20/12/14 -- Concept Ramblings, MG

I've been toying with the idea to change the setting/atmosphere for Maiden Gray from a dying world to more of a cyberpunk style world.

Originally, the plan was to have a lot of desert-like areas, dried, cracked patches of land, hardly any green outside of some forests. Everything was supposed to be a sort of "struggling to live economically" type of world, so there were lots of little villages that survived off the land, and everything was located sparely apart. Towns would be very far apart, and hardly anyone would live outside of these town patches. I wanted a lot of ancient ruin type things in the form of old gas stations and buildings, but I'm not entirely sure that will work.

Quick concept art of the White Capital, and the surrounding (barren) area.

Maiden Gray is set in a far future, and the technology in that future is revolutionary and advanced. There is economic downfall outside of the Capital City and the larger cities, so a gritty type of world might work.
I don't want to fall into the area of cyborgs and augmentations, because that's technically what a Parasite is -- an augmentation in biological form. I guess I'd say that the technology would be shown mostly for weapons and security, as well as hacking and the internet in the setting, as opposed to rogue robots going willy nilly.

I suppose what I'm trying to say here is, the vast uninhabited and dried up land concept is driving me a bit nutty and I wouldn't mind to change it a bit so that the cities were larger, had more highways connecting them, etc. It's a bit difficult to explain.

NOT DEAD, JUST BUSY

I haven't posted since about September.

I'm just popping in to say that nothing is dead yet (nor am I). I've just been so busy, I haven't really gotten anything done to show you. I mean, I drew out some in-depth concept art of the MG collar system and the communicators, but that's on physical paper.

Currently, I'm working on some things over at my other dev blog, Viperidae. I hatched it not too long ago as a collective dumping ground for progress on other pet projects that aren't visual novels. For example, right now I'm pretty absorbed in making a HRPG. Drawing CG, sprites, portraits, typing in the events, etc. "But ASP, bro, you're doing too much at once! Cool it!" The manner of my workflow isn't that I work towards deadlines, mind you. I work on things when I have the chance and drive to do them. That's why there's no "TO BE RELEASED IN  MAY 2015" or something on any of my projects. They're all kind of pet  projects, stress relievers, hobbies. And I get burnt out on things when I do them for too long. It's a "whatever I'm in the mood for" sort of job. If I were hired under someone and getting paid for my job, sure, I'd be attentive and consistent, but that's just not the case.

Anything else to say... hm. I guess I can reveal this early.  2015 might be a busy year for me. I'm most likely going to go into a workplace training course sometime that year (the waiting lists are a bit long, so...) just to get me some stuff to smack on a resume. The courses usually go about 6 months or more. During that time, I'll probably have less time to devote to my beloved projects, and as such, things will slow down a lot. So heads up.


Finally, I'll just give a bit of a progress report of sorts, just to show that I haven't been dawdling my time away for nothing.

Maiden Gray is still the most done, I can't estimate a percentage exactly. I haven't gotten back to doing the sprites yet, but I've finalized the concepts for a few minor/major characters in the game, as well as a few other designs for things unmentioned.

BLU has, unfortunately, been mostly untouched. I've tapped away at a bit of Azuma's route, but it's not all that indepth -- I seem to be having the most trouble writing lewd scenes. That's kind of my downfall. If anyone's up for writing things proper, shoot me a message.

HOOD's been on-and-off, and also not touched very much. I've been dabbling with some TWEEEESTS in the final route, and trying to find out a good way to implement a sort of battle system between you and another Dollmaster. I was thinking of doing something similar to the system in Fate/Extra, with the rock-paper-scissors mechanic, but I'm just not sure yet.

That's about it for now. Like I said, it's been an uneventful couple of months so far.
I'll release a couple of new designs for MG characters soon.

Musicians Wanted?

More of the script for Maiden Gray has been whacked out, and I've actually gotten the finer details of the plot and the entire common timeline made up. In other words, MG a gogo.

Though I'm a jack of all trades, the one thing I can't do at all is make music. I'm tone deaf and never learned music theory in school, and I can't seem to put together a tune at all. Not to mention it doesn't interest me in the slightest. However, that all means that I can't personally make music for the game. Which is why I'm asking if there's anyone out there who would like to compose for Maiden Gray.

I know what you're all thinking -- "There's tons of tracks out there already made, for free!" To which I say, I want something unique. I'm not looking at 'free' or 'accessible'. In fact, a lot of  those free tracks you find are used in a lot of projects, and like I said, I'd rather not have generic music used by the mass public. Maybe for a different game.

I'm looking for people who can make a solid soundtrack for me. I'm not good at identifying genres, so I guess I'd be looking for a mix of styles for the soundtrack to cover all the themes. Some tracks in a western-ish style, in the vein of the works of Luis Bacalov (think Kill Bill's soundtrack), and more softer tracks in a style similar to Akiko Shikata's -- Italian inspired, I guess. Maybe even something akin to the Nier/Drakengard 3 OST style, that sort of enchanting fantasy sound for a couple of rare tracks for the true route. The majority would probably be similar to the sort of music that came off of RE6.

That probably sounds super demanding and vague as hell, but I'm music illiterate, sorry.

I'd also eventually like an OP and possibly an ED. I could probably contract someone to make these specifically if I go through with the Kickstarter.

Anyway, I imagine you'd most likely want to get paid if you did this job (unless you're like me and you anonymously trawl the internet lending your talents for free and then disappearing after you've done your job, never to be found again), since I imagine Maiden Gray will most likely cost something or other for the amount of work put into it. I'm not in a position to immediately chuck you hundreds of dollars out of my own pocket right away, so if someone does end up offering their talents for a lump sum, I'll more than likely go through with the Kickstarter to cover that cost.

As well, I've been giving thought to voice actors for the game. I'm not sure how the general public feels about Western voice actors in otomege, though I've heard that there are a couple of projects others have made that have hired voice actors for, ie Backstage Pass; though I'm not sure of the casting on that one. If I did decide to go through with it, I'd have to seek people to do the lines in a non-cringey way (you know the way that voice actors do when dubbing anime? A la "JUNPAY-COON"? Like that.) and that would add more cost to the whole thing, which would ramp up the Kickstarter quite a bit more. The way I figure, for a small niche game genre like otome, the lower the funding goal, the more likely that goal will be reached so I want to keep it small. But voice actors (good ones, anyway) aren't going to come out of the woodworks to work for free. That doesn't happen.

Still, I haven't even decided on adding VA's -- I figure that's an extra and should come after the game has taken the form of an actual visual novel. You know, after the art is 100% done and the script is put in the engine and that jazz. It's not neccessary, and might even ruin the game, too, but it's something to look at in the future. Music is more important than that, and I won't even be putting that in until the script is 100% done anyway, so I know what I need.

Something to think about.

Maiden Gray - Mila Sprite, I Need a Plot Shovel For These Plot Holes

Within the few hours that I'm actually able to draw, I'm hard at work on finishing up the lineart for Mila's sprite:

 

There are still some clothes and expressions left to line.

Coloring it will be a whole 'nother bucket of worms, however, since my coloring talent is absolutely abysmal -- if there are any super talented color-ers out there who wanna give it a shot, please do -- but I'll try my darndest. Maybe watch a couple of speed-paint videos. Review a shit ton of Pixiv tutorials. Study other artist's works closely. That sort of thing.

I've been thinking hard about MG's plotline, too, and I'm not sure if I should ditch my current plot or add more bullshit to the plot I have, since I've noticed I've got a couple of plotholes that need fillin'. I'll think of ways to resolve them, but if I can't resolve them, then I might have to go with Plan B, which is also known as Plan Infinitely-More-Bullshit-And-Time-Fuckery.

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.