Hey guys! Hope you are all doing great! I have had a ton of IRL stuff assaulting me this past month. However, I did get to work at least a bit each day on the busy days. It's alot to handle for two people (Taku our background artist, and myself). It's really a two edged sword: on one hand, as a writer, I get to direct and set up things exactly the way I want. On the other hand, I handle the audio, the front end, the back end, the admin, the writing, and the animations. So things can get tedious at times, and I have to set up priorities of work in order to cover all the bases. There are days that I don't feel like I am moving fast enough. Be rest assured, I am focused on this project every day. With my thoughts out of the way let's get to the good stuff!

Unlockables: I considered this a crucial part of the B1NARY experience.

I have played many VN's in the past, and really enjoyed Visual Novels that had some form of interaction in them. So, with B1NARY, I wanted to skirt almost the edge of what a Visual Novel allows. Now days, the lines in the genre have blurred quite a bit. And I love it! I think that the gameplay needs to match the type of story it's telling the reader / player.

Unlockables allow this; there are three main categories.

Includes NPCS, Waifus, and Husbandos

Dating locations, places in the real world...

Background Information of the world, the culture, and the tech.

There are some sections that your character would know at the start. Other sections that you have to unlock by going down a route or making a decision. The Visual Novel is set in first person POV through most of the game. So I want the information to change based on your progress. The code behind this allows the unlocked panels to remain unlocked, even at the main menu. As you peer further into the abyss, it may peer back. The story itself is multi-layered. That is all I can say without spoiling the story line. In all, there is over 100 pages of Lore content, translated into four languages, across the PDA. And I am not even finished! This project is one of pure passion, and I am loving putting all of this into the hands of the players! The mechanical part of the game is finished. I will polish as the story moves forward. However, I am now putting pen to paper, adding the effects, the backgrounds, and preparing the story for VA recording.

I am not content with static backgrounds. Again, immersion is my goal.

Since 2020, the plan was to have lots of backgrounds throughout the game. These will change based on weather, time of day, and emotions. I yearned for animated backgrounds that helped sink you into the story more as the main character. Taku, our background artist, and the voice actor of Shirobi, works hard to bring these events to life for me. Once he finishes them, I animate them with the different events planned. Below is some examples. The ones in the game are 4k scaled down to 1080P at 60 FPS.

Male MC Bedroom

Notice the empty walls. I wonder why?

Male MC Bathroom

Still WIP, as I plan to add a bit more personality.

Male MC Hallway

The hallway is simple, but important to the "plot."
I will be live-streaming the animation of these on my twitch channel HERE if I can manage it. Some areas, like the dating route locations, I will have to do offline to prevent serious spoilers. We have many date locations, domains with multiple spots of interests, and shared areas, like the Train Stations. So keep an eye on our Patreon and Steam Pages!
I want to thank everyone that has continued to support me on this journey. It's been an amazing opportunity to work with so many passionate Vtubers, streamers, artists, and animators. I truck on! And push to finish this amazing story for you to enjoy! Please be patient! I won't let you down! Project Lead TherinWhitten

[ 2024-11-04 16:00:58 CET ] [ Original post ]