives me up a wall (I'm referring to the "Canterrella" or "RG Veda" manga art style). I’ve put in 100 hours at least trying to get art style right, but all I am is a little faster, but not much better. I think that’s the biggest thing that’s been holding me back… I just need to really practice and take more time with cutscenes. One day, I’ll get to the point where my artwork will look good and be fast, and episodes will come out much quicker… but I don’t think that’ll happen too soon.

I chose the second option, and it destroyed my social life. I need some time to piece it back together and learn to re balance my life. Work is killing me too (even if this says college).

Plus, I want to make a simple card game. I've already had the idea done, I just need to finish the artwork. It'll have characters from this series, but I just need time to create it.

Then, I want to get some Dorian-Gray artwork done too. That story is not dead. Just takes some time to get the right anime-feeling to it. Hahaha.

Anyways, time for me to pass out. Peace

~Rox
Game Dev

Redone Episode 1 for "A Long Journey VN"

Sorry, it's been so long since I've even thought about doing a blog update, I don't remember how I did them before. Hopefully the gif helps explain the situation in continuing this Visual Novel Series.


//// DEVELOPMENT STORIES
Official date for the release of episode 4 and redone episode 1 (which will have double the content) will be December 14. Why? Cause I figured after how long episode 3 took, (and the fact I'm not redoing any character artwork), it should take about 2 months to finish both. My composer for this series, Elias Luukanen, is slated to create some more custom music for the soundtrack.

This time around, I've decided to really play up the power of choices for the visual novels. When you're a developer running out of time, it's easy to cut corners, but as a designer, you have to think: is this worth it? That's part of the reason I didn't want to say a release date until the writing and choice structure was better than what was previously done, and what's out there. I aim to have the best visual novel out there one day.


//// FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
There will be some major characters introduced in episodes 4 -6, and why is it so hard to draw what's in your head? I need to practice a lot. They are all fighters and I'm planning on having like an anime tournament in it... it's under work.

I think the art thing, where I release a new concept thing each day, will start in December. But then again, I release things sporadically on the official website's blog.

//// OTHER NEWS
Speaking of which, I spent the later part of last month remodeling the site, especially the flash pages (*sigh* I was just learning how to get it to work, too).

Hey, I've got a character popularity poll up now here: http://www.thelegendofauferre.com/ (you'll have to scroll down a bit) and cast your vote! Let's see what the internet thinks. And if you've got a poll idea, I'm all ears.

~That's all, folks!

Rox

Hello Wonderful people of the internet! I finally have some serious development news to share today!


//// DEVELOPMENT STORIES

You saw the title! Just had a manic desire to finish the dern episode 6. Therefore, the writing for episodes 4, 5, and 6 are completed. Episode 1 is getting a major reboot, becoming at least twice as long as it was originally. Episode 2 gets a bit more meat that adds to the world.

Wow, if I knew just how hard it would be to actually create a text adventure game, I would have rethought it in the beginning of this plan. But, it's hard to grow when you don't have anyone telling you their opinions. I truly felt bad that I wasn't able to deliver on my vision that I declared a year and a half ago, but I suppose this was the only way I could get this much better. Thanks for everyone who's stuck around still, and for the new people joining.

//// FUTURE PLANS

Now that all the scripts have been written, I'm gonna spend the rest of this month and October typing and revising the scripts. I really want to release an episode in November, but I'm pretty certain I'll be able to release episode 4 and redone episode 1 in December.

I will do a #30dayArtJam where I post a new piece of concept art or a cutscene each day for 30 days on this blog here. It'll start once I've gotten into a comfortable position. It'll be soon though.

Things are finally picking up y'all!

~Rox
Game Creator

Hello Readers,

How are you all doing this month? I've doing absolutely fantastic. I took a 21 day break from working on this, but BOY, have I made up for all that vacation time these past couple of days!


//// DEVELOPMENT STORIES

Episode 6 of A Long Journey VN will have a major branching path, so even though it will say 4 or 5 chapters, in reality, I have to write for two more chapters, and then all the switch conditions that follow it. So let's say that I have Episode 6's 2 out of 7 chapters are completed.

In the Episode 1, version update, it will have twice the original content and more to deal with the story of the characters. Why they are the way they are and what happened to their first encounter.  There will be much more action scenes in this one.

But most importantly, I've FINALLY been able to tell what my story is going to be, and what I want to happen! Like, you don't know how long, I don't know how long, I've been struggling with finding out how to evolve the plot from day 1 to the last day, and this breakthrough has pushed development into a REALLY accelerated track. My goal is to have episodes 4 - 6, 1, & 2, completely written/rewritten before I can announce a release date. However, it's starting to look like there will be a new episode released in December.


//// ART CREATION

There is a reason why I can't release anything too soon, and that is because I'm signing up to take some drawing classes from September to October. I'm also doing an insane amount of anatomical studies so that the fight scenes actually look dynamic. That's the real hold up. But when I'm done with every cutscene... BOY, it is going to look much better!

I'll be adding a lot more content to the website then with those pictures. It's just right now.... I really just need to git gud.

Some things I'm coming up with are the character designs of four very prominent "antagonists," which will be coming up in the later episodes of A Long Journey. We have Bautista, Eugene, Garian, and more updates on Alexander. There, I've told you there names, but you'll have to wait to find out who they are exactly.


//// WEBSITE

If you all have been to my official website before, I'm pleased to announce a new web redesign for it. The site host FINALLY made my ideal design a reality. It looks a lot better and the navigation is better. Not too much more content, other than, flash is no longer playable on the web page. You will have to download every episode instead, at least for the time being. That security hack from flash some weeks ago made me nervous, and I'd hate for y'all to get a virus. If Flash lives in November, I'll bring back the seperate pages.

Also, I'm paying for the domain name now, so the official site is now: thelegendofaufere.com . No more weebly! HUZZAH!



Aight, that's enough from my end. I'll be back in October with an action packed story then. Toodle-oo!

~Rox