proxxie
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The H-Scene (Again)
🕑 Added 2021-09-25 03:27:07 +0000 UTCGreetings! First, I want to say I’m very sorry for the long delay in posting. As is usually the case when you don’t hear from me for a while, I was working on something that I wanted to have finished before posting, so that I could report it was complete, and it ended up taking (much) longer than expected. And the longer I go without posting, the harder it is to post without being done... so it’s sort of a vicious circle. I need to find a better way to deal with this, but I haven’t really figured out what it is yet. Anyway, I’m going to stop apologizing because I don’t want this to be a downer to read, but I am very sorry!
The thing I was trying to complete was the H-scene. Last time I'd reported that the images were complete, but that the writing and eventing and such were not. The bad news is that it took so long to finish, but the good news is that it is now (finally!) complete. Why did it take so long? Most of this was down to the writing, although I did end up doing a lot more work on the art which I'll cover below.
The Writing
Why did the writing take so long? There are a few reasons, but I'll start with the most important one: because of what happens in the scene, it would have been very easy for it to turn out in a way that I and probably you wouldn't be happy with. I can't tell you exactly what the problem is without spoiling some of the scene. I will say, though, that Val was always intended as a possible love interest for the player character, not a love interest for Ana, and this scene is supposed to clearly establish that. How do you write a femdommy threesome scene where both of the NPCs are supposed to be love interests, but without either being all that interested in the other, and where nobody's incredibly pissed off or hurt at the end? Well... it's hard. At least it was for me. I think it turned out pretty well, but it was a real struggle getting there.
The second reason is that the scene is very long. The whole scene is about 13k words - which isn't War and Peace, but it ain't a listicle blog post, either! (Actually, it's about 2.2% of War and Peace. At least in length, probably not in literary quality.) The scene is so long because the image set is so large. If you like the game you'll probably like the scene, but this was a good reminder of why I always tried to aim for 15 images per set (as opposed to the 25 in this one.)
The final reason is that it's difficult for me to write erotica. Odd thing for someone who makes an H-game to say, but it's true. Making erotic images isn't too bad, but the writing is tough. I find it much harder to write prose than dialogue, and writing erotica is a lot like writing prose, just with lots of throbbing things and silky folds and whatnot. Sometimes I can write erotica at a pretty good clip, but I have to be in a certain mood, and I haven't yet figured out how to control or predict when that will be. Otherwise, it's a pretty hard slog.
But, it's over, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Hopefully you will be, too!
The Images
The issue with the images is that I ended up redoing a fair bit of work. In the course of writing the scene, I noticed a few mistakes (hair mysteriously disappearing into objects, expressions not quite up to snuff, etc.) that forced me to re-render a few scenes. The bigger issue, though, was the postwork.
The last post said a lot of nice things about Affinity Photo, a Photoshop alternative that I initially used to do postwork for this scene. Most of what I said still stands, but I've since come to think Affinity isn't a true replacement for Photoshop, at least for my workflow. Affinity does a tiny number of things better, but not much better, and there's a lot of things it does worse. Sometimes substantially so. It's not that there's a lot of things Affinity can't do, it's just that you can do them faster in Photoshop, and in some cases better. It's still really good, and it's definitely the closest thing to Photoshop, but it's not Photoshop.
Why does this matter? One of the images I had to rerender involved something (very basic) Affinity doesn't handle well, and for which I had to do janky and time-consuming workarounds. Not wanting to repeat that, I went ahead and got a Photoshop subscription. The image turned out better than the previous one, even excepting the janky part, and I came to think the other images would look better done with Photoshop, too. (This turned out to be true.) So after redoing a few, and seeing the difference it made, I decided to redo all of them.
This was a lot of work, but probably not as much as it sounds like. I was able to reuse a lot of what had been done before in Affinity, and I'm able to work much faster in Photoshop, anyway. Most of the images didn't take very long individually (though a couple did), it's just that there were 25 of them.
What's Next and Conclusion
I'm very glad that the H-scene is finally, truly done. Though the writing was difficult, it was actually kinda nice getting back to it after spending so long on the art. It's got me pretty excited to get back to work on the long quest, which is the biggest thing remaining for the next release.
At present, the following remains to be done:
- The long quest (~50% done)
- A small quest
- Some nightclub conversations
- Various detail work
- Editing and testing
So, that's where we are. I've spent far, far longer on the H-scene - both art and writing - than I'd hoped to, but it's over now. And I think it's pretty good! I'm very sorry for the long delay in posting. Would you guys rather receive more frequent posts that maybe have less to report, or less frequent ones with more to report? Please let me know! And thank you very much for your support and patience!
Comments
Proxxie
Thank you! Yes, I sometimes struggle with whether to make these progress reports vs. "here's some thoughts and/or pictures." Both are probably good from time to time. You certainly will see more Val-related scenes! I haven't fully committed yet, but the 0.11 scene might be the "dress up" scenario that just narrowly lost last time.
Simpleten
Oh cool, I was spooked
JustJustin
I'll add that the last few post renders are great! They only add to my anticipation. it also kinda makes me want more Val and PC only scenes, especially if she's intended to be a romance, but I really love that this threesome is happening!
JustJustin
I'm super excited for the Val scene, I think she might well be a fun romance - I've been doing my own writing with a friend recently and I know full well how difficult character dynamics can be, and writing in general, props to you for eventually working this one out, it's a complicated one, and it's not like it's a walk in the park even with simpler dynamics, despite how good you make it look. Similarly, I'm glad to hear this long and probably tiresome experience hasn't dampened your enthusiasm for the game at all, and may have even had the opposite effect! Getting burnt out is a concern I have for anyone on a project as long and as ambitious this is, so do take care of yourself! As regards the long posts or short ones, I think I personally wouldn't mind more short, relaxed ones that convey both progress and whatever's on your mind on the time regarding the story, compared to official, longer-form progress reports. That's entirely up to you, perhaps doing so might make it feel less like an obligation and help get your creative juices flowing depending on patrons' responses and thoughts. That may just be wishful thinking and a best case scenario, but still. Long-form or short-form depending on what's the most convenient and useful for you, that's what I'd recommend.
Proxxie
Ah, I see how my phrasing in the post was unclear. I just edited it. What I meant was that Ana was not intended as a love interest for Val (or vice versa.) Ana is definitely intended as a love interest for the PC.
Proxxie
Oh, Ana's definitely intended to be romanceable. It's just that she isn't intended to be the *only* possible romantic partner.
Simpleten
I knew that you didn't originally intend Ana to be the core romantic partner, but I didn't know you didn't want her to be romanceable at all. Hopefully you won't be disappointed to hear that Alex and Ana's relationship is still my favorite part of the game. Though I'm super curious about this new scene now that I know it was made with a balancing act in mind.
PaddyOFurniture
Remember, even no news is news so if your news is that there is no news that is news. There is a precedent. https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/06/bbc_news.jpg
Proxxie
Thank you! This scene definitely has a lot of what you're talking about :D This game is sort of an odd bird; too much porn for a "normal" game, but not enough porn (and not enough focus on it) for a porn game. But I'm really glad that at least some people seem to like what I'm trying to do and find it interesting or touching in some way. Good question about Sami, and one I probably will answer at some point. She started off as sort of a throwaway character, but I decided I really liked her, so she's since become more important.
Proxxie
Thank you for the thoughtful comments! Committing to a regular post schedule probably is the thing to do. Two weeks probably is a good number, at least for me. I also try to put some thought into my posts, so weekly might be too much of a distraction from development, but beyond 2 weeks I start feeling like I'd better have something super-impressive to report, which actually makes me less productive. If I have something interesting to share, I can just do a short off-schedule post, but having a schedule is probably the best thing.
Proxxie
:D
Marius
Regarding your writing: What I loved about your previous h-scenes is that they are highly entertaining. You don't shy away from humor at the cost of tension. I think that's a good thing. You are not making a pure h-game where the intention is to get the player off. You are creating a highly character driven game where the h-scenes are just one piece of a larger puzzle. Honestly, the h-scenes would be so much worse if not for the fact that I know these people reasonably well already. I am also writing an amateur novel on the side. While there are no x-rated content in it, some scenes are just really hard to get right. Many cheers and much sympathy for your struggles. One story-related question. Does the succubus know about her mistress' nightly escapades or not? I don't get the impression that she does, which begs two questions. 1. Why not? 2. How will she react if/when she finds out? Maybe we'll find out later...
Marius
Second thought: Routines are useful. If you get used to writing a post every two weeks and add it to your calendar and get used to it, you may alleviate some of the doubts and hesitation you sometimes struggle with.
Marius
I am of two minds. First thought, there is a middle ground. I have faith in you and will not be angry/disappointed/vexed if I don't get updates every week. On the other hand, waiting months make me wonder if someone or something died. I'm a developer myself and know the feeling of "I just want it done, and then...." I don't mind posts with nothing substantial either. It's fine if you just want to vent some frustrations.
Skyler_darkwolf
Thanks for the update, can't wait to play it!
