I’m bringing my laptop, Gamecube, TV and Wind Waker to a friend so we can play Wind Waker together. We’ll try to play through the game in one sitting, but we will take the necessary breaks inbetween.
So be sure to check up on my Twitch profile today!
@1 month ago
As of February 2013, I’ve halted nearly all progress on our current projects. This is due to hardware issues I’m still looking into.
Progress on Yamaku Koukou has halted for two months. Meanwhile, writing the story/prescript is still in progress.
Progress on RPG has been halted since November 2012. Due to having a poor system, I had to halt internal engine testing for our RPG. The Unity3D engine is not the fastest around- waiting for Unity 4. Meanwhile, progress on story, preparation and concept art is making slow progress in our team.
Progress on codename Seimei no Kiseki (Boku wa totemo aisa rete imasu, simply Boku wa Totemo, H-game) has been coming along nicely. I’ve been working on this project for almost a year now. I’ve started planning it June 3rd, 2012, and started writing July 19th, 2012, 01:50 AM. I’ve made a total of 12 dynamic characters, of which 7 will have full routes and romancing included. Everything has been written in WordPad for now, and I plan on converting it to Ren’Py when I finish building file structures for sprites, backgrounds and all other necessary stuff. I also have to draw a lot, since about half of the art will be fullscreen CG and the other half sprites.
This week, I finally started working on my PC I wanted to build for so long now. Slowly start gathering parts in logical order, starting with the case and mobo. Here’s specs:
Corsair Carbide 200r, i5 3570k, 8GB RAM, 1TB 7400 RPM HDD, 128GB SSD, GTX660 or something.
@2 months ago
So here I am after a while again, just though it’d be sweet to show I’m still active around here. I’ve been busy mainly working on codename Totemo, which is just plain basic text and script in WordPad. I haven’t really made any progress on Yamaku Koukou besides some text tweaking, script cleanup and started working on a flowcontrol.
Anyway, this post will feature some of the stuff I never thought they would actually work in my Ren’py scripts:
Animated snowflakes!
After working for a whopping 4 hours straight in the code files, I managed to make my blossom script look like the one that Ren’py had already implemented. (I didn’t know Ren’py had a built-in cherry blossom script until I updated it later.)
Currently playing music track, scene name and total play time
Music track names: Assigned a name to each song using a list layout in my script. (i.e. The Student Council assigned to the_student_council.ogg). Made a script in the screens file, in my custom menu you see in the image, and made a script that reads the currently playing track and then displays it on-screen.
Same goes for the Scene object, which was actually pretty simple. For every beginning of a scene, I add $_scene_name: “scene name here”, and just like the music script, it reads the scene name and directly displays it in the menu.
Time elapsed counter actually turned out to be pretty easy. After asking around on the Ren’py forums I managed to make it work reading only hours and minutes, instead of minutes and seconds.
@3 months ago
Many asked what software and hardware I use when working on projects. This could be one of the most frequently asked questions I’ve ever had.
Hardware
You won’t get anywhere far without a PC, right?
Laptop - Main system for writing
CPU: Intel i5 450M
GPU: GeForce GT540M
RAM: 4GB DDR3
HDD: 750GB 4500 RPM
Old desktop - Broken, was my main system
CPU: AMD Athlon II x2
GPU: Radeon HD5570
RAM: 3GB DDR3
HDD: 500GB 5400 RPM
New desktop - Build finished in February 2013 - Will be main system
CPU: Intel i5 3XXX Ivy Bridge
GPU: Geforce GTX650
RAM: 8GB DDR3
HDD: 1TB 7200RPM
There you have it. I’ve been relying on my trusty laptop since September 2011, and it desperately needs replacement.
Peripherals
Mouse 1: Logitech MX518 (Main)
Mouse 2: Razer Mamba 2012 4G
Mousepad: Roccat Taito
Mousepad 2: Steelseries QcK Mini
Keyboard: Leopold Tenkeyless with MX Blue Cherries
Headset 1: Turtlebeach P11 (For Microphone only)
Headset 2: Turtlebeach X12 (Main)
Speakers: Logitech Z323
Tablet: Wacom Bamboo 2012
Monitor: Philips 220E 22” - 1920x1080
Writing Software
Microsoft Wordpad (Main software)
Microsoft Word (For mass replacing words and spellcheck)
Microsoft Notepad (Notes!)
iPhone’s Notepad (For scribbling down stuff on the fly)
Writing is just… writing. You won’t require anything fancy at all. Up until 2008 I’ve used Notepad, but switched over to Wordpad since it has more features, but keeps it simple and easy to use. If you don’t feel like typing it out on a keyboard, just write it down in a noteblock!
Scripting Software
Notepad++ (Free and customizable!)
Sublime Text 2 (Better looks!)
jEdit (Ren’Py python scripter!)
Again, you want to use the software you find the most comfortable to work with. Notepad++ is free, and has many profiles to work with. Sublime text however gives you more customization and it overall looks better.
Gamemaking Software
Unity 3D Pro (3D games!)
Ren’Py (Visual Novels. The best visual novel engine! Works on Python!)
Unity 3D is a great and most of all easy all-in-one game maker to work with. There’s an amazing support forum and a lot of documentation. Ren’Py is your basic visual novel engine. You type a sentence in jEdit with certain prefixes and suffixes, and it outputs it in the game. Since it uses Python, you can do nearly anything you desire!
Music Software
FL Studio 10 (Piano roll based DAW! Amazing DAW!)
Reason (Professionalism! Hard to master, but satisfactory!)
Pro Tools (Windows alternative to Logic Pro! Complex, but fine!)
Traktor Scratch Pro (Using for livemixing music! Hard to master, but very cool!)
Foobar (Music player! Customizable, and very gentle on memory usage!)
Spotify (Another great music player!)
Video / Image Software
Sony Vegas 10 (Main! Flexible video editor! Long rendering times!)
Sony Vegas 11 (See above!)
Adobe After Effects CS5 (Professional video FX editor. Very hard to master!)
Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Fastest Photoshop out. Mainly used for 2d imaging!)
Adobe Photshop CS6 (Latest Photoshop, best looking. Used for 3D texturing!)
SAI Paint Tool (Very lightweight and easy drawing/painting software!)
This should kinda wrap it up. Honestly, I don’t feel like typing no more!
@5 months ago
First off, I want to wish everyone a happy new year. 2012 has been a hard year, but happy moments definitely had the upper hand for me. I’ve planned nearly 5 projects in 2012, and I can say that 3 of them are in the works. More updates on that on a different post.
I’m doing a few posts on how I work on my projects, a BTS (Behind the Scenes). I’m splitting this in multiple posts.
BTS Part 1 - Workplace
This post will be about in what kind of place, position and time I work on my projects. Here’s a short overview with pictures of my workplace at the time.
January 2012 - Started work on Yamaku Koukou
Laptop connected to an external monitor, and used an external keyboard for the ease of usefulness. I’d sometimes disconnect my laptop and sit in the living room around midnight with soft music on my surround set: this inspired my mind.
July 2012 - Working on Yamaku Koukou
Reformatted my room and changed my workstation to fit my requirements as I have a muscular disorder. This workplace helped me speed up my typing. Sometimes, I’d just stare outside at the sunset: very inspiring.
Summer eve from my workplace
June 25th, 2012 - Planned codename project Seimei no Kiseki (Official release name is Watashi wa totemo aisa rete imasu / Watashi wa Totemo)
(Workstation hasn’t changed)
August 2012 - Watashi wa Totemo in the works
Purchased a new keyboard. A mechanical keyboard with switches specially made for people who type a lot. Has a very special feeling to it when typing. Was kinda expensive, but definitely worth the purchase. This new toy increased my work speed, and didn’t tire my fingers as much as my old keyboard.
December 2012 - Christmas
Purchased a speaker set because my headset can give me headaches sometimes. By listening to chill music (Nujabes preferably) my mind relaxes, allowing me to work better. Kinda paused progress on Yamaku Koukou due to a lack of time and motivation, but will continue work in February 2013.
And everything stayed like that. It’s still January, after all. I use a log to track my performance when I script and write, and I can see that my performance has increased nearly 40 percent after changing my workplace to my liking.
BTS #2 will be about my workflow.
@5 months ago
