CHROMATOSE: A Visual Novel/Roleplay Game

Polish and Post: Art has come a long away
over 2 years ago – Fri, Aug 04, 2023 at 11:03:09 AM

Hello all!  Akabaka here with another developer update!

So first of all, I could have sworn I posted an update since the last one-- I even posted the progress to the discord but it looks like for whatever reason it didn't go out over Kickstarter.

To summarize everything so far: 

I know I'm taking a long time, and your guys' patience has been so appreciated:  Chromatose is 'behind Sucker for Love' in terms of shipping--  I honestly thought I'd be done with SfL by now (my original contract said I'd be done with all three games in less than a year, but as with most game dev projects, it's running long on me due to both DreadXP and SfL being upscaled.)  I've been aching to get back to Chromatose, but trying to ship two different games as a lead dev is like trying to chase two rabbits at once.

I am very excited though, Chromatose will ultimately be better for it -- I've grown a lot as an artist and programmer, right in time for the final chapters of each character.  

In terms of movement on the game, Pink Ch2 and Ch3 rewrites are nearly complete (looking very fun). Sheer has an unusual and interesting story arc, with a lot of romance to chew on.  We doubled back over it for some much-needed polish, which puts the writing development progress here: 

Speaking of, her zone is looking REALLY good after I went back and took what I learned from SfL and applied it to Chromatose:

I took FXAA and some other post-effects that we used for Sucker For Love and retroactively implemented it into Chromatose.  The compression makes it kind of hard to see, but FXAA prevents a 'walking pixel' effect which happened a LOT in Sheer's level because of tilting the art and makes it look smooth.  There's also a faint bloom, noise, and chromatic aberration effect implemented as well with a minimal-to-none hit to performance.    I don' t know how it looks in Kickstarter's compression, but it looks GOOD in-game.  This took a lot of effort and basically involved making two games made with years-apart Gamemaker versions compatible with each other, but it will dramatically improve the final result. 

I've also met many talented BG artists while working on SfL, and may end up getting their help with sprucing up backgrounds since we are hilariously under-budget at the moment.  And once the remaining scenes are written with an editing pass, we'll be sending out a voice casting call... and I'll get to retroactively add voice lines one-by-one to every pre-existing scene... haha...

On a last note, I wanted to give a shoutout to backer and friend KGOKev for the wonderful surprise birthday present he mailed to me.

Thank you for your support!!  

-Akabaka

Happy New Year! Sheer and Imogen arcs written as of today! Only 2 characters remaining!! Overall QA passes, too!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Jan 18, 2023 at 12:57:40 PM

Hello all!  Akabaka here with another developer update!

As of earlier today, Sheer and Imogen joined the other characters in having their scenes completely written! Woohoo!!

Coincidentally, these two arcs contained two Backer-created engram monsters with their own unique fight mechanics!  Here's a preview of their designs:

They both have fight-unique abilities like the Stoplight engram from the Purple demo, and fit nicely into the story, and am excited for you to face them, and am incredibly thankful for the support and creativity offered here.  

For the folks curious how development is progressing, here's a diagram! 

Now that Sheer and Imogen's stories are complete, that leaves only Mercy and Laslo's left to write.  I am very satisfied with the way that the Pink and Yellow arcs end, and have high hopes for Purple and Green, too.  

Everything we've been working on is a massive spoiler (since we're doing the final chapters for each character),  so in lieu of ruining your gameplay experience, here's some spoiler CGs blurred out!

In terms of things that I can actually talk about,  we've been doing QA passes on writing, audio mixing, and steadily filling out the monster roster.  Some monsters are getting a fresh coat of paint, while others are making their debut!  

Coming down the line is the open casting call once the scripts are complete, and more art previews.  In terms of CGs and character sprites, there's likely to be a serious improvement in the overall polish of the art assets in the final chapters, as my art style has matured (for the better) while working on Sucker for Love!    

Also, here's another reminder -- I added credits into the game!  I used the names that you pledged to this Kickstarter with, but if you'd like a different name to be used in the credits, message me and let me know!  If you've already messaged me once, you don't need to do it again.  And if you pledged through Backerkit, a survey will come closer to release so I can take your names all at once instead of as the pre-orders trickle in.

Thank you for your support!!

-Akabaka

Izzy, Isaac, and Lilith complete as of today! 4 final chapters remaining! Voice acting on the way!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Sep 02, 2022 at 11:30:51 PM

Hey all! Akabaka here with another update!

As of earlier today, all of the non-color mark characters' scenes are completely written!

Isaac is joining Lilith and Izzy in the "Being completely written and ready to be passed on to VAs for dubbing work club".  Here's the scene below!

Note: any content that could be considered a spoiler is blurred out.

For an overview of what the scene progress looks like at this point, here's a handy diagram of roughly where we are at this stage:

Because we're nearing completion of the game, and thanks largely to income from Sucker for Love being used to cover development costs with writing, we are incredibly under our budget.  Seriously.  About half of the money from the original campaign is still unspent!  And in the interest of delivering as quality a final product as possible, this money is being set aside to be spent on full voice acting for each of the main characters.

We didn't hit the reach goal in the original campaign for this, but because of Sucker for Love easing the financial burden on me especially, development costs were dramatically cut, and voice work became possible even without meeting the funding goal.  

Now that we're closing the book on multiple characters in quick succession, the final script is fast approaching, meaning that voice work can be acquired in one go without the need for reshoots from script rewrites.  

On a more personal note, through a freak occurrence, the drive containing the entirety of my development assets for both Sucker for Love and Chromatose experienced a mechanical error and became corrupt, though fortunately all of the data was being externally backed up on a rolling basis, and not a single minute of development time was lost.  Development resumed on an all new computer shortly afterwards.  While the stress of the situation took a few years off of my lifespan, the games themselves were thankfully unharmed.  

The next things to expect would be the completion of the last four levels of the game, followed by VA casting and dubbing!  Because of the larger number of roles (10 in total), it is likely that I will be running an open casting call this time around instead of the usual closed auditions.  

Also, quick reminder that I added credits into the game!  I used the names that you pledged to this Kickstarter with, but if you'd like a different name to be used in the credits, message me and let me know!  If you've already messaged me once, you don't need to do it again.

Thank you for your support!!

-Akabaka

Chromatose Soundtrack complete!! Focusing on Dialogue & Script drafting!
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Mar 21, 2022 at 09:25:49 AM

Hey all! Akabaka here with another update!

All of the music for the entire game has been completed!  There's some professional mixing left to do, but as of now, every track planned for the full game has been made!  The OST is over 30 unique tracks, and that's not counting special variant versions!  

Check out a few all-new draft previews below!

I won't spoil the context for these bangers, but just know that all three play towards the end of the game.

Speaking of 'end of the game', we're also focusing on closing out all remaining scenes -- I'm passing along the remaining scene prompts to Azura at the moment, including Isaac's last scene, and the second and final levels for Laslo, Mercy, and Imogen.  On the other hand,  Quentin, Primadonna, Izzy, and Lilith have already had all of their scenes completed!  Check the handy chart below for a quick summary of how progress is looking in terms of writing!

And in terms of art,  I recently upgraded my workstation thanks to  Sucker for Love, and jumped from a small tablet to a full desktop one with a screen, and am noticing a dramatic improvement in quality of assets that I make with it, so expect the art and CGs to only improve from here on out!

In terms of playable demos, I anticipate a final Uncolored demo to ship after Red is complete, featuring Izzy, Isaac, and Lilith's last scenes.  And then after that, making rounds on the remaining color marks, Imogen & Mercy, and Sheer & Laslo.  

Also, quick reminder that I added credits into the game!  I used the names that you pledged to this Kickstarter with, but if you'd like a different name to be used in the credits, message me and let me know!  If you've already messaged me once, you don't need to do it again. 

Thank you for your support!!

-Akabaka

Red Finale: Wrapping up!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Aug 04, 2021 at 03:39:16 AM

Hey all! Akabaka here with another update! 

All of the art, music, and writing for Red has been completed, and all that's left is for me to put it all together and playtest!  Originally, I was worried that Red would be light on content because of the combat-heavy nature of the zone, but a surprising amount of art and scenes emerged from the collective efforts of the team, including an all new type of battle!

Red progress is a little tricky to discuss because the entire premise of the final level is a spoiler, but we sure have a lot show!

The upcoming Red END should be about as long as the blue update, perhaps slightly shorter since it involves far less wandering around.  Will be keeping my ear to the ground about how ya'll fare against the combat, since this is an easy place for players to get skill-locked out of finishing the game, and I'd like for these fights to ultimately be surmountable with practice and time. 

Speaking of, it comes with a brand new combat track, masterfully crafted by our very own Yuzu! It goes hard.  There isn't a good way to embed music files on Kickstarter updates, so instead, here is a picture of the song.

Hell yeah.  That's the stuff.

The next build will include all this and: 

• Red Level 2

• Red hangout 2 

• Red finale

• A short post-credits scene with some more big reveals

Also, quick reminder that I added credits into the game!  I used the names that you pledged to this Kickstarter with, but if you'd like a different name to be used in the credits, message me and let me know!

That's all for now.  Stay tuned, the next update will be the release of the Red End! 

-Akabaka