Star Legation Update (part 5)

Once the sound effects and music had really brought the alien forest to life on planet Yolwana, I needed one more thing—a little animation. Throughout the Star Legation, there are little cinematic moments involving some animation that enhance the overall immersion and help connect the story. This is the beauty of a visual novel, and in my opinion, this genre of game can be similar to filming a movie. Framing is important, camera movement can help create mood and focus, and cuts to and away from certain focal points can almost set the tone for what is going to happen next. The animation sequences take a lot of work, and often involve a lot of trial and error with the timing of certain effects, but once they are all synced up, it feels like you are really part of an interactive movie. I hope that the Star Legation will feel like that for you, because my goal is to tell a great story with memorable characters along with an immersive backdrop of great art, music, and animation. I really can’t wait for you to try the demo and hear what you think! Only a few more months until spring!

Star Legation Update (part 4)

The alien jungle sounds were almost enough by themselves, but I decided that there also needed to be some nice background music emerging at one point during the characters’ walk through the jungle. Composing this piece took longer than I anticipated, because I couldn’t quite capture the right feel of the situation. At least, not at first. After three false starts on compositions that just didn’t quite fit the right mood, I was finally able to design a theme that felt fitting. The next step was to find the right instrumentation, and that proved challenging as well. I thought about the kind of instruments that seemed fitting for a forest, and although my initial inclination was towards strings, I decided on more of an ethereal “winds” sound, with purer tones. I had struggled to write this composition at first because I thought a major key would best fit the beautiful environment, but this wasn’t going to work if I wanted the audience to feel the growing uncertainty and dread of the protagonist as he walked deeper into the alien forest. A minor key felt too dark, however, considering the beautiful colors of Aeghite’s artwork. In the end, I decided to write the composition in a mode, which felt just right for the occasion.

Star Legation Update (part 3)

An alien forest wouldn’t be complete without background sound and music, however, so I spent countless hours playing with my sound design programs. I finally designed what feels like a common forest soundscape, with a full orchestra of birds chirping and tweeting. However, I didn’t want to stop there. This is an alien planet, after all, so I used my digital audio workstation to play around with various sounds. By manipulating synthesized sounds, I was able to design the sounds of a few alien lifeforms. For instance, one synthesized instrument sounded like a series of fast blips, so I took this sound, arranged the pitches, adjusted the tempo, and played it backwards to achieve a somewhat “alien” bird chirp. In another instance, I took some metallic grating sounds coupled with a few mumbles and groans, producing the sound of an alien forest mammal somewhere in the distance. I then added in these alien animal sounds periodically in among the more natural forest sound effects, producing a very “alien jungle.”

Merry Christmas!

Star Legation Update (part 2)

One of the delays I experienced this fall was regarding planet surface artwork. I ended up re-commissioning the work to my talented CG artist, Aeghite, and she has done an absolutely fantastic job in a very short time. When the protagonist lands on the Erwani homeworld, Yolwana, we see a beautiful forest full of color, covered with a mixture of plant life that is both familiar and alien. I wanted the protagonist, Trey, and his Reln companion to walk through the forest together, but this took some doing. I spent many hours trying out different tests with my program to achieve the animation I wanted, using some cinematic trickery to keep it all connected. I was finally able to achieve my goal of having some sideways scrolling background art during their “walk,” and it really feels like you’re moving through the forest with them!

Star Legation Update (part 1)

A lot of progress has been made this last month on the Star Legation visual novel, and I can say that the demo is ahead of schedule. I suspect the demo will be completed before the end of January, which is well before the spring—the intended release date of the demo during the Kickstarter campaign. This will give me time to plan and prepare for the Kickstarter, putting together a short video, setting up backer rewards, etc. There are still a few details left that need refining in the demo, but this month has been all about visiting the homeworld of the sentient plant race, the Erwani. Our human protagonist, Trey, has never encountered the Erwani before, so it is exciting to see what happens when he lands and travels through their forests. A lot was involved with putting this altogether, though…

Writing Relatable Scifi (part 5)

Once you’ve imagined how future tech might develop, you need to ask what the societal implications would be. How would the world change with the new technology, and how would people change? Those of us who grew up in the 1980’s look at society today and worry about younger generations. The anonymity of the internet, the unrestricted and unfiltered expression of thought, and instant accessibility to information has affected who we are and has changed how we interact with each other. With access to all this through personal smartphones, our children are much different than we were, and the way they see the world has been influenced and shaped in ways that will alter society when they become our leaders someday. Personal privacy has become an archaic concept, judgment by internet “netizens” has become a severe influence upon some, and misinformation is harder to parse from legitimate facts. All of this sounds like a dystopian scifi novel conceived by Orwell himself, but it is our reality. What might our future look like a few decades from now? You only need to look at our technological advancements today, imagine what the next probable step will be, and then theorize how we would react to it if it became commonplace. This kind of scifi is grounded in relatable material, and your audience is very likely to keep reading when they find something familiar stretched into new territory. Or, you could take a gamble and throw your readers into a world they have no way to relate to. It has worked for a few, but if that's your intent, it’s best to try later--after you’ve built an audience that trusts your writing.