#but i will probs miss vns by the end of it

[chibigaia-art]

ive not checked this blog in some time but stumbled upon it today, and was just thinking that if youre still into dangan , you should totally check out a visual novel called umineko, itd be right down your street!

oh i know umineko just vaguely because that girlie beatrice was against daniil in the doomed by the narrative tournament hmmm

im writing it down and keeping it in my back pocket for future games to play!

[manonamora-if]

August Check-In!

July has been a bit more chill? I was kind of forced to slow down cause sickness (and other personal stuff), which made progress rather slow... On the other hand, it was nice to have a bit of a break.... and kind of needed, seeing how my body just didn't want to cooperate... I have honestly not written a thing in about a month (I don't count editing/coding/fixing), so I'm half-looking forward half-dreading getting back to it.

Long post ahead:

Start with what has been done this past week (hella busy).

Some other me and IF-me-related stuff

Some IF events to participate in

What I'm planning this month

A little re-haul of the templates and guides, getting some much needed TLC:

fixing typos/errors (mainly guides),

editing the credits with more resource links,

and some reformatting/re-organising the code (mainly templates).

Update your games with the latest version! Or re-download the guides!

ALSO ALSO, this was still technically last Sunday (late), but the SugarCube Guide has been fixed of its broken links, bad formatting, and explanation errors. But as a bonus, I've found some time to add some extra passages:

The other Engine API

Localization and Translation of a game

Events to trigger code at specific rendering moment.

Some of my older Coding In Twine asks, especially the CSS ones

(Version 1.1.0)

MelS finished checking my comments on the investigation part (still needs to add the missing part), and is processing the ones I left on the exploration side (there are a lot, he's doing his best).

Fixed some minor typos in the French version. BUT most importantly, the code is now available on my GitHub! Also will be shortly on the IFArchive.

Clarence Street, 14 est maintenant disponible en Français!

I've also added the source code to my GitHub, as well as sent them to the IFArchive.

I made some minor fixes in the UI for the title page and the Restart one (issue with text size). The source files are also now available on my GitHub and sent to the IFArchive.

Quick list on other IF-me related stuff:

I've finally started AND finished reviewing the Anti-Romance IF/VN entries. That was 20 new reviews (4 I had already done with the NeoTwinies, 1 was mine :P ). If you are interested, check out @manonamora-if-reviews, they are all there. Otherwise, play the entries! I'll prob go back to finishing replaying the IFComp entries and update those reviews... Or you can submit one for me to play!

@if-confessions closed last Monday - well, the asks box did. You can still read and interact with the posts. Just because I won't be answering for a while doesn't mean the discussions are closed.

Another player has been going through the @neo-twiny-jam entries, and gave me some some lovely reviews on IFDB ! That was a nice surprise!

Some IF Events:

The IntroComp entries are out! While voting is set to start out shortly, you can already check the entries (and maybe think of feedback for the author?). Note: the stories submitted were not complete games. Also I missed the deadline... I didn't have a working WIP...

There is still one month to submit your intent to the IFComp (@ifcomp). If you don't plan on submitting a game, you can already create an account to vote. I'm not participating this year, so you might see some reviews of mine this autumn.

Over at the @neointeractives, the Single Choice Jam will be ending in about 2 weeks. There is still time to add your story to the dozen already available!

If you are looking to make something a bit more NSFW, the Orifice Jam might be for you! There is a bit more than 2 weeks to add something hole-y!

THE PLAN (for August):

This is what I'm aiming to do, probably not what I'll end up achieving.

Play some more IF games. Maybe not 7/day like this week, but a few of them/week to add to my review pile. I'm getting closer to the top of the Reviewer List... I don't think I'll ever be number 1, but I need 137 more IF reviews to get to the front page (as of today - after the IFComp this year, probably will need more...). Also I want to be better at reviewing, so practice... Also I want to bring more attention to the French games...

I'd like to swing at least a jam entry for the SingleChoice. Something either silly, or related to one of my WIPs (toying with that...). Maybe testing a new engine for funsies. I have two weeks to think about it...

In the meantime, I need to fix my website. It's a bunch of games behind, and missing some important links too! Also been toying with having a more Web 1.0 vibe to it...

Maybe try to take one one of the WIPs and add a chapter or something (haven't decided which... the folders have been side-eyeing at my complacency).

Add more pages to the SugarCube Guide.

Code the update for TaTEH (dependent on MelS)

And if I can't write a single world, I can pick from the following pile pr probably not too much brain power needed:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French.

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English

The rest of the To-Do pile is (not month specific):

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Emptying my inboxes

Let's see what can be accomplished this month! I would like to check some more boxes of my new year resolutions.

[foxstens]

so let’s talk abt visual novels

i didn’t think i’d be interested in any of them after fsn but i guess the format just works for me? personally i love words and the things you can do with them and the way books do storytelling but i’m also horrible at visually imagining things when reading, and that makes books more forgettable to me i guess.

but the vn format seems to be the perfect middle ground. it’s less limited than anime when it comes to things like narration and internal monologue and even length i guess, but it’s also easier to pay attention to than books thanks to the audio-visual elements. 

then there’s the fact that you can control the pace at which the words show up, which is one of the things that frustrates me about books. when i got into reading as a regular hobby i developed this habit where i’d kind of skim everything i read, as in i’d really only pay 100% attention to the dialogue, bc trying to read and absorb every word was slow and boring and every time i tried to do that my eyes would always jump ahead and i’d find myself having to return to certain sentences to make sure i really understood them. so even though having to hit enter after every sentence isn’t my favourite thing, the autoplay function on vn’s without voice acting is a godsend

another thing i love is how in a lot of them the backgrounds and the characters tend to look completely different. like in some the background might be more realistic while the character sprites are very obviously anime-like, and in others the sprites might be very colourful and detailed while the backgrounds are pretty bare-bones and simplistic. i kind of hated it at first but now it’s just one of those things that make vns different. (not to say that every vn looks amazing but yea)

as for things i don’t really love....... well. i guess the biggest one would be the choice-making aspect. bc as far as i’ve seen the choices can lead to a good end, a normal end, or a bad end. or they might be meaningless choices that just give you different dialogue or smth. and sometimes it might be impossible to guess which choice or which combination of choices does what. which is why i’ve used a walkthrough for every vn i’ve read so far (other than f/fha)

if you happen to want to get every possible ending you might end up having to basically replay every route multiple times while abusing the skip button (if it even has a skip button). and even when you get to choose the route there might be a recommended order for the routes (which you’d have no idea about unless you looked it up) or you might have to read all of them to unlock the entire story

so i guess route-wise fsn’s approach is my favourite, and choices-wise it’s fha’s bc basically all i got to choose was when to interact with which characters, instead of when to die.

i guess kinetic novels might be the answer to this but i haven’t tried any of them yet and having choices makes me pay more attention? and if i happen to really really really love a vn i’d actually be glad to go through every possible choice and ending :’)

there’s a lot more to talk abt but i’ll prob do that later on so in the meantime here’s a list of the ones i’ve tried so far

1. fate/stay night

2. fate/hollow ataraxia

3. amnesia: memories

4. flowers - the volume of spring - (dropped bc i wasn’t in the mood for it)

5. english detective mysteria (same as above)

7. fashioning little miss lonesome (loved it but the first LI is so ugly i had to drop it)

6. cinderella phenomenon (currently reading)