26/08/2023 Patreon Devlog (WSC) (Patreon)

Hellooo! So this is not my first actual devlog for WSC but it's also kind of my first official one. The first one that follows my usual format and that is accessible to all patrons. And it's going to be the start of weekly check ins for this game.

It's really long mostly because I take the time to explain my writing spreadsheets for any new Patrons, etc.

Summary

• Finished all scenes for the new chapter three
• Finished Yren chapter 6 scenes
• Edited Asher's CG to account for the new conference room BG
• Small adjustments to Wil's first CG
• Started Kav chapter 4 scenes

Ramble

This week was really the first week using my full WSC writing progress spreadsheet.

And I mostly focused on writing a couple of hours every single day.

I also worked on a bit of art on the side. So let's jump into the first proper "ramble" update and I'll talk details on what I accomplished.

Writing

As I mentioned, this is my first week really using my writing spreadsheet. My writing spreadsheets track a lot of stuff although the WSC one is a bit different than the one for Gilded Shadows since the game is different.

• First, I track where the overall word count is compared to what I expect my end word count to be. I have a target word count (which is currently 466k) and then I can measure my current word count against that to see my overall % "complete" (though more accurately it's "percent towards reaching the target").
• I can also track the percentage towards a target for the individual routes because I'm tracking those word counts as well. (So if you remember from my other post, a "Route" refers to the LI-specific scenes where you are pretty much 1x1 with the LI, but not to common group scenes).
• I keep track of where my word count started at the beginning of the week and where it currently is so I know how many words I wrote per week. I didn't track this for Gilded Shadows because the writing was more straightforward and I didn't need to. But I felt it would be useful for this game.
• I also track how many words I write per writing session (so basically per-day since I'm writing every day right now). I didn't track this specifically for GS either since I can kind of suss it out by looking at my writing goal tracker. But it's just a little easier to track it by itself.
• I have a major milestone I'm tracking for the total script (right now, this milestone is 75% (or ¾ of the way complete)). So I look at how close I am to that. I also have a more immediate milestone which tends to be increments of 10k. It's a much smaller milestone to look forward to. Breaking things into tiers like this helps a lot.
• I have two deadlines that I'm tracking - so I track how many days until the deadline as well as how many words I have to write per day to meet that deadline. Right now I have a deadline for hitting that 75% milestone and I have another one for completing the entire rough draft. (All of this is tracked automatically. I have a formula that looks at today;'s date, the deadline, and then figures out the rest on a day-to-day basis).
• And finally I have a daily writing goal system where I have a minimum goal, a sort of "medium" sized goal, and an aggressive goal.  The minimum goal is what I have to write per day to consider it a successful day. This amount is an amount I am confident I can write every day. The medium goal is a little bit more and the aggressive goal is a little bit more than that. These goals are set up around the deadlines so by making my daily goals, I can make my deadlines as well.

It sounds complex - and in some ways it is. But all I have to do on a daily basis is change my daily starting amount and put in the final amounts I have for whatever I'm working on. (So if at the end of the day Yren, chapter 6 is 8000 words, I just have to put 8000 in the appropriate place.)

Everything is calculated automatically so once it's set up, beyond inputting the two things I just mentioned, everything else maintains itself.

A few years ago I never would have used a spreadsheet like this. I just tended to write by feeling, and write how much I wrote, and I relied on inspiration and didn't really track things. But when I worked on Changeling, I realised it was hampering my progress to not be more diligent.

There was so much to write that I felt like I was just treading water. I would write 10,000 words a week and feel like I'd made no progress (because 10,000 words against a 500,000 word goal...is not that much.)

Putting my progress in a tangible format (in the form of numbers) really grounded me and stopped me from getting lost in this nebulous, endless, and incredibly long writing process. Every day I could see the "percentage left" decrease bit by bit. I could see myself moving towards my daily goals or reaching my daily goals.

Having progress I could calculate and see as opposed to progress I knew was happening but couldn't really visualise was just incredibly useful for keeping me focused and motivated.

Having a system of increasingly "easier to achieve" goals helps because I can break the process into bite sized pieces and I have these easy wins that give me a little dopamine hit when I achieve them. But I have more complicated things to work towards. When I hit my "easy" goal, I see I only have 300 words until I hit that medium goal. And I think "Hey, I can do that...." so I keep working. And then I hit that medium goal and see I only have 500 words until I hit that aggressive goal. And a lot of times, I think "Eh...I can do that." and I keep going even if I have to push myself a little.

That feeling of satisfaction of hitting those goals is a huge motivation factor for me.

Until now, I haven't used this kind of spreadsheet for WSC.

It was just my "spare time" project since 2021 and there wasn't a need for as strict system for a project I wasn't working on every day. But now, this is my "part time" project and I am working on it every day - even if it's just for a couple of hours during my work day.

I want to use those limited hours wisely and this kind of spreadsheet really helps.

So this week, I wrote 13,000 words. In upcoming weeks, I may only write 4000 words. It depends a lot on what I'm writing and how tedious it is. And it will honestly depend a lot on what else I have going on with Gilded Shadows. But this was a good week for WSC.

In terms of what I wrote:

I finished writing chapter 3 - which is the new chapter I wanted to insert. I also finished (finally) Yren's scenes for chapter 6 (previously known as chapter 5). And I started working on Kav chapter 3 although I've only worked on one of the scenes.

And that is basically it.

Art

I don't really have a need to focus on any art right now but there are a few things on my "art To Do list" - things I need to get done in the next few months.

1. I have to edit all the love interest "intro" CGs to match the new conference room background. The entire colour scheme of the ship is different, the chairs are different. So those all have to be re-done. Fortunately I don't have to change the character poses or anything. I just have to change what their butts are resting on. And the new chairs are a simpler design so when I re-did Asher's CG, it was pretty quick. But I still have to do the other 4.
2. I have to draw Kav's intro CG. I wrote his first appearance - which is in chapter 3 - so I know now what the general pose is going to be and all that. I just have to get the CG done at some point.
3. I have to finish up the artwork for the music room. I have four of the six LIs complete. I have to draw Raif and Yren.

None of these are a huge priority right now. but they are on a To Do list and I'll be plugging away at it here and there in the next few months.

Something that wasn't on the list was adjusting Wil's first CG. But I did it anyway.

Unfortunately I suspect that those adjustments are in the "No one but you will even be able to tell you did anything, Esh" category. But...sometimes it is like that. LoL

Other

This could technically count as art but really fits more into the 'other' category. I have been working on some re-designs for some of the screens. I honestly can't remember if I mentioned this last time or not but I don't think I was working on some of this last time. I did redesign the title screen when I added the music room...and I am pretty sure I mentioned that.

But I've been re-designing some of the other things toooooo......

The flowchart screen, namely, is something I've been playing with a lot, trying to figure out the most efficient way to set it up. Of course, the flowcharts don't exist in the game right so this doesn't mean anything to you. Because all you will ever see is whatever design I settle on.

But behind-the-scenes I have been playing with multiple designs.

I also made some small changes to the chapter landing screens. It's a minor aesthetic thing that I just personally like better.  But yeah...did that.

I made some changes to the choice screen as well. I really didn't like how it looked when the player was given 5 or more choices. When I had the standard (long and narrow) choice buttons, I just didn't like how that particular arrangement looked when there were a lot of choices.

And I didn't want to have to dual menus (where you have a "next" option that takes you to more choices). So I just restructured the choices to have bigger buttons that appear in a grid format instead of the vertical list.

The overlay with the symbols is there to just separate the choice screen from the game environment a little. This is just because if there are sprites showing when the choices show the placement of the buttons can be a little distracting.

There are probably some other options I could try other than just the overlay. But I kind of like how the overlay looks.

So that is another minor change I made. (Well, it's a significant visual change but minor code-wise).

Upcoming

So this upcoming week I think I'm going to focus on Kav's scenes. I would really like to catch him up to where the rest of the routes are.

Asher and Daaz are both complete. 100% complete rough draft. And the common route is complete as well - so all the shared scenes are drafted (though some of them will probably need Kav-related edits going forward...)

Everyone else is about 50% complete. They are all fully drafted up to the start of chapter 7.

Except Kav.

Rather than finish the others and go back to do Kav all at once, I think it makes more sense to catch him up to everyone and then continue to block out his route at the same time I do the others. So that is what I'm going to be focusing on next writing-wise.

My big question for Kav is... regarding the length of his route compared to the others. Because he does appear later which means there are two chapters where you are getting content for everyone else, but not him. This automatically means that his route is going to be shorter.

Now...all the other routes have about 6000 words of what I would call LI-specific content in chapters 1 and 2. So if you think about chapter 1, for those who have played it, I consider the scene where you walk with the love interest to Wil's room to be the "LI-specific" content. Everything else is part of the "common route", but that scene (which is about 2000 words per LI) is part of the LI "route."

So between Ch1 and Ch2, there's about 6000 words of such content for each LI. But of course, Kav doesn't appear until Chapter 3.

I haven't decided if I'm going to try to make his scenes a smidge longer than everyone else going forward, so it evens out by the end. Or if his route will just be 6000 words shorter.

6k isn't that big a deal honestly. A 56k route isn't that different from a 60k route, you know? There is a bigger range in route size in Gilded Shadows and Changeling. But I do think that you are likely to feel that size difference a little more in WSC, considering the game structure.

So I'm kind of leaning towards seeing if I can shrink that gap a little.

But, of course, I also don't want to be inserting filler or fluff either. So I don't want to force word count equality for the sake of it. I want it to feel natural.

I guess, in the end, I just have to see how it goes.  Which is pretty much the case with everything. I'll be cognisant of the word count without trying to force more words in if I don't have more words for those scenes and chapters.

I'm assuming that my entire focus this week will be on Kav's route and catching him up to where the others are.

I don't know how fast I'll be able to draft these scenes. I already know what the story beats are since that's already defined, but I have to write all the scenes in a Kav-specific sort of way so it's not just copy-pasting the dialogue from other routes.

Drafting routes like this can go a little faster but actually having to stop and brainstorm a unique way to retell the story beats while ensuring there is continuity is surprisingly hard at times.

We'll just see how much I get done.