12/22/17: Pros and Cons of Rewriting CaH's Code

Recently I've been thinking over how the coding and writing of the game and how it'll effect the people playing this. Now, this isn't a post addressing the actual contents of the game, but the mechanics of them. The function of having a custom name and being directly referred to by the characters, as well as the perspective of some of the backgrounds is the barest amount of player immersion.

After discussing the game with another friend and Roman, we've agreed on deeper player immersion, which involves a sprite as to not give too much away. They've helped me decide it would be best to do this to make the player feel less awkward about the backstory.

Because the game that was released is only a demo, there are sounds, music, and art that won't be used in the final game. I've recently acquired a free music program, which should help me engineer some sounds and compose new music.

I've also started making new art, starting with the backgrounds for each game. This will not only help the immersive aspect of the game but also help me practice drawing backgrounds from a certain perspective. Some of the CGs, however, might not be set from the same perspective just for dramatic effect. Some of the current sprites also need to be fixed and I need to make more sprites for more major and minor characters.

The game would benefit from a code overhaul, as I have new assets to make and be put in and I could fix some of the writing. It would also make me feel better to put Act II of the game onto something nice and new. But, as I said in a previous post, it took me about a month to redo all the code that I lost. What I didn't say was that "about a month" was spread out over two months. 30 days, working here and there for about an hour and a half. If I am re-coding the game with new dialogue, art, sound effects, and music I don't want to take away from time developing these new assets and Act II. And I also attend school full-time.

To set things into simple terms, here are lists of the pros and cons:

Pros to overhauling the code:

• Increasing player immersion

• Having more room to improve the current story

• Having more room to improve the current code

• Having a clean slate to code Act II on 

• Having a clean slate to fix and implement assets on

Cons to overhauling the code:

• Needing to take a lot more time out of my schedule to re-code something that already exists

Final Statements

Even though there is only one con, it is an extremely important one. This game has about ten months to get developed before it's intended release date (which is sometime in October 2018). Setting a deadline for myself feels dangerous, but I want a date to look forward to. I want to give myself motivation to really work on this game. And I want this game to be the best it can be.

It might be a little while before I really commit to the idea of overhauling the code, so this winter break might be spent just completing assets. However I want to assure you that whatever comes out of this break will be quality. Signing off for the night,

                                                                                         -GGDev

12/22/17: The official DEMO for Cinnamon and Honey is out!

Yes you heard right, it's finally out!

Cinnamon and Honey is a free, Ren'Py made dating sim where you attempt to date a cute doctor you run into in your first few in a new town.

You play as a fresh-out-of-college, twenty-something, aspiring nutritionist. If you okay your cards right, you might run into a pastel-haired doctor.  They might be a little hard to get along with at first or a little intimating, but soon you'll find the way to their heart. Sort of. Maybe.

Because this is a demo, you won't be able to immediately get together with them.  The game is also pretty basic right now, but the final version will be super polished. As this is being released, new assets are being made!

Nothing in this game is final. Not the sprites, not the music, not the artwork, none of it. Be prepared for the final release of the game and check up on the development here on the blog!

Angel Liim and Moxie Arce both belong to my dear friend Roman! 

The game is available for both Mac and PC!

What the demo includes:

• Access to 5 of many endings
• A thrilling 7 to 10 minutes of game play (//sarcasm)
• Some fourth wall breaking if you try to access parts of the game that you're not allowed to see
• Have fun playing and don't forget to comment!

12/18/17: The Development of Cinnamon and Honey

Good evening! I'd like to talk about the current status of the game CaH.

As of right now, the game is approximately one-fourth is done. This one fourth is the coding for Act I, the first half of the game. Another fourth is Act II, the second part of the game and a part I hope will be slightly harder to complete (like a level in an action game). The two other fourths are corresponding assets (art, music, sound effects).

Coding

Currently I am thinking of re-writing the code (yet again) because I feel it could be improved. I want to see how I could incorporate point values in Act I because I neglected to learn how to use them. This resulted in me having a harder time coding. I want to use these point values to make the main cast more realistic in their responses to the MC. I also want to try out using persistent values because there is are features I want to try adding to the game, like a screen displaying all achieved endings and possibly a screen for short character profiles.

I also want to try to find a way to let the player customize their pronouns in the game. I already have a theory on how to do this, point values. I would give the player options to choose from the three basic English pronouns (she, he, and they) and attach the values 1, 2, 3 to those options. In this way I could use 'if' statements to control what pronouns the other characters would refer to the player as.

If I really wanted to do this, rewriting the code could come as a huge benefit. However that would be extremely time consuming (it took me approx. a month to re-do the coding for Act I initially).  I want to shoot for the release date October 2018, so I don't know how re-doing Act I's coding and assets alongside coding and asset-making for Act II will affect the progress of the game. My living situation isn't ideal for set schedules for working because it could change any time, and I am working late in a club I joined at school almost everyday.

Re-doing code is something I really want to do, but I feel that I should try to pro and con it out before I make any set decisions.

Assets

All current assets are placeholders. At the moment, all music, art (including GUI and the title screen), and sound effects are things that I am mostly intent on replacing. I am making all the art, so that is not as much of a problem, but the music and sound effects will be a bit harder to find better versions of. The music is made by me, but the program is too simple and not as quality as I would like to be producing music in. I also need to track down the sound effects I used (because like a dumbass I didn't save any of the links) and find royalty-free effects as I don't have the means of making my own.

I could re-do all the assets I currently have and make sure I use royalty-free sound effects, but also many music tracks are done and re-composing them could take an indeterminate amount of time, and as I said earlier I don't want to take away from developing the game and progressing with unnecessary changes.

Final Statements

 So, what does it all come down to? I need to think about my decisions for the game in terms of development time. If there is any at all, I would appreciate feedback. A demo of the game will be released sometime this week. Signing off for the night,
                                                                                         -GGDev

12/17/17: Hi!

Hello world! Welcome to my blog! Here I'll be discussing the ideas I have for all my games!

Currently I'm working on a game called Cinnamon and Honey, a Ren'Py made horror game with a focus on abusive relationships.

CaH is a labor of love for my best friend, whose OC Angel Liim is the star of the game (aside from you, the player, of course). Many of their characters appear in the game and two others play major roles besides Angel. Many of my OCs make cameos in the game, but no one is especially major. This being said, here is where I make my disclaimer: none of the main characters (and some of the minor characters) belong to me. I only made the game.

The game is currently smack dab in the middle of development right now. Or maybe one-fourth. It didn't occur to me that I would want to do a development log until now. So. To make up for the lost time not documented, here is the general information on the development of CaH.

- Development started around the beginning of July.
- Progress on the first half of the game (Act I) was nearly complete until I somehow lost all the code sometime in August.
- Development is now being picked up mid-December (12/16/17 being the day I re-made the MC's bedroom background)

That's all for this post for now, because I don't want to get too off topic. I'll make a separate post talking more about the development later. Signing off for the night,
                                                                                      -GGDev