Introduction

So a few developer acquaintances have asked me to do a post mortem of Gilded Shadows - talk about development and things I learned, strategies used, etc. I broke it into two parts because it's 7000 words long. Certain topics like character customisation and writing are complicated and I have a lot of thoughts about them.

I'll be honest that I hesitate to try to condense a project that way for a lot of reasons. Including that I think it's impossible, really, to condense a 4 year journey into a few thousand words. And also, I'm not sure how much of my experience is anything that others can take to heart.

For instance, one of the big hurdles with Gilded Shadows was just...Covid.  And that is a bit of a once-in-a-lifetime situation that, even if I talk about it, is unlikely to yield anything useful for other people.

Even so, I figured I'd write up a ramble of sorts for anyone who wants to read it. It's a bit about GS and a bit about Changeling since I talk some about things I learned during Changeling and either applied or refined during making Gilded Shadows.

This is for the developers who wanted to hear my thoughts. So...to them, I will say to burn this part into your eyeballs.

Because, ultimately, regardless of what succeeded and what failed, what I'd do the same or what I would change...this is *really* the heart of what I've learned:

Every developer's journey is unique. And frankly, that's okay.

There is often no right way or wrong way to approach things. PART of the journey (sometimes) is failing. Part of the journey is experimenting through trial and error, realising that one thing doesn't work and moulding it into something else instead. And a huge chunk of it is figuring out what works for you personally. What worked for me, may not work for you even if you apply the same strategies.

Each game we make, each project we tuck into our back pocket is a reflection of where we were at that point in our journey. It's a stepping stone to the next thing or it's a place we linger for a while and just enjoy it.

You do not have to treat each project like a tick mark on a list that starts the beginning of a new scramble to rush into something bigger and better and more amazing to prove yourself.

Learn. Linger. Stumble. Fail. Succeed. Make bad choices. Make good choices. Follow 'rules' if you want and break every single one if that's more fun. And always, always be proud of what you accomplish.

That is really what I've learned from Gilded Shadows.

Your journey is your journey and my journey is mine. If you can learn something from my journey, that's great. And if you look at this and take nothing away from it, that's okay too.

That's...a lot to sear into your eyeballs.

Sorry. I wrote a 1,037,000 word game here. Don't expect brevity.    (*￣3￣)╭

Moving on...

(every time you see a 📍, it means we've put a pin in that and I'll talk about it more at some point)

Conceptualisation

Gilded Shadows is, of course my second project. Like Changeling, it originally started as a linear story from some years ago that I decided to adapt into a VN. When that happened, it was re-conceptualised as a six-love interest game that would be of similar length to Changeling. Additional LIs were added during the Kickstarter. 📍

Ultimately I've learned that I need about 70,000 - 75,000 words (not including the 'common route' - it's more like 85-95k if we include the common route) to tell a *linear* story in a game with separate routes like Gilded Shadows. That 70k turns into 100,000 if I add the usual amount of branching because 30% branching also seems to be about where I gravitate to. 📍

Because one of the complaints with Changeling was that it had too few CGs, I always knew that I wanted to increase the amount of art in GS. So that made the scope inherently bigger regardless of the word count.

There were other features I wanted to experiment with as well:

-character customisation 📍 

        - including personality traits

         - and recolours of the MC's appearance

 - flowcharts 📍

 - a glossary

Flowcharts were something I really wanted to add to Changeling but didn't have the know-how or, frankly, the money to pay someone else to do it. I was working less than $8000 as a budget for that game. It's a miracle it didn't wither on the vine, honestly.

The flowcharts were, in some ways, a reaction to how players responded to what I refer to as 'hidden branching' in Changeling - places where the story branches outside of choices and in a way that isn't immediately apparent to players.

It happened multiple times that there were alternate variations of scenes that players weren't even aware existed until they saw others talking about them because not everyone replays for alternate endings.

So I wanted flowcharts to help make that sort of thing more apparent to players.

The point is that GS was going to be another big project and I knew this from the start.

Because I already had made Changeling, I had a good idea of what making Gilded Shadows would be like.

I know that sometimes you hear a suggestion that first and even second projects should be "small" - and there are a lot of benefits to starting with a small project as your first. That said...

I believe project size should be geared towards your life, abilities, experience, and based on a methodical and research-oriented approach to planning. This means that your first, second, third...that EVERY project should be scoped based on who you are and what you are able to do in that moment. 📍

GS was scoped based on those things.

Now...will I ever make a game the size of Gilded Shadows again? Alone?...Probably not. But I'm still really glad I made it.

Planning the Game

Starting with the writing

My philosophy is that because the writing is the longest (BY FAR) part of the process, it needs to be started first. 📍

I have always been a discovery writer (AKA, a "pantser"). I have always done very little planning and a lot of the planning I did bother with was in my head and not written down on paper.

With Changeling, I wrote up a single page summary of each route as my "planning" (and when I say 'page' - trust me, that's being generous. It was more like half a page.) But unfortunately this did lead to some issues while writing that project. For instance, I wrote Elliot's route...then rewrote it. Then rewrote it again.

So with GS I wanted to be sure that I planned the story out better to avoid some of those struggles.

I really hate planning and outlining. I find it tedious and often get writer's block at this stage because it's...boring. But I knew I needed it.

So I had to find a method of outlining that worked for me - that allowed me the freedom to be spontaneous when drafting but also had me set up for success before I really got into the tedious part of writing a long project.

I ultimately settled on this sort of modified snowflake method.

Point is that I learned my lesson with Changeling and tried to plan the writing better, shedding my chaotic nature and trying to be more organised. 📍

For the other stuff

Additionally, I spent a lot of time researching flowcharts.

I experimented with mind mapping and flowchart software. And I basically just came up with a system that worked for me and figured out how to implement it through trial and error (and some coding help from awesome friends).

And then there was the character customisation.

I had to decide on scope first, and this required looking across a lot of games to see what they offered so I could decide how I wanted to approach it. 📍

I decided early on that the art-related customisation would be colour palette based for the sake of scope. But it took a while to work out how the personality traits were going to function as a mechanic and I changed it several times even after the demo was out.

Character Customisation

I could probably write a 10,000 word essay on what I learned about character creators. From common player perceptions of how they function and why they exist (and how that juxtaposes against what developers are often trying to accomplish) to inherent scope limits and how some players perceive those scope limits to the practical mechanics of implementing customisation and how that played out as a solo dev. It's a lot. And trying to condense it is...tough...

When I first decided to do customisation for the MC it was really just because I wanted to. I wanted to try it out.

It was an experiment of sorts - at the time, there weren't a *lot* of indie otome that had character creators like this (bearing in mind this was in 2018/2019) and I really just wanted to see what it entailed. My motivations weren't that much deeper, though I did have a few other reasons like wanting to allow players flexibility in choosing how Morgan looked.

What I didn't anticipate were the preconceptions, misconceptions, and assumptions floating around about this kind of feature. Or the amount of requests for more and more options that I would get. (Requests are valid but can be really overwhelming for a small dev to manage).

Scope limits are tricky. And sometimes it feels like there are snap judgements about things like "laziness" when it comes to the decisions we make about limiting scope. There are 100 valid opinions about how to balance customisation options for the "best" experience. It can be hard to juggle all that feedback and to cope the emotional burden of feeling like what you are capable of isn't enough and you are failing everyone.

These were things I didn't necessarily expect to be dealing with on top of the workload.

Inherent Scope Limits

I think every indie dev that attempts character customisation is aware there are going to be intense scope limits because we have such limited resources. Limited time, energy, money, physical ability...

But there are so many ways to approach scope limits and so many different ways to set up customisation that "scope limit" does not mean the same thing in each game. Scope limits, by nature, are imperfect. Customisation, by default, will be limited and imperfect. But that imperfection will look different every time you encounter it.

Most players, by far, are super understanding about this.

There are some people out there who are frustrated by limitations. It can be exhausting when people draw more conclusions about your mind set and world view than your to access to things like money, time, and resources. Decisions are often viewed as careless, thoughtless, poorly planned. When in reality limitations are due to financial inaccessibility, physical inaccessibility, and other very real hurdles.

Character customisation will never be a fully dynamic representation of everything there is . Especially when it's being done by a micro studio. It will always represent a narrow slice of a much larger spectrum of experience - a small snapshot of possibility worked into a single cohesive character.

And this is one of the inherent weaknesses of customisation that is shown through the visuals and not just the text. Balancing the limited accessibily of this feature to small developers with making it as comprehensive and fun as possible is really tricky. And you're unlikely to hit the right balance for every player.

Much of how I personally defined my scope limits for GS customisation was defined by the workload and what I thought I was capable of. Because as my own character artist, I wasn't paying for the feature in cash but in time and physical labour.

But I have a bad habit of pushing myself beyond my physical limits and abusing my drawing hand. And that came back to bite me. 📍

The Workload

I had a good idea of the workload for the recoloured customisation I did for Gilded Shadows due to past work experience. I knew it would be a lot, and Morgan doesn't even require *redrawing* - only *recolouring*, which is less work than having to actually redraw features.

If it takes me 1 hour to draw a hairstyle and then 30 minutes to recolour it a few times (because I recolour manually). That's 1.5 hours to draw and recolour that hairstyle each time I have to draw it. Every new hairstyle increases the work by 1.5 hours (assuming all hair styles take the same amount of time and effort which...is not the case.)

One hairstyle takes 1.5 hours for every CG. Two hairstyles would be 3 hours per CG. Three hairstyles would be 4.5 hours per CG...just for the hair.

And then when you consider this may need to be done across 50 CGs. Drawing and recolouring a single hair style across that many CGs is 75 hours and 150 hours for two hairstyles. (And,again, this is just the hair - I'm not counting hours spent drawing all the other parts of the CG.)

The time, physical burden and budget can increase *dramatically* with just a few additional options unless you severely limit other things. Multiple areas of redrawing may mean a severely limited palette. And a wider colour palette may mean no redrawing so you can manage the time spent recolouring. This is why scope limits are so necessary for small indie teams and why customisation is often so limited.

The way to make customisation accessible to small devs with limited teams and budgets is just trying to find balance between redrawing vs recolouring, the amount of options, how many CGs depict the MC, etc, etc.

All of it is about carefully choosing scope limits that work for you and keep the feature accessible - especially in light of all the other art and assets the game needs. This is critically important with a limited budget or if you are doing all the art yourself.

What I wish I had done better:

Communicate the limits more clearly, create boundaries, and not budge on it.

Some things I knew early on I couldn't physically keep up with - like anything with re-drawing. I conceptualised multiple hair types for Morgan (straight, wavy, curly) but scrapped the idea when I realised it wasn't going to be physically possible.

But...I felt terrible for it and revisited it several times out of guilt despite knowing it was not feasible.

Every dev I know is so bad at saying no and drawing boundaries because we really, really do want to please people and do right by our players. There were several times I added additional recolours and options because people requested it. And each of those was more time and physical effort. I don't regret some of the things I added in and others I wish I had said no.

In fact, it took me having to face the possibility that I might have done so much damage to my hand I wouldn't be able to draw anymore for me to say "Wow. I really need to learn to say no and not feel like a terrible person for it."

Sitting at my desk and being in pain while trying to draw, not being able to do daily tasks without pain - and then the pain being so bad I came face to face with the possibility I may have to hire someone else to finish the art for the remaining three routes was a wake up call in a lot of ways.

Learning to say no and draw a line between what we want to do and what we can do is hard. But it's necessary. Especially if our well-being is on the line.

(and that means knowing when to say no to myself as well because I would add 500 more options to everything if I could because they're fun to create.)

I also wish I had planned CGs better.

I don't think I would have reduced the number of CGs if given the chance.I think I would have reduced how often Morgan appears in them. Such as showing her only in really important character moments and letting the rest of the CGs be LI-only. Any CG with Morgan in it is instantly two or three times the work as showing the LI alone. Not just drawing, but coding and testing as well.

I think I would have been more selective about which CGs showed her and would have been more selective with composition. A "camera angle" over her shoulder and showing the back of her head would have also significantly reduced my workload and that is a technique I could have used more but didn't.

I think there's a good balance to be found between not showing the MC in the CGs at all, and just planning composition around the customisation in ways that reduce the workload.  

I wish I had found that balance earlier in development.

I want to show the MC in CGs - I think it's *important* to show them. But I could have planned this out better than I did and saved myself some physical pain and mental anguish.

In the end...

Despite all of that, I still am really happy I added the customisation. It was a fascinating learning experience and I'm going to take what I learned and apply that to future projects, experimenting more and playing  more with the idea of a character creator. I learned a lot.  And it makes me happy to see it in the game.

Though not everyone was satisfied with it, a lot of players really enjoyed playing around with the options and even seeing a few instances where the game content changed based on your customisation (such as Lance waxing poetic about Morgan's eye colour).

So that makes it worth it...to me.

And that's important. Sometimes a game feature exists because we want it to. Because it makes us happy as devs. And in that sense, if it makes you happy then that's your pay off.

This was something I wanted to add and had the ability to add. I think the value it added for some players more than made up for the frustration, struggle, and complaints.

The Flowcharts 

I love the flowcharts. They were kind of a pain in the butt to set up.

But I love them and would do it again. I will do it again. I am doing it again.

This is where I make a case for everyone doing flowcharts then explain why it's a pain in the ass and most people shouldn't bother because it's too annoying.

So. Make of that what you will. ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Okay, seriously though.

Why Everyone Should Include Flowcharts

They're cool! And useful!      \^o^/

But actually, not everyone should include flowcharts.

As much as I love flow charts in games, they aren't always cool and useful. For instance, when a game has very little branching, or branching is isolated to small scenarios at the choices, flowcharts aren't interesting to look at. some chapters in Gilded Shadows have very bland flowcharts because the branching isn't completely bonkers *everywhere.*

Just in some places.

If a game has gauntlet style branching like below, then I'm not really sure how much a flowchart adds compared to the amount of work you have to put in to make it.

The branching is straight forward and the structure repetitive so the player may not really need to have a visual for it.

It can also be really hard to show a lot of really small variations on a flowchart. GS had constant references back to earlier moments in the game and there was no way to put those on the flowchart while also keeping it legible. The flowcharts in Gilded Shadows are a sort of simplified look at the actual story branching.

But I do think that if a game has a more complex structure - even a simple branch-and-gate structure with hidden branching (due to call backs to earlier choices) that a flowchart is a great way to sign post to the player how much of the story they are seeing or missing out on during a particular path.

It also gives the player one more thing to unlock and achieve.

As I mentioned, I wanted to add flowcharts into Changeling but didn't have the knowledge at that time. Putting them in Gilded Shadows was GOING to happen. (I'm not totally sure the branching in Changeling was interesting enough to warrant a flowchart, looking back...)

In the end, I just really wanted to do it.

It really wasn't that difficult to figure out how to make them work. And they aren't really *hard* to make or set up. But...

They are time consuming. There are a lot of things in game development that aren't difficult but are *tedious*. And flowcharts are a time sink that some people might not want to invest in.

Because just like with a character creator, the pay off is really difficult to quantify.

Players like the flowcharts. 

Initially (sort of amusingly) I got push back on the idea of flowcharts from people who said they would be "jarring" somehow. It's interesting to me how players can sometimes have reservations about things that seem really innocuous to devs.

But some of the same people ended up loving them.

(As a side note I think that's one of the dangers of trying to "get feedback" during development. Sometimes people don't like something they've never seen before just because they haven't seen it and can't picture it.

People like familiarity and often reject the unfamiliar simply because it is...unfamiliar.)

I do think that allowing the player to see the amount of small variations that occur due to Morgan's personality traits has value. There are still people who don't like how the personality aspect is implemented, but I think it would feel more pointless if people couldn't see it on the flowchart.

I think I will probably have flowcharts in my games going forward unless a game has incredibly simplistic branching.

But I won't lie and say they aren't kind of a pain to set up. The coding isn't difficult but making the images was tedious.

(I still love them and am so happy I added them though.)

To Be Continued...

As I mentioned, this post mortem got pretty long and I decided to break it into two posts.  The other one is here.