LOVELIES

WE. MADE. IT

Yamyolks HERE!

I was going to upload another devlog video, but decided on writing out my thoughts instead.

As usual, I want to thank the people who made this project happen - my voice actors! 

As a solo developer, the journey can be really long and tiresome - a never ending push - but with the guidance and support of my voice acting team, we were able to finish this project in time for Spooktober! 

At the very moment, I'm finishing the last of the credits and the project itself will be a GO!

I'm so very amazed at the work I was able to complete in a month - there are so many challenges I overcame, lessons I learned, and take aways I'll bring to the future. In this log, I hope to retrace my thoughts and put down these notes to remember for my next visual novel as well as any soul interested in the aftermath of Devil's Door.

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CREATION : Devil's Door started out as a trick or treat idea with monstergirls and boys. Lighthearted and fun - more heavy on the game mechanisms than the storytelling. Needless to say, it took a HARD LEFT. The horror drama that Devil's Door is now is due to my growing investment in certain characters I designed. As I was able to find them a voice and flesh out their dialogue, suddenly the stakes were raised.. Though typically adverse to blood and gore, I took the plunge and feel so proud for it.

ART : Sprite art and character creation is probably one of my favorite aspects of art. At the kickoff to September, I dived right into sketching. Horns, Fangs, Unique Skin Tones. Halloween as can be. 

The hard part of course, was background art. With my lack of skill, background art is monotonous, tedious, and hard. Though thankfully I've walked out of this one with much more confidence than I had before. Satan's house in particular is a piece I'm rather fond of. Gradient Overlays - A MUST.

TYRANOBUILDER : Yes, yes, I use Tyrano. Why? Because I've tried Renpy before and wanted to cry. It's difficult to grasp for me and I'm not sure why. The visual interface of TB is basically a long end storyboard so perhaps I feel more at home there. Though TB might be time consuming, I still see it as the most fitting program to use for me and would recommend it to others who feel Renpy is too much to remember.

In fact, I might even upload tutorials on Tyrano soon, considering the absolute drought of resources it has compared to Renpy.

VOICES : THE GAME CHANGER. Easily the biggest challenge I faced on this project and simultaneously the most rewarding. 

Adding voices to your project is no easy feat - it takes hours of listening to takes, snipping, editing, and inserting audio files. So many audio files. Devil's Door has over 400 individually voiced lines, which I never thought could be a possibility. There were many nights where I'd just be snipping and converting lines sent in, which was all new to learn! I fell in love with my characters even deeper due to the talent and skill of our voice acting team! Through and through, they amazed me at all they were able to accomplish! Many of them even helped edit, test, and improve the game itself beyond lending their vocal talents!

Devil's Door would be nowhere NEAR the project it is without them, and I urge anyone looking for VAs to put our team at the top of your list!

You'll be over the moon listening to their work!

GUI : I've stated before that I'm hopeless in terms of working with an extensive GUI, and it still stands true today. I tried my best to stick to a single color palette and make things as aesthetically pleasing as I know how to, but Tyrano's free options pulled a lot of the weight. For any future projects, I'll no doubt be hiring a GUI artist!

PROMOTION : Another new experience! I've never been too active on social media before Devil's Door, and thankfully just had a toe in due to working on Wicked Sorcerer's (a WIP). I've learned how valuable discord, twitter, and active promotion can be to the success of a project. I can safely say I've conquered the fear of posting too soon - of 'not being good enough', learning that the only way to improve is to listen to feedback.

OVERALL : Devil's Door Has Taught Me A Multitude of Lessons : 

• Faster techniques for art, writing, and creating promotional posts.
• Voice acting is key.
• Basics in managing audio.
• Embracing feedback 100%
• The boundless kindness of strangers.

I'll walk away from Devil's Door an infinitely more knowledgeable developer, and hope to be able to share this baby of mine with many!

Thank you for checking out my humble game and please follow along, comment, support, and share!

Take Care!