03/01/2026 Development Update (Patreon)

Happy New Years, my gooners! First dev log of the year, I'm bringing you some quick progress update and a quick discussion about my expectation in delivering a satisfying visual experience.

Progress

I haven't been as productive these two weeks as I would've wanted, but I've manage to increase the render count to 782. I've realised the amount of renders in each scene can add up very quickly due to the way I would like to convey certain moments. In a way, this has enlarged the workload, but not to a degree where it would noticeably shave my will to continue this development hell. So, let's discuss what I'm actually thinking when I'm laying out these scenes.

The Purpose of Visuals

Since the beginning of my dev journey, I've regarded the importance of visual graphics as the second most crucial component in a visual novel, right below writing. Whether you may agree or not, I simply would not allow myself to waste the game's potential by delivering a dull and uninspiring visual experience. In my opinion, the writing and the visuals carry each other for the purpose of creating a cohesive storytelling environment. One cannot be favoured over the other. But hear me out, I'm not just talking about the render quality of the visuals. Not just about the lighting, texture complexity, resolution, post-processing, or anything related to making a render "Pretty". I'm talking about what makes a render necessary.

Because, to me, each render should serve a purpose... Some of you may say, "Uh... Duh!", but I think this is quite often something developers may overlook. A render needs to serve its purpose, for whatever the developer deemed it to be. Let's say the current scene is an emotional exchange between characters; then, obviously, you want the visual to capture the emotion of the characters. Their facial expressions, gestures, posture, eye contact... Generally, you want to show what isn't said, and need not to be said. I've seen AVNs that describe gestures and expressions as the characters speak while they're also on-screen. Wouldn't that just be a novel?

A render should actively interact with the text, and if text is not available, the render should speak for itself. Truth is, you don't need to describe what each character is doing or thinking all the time. Most of the time, the players are fully capable of figuring out what the characters are feeling at the moment (unless the developer does a bad job in conveying that). All you need to do is provide visual clues for observation. Let the players figure out what doesn't need to be told. A silent exchange can often be as effective as verbal exchange. To give an example, a fight broke out between 2 characters. As they exchange strikes, we can add a few subtle clues about what the characters are feeling at the moment. Does one character looks like they are unwilling to fight? Maybe one of them feels a bit defeated after getting hit? Or, does one of them look like they care about nothing but the outcome of this battle? This is what I'm talking about when we're crafting each individual render. They should all bring meaning to the story or the characters at the very moment they are presented. Why did this render bring focus to a specific object? What questions can be raised from this render? How will this render complement the pacing of the scene? How will the renders help the players in understanding the mood of the current scene?

Ok, I'm reaching yap territory, but I do want to come back to this topic some other time, because I really want to take a deep dive into what makes a game's visuals meaningful, and what could potentially destroy the narrative. The things I've mentioned is very shallow, and I also need some time to gather my thoughts. I shall add this to my list of options for the next yap session.

Acknowledgement

I hope everyone has a great new year and good luck on your new year goals! I'll be flooring that gas on the development of chapter 3 and do my best to not disappoint! Thanks to all my patrons and members, your kind words have served as fuel to my engine, powering me through each nightmarish obstacles I may find throughout this development journey. Quick shout-out to the guy that only says nothing but "E" in my Discord. Oh, right, join the Discord, everyone! You can find me active there all the time, 80% of the time. Thanks, and I'll see you in the next dev log. Catch!