When Stars Collide
Episode 2 EA and December Wrap-up
Hi everyone! Welcome to our December devlog.
In big news, Episode 2 has moved into Patreon early access (minus 2 CGs that I did not have time to complete.).
In other big news, I am moving house and have had to put dev work on hold a bit while that happens. My house is in shambles, there are boxes everywhere, the spiders in the closets are unduly disturbed...
And I'm quite tired.
But lets jump into dev rambles, shall we?
Summary:
(All these updates are in reference only to the content in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4)
- Completed the bonus scene for Episode 2
- Coded the bonus scene
- Completed 4.5 more CGS (12.5 out of 14 are complete)
- Remaining CGs are on hold due to the move
- Finished the Patreon Guide
- Released Episode 2 to Patrons for Early Access
- Did some preliminary work on Episode 3
- Sprite art for a new character....
- New BGs, as always
Release
As mentioned I released the early access version of Episode 2 to Patrons (Yellow Tea and above). I also released the Patreon guide to them...
This was a bit rushed as I knew the move was coming up and wanted to get the release out before the move. As such, I still have two CGs to complete because I simply did not have time beforehand.
I decided it was better to release EA without the remaining CGs than to delay EA until January, after the move.
Once the move is finished I should be able to sit down and finish the remaining CGs in time for the public release of Episode 2 but for now those are effectively on hold as I pack up all my belongings and clean like crazy so I can move to a new place.
Art
I did 4 CGs over the last month which is not a lot but these are CGs that show Wil. Which means a lot of redrawing for the body and the hair. So these CGs tend to take much longer than solo CGs with the guys.
In addition to redrawing parts I have to really manage my photoshop layers and then manage layers in the game files as well. I just have to be a bit more meticulous with details.
I also have started working on sprite art for a new character who will....sort of appear in episode 3 for the first time. I actually have one more new sprite to do. These characters I've been putting off for a while as I only have had vague mental images of them but it's finally time to sit down and really develop them properly. I can't put it off any longer.
Alas. Gotta get to the two mystery men drawn.
I have one of them partially rendered at this point and the other one is still a mystery even to me.
I am still, of course, receiving new BGs on an on-going basis.
Coding and Other
In the realm of coding, I coded the bonus scene, which is a group scene so I had a lot of expressions to complete.
Huzzah.
I also had to code the CGs which doesn't sound impressive but the Wil-centric CGs definitely require a bit more coding and testing than others just to make sure they are set up correctly.
(Fun fact, I fully forgot Kav's beard in one of his CGs and had to go back to add it in while I was testing and realised suddenly that he looked very weird somehow...) ┗( T﹏T )┛
This isn't even the first time I've forgotten that damn beard of his. I have a couple of non-game arts where he doesn't have it and it's not because it was a choice. I just forgot it exists.
I also started doing some nominal work on Episode three. Namely, coding in expressions and music cues. Stuff where I don't have to add in any new assets as I don't like to add those until it's absolutely necessary.
Upcoming Month
In the upcoming month I intend to obviously finish the final two CGs for Episode 2 as well as releasing Ep 2 publicly. This should happen mid-late January.
And then I will move on to focusing my efforts on Episode 3.
All of that will be after my move to a new house is complete and we've unpacked. And settled in. Ugh.
If you are interested in reading a End of Year wrap-up for me, please check out this link over on tumblr:
https://www.tumblr.com/steamberrystudio/770981999768911872/2024-wrap-up-and-2025-plans?source=share
Comments
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Hi!
I'm currently playing the Gilded shadows and i'm amazed by how rich the stories are and the romances are very well written!
I'm looking forward to this new game as well!
There's only one thing that i don't really like sometimes, is the ears of the characters, sometimes they are too large compared to the face, especially the characters that are facing us. The ears shouldn't protrude from the head as much either.
Sorry for hearing me rant about it :)
I still love your game!
Brigi
You are allowed to rant about it but I doubt I'll change how I draw ears. It's just kind of a part of my style. I've been drawing for a long time and that's just kind of how the style developed. It is what it is. 💪
Not every player is going to like every aspect of every part of my art style (indeed, not everyone likes how I draw lips, faces, hair, etc etc.)
Sometimes it's just like that. =)
*vibrates at a higher frequency*
The beard thing is a kind of hilarious detail to miss- and you're right, the bare pointy chin looks a bit odd.
That BG image is beautiful and I am ever impressed by the person you have doing the art for those.
Kav looks like Yren almost without the beard. That's actually how I noticed it - I was looking at a thumbnail of it and thinking that I'd mixed a Yren CG into the Kav section only to realise that no.......It's Kav without his stupid beard! LoL 🤣🤣
(Funnily enough, you do get to see him shaved and cleaned up at some point during the game but not yet!)
I have multiple BG artists including some I've worked with on other projects. Unfortunately I've had a lot of BGs created that I can't use due to style differences but all the artists have done really lovely work even if I ultimately had to replace some of the artwork with more stylistically appropriate art.
The one I showed off here was done by Son Huynh, who also did some BG work for Gilded Shadows.