Hello everyone! Just wanted to give everyone an update on what I've been doing these past few months. 3 Projects have been in my focus for a good portion of this later half of the year, but I will be changing my focus back to Ventio Mortis very soon. Since I now have all the character assets required to finish Ventio Mortis, I've let people play test the game to give me a good idea of what may need to be changed here or there, as well as any spelling/programming errors I may have missed. I've come to the hard decision to completely rewrite everything I have, save for select opening scenes. Now, this may seem like a horrible set-back -- and to me it's felt like one, hence the reason it's taken so long to get around to just doing it -- but it will be the best choice for the overall finished product. The reasons for this choice are as follows: The story was too "all over the place". I had a clear vision of the characters, the setting, and the story, but not the ending, and it caused a lot of problems during the core programming phase, as well as defining what assets I would need for CGs later on. As well, my main (and only) editor has been in college the past year and hasn't had time to actually edit any of the dialog. As the winter break comes closer, she will be more available to actually edit. This wouldn't normally be a huge set back, but she is not only an editor, she is the co-creator of this concept and her input is very important to the diversity of personality in characters and the eloquence of Hollowelle and Inan. As we reach the re-write phase of my plans for Ventio Mortis, I would value now more than ever anyone's input. What did you like so far? Which character did you like the best? Who did you hate the most? What would you have liked to be different? Now is the time for you to make an impact on the final game. While I want to make something I am proud of, I also want to make something that you want to play. And as we reach the end of production, I will once again start a kickstarter campaign for proper background CGs. Alright, long winded explanation done and over with, let me show you what has been being worked on this year, and what I hope to bring to you in the future. Sector ChimeraAs you can see from the screenshots above, a lot has been changed. I've switched engines for Sector Chimera, and I believe this to be a much better fit for what I imagined. I will still include combat against kere, as it's an integral part of the story. I've also changed the way you interact with people via your computer. There is a "forum" system, where you can choose responses that may effect later choices. I've changed the city character select menu for freetime events. You'll be able to interact with groups of people, or just talk to them one on one. The choice is yours. I've also revamped the textbox. It will display relevant information about the speaker, along with their city icon and face. Dialog will now have definition links so you can better understand the lore of Chimera without having to feel bogged down and bored by game explanations that aren't immediately relevant, as well as collect and update dossiers on your fellow Limbonites. Another huge thing I've added is maps and locations for Chimera. I also intend to add side quests once the main story is programmed and mapped out. Since Chimera is primarily a puzzle solving type of game, it's important to check locations more than once! I've also considered adding a quest log, but that will remain solely dependent on if I actually add side quests or not. Something you may have noticed if you've been here for a while is that everyone has an updated sprite. I will be slowly showcasing each new portrait over the next few weeks/months and describing the "character of the day" so that you can all learn more about the strange people you've been stuck with here in Chimera. Don't Talk To StrangersA little side project of mine that I began working on in the height of my depression. The concept is simple: I wanted to make friends that weren't real and I wanted a game that could trick me into believing I was talking to someone real. After discussing the idea with friends, they agreed it would be a neat concept, and so I started production just to see if I could do it. And that's how we got Don't Talk To Strangers. Well, as it turns out, making believable characters and an immersive chat system aren't that hard... but predicting what someone would want to say in response to these characters was quite difficult. Originally this was a two choice system. Either pick option A or option B. However, I've since decided that I will either rework the GUI to support 3-4 answers, or will implement some sort of "dialect" option at the start of the game where players can decide how they would typically type. I'm 25 and out of touch with proper texting etiquette apparently, as I abused smiley faces. The one compliment that was resounding that directly involved dialog was how the characters use your personal information. For instance, one might try to ask your name, and then from there on will refer to you by name. Or had to chosen NOT to share your information, they'll continue to be in the dark until you decide to share it... or not. Another huge way this works: If your favorite food is pizza, and you talk to a character who also loves pizza, they'll comment on how you have the same taste. Let's say your favorite food was tacos. They'll instead make a comment about tacos and how they feel about that particular food. Let's say you put your favorite food as... something else. Something... "bad". They'll probably have something to say about that, as well. Don't be afraid to be weird, and don't be afraid to play honestly. The results may surprise you. If you are interested in writing a character, let me know (via the contact form below or on social media)! I want diverse characters with interesting and engaging personalities, and I just don't think it's possible if I write all 8 of them. More on this game will be spoken of in the future, but for now just know that it exists. Monster PartyThere really isn't much to update here, but I do have some things I must get out of the way. First of all: writing for this game has been temporarily halted. Since this game is a joint project, I've been working closely with a friend of mine, Inujuju. She's created the characters Nea and Zephyr. I originally attempted to write these characters on my own due to her business, but when she read Zephyr's dialog she was not pleased. Which is quite fair, as I strayed from the original character traits we gave him. I will be rewriting his dialog, and/or give that responsibility to Inujuju depending on what we decide. Zephyr deserves to be cute and shy, and I hope that Inujuju will be able to write that character archetype much better than I could. That being said, I've begun working on Ashe's CGs. 3 are already done, with many more to go. Backgrounds are being selected and edited, but are mostly place-holders until I can decide what I want to use. The character creator has since been completed, and to avoid spending anymore time on it that needed, I've decided to leave it as is and come back to it at the end if any items really bother me style-wise. Lastly, and most importantly: I may be changing the name of the game. With the release of Monster Prom, I just thought it was a little too on the nose and that I may be accused of ripping from the game when it's released. This choice was hard as my heart was set on Monster Party, but it's ultimately the right one and I know this. TLDR; In the future?My main focus will turn to Ventio Mortis, as I want to try to get it out before the end of the year. This may not be the case, but it is what I am aiming for all the same. I have high hopes that while I begin writing now, my partner on the project will be able to edit the dialog during winter break and all will be well. That being said, I will also be working on Don't Talk To Strangers in my spare time. Chimera and Monster Party have both been benched for the foreseeable future so that I do not get distracted while pushing Ventio Mortis into its final stages.
Once Ventio is complete, I will start working on Monster Party again. And then after Monster Party, I will move on to Chimera, and so forth. Both Ventio and Monster Party are not huge games with a lot to them. They're fairly straight-forward, and so I believe in my ability to see them through, whereas Chimera is intended to be a large game that will take some time, and that is the reason why it's last on the production list. All of that being said, we here at Jingleriot Gaming are chalk full of ideas for upcoming games in the future. If there's anything you'd be interested in seeing, let us know! When the time comes to reveal these projects, you can bet they'll be here on this blog. But for now, we're spearheading our current projects and moving our way into the final long stretch for Ventio Mortis. Thank you for sticking around until the end of this post! Ghosting for a few months will usually leave you with many updates.
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I apologize to anyone who expected regular updates. I decided on a different approach for sharing progress on my games considering how hard a time I have being consistent. I'm going to wait until my projects are in their late stages of completion before I share progression updates and previews. This is being done in part to keep me focused on the game and not worried about external responsibilities so I can guarantee a polished and finished product, as well as stay focused on the tasks I've mapped out for myself. That being said, I will still try to share some things here and there, but they will not be nearly as consistent as they have been in the past.
The other reason I've chosen this new approach is because of the pressure to completing things in a timely fashion while also posting every other day. If I find someone to help me run this blog, there will be updates galorem but for now we have to sit in this solemn medium. As for Ventio Mortis: It is slightly on the backburner for now. I am focusing on Monster Party, but will switch back and forth between it and Ventio Mortis. The unfortunate facts are these: I want Ventio Mortis to be the best finished product it can be, and I don't feel I can do that without extra cash to pay for some background CGs. That being said, if it comes down to it at the end of the day, I will release it with whatever assets are on hand, but for now I intend to wait until I can afford, comfortably, to have this game look the way I want it to. I may also go back and rewrite everything, rescript some routes for my own sake and sanity, and rework some menus/ideas. Thank you for being patient with me, and remember you can download the demo from itch.io. (The demo also might have some bugs in it at this moment. Should you encounter any, please send me an email from the contact form.) tl;dr: To anyone who's worried, I am still working on Ventio Mortis, along side my new project, Monster Party. However, my focus has shifted to Monster Party for the time being. Ventio Mortis is still being worked on. And as a gift for making everyone sit in the dark for so long, here's a preview of the character creator for Monster Party. First things first: sorry for inconsistent updates. Not that I'm the queen of consistency, but I'm generally uploading more often and I haven't been. I, number one, got a new job. Number two: I've had a pretty intense case of seasonal depression sweep over me this month. However, I have been working on the games in between long "staring at the wall in despair" sessions. Venio + The Kickstarter: So, if you've been following us from the start, you know we launched a kickstarter for Ventio Mortis. I realize now where I went wrong, and am unsurprised that it wasn't funded. I know I need to have a following, and more importantly, a plan next time. On the other hand, I got to see how to take those steps, made connections, garnered interest and random support. It really made me excited to know that even though this kickstarter never could have taken off, it still managed to gain quite a bit of support and attention despite the lack of followers or connections! It made me feel good, even if the kickstarter fail felt a little bad, so to speak. In the future, we will try to run the kickstarter again. When our advertising has gotten better, our following has gotten larger, and our posts can be more consistent, and the game comes closer to being finished, as well. Thank you to everyone who helped and spread the word to their friends! It meant the world to me. Another update for Ventio Mortis -- the artist, drawkill, finished the final sprite and so from here on out it'll just be scripting the game left. It's very exciting, and be sure to catch a glimpse of the detective's sprite in the next coming days. Chimera + New Direction?: I've been toiling away more recently, however, on Sector Chimera. I've been working on making maps, scripting quests, fleshing out scripts, and most importantly... deciding what artistic direction to take the game. I want to make this game a 3D game along the lines of persona 3+, but I have no skill in 3D modelling. I'm not expecting to become a skilled 3D artist in the next week or month or year, or ever, really, but if I can't find a way to get help with the modelling on the low, or find a way to make decent money, haaa... I'm going to be practicing 3D modelling. Hopefully one day chimera can be the game I always imagined, but for now it's likely going to stick to the 2D sprite design it currently has. Which, isn't bad. Just not what I always wanted. Anyway, here's some visual updates from Chimera! Hello! Apologies for the lack of updates, recently. Nothing visual is going on in the development stages, and so there isn't much to say other than that we are making progress! Currently, we are attempting to turn Sector Chimera into a low-poly 3D game, but it's a little out of reach and just a pipe dream. That being said, we will be refocusing on Sector Chimera in the coming week, and especially on the kickstarter promotion. To kick things off this month, we're releasing a promotional background for download! We may also release versions for each of the romances, but for now we're giving you Hollowelle herself. Happy Hallodays.
With the demo released and the kickstarter underway, it's finally about time you got a better look at the 6 love interests you can pursue in Ventio Mortis! Without further adieu, I present to you the bund and co. Inan Thamuz, The Steady HandInan is the logical minded unethical surgeon of Hollowelle’s bund. In life, he enjoyed luxuries only wealth could give someone, and yet it never felt like it was enough for him. Inan desired only scientific advancement, in ways that humanity shunned him for. Seeing the world in open and unbiased eyes cursed Inan with a deep depression, where he took his life out of shame for what he was: a brilliant mind with an any-means-necessary attitude. In his unlife, he enjoys being able to pursue his scientific goals unfettered by morals and red-tape, often times using left over bodies from the bund’s excursions to experiment on. His current goal is to discover just what he truly is, as magic hardly seems like an explanation for his reanimation and Hollowelle’s… condition. Age at Death: 24 yrs. Height: 5′11″ Cause of Death: Suicide, wrists. Likes: Scalpels, Discovery, Freedom, Logically minded people, Scientific Advancement, Problem Solving, and Puzzles. Dislikes: Restrictions, Brutish folk, Unclean surfaces, Hurting things for reasons outside of survival. Napoleon, The Patchwork DollUnlike her cohorts, Napoleon didn’t have to die to become one of Hollowelle’s wards. No, what lead to her joining Hollowelle in unlife was something more magical. Crafted from pieces of Hollowelle’s victims until all the finest parts came together to create the perfect creature, Napoleon is Hollowelle’s greatest creation and most prized possession. Imbued with the heart of Hollowelle’s long past lover, Napoleon is every bit the opposite of the person who’s life she stole. She tends to make friends easily, as she is the warm and welcoming counterpart to the cold and cruel Hollowelle, often times softening her creator’s harsh actions. Her childish nature and mature appearance is endearing to potential meals, and so she is used mostly to lure in victims. Age by Appearance: 20-28~ yrs. Actual Age: 500~ yrs. Height: 5′7″ Likes: Reading (especially about history), Gifts from her family, Physical affection, Validation. Dislikes: Rudeness, Arguments, Being alone, Thinking about her ‘soul’ Drisdon Berith, The Perfect ServantThe golden child in his living years, Drisdon is one of the only wards Hollowelle amassed that didn’t die by his own hand. His living desire to please his father indeed carried over into his undeath, as he strives every day to be the best ward he can be for his dearest Hollowelle. His motives, however, are likely guided by his unrequited love for the black witch, and less about being the golden child he had been for his father. He takes disappointing her very hard, and would do anything to please her, more often than not leading him to do things he would never feel comfortable with doing regularly. Of all of Hollowelle’s wards, Drisdon is the most in-tuned with what little humanity he has left, much to the dismay of his dearest Hollowelle. Age at Death: 23 yrs. Height: 5′9″ Cause of Death: Murder, Spinal Injury. Likes: Working hard, Praise, Helping others, Making Hollowelle happy, Lounging around, Good conversation. Dislikes: Doing the “dirty work”, Keeping Secrets, Stairs, Letting Hollowelle down, Being outshined. Robbie Baal, The Problem ChildLife was never good to Robbie, and when it was over, he could finally feel sweet relief… until he was resurrected into Hollowelle’s undead army. More than just a little bitter about his revival, Robbie tends to take out his anger from rebirth on Hollowelle and Drisdon, and his anger from his living years out on the unfortunate victims who cross his path. Violent, pissed off, and loud mouthed, Robbie is a tricky addition to the family. He’s not concerned with doing a good job, pleasing Hollowelle, or keeping their secrets, but it’s hard to let go the best “handy man” they’ve ever had. Perhaps the only thing keeping him from doing all he can to piss Hollowelle off enough to free him from her grasp is Napoleon, as her soft and caring nature heavily contrasts his brutal and unforgiving attitude. Age at Death: 27 yrs. Height: 6′0″ Cause of Death: Suicide, Throat. Likes: Fighting, Scaring people, “Dirty work”, Brooding, Being alone, Art, Soft fluffy things, Hanging out with Napoleon. Dislikes: Thinking critically, Authority, Life and Unlife, Hollowelle and Drisdon, Order, Weakness. Dharma Carmun, ???A mysterious girl who finds her way to Hollowelle and her family. Her motives are unclear, but what is clear is her desire to master the black arts as well as Hollowelle has. Your stereotypical outcast, Dharma knows as closely as a human possibly can how it feels to live like the bund does. When they free her from her captive by accidentally killing him, she swears her fealty to the family under the condition that she will be executed if she betrays them. Why Hollowelle allowed a human to join them without first having suffered a brutal death is as mysterious as Dharma herself, but one could wonder if it has to do with the parallels between the two. Dharma is shy, nervous, and willing to learn whatever Hollowelle has to teach her, if Hollowelle can stomach the intense humanity within Dharma. Current Age: 20 yrs. Height: 5′3″ Cause of Death: N/A. Likes: Psychology, The occult, Foxes, Studying, Having close friends, Plush animals. Dislikes: Being the center of attention, Forceful behavior, Being dismissed, Cruelty, Flirty men, Confrontation. Graham Deber, The Relentless DetectiveA shamed and shoddy detective by day, and a drunk by night, Detective Graham could use a major score when it comes to solving a case or two. After putting away the wrong person for a major crime, allowing the perpetrator to continue slaughtering people in the night, he has a lot to make up for to repent for his former sins. With those deaths on his hands, a case like the one he stumbles upon while looking into a particularly trying stalking case leads him down a long string of murders spanning over a hundred years. While he’s no stranger to the more gruesome things in life, he’s never seen anything quite like this before. The question is, however, if faced with the monster in the night, will he turn and run, or will he look her in the eyes and embrace the darkness within himself? And furthermore, would he have the strength to actually put someone away again in fear of it being the wrong person?
Current Age: 35 yrs. Height: 5′11″ Cause of Death: N/A. Likes: Problem solving, Binge drinking, Working overtime, Lamenting over his past mistakes, Helping people in need. Dislikes: Bureaucracy, Loose ends, Unsolved mysteries, Committing to an outcome.
We are proud to announce that we've finally made live our kickstarter for Ventio Mortis! To support the game, please visit the kickstarter page, and of course the options of patreon and paypal donations are still available. This is a huge step for us, right next to completing and releasing the demo itself. Like it says in the kickstarter page, there is no downside to helping fund the project. Whether we meet the goal or not, this game WILL be made. It is just a matter of quality control that we ask for any funding at all. Check out the demo here, and check out the kickstater page here!
Thank you so much for everything so far, and hopefully word of mouth and our behind the scenes work will pay off in getting some attention brought to this game. I truly hope we make content worth supporting and worth playing. I am so pleased to finally announce that the Ventio Mortis demo is finally being released! While there may still be a few bugs here and there, it is mostly fine enough to share with the public! And now that a demo has been released (available here from itch.io), we can finally begin the next step of this long journey: posting to lemmasoft and starting crowd funding. While I am absolutely in LOVE with the sprites, it has been the only thing I've been able to pay out of pocket for, so my hope is that we can crowd fund enough money to start paying talented artists for backgrounds and custom music, and perhaps even CGs if the budget allows for it. I am so happy to have made it this far, but this is only chapter one. The real count down to the finish line begins now, with an expected release in somewhere around 3-5 months from now, as long as everything goes according to schedule. The only way this might change is if we get enough funding for the other game assets and an artist needs time to create their pieces, but writing will be completed in the allotted time. I hope everyone is looking forward to this as much as we are, and enjoy! And don't forget to give us your feedback. Play the demo here!Or simply go to our downloads page to download the demo!
Just an update to let everyone know I am alive and that Ventio Mortis is nearly finished, if I could just muster up enough self-discipline to stay focused. I'm on the last large chunk of dialog and portrait script editing (if you don't know what scripting portraits means, it's just that I am placing the appropriate graphic/emotion along side the dialog), and it is gruelingly boring. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy coding the GUI and doing graphic design for the other games, but I've been doing well and staying focused on Ventio Mortis to get this demo released ASAP. Unfortunately, that means nothing graphical to show for all the progress, but I assure you this boring text only update will be worth it when the demo is released! I should be finishing the portrait scripting either late tonight, or tomorrow night, which means I can send out a big ol' buggy demo to my playtesters, and of course, eventually release the demo to the public. As well as releasing the demo, I will FINALLY be posting this project to LemmaSoft to attempt to gain interest, and hopefully start crowd funding to get better CGS, backgrounds, custom music, and afford my last bundle of sprites. I am excited to be in this final stage of the first step toward development, and I can't wait to finally put this lil' buddy out into the world. Thank you for your patience and have a good night!
The very long, tedious, and mostly boring process of adding all the portraits to the game is underway, and should be done within the week for Ventio Mortis. What does this mean for all of you? It means a playable demo of the first chapter is on its way now that I received the final character portrait needed to release the demo!! Once all the portraits and animations are in place, I'll be sending the game out to testers to fix bugs, and then be releasing the demo into the world in a week to two weeks time. In the meantime, if anyone would like to play test the demo before release to help find bugs, please fill out the form below and you will hear back from me with information on how to be a part of the playtest! If you're just excited to play the demo, hang on tight. It'll be released after the portraits are finished being put in place, and the bugs are finished being stomped out as best they can be. Here's a little preview of the boring work being done in the background. If Ventio Mortis isn't your cup of tea, then hold on tightly because Sector Chimera is moving along just as well! I'm trying to get all the sprite work done before working on the game itself, but I did manage to begin working on the arcade, finished some portraits, and made a new sprite for the character Kit. Unfortunately, a great deal of the content I finished cannot be seen yet, since it's very spoiler-y for the end game, so here's what I can show! Some finished character sprites, most you've already seen. The Arcade, nearly finished. And the first boss world, original art credited to edermunizz
First and foremost, many many apologies for not posting anything recently! I was writing a post yesterday when in an attempt to clear some tabs, I closed the blog update page and sat in my chair defeated for a moment. But here I am again, prepared to write a new post! This post will have updates from all three games, and I am very excited to share all these updates with you~! Up first, we have Sector Chimera. All new art, including a redone MC's bedroom. In these screen shots is the new room, a first peak at the "forum" system you can use to see how the others in the city interact (which you will be able to respond to on occasion if you decide to.), an updated HoloCall system (the holocall device will be "turned off" when you have no available calls, and will be on and animated when you do.), and all new character face sprites! So far, only Quinn has a new face sprite, but everyone will be following shortly. I've also drawn up the inside of the restaurant, but that will only be available for preview on the patreon page.
Up next is Betterflies with updates on the script and UI. I've begun writing and programming the very first solo branches for the romances. I've already finished Reza, Vincent, and Magdalena's, although I may make some tweaks to Vincent's route to add more dialog between him and the MC. I've also decided to add in a daily planner feature, because I think it would best fit the game to include it. Your character will be able to decide between doing art, exercise, group therapy, and staying in her room, with other slight variations as time goes on if the story demands it. And the last update is a stats menu! I'm still iffy on if I want to include it at all, and it's very much in a rough draft stage, but if I decide to keep it, it will be keeping track of the MC's personality, romantic and friendship stats with each character, and the basic ability check stats. What these stats are, what they're named, and how many there will be is still undecided, but the preview is as accurate as it can get for now. Last but not least, Ventio Mortis! I've made many strides through the opening chapter (which is longer than I realized when I had playtesters take a stab at it), and I am proud to say that the first chapter is finally completed! I will begin writing the second chapter when my editor goes over the script and updates it, but for now I don't want to overwhelm her with too much writing. I've also received the finished portrait for Robbie, which means only Drisdon and the Detective are left and we are that much closer to the release of the Ventio Mortis demo!! If you'd like to get a peak at Robbie and a little bit more information on the hot-head, it's available on patreon. In the mean time, here is a preview of Inan and Hollowelle talking. Sidenote: I do intend to change his sizing, but for now scripting the little things remains my first priority for the game since editing his portraits will only take about 10 minutes. Link To Patreon |