Probably Maybe Patreon

After a lot of careful consideration about what's infront of me and what I'm capable of in this moment, I'm currently taking steps towards setting up a Patreon for those who might want to donate maybe a buck or two towards LADYproject and future projects, and towards the purchase of a new tablet for me so I can spend 24/7 on the sprite work and CGs instead of only a few hours per week.

I just need to get some confirmation, get some bank stuff sorted out, that sort of thing, and then I'll probably have it up and running. I don't know if anyone's even remotely interested in this sort of thing, but it's worth a shot, I suppose.

And in place of any real updates, I'll give you more Maiden Gray art, the next two of the set I posted a while ago, Riviera and Nathaniel.

MAIDEN GRAY - Sketches

It gets boring without any substantial updates, so here's some concept sketches.

 

Fig. A:  The pacts made in Maiden Gray are parasitic; while you can only contract a pact through mutual consent, it still effectively acts as a parasite with it's own thought process. It takes a strong person to keep a pact under control. Pact makers who have gone insane due to these parasites are ordered to be put down since the person becomes bloodthirst and violent. Parasites can take over the body, too.

Fig. B: A mysterious character. More on this eventually.

Fig. C: Mila's left hand. Normally hidden by a glove, when it comes off she possesses a very disgusting appendage due to the pact with Johnny. His mark is on her skin. The skin is wrinkled back on the fingers, allowing bone to show through. The bone can be manipulated and it's strong enough to act as claws.

Fig. D: A new character, working with the Abolishants. Her backstory is a bit twisted. She's close to the Baron. Or so it seems.

Fig. E: The Baron himself. A mass murderer who founded the Abolishants, a cult of rogue pact makers, hellbent on tearing down society and destroying the pillars of the governmental system. He's an evil man.

Fig. F: Nil and Zen preparing for surgery on Mila. They have to use heavy-duty tools on her because of Johnny's defense mechanisms. Enough sedatives to kill an elephant and the tools to cut through diamonds.

MAIDEN GRAY - Misc. Art Post

In which I bring you doodles in hopes it quells the desire for progress updates. Here's two of an ongoing set, Mila and Spike (I don't think I've revealed Spike's design yet), to which there'll be more. I plan to do all of the G.O, the twins, and the antagonists of MG as little things to work on when I get burnt out on writing or drawing official art.

I still don't understand how to color shit right.
Perhaps I should release them as keychains/stickers eventually? I'm getting too far ahead of myself, someone cut me down.

BLU UI mockup

Like I mentioned the other day, I've been playing with mockups for the frame in BLU, just to see ideas put into action.

Since BLU started with /blog/, we always had the idea to use the Yotsuba B in game, and as such, it's blue themed; even the name sounds like 'blue'. This design plays with the idea of using a similar format to posts. It might be too plain, I might even want to lower the transparency of the box or add more shadows to the box.

I'm not set on it, and I've still yet to figure out a design for the title screen, but I was thinking the school emblem with NEW GAME, CONTINUE, etc. buttons along the bottom.

That reminds me, I need to put 'refining the emblem' on the bucketlist.

BLU - Marcus Concept Art

Two posts. One day. On a roll.

I've been sketching around and adjusting our bara megane protag a bit, and decided that since he's a pure NEET neckbeard, he needs to be kinda flabby but not ripped. It's kinda difficult.

I sketched up a quicky for his body type.

Probably too tall. Arms are babby-like. And I certainly hope none of you are foot fetishists.

But it's the general gist of it. Since, regrettably, I'm going to have to cut Dan (the soccer playing openly gay chub) out of the plan as far as I can tell, I wanted to fill that chub gap somehow.

I've still got a lot of practice to go as far as drawing males are concerned. It's pretty damn important. For girlier guys a la the standart otomege male, it's not that bad, but for more manly types, things get rocky because I step out of my comfort zone. But it's fine, because I need to do that to improve as an artist.

I can only get better, right? Final product will definitely be my best. I won't stop trying until I get it right.

Maiden Gray - UI, Frame, Textbox, Whathaveyou

Been fooling around with some mockup layouts real rough and dirty like. I'm not all that great at UI design, so I'm struggling a bit.

 

Above: Said quick'n'dirty mockup complete with concept sketches in place of sprite art and a shitty background I made in two minutes. I'm not set on anything here, though I kind of liked the file-folder design; but it looks a bit weird. I'll probably end up ditching it. The NEXT icon needs to be cleaned up but I plan to keep it.

 Here's the title screen mockup with a quickly painted idea of what I'm aiming for. Shred of cloth will be moving in the wind in the final product. Logo needs to be cleaned up a bit.  I think the terms are fine.

I'm also focusing on BLU UI as well, but that's a bit of a challenge, too. I'll post those mock-ups when I get a good feel of what I want.

Maiden Gray Outlines Check-a-rooni

I've got the real brief descriptions for each route outlined and made up. So the general themes and the sequence of events are a go, even if they are a bit loose and subject to change.

I've got about 60% of the common route typed up, and 30%-ish of the True Route script written. I plan to tinker with UI and design later on; I know what the title screen is going to look like, but the text boxes might be a bit of a challenge. I don't have too much of an eye for design, it baffles me just as much as music does, which is to say, a lot.

The current schedule for work is basically "do whatever whenever", but I've got a bit of a organized pattern to it. I tend to dedicate a day to Maiden Gray, a day to BLU, a day to HOOD. HOOD's more on the backburner, which is to say, it doesn't get as much of my attention right now as Maiden Gray or BLU does. The priority is Maiden Gray (which has the most material done), then BLU (because people are waiting on it) and then HOOD, due to the fact that HOOD is planned to be a bit more than just a VN. My original design documents have plans for a bit of gameplay to it, with 3D models if I can find the time.

Still awaiting a tablet of my own. Borrowing one is unreliable and interferes with work. Hopefully I get back to a full-time job soon, even though that will hinder my available time to work on the games.