#wudgeous

[qkayoo]

stress relief with mr d cross and cutie jade💞💞

[gemsgamegems]

okay this was the cutest fucking thing ever, I adore Katie oh my goodnessss

(it's me realizing after the fact that I do not have a SINGLE screenshot of Dart zkgjkfdh 🤣 I love the punk, mostly, but my MC is set on antagonizing his ass and who am I to stop her???)

Back when I first stumbled upon Herotome, I wasn't making games. I was just trying to play them. Anyhoo, I'd seen the CG of Warden floating around and having a slight....thing...for blondes--my childhood friends are somewhere reading me for filth I just know it--I was like YEAH!!! Hero romance GAME!!! Hot fictional MAN!!! Lessgo!!!

Fast forward, and I'm a Mia girl who remembers she has two hands and would love to offer that free one to Jade whenever she's ready to accept it SKJJFDFHF 🤧😭💛 (don't talk to me, I'm still emotional over A. catching the bird with Jade and B. being levitated home by Jade and C. all the interactions in between those two events)

Oh, and I'm also like to add that my chicken ass decided not to play it safe and picked the Heroic Mode because sometimes I like to inflict pain in my relaxing time LOL! But it's okay!!! I didn't fail!!! And tbh, given my sights were on getting Mia to love me, I wasn't stressed about getting it right with the others just made sure not to be a dick because I cannot be a cruel person in games to save my life. Mean?? yes. Cruel?? Nopeeee.

Not really sure where I was going with this, hence the tag being 'rambling' but just know that I love this little demo, I know it's going to be a fucking amazing game, the music slaps, the animation slaps, the friendships between the LIs slaps, witty/sarcastic/strangely vunerable/Katie loving MC slaps, like??? How else do I convince you to play???

[mistershins]

I'm very pleased to announce that I'll be streaming the newly released VN "super demo" of HEROTOME this coming Wednesday, 12/6 at 10pm Pacfic on Twitch. Follow me on Twitch to get a notification through the Twitch app, or join my Discord (The Ecliptic) and get a notification when the stream goes live.

You can download and play the HEROTOME Super Demo yourself at https://wudgeous.itch.io/herotome

[qkayoostudio]

Announcement: Stream + Interview on December 20!

Hi dear friends!

I have some exciting news: next week Wednesday on December 20 MisterShins will be streaming The Summit Library!

And what's more: the stream will be followed by an ~exclusive~ interview with me! Woo!!

To catch the stream, make sure to be there on MisterShins' Twitch at 11pm Pacific Time.

If you can't make it, don't worry! The stream will be up on MisterShins' youtube later. I recommend you check it out--there's a lovely stream of Wudgeous' Herotome Superdemo on there already!

Hope you're all doing well, and catch you next week!👋💗

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #32 | 06.27.23

Hi everyone!

I'm here! With an Update! This is an exciting one because I am Finally releasing a Full! Game! <3 I will obviously still be talking about Alaris, but I am vibrating with excitement because I can't wait to release intertwine to you all! THE RELEASE DATE APPROACHES

Writing

Because we entered crunch mode for intertwine, this month was mostly focused on continuing to fill out Druk's route and my dissertation.

I didn't make as much progress on Druk's route as I would've liked (I was hoping to FINISH it, but Otojam crunch wrecked my ass). But I do have most of the route finished! At this point, I only have the final chapter to go, so we are Very Close! Druk's route is shaping up to be a really fun one. I like to sprinkle humor into all the routes, but because of Druk's character, there are a lot of funny (at least to me) cast interactions. I hope people enjoy it as much as I do because I have a big fat crush on him now!

Regarding editing, we are just about rounding out the last of Fenir's developmental edits (courtesy of local superhero dev Wudgeous of Herotome) and Kayn's line edits (courtesy of local royalty IF writer Vi of Next in Line). With Fenir's script coming up on the last of the developmental edits, that is basically two routes that are going to be ready for beta-testing after the updated demo, which is very exciting! I am extremely happy with how Fenir's route has turned out after some developmental revisions, and I hope you all like the sweet little (grumpy) baby's route!

Art

Again, most (all) of my attention was on intertwine art assets this month. I was focused on the rest of the GUI, sprite expression, and CGs so that the game will be ready for release at the end of this month!

I'm really happy with how intertwine has come out visually considering the two month time crunch! Many of the playtesters mentioned how they liked the GUI and overall aesthetic of the game, which---for my pea-sized brain that has no object permanence when it comes to compliments---meant the world to me!

Review of intertwine Screenshots (left to right, starting at the top row): Main Menu Screen, Options/Preferences Screen, In-Game Dialogue Preview, Exhibit Preview

For Alaris, I did still get some new backgrounds from Vui, and while they are beautiful, I can no longer share them since they venture into spoiler territory. Sorry folks!

I have a sneak peek of a little Something Something.

Adorable emotes for a certain Something Something! That's all I will leave you with for now <3

Additional Notes

I spent A LOT of this month coding. I re-entered programming hell to get intertwine up and running. There were a lot of features that I coded for the first time, like a texting interface, some animations, and one Special, Very Game-Centric Feature That I Can't Disclose Due to Extreme Spoilers. It was really rewarding to see it all come together, and I am pretty happy with the end result ^^

You don't even know the hell I went through to customize this texting feature

We also have a lovely voice actor for Van, which we revealed on Twitter. Max has been an amazing talent to work with, and I am in love with the way he brought Van to life!!

Finally, I spontaneously ended up working with Orpheo Fenn and Kija of Faefield Productions for a custom intertwine soundtrack. I've been wanting to work with them for a while, so I'm so happy we were able to collab!

No market research this month, except for the fact that I played Tears of the Kingdom a little bit in my free time ^^ I am so in love with Link. Also, I didn't see the appeal to Sidon in the first game, but for some reason in this game, It Clicked. Like I Get It.

That's all from me for this month. Look forward to an intertwine release in the coming days! I'm excited to get back into Alaris full-swing this upcoming month. I didn't think I'd feel this way after feeling oversaturated with them for a hot minute, but I miss my Alaris gang <3 See you all next month, and stay safe!

[brightoakgame]

Irregular Monday Update, Edition 15

A very happy 2024 to you all! I hope January is finding each of you warm, well, and safe. ❤️

(a peek at one current WIP, including Great-Great-Great Uncle Alfie, saber and all)

Thank you all for your support and patience as I muddled through the end of 2023; I've shaken things out to start fresh with the new year, and am now ready to offer some updates! ✨

I've completed two more sets of background lines (including the full version of the living room above!). With this, I'm down to just six remaining backgrounds to line for the town routes; Jasper's route I expect to add on an additional 3-4. Still, getting close!

Jasper's Route is now wholly rough-coded, with Act III for the other four characters currently in process;

Finally finished with dotting my i's and crossing my t's, and the demo should be going up on the Steam page very soon!

Courtesy of the talented Wudgeous, Jasper has his blinking assets completed and ready for implementation!

Next Up:

Fix an early Act II sequence of checks (once upon a time I was going to track character affection for this, before determining it didn't make sense in context);

Backgrounds etc. etc. etc.. 🫠

Launch fully into detail coding on Act II, now that I have placeholders for the missing backgrounds!

And a final footnote, particularly for those who arrived here from Burdock: as part of addressing my burnout from last year, I've started writing again when the mood strikes, rather than fighting it to continue on with XYZ Self-Assigned Task. This has helped very much in making the practical work left on Bright Oak more manageable and pleasant for me, and also resulted in the start of a brand new script, as well: Burdock evidently left me with a head still full of fae, so Project Next is gonna be another one for the Fair Folk! ✨

[chaost4r]

i was debating posting this but I spent way too long on this not to \($ - $ )/

this is dart from herotome, an up and coming otome game by @herotome’s wudgeous

the sketch was just a muscle study but i turned it into this gorgeous gorgeous man

[herotome]

Welcome to Herotome's tumblr page! Sending an ask is the best way to reach its core developer: Wudge. Please feel free to say hi!

★Play the Super Demo on itch.io!★

-

MOBILE-FRIENDLY NAVIGATION

★ Donate via Ko-Fi to help support the game

★ Watch Animated CG Dubs on Youtube

★ Read Latest Weekly Update right here on Tumblr

★ Taglist & FAQ

★ Ask me something!

★ Linktr.ee

shorter pinned post: https://herotome.tumblr.com/post/735520536295260160/temporary-new-pinned-post

old pinned post: https://herotome.tumblr.com/post/664725041513168896/herotome-an-interactive-urban-fantasy-visual

Herotome Super Demo

SHE's OUT. She is HERE.

FINALLY

I've been working on this damned update since march 2021 I really hope yall like it 😭

Herotome (hero-otome) is a superhero dating sim: romance optional, ✨aroace-friendly.✨

You can now meet ALL five love interests in this first official 'episode' of the game and there's

50,000+  words. (It. is. massive.)

180+ dialogue choice trees.

Animated CGs.

You can even get achievements for petting your cat.

Do you want to save the day and impress everyone with your might and wit and skill? Or do you prefer being an absolute menace who fist fights their mentor in his office and sets fire to fan mail? Why not both?

I been solo funding this project out of pocket for half a decade and I'm not going anywhere until its DONE; if you like the game, pls consider sharing with your friends, hyping it up on social media, or supporting me on Ko-Fi~

Herotome is completely free to play. It comes with a walkthrough if you tip (or have ever spent) 2.99$ or more on the itch.io page, but you shouldn't need a walkthrough to beat the game.

Have fun!!!

Proper link to the demo will be in a reblog so tumblr doesnt nuke this post from search engines XOXO

[sae-bae-ran]

Are you lovelies looking for a dating sim to play? 💕

Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to play as an android? 🤖

Do you enjoy well-constructed narrative? 📝

And how do you feel about dating two fascinating love interests and dealing with the shenanigans of the crazy (and) sweet scientist who created you? 💘

If you answered yes to all of these questions, then Pinkmatch is the dating sim for you!

It’s a game my lovely friend Wudgeous made for her first online game jam and let me tell you this, she and her team did a fantastic job at creating an engaging gaming experience in less than a month! Oh, and I helped a little bit. ^^

So go on, don’t be shy - give it a try! ^^

[hummingbird-games]

AHHHHHHH so the awesome, too cool, amazing, fantastic, Wudgeous of @herotome had chibi commissions going on and of COURSE I had to get our mascot 🥰

(Btw, her name is Vee—short for Viola—, and the hummingbirds in the official logo are Charm and Zo. So you can take your pick of which birdie is on Vee’s pendant 👀)

[synstoria]

Ballads at Midnight - credits

The game will be release tomorrow and it's been an incredible journey and I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished. A big shout out, to all the team:

- Ayael (Director, UI designer & programmer, scripter)

- Arrapso (Sprite, background artist), 

- Wudgeous (Lead writer, narrative designer),

- Notafish (Writer),

- Jeneara (Editor),

- Rowanty​ (scripter)

- Eliana Zebro (Audio & voice director),

- Shar Joyner (composer),

- Megan Youmans (Voice actor - MC),

- Eric Navarro (Voice actor - Lucius),

- Kimi (Trailer creator)

[brightoakgame]

Welcome to Bright Oak!

I just looked up to find that-- despite my diligently playing cat-and-mouse with bots-- Bright Oak now has over 200 300 followers (!!), with the main post at over 100 200 notes! ✨ I’m frankly blown away by the level of kindness and support my little project has met with so far; thank you! 

Given the influx of new friends, this seems like a good time to put together an FAQ / more global update on the state of Bright Oak, overall:

What is Bright Oak? Bright Oak is a heavily character-driven visual novel game with elements of science fiction, and this is the post you’ll want to start with! I plan to keep the pinned post up-to-date throughout development, so if you need the broad strokes of what Bright Oak is about, that’s the place to look for individual character introductions and similar information. 

When will the game be finished? The (free) first act demo will release June 24th, and I aim to release the full finished game before the end of the year. While on the ambitious side, this schedule is by no means unrealistic, given the weight of assets already completed.

Where will the game be released? To begin, Bright Oak will be available on Itch.io as well as on Steam. Other options will be weighed later on, but the current focus is on those two locations.

Is there going to be a Kickstarter? Firstly, thank you so much for asking. Secondly-- no, there will not be a Kickstarter. The decision was made early on to fund this wholly out-of-pocket; as a first-time dev, I felt more comfortable working on a shoestring instead of taking on the risk and stress of a funding campaign (though if you have the means and inclination to support the development of Bright Oak, I do have a Ko-fi account set up)

Will the release be commercial? How much will the finished game cost? Yes, it will be a commercial release, with a free demo. While I have not settled yet on an exact range (I would like it to be something of a sliding scale), I intend to keep the high end under $20. The release will not be serialized, but will include all routes.

What is the overall status on the game? Assets that are currently finished in their entirety include the script (all paths and variations), character art, and the soundtrack. Sprites are colored. The first act is fully coded, with the second act blocked in with basic coding. Backgrounds are about 80% finished.

Who is working on Bright Oak? I am always thrilled by the opportunity to praise the talents I’ve been lucky enough to work with! 

Remnantation was hired as the commissioned artist, and has become beyond that a steadfast, treasured friend. They have been on board with Bright Oak since very nearly the beginning, and at this point I feel they’ve invested as much care and energy into it as I have. Rem’s facility with expressions both broad and subtle, as well as their grasp of naturalistic body language, have brought a life to the characters that simply cannot be overstated. For those interested, Remnantation’s character art can also be seen in @windchimesgames newly-released Emberfate: Tempest of Elements, as well as @foxdriftstudios freshly-funded work in progress, Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin.

John Åhlin is a masterful composer and multi-instrumentalist; I promise the stellar Morricone-influenced Western soundtrack alone will be worth the wait! 

Wudgeous of @herotome​ is an absolute superhero and coding wizard, aiding with everything from sprite layers and small animations, to unswerving support and helping answer all the silly questions I lack the bandwidth to sort out on my own. If you haven’t yet, may I recommend playing the Herotome demo? And if you’ve played it already-- well, nothing will stop you from playing it again, either. ✨

Finally, if there’s anything I missed here, my Ask box is open (past Asks can be found here). Thank you again for your interest and support; I look forward to sharing more of Bright Oak with you in the coming months!

B.

[brightoakgame]

Irregular Monday Update, Edition 9

Keep on keepin' on!

Let's start with the status on the demo release:

I am currently on track to release the demo in the latter half of June. Once all the assets are in place, I'll post an exact date; since there are a couple big set pieces and effects remaining to implement, though, I would like to get those mapped before trying to anticipate a more precise deadline;

The demo features the entirety of the first act of the game, including two story branches and just under 40,000 words. It will be published on both Itch and Steam (though I have not yet set up the Steam page, it's on the to-do list). The demo will not include any CGs at release, however (for those unfamiliar with the term, these are special illustrations which pop up in response to specific story events and noteworthy dialogues);

Background Countdown: we're down to just two sketches remaining for the demo, with approximately 12 sketches remaining total for the game as a whole (still at 22/60 total backgrounds/variations fully complete, since I like to do the painting in batches to color match)

And for the big picture:

If you missed the last update: the incredibly talented Remnantation has reopened their commissions!

John has provided the finalized tracks for the eventual, superlatively awesome soundtrack DLC (today's job for me: figure out the best order)

I've assembled the main studio logo + sfx:

To do next:

Wrap up the remaining two background sketches needed for the demo, and move on to painting, manual lining, and scanning;

Continue coding sprite expressions and poses;

Conspire with the ever-marvelous Wudgeous (@herotome) on important remaining special effects and transitions;

Set up Steam page (waiting til I've arranged the business end of things);

Enlist playtesters;

Nail down that list of CGs with Rem;

Set a date for demo release!

[brightoakgame]

Irregular Monday Update, Edition 8

Full steam ahead!

To lead with some exciting news: the incredibly talented Remnantation has reopened their commissions! Rem has been working on Bright Oak nearly as long as I have at this point, and in the process they've become an incredibly dear friend, as well as treasured collaborator. If you're looking for the whole package-- professionalism, talent, and excellent communication-- I can give them my whole-hearted recommendation.

As for where Bright Oak stands:

Thanks to Wudgeous (@herotome) handling the base coding, I've been able to make great headway on adding in expressions and poses, with only a small handful of scenes remaining to finish out Act I. Still gonna be a crunch to get the demo done by end of this month / early next, but shouldn't be far off!

@remnantation has finished up everyone's colors and is now working on secrets;

I worked on sound design for the first act, and specific cues for John's music; 

Background Countdown: I finally managed to push through some art block I've had on a location interior, and am now done with six of the sketches, working on a seventh, with six remaining for the demo / approximately 17 sketches remaining total (still at 22/60 total backgrounds/variations fully complete, since I like to do the painting in batches to color match)

To Do Next (may involve some déjà vu-- again):

Backgrounds! Backgrounds! More backgrounds! More!

Continue coding in sprite expressions and poses;

Play around with some additional special effects and transitions;

Nail down the list of CGs needed (for those unfamiliar with the term, these are special illustrations which pop up in response to specific story events and noteworthy dialogues);

Sort out studio logo;

Backgrounds! (seriously what is the background artist even doing) (it's me) (hi) (i'm the problem it's me)

[brightoakgame]

Irregular Monday Update, Edition 11

Just a quick, informal update this time!

Firstly: Thank you so much to everyone who has played the demo! ❤️ The warm reception Bright Oak has met with far exceeds what I thought I could hope for, and I am enormously grateful for everyone who has taken the time to play the demo, as well as those who've rated it, reblogged it-- and for the incredibly sweet comments on the game page! Thank you; my heart is very, very full. 💕

Also: welcome new friends! ✨ The FAQ can be found here, and here's a list of past Asks.

Lastly: for anyone who wasn't around this past weekend, the Bright Oak demo is OUT on Itch.io! 🌿

Next up:

I'll be getting the Steam page set up later this week;

Wudgeous (of super-cool superhero visual novel, Herotome!) has already rough-coded the second act, so I'll start in on coding the music / sfx / expression cues;

Back to the grind with my old nemesis, backgrounds (there aren't too many left to go now, thankfully!);

Gotta sort out the Discord server;

But to begin: gotta catch up a bit on sleep so I can do all that. 💤

[brightoakgame]

Irregular Monday Update, Edition 7

Things are progressing apace!

To lead with the biggest jump: superhero Wudgeous (@herotome) has finished base coding through the end of the second act(!), along with adding in sprite movement and effects. This is very promising news for meeting the May/June release goal for the demo, which will comprise the entire first act. It's also fantastic news for the game overall, because their handling of movement, sprite placement, and effects is all 🌟🌟🌟

@remnantation is finishing up Jasper's colors and some additional polish here and there (like blushes 🥰);

John's music now plays in the game, and OMG-OMG-OMG; 

Background Countdown: I've finished five more background sketches, with a sixth in progress, and seven remaining for the demo / approximately 18 sketches remaining total (still at 22/60 backgrounds/variations fully complete, since I like to do the painting in batches to color match);

Created some homemade transitions with major help from Wudge;

Made slight additions to the scripting and dialogue in places.

To Do Next (may involve some déjà vu):

Backgrounds! Backgrounds! More backgrounds! More!

Coding in sprite expressions and poses;

Determining exact music cues and placement;

Add in sound effects;

Play around with some special effects and transitions;

Rem will finish up coloring;

Nail down the list of CGs needed (for those unfamiliar with the term, these are special illustrations which pop up in response to specific story events and noteworthy dialogues);

Backgrounds!