#vntalk

[stay-outta-my-blood-circle]

Due to that reblog of Many Paths, I have to ask how progress is going?

I know you were saying it's going to take a minute.

Progress has momentarily slowed a bit due to some personal circumstances that have popped up, but it's still going!

It's complicated working on multiple storylines that intertwine in places, not to mention branching decision paths, plus there's putting together the game itself, so yeah it's gonna take a while 😓 I'm very excited to think about the finished product though!

[stay-outta-my-blood-circle]

Just curious, how’s the visual novel coming along? :) I hope it’s survived the clusterf*ck of 2020

Lol, it's only been three months since it was announced, it wasn't even a thing in 2020 🤣

It's going fine! Some of the artists have even finished their character work already. I've done some plotting and a little writing, and once all the art is done I can continue programming.

I definitely think it probably won't be finished until next summer, at the earliest, unless I really manage to knock it out of the park writing wise. Thanks for checking in! 💛

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Hey, I was curious if there's anything new with the interactive story(?)

Every since I first saw you post about it I've been excited about it.

I hope all is well!🖤

Hi! Things are progressing steadily - the art team is doing awesome work and I've been acquiring backgrounds/plotting routes. Development is a fairly slow process though, so it'll still be a while before I can give a projected release date.

I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to it! I'll try to post updates occasionally just so you all have an idea of what's going on. 😁

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Final set of art details for the VN!

First of all, here is our wonderful team of artists and what they're working on! Give them a follow if you like cool art on your dash :)

@strangeomens-sketch - Jason

@of-devils-and-drawings - Bo & Vincent

@our-sinister-night - Bubba (& family)

@gooreyguts - the Ghostface boys (slightly AU; older, never got caught)

@labellecorbellesansmerci - Thomas (& family) & Secret Guest #2

@icyhazardx - Freddy

@gelicide - Asa

@snaxk - Jesse (& Spann?)

@ghost-thot69 - Brahms

@buttered-ghost-toast - Michael & Secret Guest #1

Parameters

I'm sure we're all familiar with visual novels & dating sims.

As stated before, I'm looking for 3/4 body portraits with transparent backgrounds; size doesn't matter too much because I can resize them in the program (canvas 600x800), but something on the bigger side is better (due to image quality loss if I need to enlarge them).

Poses can remain the same or mostly the same (I'll leave that to your discretion) with varying expressions, which include: neutral, happy/pleased, angry/scary, nervous/embarrassed, sad/disappointed, surprised, and annoyed, in a combination of masked/unmasked depending on the character. (Also, I know we didn't talk in-depth about family members/associated secondary characters, so just let me know if that doesn't work for you.)

Jason - Masked: all (he'll be wearing it most of the time). Unmasked: neutral, nervous, happy, surprised, and sad.

Bo - No mask for him. Add a devilish/sly expression.

Vincent - Masked: all (he'll be wearing it much of the time). Unmasked: neutral, nervous, surprised, happy, and sad.

Bubba - Masked: all. Unmasked: none(? I think he wears his mask all the time? I'll leave it up to you whether you think he'd take it off and whether that's something you want to tackle). For his family, I think I'd just need neutral, happy, and annoyed, depending on the person - again, I'm not super familiar, so I'll leave it to you.

Ghostface - Masked: neutral, angry, surprised, annoyed, happy. Unmasked: all. Add devilish to both categories. (This goes for both boys.)

Thomas - Masked: all. Unmasked: neutral, nervous, surprised, happy. Luda Mae: neutral, happy, annoyed. Hoyt: neutral, annoyed, angry, happy (fake). Monty: just a neutral one should do.

Fred - No mask here either :) add devilish.

Asa - Masked: neutral, scary, annoyed. Unmasked: all. (I usually prefer to use his second actor, conceptually, but I'll leave it up to you.)

Jesse - Masked: neutral, scary, surprised, annoyed. Unmasked: neutral, happy, disappointed, surprised, annoyed. Add devilish to both categories. Spann: neutral, happy, nervous, disappointed, surprised, annoyed.

Brahms - Masked: neutral, scary, happy, shy, sad (fake; dramatic), surprised, annoyed. Unmasked: neutral, happy, sad (fake; dramatic), nervous, surprised, annoyed, devilish.

Michael - Practically always masked and doesn't know what emotions are. Masked: neutral, scary, curious/surprised. Unmasked: same, plus annoyed.

Secret Guests - I'll be in touch privately.

I'll leave expression of those emotions up to your creative direction, but if you've got questions or want to run something by me, just let me know. (If I end up needing something additional as the story progresses, I'll let you know.)

I'm not sure of the timeline - you've got at least a couple months while I get the story written - but I do know I'll need Michael, Thomas, the twins, Freddy, and Secret Guest #1 sooner than the rest, and Brahms, Jason, Secret Guest #2, Bubba, and Ghostface later than the rest.

I will also need Harry Warden at some point in that latter grouping, but since he's not currently assigned we'll cross that bridge later (this way if someone wants to jump in later, I've got something for them). Same for Secret Guest #3, who I just decided to include while writing this post.

If anyone has questions, or if I missed something, or whatever - you know several places to find me. Thanks again for joining the team, I'm honored to be working with you! :)

[stay-outta-my-blood-circle]

For story purposes I'm working on short lists of things each slasher would value/look for in a significant other. I have a few ideas already but I'm about to come around to fellow writers' inboxes for opinions (if you're so inclined). 💛

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Okay here we go!!

I'm tagging those of you who expressed interest in contributing art to the visual novel project, and I'm supplying details below. If for any reason you do not want to participate, that is totally cool.

Tags: @strangeomens-sketch, @our-sinister-night, @labellecorbellesansmerci, @gelicide, @ghost-thot69, @of-devils-and-drawings, @gooreyguts, @icyhazardx, @snaxk

Details:

What I need are character portraits (3/4 body) with transparent backgrounds, showing a set of 8 emotions, of which I have made a list (poses can stay the same or mostly the same with differing expressions).

(Some event stills would be cool but I don't wanna put you guys out, so I'm not asking for those unless it's something you want to do.)

Here is the list of characters I'm including. My plan is to have one artist for each slasher/setting (i.e. if you wanna draw Thomas' portraits, I would like a couple of Luda Mae and Hoyt too).

If you're on board, I'd like you to give me your top three character picks so I can figure out who's doing what.

You'd have at least several months to complete the art, since I technically don't need them until the game is almost done, and that will take quite a while. (If you're wanting to work on one of the bonus characters, you'll have even longer.)

There is a Discord server. If you would prefer not to join and to discuss the project in DMs instead, that's okay.

If anyone else wants in, it's not too late - just let me know!

[stay-outta-my-blood-circle]

If anybody has any good quality images of the Hewitt house or surrounding area that I could use as backgrounds, send em my way.

I took some screencaps from the movie but the only file I could get was low resolution.

[stay-outta-my-blood-circle]

Visual novel updates

Firstly, I'll be using #vntalk for these posts, just in case anyone is already sick of hearing me talk about it and wants to block it out.

Secondly, I'm currently working hard on solidifying my vision for this project and getting organized in terms of what I need to get done and what I'm looking for from contributors. That said, here are some general updates:

I have been keeping a list of those of you who mentioned wanting to be involved, and will be gathering people together once I've got a plan (I'll make a discord, but it'll be up to you if you want to join or not), hopefully soon. (No pressure if you change your mind or whatever.)

For the sake of keeping things manageable, I've decided to remove a few characters from the roster I'd planned to use; they'll still make their way into the game, but not as part of the main storyline. They'll be released as bonus routes later on.

(As of now, the plan is to keep Michael, Freddy, Thomas, Bo, Vincent, Jesse, and Asa - plus one surprise guest - in the main storyline, while Harry Warden, Brahms, and Jason would get bonus routes.)

Once that's all done, I will also consider adding bonus routes for characters I'm less fond of/familiar with, like Ghostface, Bubba, etc - because I know a lot of people are fond of them and would like to see them in something like this.

Freddy will actually have a pretty large place in the story, along with our special guest.

The story is more visual novel than dating sim, but there will be some elements in there for sure. When asked to make an important choice, you'll have 3 options - one that gets you a bad end pretty much right away, one that's neutral, and a good one, which will earn you an affection point. Three affection points with a character will get you their good (possibly steamy?) ending.

I've never done anything like this before, so bear with me while I figure things out xD It's a big undertaking but I'm very excited, and I hope you are too! I'll continue to update you guys on progression and what to expect. Questions, comments, suggestions, etc are always welcome :)