DEV LOG 002

2-4-2024

Meow’s it going, everyone?

GENERAL UPDATES:

So far so good, there's been steady progress on Catsquerade!

One thing I’ve been aware of is that, when I first decided to tackle this project as a solo dev, I had (still have) the least experience with art and programming.

In my mind, the most challenging thing seemed to me to be the art. As someone who isn’t an artist and is learning the ropes in Clip Studio Paint and how to use my dinky little screenless drawing tablet, art seemed so overwhelming. My little croockedy lineart drawings won’t be going into a museum anytime soon, but the whole art thing is, productively-speaking, significantly easier than I first imagined. At least next to coding. Coding is turning into a real hairball.

I would have loved to add a little more character customization (which any veteran programmer probably could have told me to steer clear of in a first-time game project, but oops!) including being able to choose the MC’s fur, their mask, and their accessory. Artistically, it just meant drawing each piece individually and then exporting the layers. It was also not too difficult to set up a layered image when I followed the Ren’Py layered image guide. 

The problem was that I also wanted the MC not to be a character in the main center area, but to appear as a small icon to the left of the textbox- this is called a side image in Ren’Py. And, no matter how many guides I read, YouTube help videos watched, and forums wandered, I could not get simultaneous layered and side images to work. 

So I’ve scratched layered side images, but I’ve kept the programming in place for an MC side image. I’m going to mark layered side images down as an advanced programming thing (that I probably shouldn’t have messed with in the first place for this beginner-level project). Lesson acknowledged and learned. Perhaps I’ll try again someday (on another project, with more coding experience under my belt).

Anyways, other than that, it’s been steady going getting not just the game together but everything that goes with a game. There’s a surprising amount of work and assets needed for the game that aren’t even in the game itself! The Itch page and header and information, then a Game Developer page for Itch to go with it, stuff to share on Twitter/X, etc. 

Luckily, just about everything outside of the game is ready now. I should be able to focus on in-game assets from here forward.

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PROGRESS REPORT:

Since the previous Dev Log update, I have made the following things for Catsquerade:

WRITING:

- Wrote the “About” page in game

- Wrote the Itch.io page description

- Wrote 1,000~ words of the script

GUI:

- Main character sprite as a side image

- Changed menu choice background image

- Make main menu left side bar

- Make main menu background image

- Changed the colors of all the little slider/bar/button thingies in Ren’Py

ART:

- Intro background

- Intro character silhouette scene

- Main character side sprite base and two expressions

- Cleaned up the main character sprite

- Made a basic game logo/header image (using one background I drew and Canva)

PROGRAMMING:

- Letter CG with follow-along “text” has been finished

- Got the intro silhouette character scene to work

- Wrangled the main character sprite to be a side image and adjusted placement on screen

- Adjusted the text located on the main screen

- Added a specialized font

- (Possibly) mastered in-game choice menus that make options disappear after being chosen

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SOME FAILURES:

Things that didn’t go too well in production.

- Could not get side images to also be layered images (allowing greater character customization). Had to compromise- now the main character will have one base sprite, one mask, and one accessory.

SOME SUCCESSES:

Things to celebrate :)

- Successfully got the side image to work!

- With the exception of the logo to go on the Main Menu, all of the pages/menus in Ren’Py are now done.

- After much trial and error, choice menus can now remove an option after it has already been chosen!

- Got the Itch.io page for the game set up

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GOING FORWARD:

Within the next few weeks, I’d ideally like to:

-Clean up the three main character sprites I’ve already made and give them sprite expressions (happy, sad, laughing, etc)

- Create the final two main character sprites (Felixia and Fido)

- Main character sprite: add mask and ribbon (and more expressions?)

- More backgrounds: bar and some kind of courtyard or garden.

- Add the logo to the main menu page

- Finish writing the game

- Script the written game for Ren’Py

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That’s all for now- thanks for stopping by and for supporting Catsquerade!