Until the Blood Progress Blog

That’s all you need, if you’re ever wondering what to do. Because, if you ever feel your not sure what you should be doing, just ask yourself what you want to do.

Chances are it won’t be any of the options you were considering. And when you’re done what you wanted to do, it will be a lot easier to start on something you thought you wanted to do. That’s what I think I just discovered, anyway.

Yah, sorry for the completely off topic intro, but I felt like being a bit deep today.  Now, onto relevant news!

If anyone was wondering where I was last month, I was in school. Final Projects kept me a bit distracted, so I had nothing to show anyway. And now that I’ve officially entered the holidays…. I still have nothing to show!

It’s sad but true. I’ve pretty much given up on writing a short story, not because I got too busy…(Ok, partly…) But because I question how relevant it is to Visual Novels. If anything I should be writing a short-VN! And that’s what I think I’ll be spending a (smaller) fraction of my summer doing. At least, hopefully.

So long as I don’t run out of Popsicles, anyway…

Sure it’s 11 PM on the 30th, it’s still not technically may yet! So I honestly think that this counts as not missing a deadline, right?

Before I get anything related to this blog’s name (I still haven’t updated the header – It’s Until the Blood now, for those who have not read any other post. And you might not want too.), I’ll just say that the 3DS is awesome and addicting. I haven’t played much Street Fighter, but I’ve got over 55 hours on Samurai Warriors. Man Chaos mode is tough >.<

On too more important things, I’ve realized something this month. I always get at least some drawing practice in math class, and its not uncommon for me to play on my keyboard while a game is loading/I’m waiting for my turn/etc… But I never practice my writing. And English doesn’t count. I doubt any of you would read a Visual-Novel in the Comparative Essay genre…

So I’ve officially decided. I have a goal for the end of may! I’m going to write a short story! And my reward will be cake Blazblu and Dead or Alive! (That’s partially a lie- I’m going to try and buy them upon release <Insert Winking Smiley>)

So what will this short story be about? It’s going to be a sort of backstory for UTB. ‘Sort of’ is the key pair of words. It will be set several years before UTB and the main character will be Marissa, and it will be about her first crush. (No, it isn’t Nas…)

Well, now that I said it it must be done! If I don’t finish it by the end of may, then I lose all my credibility… And I’ll skip out on getting the Project Cafe (The new Nintendo console) Until 2013!!! If that’s not motivation, I don’t know what is.

Last thing, I don’t think I ever clarified this, but I will now. Nas likes his name pronounced with something in-between an s and a z. Sorta like Nasz. Definitely not Nass. He would punch you if you said that. And it would hurt.

No, don’t worry I didn’t forget. I just got a shiny new 3DS when it came out, and it’s addicting! Samurai Warriors and Street Fighter, for those who are wondering. Love them both.

Anyways, like usual I have nothing interesting to say. I’m been doing much more drawing on my free time (*coughmathclasscough*) and  I’m slowly developing more plot points. Still having trouble writing them down, but I’m still thinking about them.

In other news… I’ve got nothing. Really. I guess I read a few more visual novels, but… Oh, right, might as well state my hatred for Lise’s father(Symphonic Rain) >.>

You know, sometimes I feel like I’m writing these post for only myself… Not that that changes anything

Man it’s hard to come up with cool names… Anyway, I have about as much to talk about as I usually do each month.

…And then a bit more.

I’ve really started to enjoy practicing keyboard.  Not enough to change my career plans, no, but great as a hobby. And in 3 years perhaps be good enough to  start making my own music! Hopefully, anyway. I’m not totally against getting someone else to make music, so it doesn’t make a huge difference. I can decide in 3 years

That’s mainly because I’ve divided my ‘game’ plan into 3 parts:

Stage 1:
Learning the materials.

Before I can really start making UTB I have to know how to Draw, Program and Write. That’s also the order I need to practice my skills before they’re good enough to put into a game.
During this stage I’m just going to develop my skills, write out the basic plot ordering and possibly draw a few characters. Nothing too interesting.
I’ve been in this stage since I started UTB, and it will probably last another year.

Stage 2:
Making the Game.

This is where I start to make the game itself. I should have developed enough to at least do that much. I’ll be writing the full script while I draw sprites and such. Interesting things happen during this stage!
It should last anywhere from 1-3 years. Probably less than 3, but you never know.

Stage 3:
Revision and Finalizing.

This is when I reread the script for anything I deem unworthy of my epic game. I’ll also work on getting the music during this stage, and will probably send out beta copies to all my friends. Less interesting then Stage 2, but the game will be released at the end, so meh.
This stage should only last a few months.

I don’t have… Well… Any experience in the game industry, let alone the VN industry, yet, so I don’t know how realistic this plan is. And I know it’s very general, but it’s hard to plan things specifically during the learning stage; I’ll get a more specific plan more near Stage 2.

If you have any experience with VN’s or games, please comment on how realistic the plan is. Of course, doing is going to get me further than planning, but having both never hurt.

Because it's not gonna be the Wii 2

Before you ask, yes, I made this sig. And before the next question, yes I copied and pasted various parts of other Nintendo logo’s. So, uhh, I don’t claim to own anything used to make the sig… Yeah.

Well, nothing interesting has happened over the past month. I’m currently sick,  and I just finished my final exam today. (Being sick on an exam day SUCKS).

I’ve also been getting much better with the keyboard. Soon I’ll be able to play harder things

(If this post seems really jumbled, it’s due to the fact that I’m sick and  can’t think properly :s)

Well, I’m here to post my progress for December (The one day after November post doesn’t count >.<), and… Well, like usual I haven’t really gotten anywhere :/

But I’ve been watching Bakuman lately… It’s really inspired me to start working harder.  So I’m going to start out fresh. When I finally start doing some real progress I’m going to reset this blog, with a new theme and stuff. That will probably be in 2-3 months… And, of course, I will still post each month until then

I have awesome news, though… I got a keyboard for Christmas

…The musical kind, you know, a synthesizer. Once I learn how to use it (It’ll take me a year or so (Maybe even 3 D:) to be good at it), I can start making my Visual Novel more than just pretty pictures and text. OK, so the pictures won’t be THAT pretty.

But that might change, because I also got some really good books on Anatomy and Drawing from my uncle. Hopefully I can improve by the time I’m ready to draw scenes from the first chapter.

Sure, it would be a lot easier to find someone who’s already good at drawing… But if Zun can do it, what’s stopping me?

Just pretend that I posted this yesterday. Wait… Then the title would be messed up… Know what, I’ll be the mature one.

I was sick. There. Excuses. (Event though it was TODAY that I got sick )

On to actual topics, I’m still finding it hard to make myself write. But a few days ago (sunday night/monday morning – both are the same to me) I discovered on awesome site that will most certainly keep me to mastering Japanese ~ All I need to do is apply it to writing (Find it here)

…No no, I don’t mean the SRS and sentence memorizing part D:

I mean all that motivational stuff

This guy is GOLD, even if he denies it/copies a bit from others, the way he says it really makes you want to do what he says.

All I have to do is make it easier for me to do it than not do it

Sadly, Japanese is more of a priority than this, and about equal with programming. So don’t expect me to write out my first draft or mass-summary (ya, I made that up) any time soon, though I won’t  be completely ignoring it (Not that the 1 or 2 people that check this blog regularly will care )

I guess in actual news, Hunters route is now 3 times longer. Yay for waiting!