lovegame

lovegame, 11 months ago

@SirTapTap oh it's not that the vibes here are bad, they're more like.... neutral, whereas cohost kind of feels small and cozy somehow

lovegame, 11 months ago

🐈 i didn't come up with this, i think i learned about it from this stack overflow post ages ago (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1642028/what-is-the-operator-in-c-c)

but i use it all the time it's just easy to write and remember. good operator

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i'm not sure which one to vote for but the bright colors in gb ghost definitely catch my attention more, whereas bar kids is more subdued and monochrome. i think gb ghost is more "striking" but bar kids is cool because i like how it shows the contrast between the two characters and i love the messy text. i don't know which one to vote for though because i'm not sure whether attention-catching or subdued is better for a library image x_x

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue thank you 😊 i hope you are well!

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue thank you so much! i want that for you too and i really hope you can find a way out of these horrible circumstances..

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue
i think the draft version of this cover had kind of an ethereal / magical vibe because of the light lines and black and white, and using the harsher solid colors from the game kind of changes the feeling to more desolate (?)

i think it's still good but maybe the change in mood is why you feel bad about it? maybe experimenting with the style or color palette a bit to capture a different mood would help (compared to just forcing yourself to finish it....)

lovegame, 1 year ago

🌸 it's really easy to start thinking that whatever i'm doing isn't going to land for people because i feel pretty neutral even while rereading the most intense parts....

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue oh, so the vn version wasn't as good? :( i wonder what i can do about that.... the script was written with the intent of separation/delay between lines but you obviously don't get that effect when just reading the text version

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i did actually think about not having the mc be visible but i couldn't figure out how i would illustrate a lot of the scenes. but maybe they didn't need to be illustrated.... i'm not good at visualizing things in my head though x_x

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue maybe i am not conveying something right because the linework style wasn't meant to be taken literally, it's meant to kind of reflect her self-perception and disconnection from herself, which is why it briefly changes to a more realistic depiction in the climax of chapter 1. i will have to think about if there is a better way to present it....

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i think your thoughts are really helpful! a big part of the reason for the sketchy line style was to also to make it easier to draw her. but maybe i need to think more about where and how i use it....

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue so far you are the only person who has read both the vn demo and text script so it's really helpful to get your thoughts before i go ahead and make the other 4 chapters and do something weird....

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue by the way, did you mean to say "The VN script was a lot stronger but...." in this post? or is "original" correct?

i wasn't sure if i also made the script worse when editing stuff for the vn version x_x in addition to what you said about the delays and the character depiction

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i tried drawing a cute version of the first scene where you see the main character, and i think i can see your point more easily now. i don't know if the new version is perfect but i like how it the cuter drawing feels and i can see how it's harder to feel a connection with the character in the old version....

(if you don't want to keep talking about this it's okay, let me know)

The same setup as the other picture, but the girl is depicted as a white silhouette with no face.

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i'm really grateful for your thoughts on this!!

i liked how the cuter art with the clothes and colors turned out so i actually went through some of the scenes and redrew them last night. it wasn't as bad as i thought, i think a good workflow for me is to draw the silhouette version and then decide if it's important to draw over with colors/details.

i have a scene that switches between them with a pixellate effect, kinda like you described....

A pink-haired woman is leaning over a puddle of liquid. A woman with a witch hat is placing her hand on the pink-haired woman's head. The witch forcefully pushes the other woman's head towards the puddle. When she is pushed, the other woman's body abruptly becomes a white silhouette, with a pixellated blur transition between the two art styles.

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i originally thought of the silhouette depiction as representing melody being kind of disconnected from her body and self, like not necessarily literally in a dissociative state but generally having an incomplete sense of self. but i think depicting her like that means the reader also feels disconnected from her and i didn't realize that.... i think i like it better now that it shows her in "normal" form with colors and clothes more frequently and only switches sometimes

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i kind of like how the fairy is introduced in a surprising way (although i put her on the title screen.... i might redo the title screen because i just drew something that looked cool without really thinking about it that hard) but yeah i think doing an intro for melody would be good. i think i have an idea for it....

lovegame, 1 year ago

@taylormccue i uploaded a new version with the art changes and a melody/fairy intro near the start if you want to see. thanks for all the help and sharing your thoughts!