#theycallvn progress post

[theycall-vn]

(yesterday) i worked on the first bg again. before, i was tryna like... do minimal effort to save myself some time since i have to do SO much art for this

but i hated the way it looked. it was just awful. so i've decided to do the lighting like i normally would instead of the low effort thing

it's much better now, and i'm happy with how it's coming along. still concerned about how much effort it is to do, cause it's so time consuming but maybe it'll get easier/faster the more i do it?

maybe wishful thinking but oh well. peek for what i've got so far:

it's not done yet but it's looking way better than it was before. sorry i don't have like. side by side comparison but TRUST ME it's better lmao (/yesterday)

did some editing for existing chapter 2 stuff to make it sound/look a lil better.

also started to finish a conversation branch i stopped writing midway? idk why, i don't remember but trying to pick it back up has been killing me cause i lost my flow for it LOL

and i need to mention, which i guess i should mention somewhere in the info for they call, that while there are no wrong choices with conversations, some choices give you info that other choices don't.

if i do this right, you should have all the info you need by the end, so ultimately it won't matter. but! you can find out info earlier if you choose a certain thing. but sometimes at the risk of missing some relationship/attraction points

mostly worked on the next couple bg's today tho. much to my wrist's displeasure. achey bastid. might have to focus on writing tomorrow. or coding. anything but art, cause ow. ANYWAY

finished two bg's, poked at the third, and FINISHED THE FIRST CG WOO

it has a total of 98 variations. because i'm a masochist. peek below:

not a bb cg, a player cg. the first one you ever see! and i'm still obsessed with that goddamn ring and want it irl

started putting them all into the code which is so long winded shadjghsajhd but i'll get there eventually

it's not even 5pm yet, but i'm posting this now cause i'll be spending the rest of the day setting up the cg's

[theycall-vn]

aaaaaa

i just finished writing the prologue!! i have to edit the last couple bits cause excited typos but i did it!

i will now reward myself with two oreos and finish editing. i'm so happy!!

[theycall-vn]

10th feb - away from home stuff:

wrote part of another bad end. might need to redo it to make it more graphic, but i gotta write the rest first.

also considering bringing back the bad end that i decided to remove because i think it would be... cathartic to write and read

like for me. personally

but im just super aware that it could be like. problematic? i know if i asked anyone for their opinions on if i should keep it, they would say i shouldn't sooo. i guess i could just write it and then not implement it? that works

uhhhm. figured out some small events and which chapters they should go in. they're the biggest romance/sex scenes though, so im trying to figure out how to "reward" those who are either strangers or platonic.

platonic should be easy enough to figure out, but... strangers, not so much. the story strips you of a lot of things, so maybe... gaining some of those things back? in some way? hmmm

11th feb - home again:

put drafted bad end into vn, tested timing and effects. defintely need to rewrite most of it, but it'll be easier to when i'm not fighting my phone's autocorrect lmao

didn't touch anything else i worked on yesterday, mostly just did the above and edited typos. uhm. oh! also set up the counters for the true ends

might do a draft for the first sexual scene in bed because i already like. envisioned the entire thing before i even started working on this properly. it was one of my daydreams lol

but i might be too tired so maybe not. idk yet

i decided also that i wanna redo some of the prologue because it feels... unbalanced and like a different flavour than some of the newer additions, and chapter 1. i gotta fix that

and that's all! nuh night

[theycall-vn]

finished colouring a bg, finished lining another, but my hands and wrist have been hurting so that's all i could manage

so nothin else, just those bits

[theycall-vn]

worked on a bg and that bb art, nearly finished doing the base colours for the bg, but i'm in the "little details" stage so it took me a while. i should be able to start shading and stuff tomorrow

but! i did get a lot farther with the bb art, i started doing the shading n stuff

uhh poked the synopsis some more, because i was right about hating it the next day. edited what i had enough that it definitely isn't... as bad as before.

i don't hate it anymore, but i still wanna redo it later. maybe after a break from it so i come back into it fresh

fixed some stuff on the itch page and tried to think how i wanna go about announcing the demo.. which ended in me going "fuck it i'll just wing it"

hope that works out for me lmao

wrote and edited some bits for chapter 3, also did the same for some of chapter 2 - not a lot, but enough to mention

i think that's it

[theycall-vn]

finished the sprites i was working on yesterday! which means i could finish the last character card. added some screenshots also. so i have the whole itch page done!

if you don't count the synopsis, which is still eh. i have... something. i'm gonna read it again tomorrow and see if i hate it

worst case, i'll just keep what i have now and redo it at a way later date, since it technically does what it's supposed to lol

did some testing and fixing the music to make sure the demo is as polished as i can make it.

also thinking of doing a sorta. promo art thing? for this. i figure it'd be a good way to grab attention. is this an excuse to draw bb looking sexy and mildly off-putting? yes. yes, it is. but i want to weaponize it

if i decide not to use it like that, i'll just post it on my art blog but i'm drawing it either way

besides all that, i worked on a bg and poked around on this blog to add info/art. adding the synopsis & features to the pinned post when the itch page goes up!

the closer i get to the demo the more anxious i get jsadgkjghs

anyway. that's all for today, just gonna draw for the rest of the night

[theycall-vn]

had to tweak and redo most of the first cg variations, i noticed a tiny lil fuck up that would bug me forever if i didn't fix it. also, since i was already fixing stuff, i fixed the bb sprites that had that stray line

it took me like 2 hours cause i kept saving over the wrong files 😭😭

also made lil like. character cards for the itch page. can't finish the last one til i finish a sprite for another character tho

after all that, i worked on a bg and the other sprite needed for the last character thingie. didn't finish either but made a lot of progress! peek:

nearly finished lining this one + the expressions needed. he ended up also very pretty. all three characters i made sprites for are pretty oops

gonna draw til bed, so that's it for today i think

[theycall-vn]

starting this one with screenshots/peeks collected over the last... idk how long.

monster bb sketches:

horny-flavoured consequences:

one of my fave parts of all my bgs:

okay! now onto actual progress stuff:

didn't write anything in bed last night, like i thought i would. meds defintely worked and knocked my dick into my watch pocket

but! i wrote a lot today, including the Dreaded Conversation i've been avoiding. fixed stuff and broke it up to make it easier to write. it helped and now i find it fun lmao

it's a lot tho, i hope people don't get bored sjdkahhkds it's another tiny lore drop so. yeah.

made some new bb sprites and coded them in (second blushing bb sprite has been born aaaa)

worked on a bg, but didn't finish. there's a lot of detail in this one, so i'm trying to get it done asap. don't wanna relive the bus bg again

think i'm gonna post this early cause i'll just be writing and drawing for the rest of the day. yeah posting early baiii

[theycall-vn]

worked more on the cg from yesterdee, finished bb themselves. can't get started on the bg for it tho, not til after i've done the actual bg for that scene

which i got a bit of a start on, along with another. also scrapped a bg i definitely don't need. so yay!

fixed my presplash. when i first made it, i didn't know i couldn't use like... bloom/fade stuff cause it breaks the transparency.

(and while i was so sure that it popped up the first time looking fine, i will never be able to confirm that. i had to fix the centering on something and resaved it, then it stopped being transparent. idk man maybe i'm remembering wrong maybe i saw what i wanted to see lmao)

it doesn't look as nice with a solid bg, but i kept the main design intact and that's good enough for me

and yes, the loading screen is important. i know it's "not necessary" but i liiiike it. i have a lil centipede for a loading bar!! it's fun!

uhh what else. worked on achievement stuff, thought of names, descriptions, etc. poked around with the code a lil bit. can't really do it properly because i'll be using the gallery for achievements as well as the cgs

and i'm still iffy on how many cgs i'm gonna have, so idk how i wanna do the layout. which i need to know before i add achievements to it lol

uhm. oh! added in the first timed choice! that was fun. and made progress on adding in bb sprites to stuff i hadn't gotten around to yet

feeling a lil weird, i get the feeling i'll be up for a bit. sooo i might also do some writing in bed, idk yet. that's all for today tho

[theycall-vn]

figured out FOR SURE where i wanna end stuff for the demo, added a note/reminder for future me and set up the bare bones for it. i still have.. 5? more bgs to do til i have them all for the demo

put together ref pics for some of them, since i needed to like... i needed to see very specific damage to a building so my brain could. well, brain. it took a while to find what i was looking for

reworked the 3d stuff i used to take pics of some rooms for future chapters cause the angles were... off. hard to work with

with that done, i got some better angles and can work on those bgs as soon as i can be bothered to start sketching

worked on the first bb cg, (since that will also be in the demo) but like... i scrapped the sketch i already had cause it just wasn't giving me that. feeling. ya know, like it wasn't. memorable.

it'd be hard to work with that angle, anyway. like with how i wanna zoom things and such

already tested the new sketch in the scene and it's so much better

edit: it's later now, i'm done lining it and started colouring. bb is so pretty wtf

did some writing for chapter 3, and glanced at chapter 2. i still can't be bothered with the convo i abandoned midway, so i can't rework it yet. but fuck, it does need doing.

every time i look at it, my eyes start to feel like theyre melting and i want to chew on my own femurs

anyway, i will prolly keep colouring the cg for the rest of the night

[theycall-vn]

spent the whole day doing art. started and finished two bgs, one of which Turned Me Evil for about 6 hours (it was the interior of a bus - i NEVER want to do that again)

that's all i did, but considering it was two bg's (with day/night variants) from sketch to finish, it's still a lot

my arm agrees lol

just took my meds, so i'm gonna add the bgs in before it kicks in

that's all baiii

[theycall-vn]

wrote more of chapter 3, managed to get a huge chunk of one branch for that last customization done and made a start on the other

worked on the damn synopsis some more. i am NOT good at these, but when i started getting frustrated, i typed out something a lil unhinged and i'm gonna work from it. it fits with the story anyway, so...

critter brain vomit, it is. hope it works cause i have like 3 very subpar synop..siseses and i don't want to use any of them LOL

added the timer toggle thing in preferences and made/tested a basic timer.

timed choices aren't nearly as scary when you're the one making them btw

and yeah. that headache the other day did just make it seem more difficult than it was. it didn't help that i had FIVE tabs open to forums/reddit/etc showing diff ways to do timer stuff. my brain was torturing itself, evidently

did some ui poking but nothing really stuck. i did it during testing breaks just cause i needed something to do

uhhh i think that's it

[theycall-vn]

changed my mind. headache became migraine amd i cant focus but i needed to write

wrote a big chunk of chapter 3 and have decided i need to add some stuff to chapter 1

nothing big, just. focus on some inner stuff for the player cause as i write 3 i realize 1 is lacking

not enough descriptions of anxiety or spiralling thoughts

chapter 3 should have the last bits of.. "customization" for the player which is a fun thought. idk why tho

gonna continue writing for the rest of tonight at least but might continue til i get home

cause this chapter is fun to write already and i need a break from writing chapter 2

[theycall-vn]

finished a bg and added it into the game.

i should. mention that most bg's i've made so far have a day and night version. i realized just now that i am technically adding two bgs every time i "finish one" lol

grabbed a bunch of stock photos for references for another bg (since i can't take those pics myself)

and put together/went through some pics i got yesterday while out and about. i think i have... one more bg i need pics for, then i can actually draw those. which is important cause those lingering bgs are all that stands between me and a demo!

anyway. added some... stuff. to a couple of scenes. like uhhh. UH. words fail me. some zoom stuff to add emphasis and drama

did some thinking for how i wanna go about a couple of cgs. a bad end cg & and dramatic moment cg, specifically

also poked around more with timed choices and setting up a thing in preferences to toggle it. but like. OOF. maybe it's the headache but the preferences thing had me questioning my whole existence

gonna put it off til i get back from my weekend stuff cause it's not happening today

that's all for the next couple days. as i said, weekend stuff. will be away from home

[theycall-vn]

busy today so i will post stuff i've been working on the last few days.

worked on more bg's, started sketches for some new ones, decided to scrap one (it was only a sketch, thankfully) to rework the angle, and nearly finished with another. just gotta add some details and i'll be done with it (one step closer to finishing all the bg's needed for the demo 😭)

did some writing (outline, though, nothing to be added into the game yet), did some work on the itch page.. including the lil... uh what's it called. intro. blurb. thingie? you know? i am not good at it so i will be poking around for feedback LOL

but! this means i will be able to put it on the blog itself! so people can get a glimpse at what they call is about!

did some thinking for poses for future cg's, worked on the first bb cg (still not lining yet, idk how i'm feeling about the pose/angle. might have to sketch out some diff ones to compare)

anyway uh. also spent this morning looking up timed menu stuff and browsing the renpy documentation shite. and will continue to until i have to go Do Stuff later

also. i haaate timed choices, so i will be making it possible to just turn it off, but i can't deny it'll give a lot of scenes more... somethin. it just fits well with what i'm making, so i'd like to at least give people the option ya know

it fits the vibe really well. i will need to find some people to test sooner rather than later just for that. cause idk what's too fast or too slow. my panicking makes even the longest timed choice seem WAY TOO QUICK so i can't base it off myself lmao

yeah. okay, done now bai

[theycall-vn]

not made any real progress, worked on cg's and bg's (didn't finish any) and made a new bad end with a new character that i am SUPER excited about

it's been added to chapter 8, but i may move some things around, so i'm unsure if it'll stay there.

again. i am so excited for that one. like i cannot even. i can't put it into words, how excited i am for that chapter now.

when i say it's been added, i do mean that i've started writing the outline for that chapter proper lol

oh. wait. so i guess there WAS progress made today

ANYWAY i wanna say what inspired it but it'd be a Big Spoiler so i won't but aaaaa i hope it's as fun for other people as it is for me! i can't wait to write the ch8 first draft lmao