Astra - Progression Update for May + Vote on Choice Feedback

Hello Patrons,

Hope everyone has been well so far. ;^)

Just here to share a phat progression update regarding Astra! We'll touch on character artwork, BG artwork, Music, Writing, and general progression. So without further delay, lets get started!

Character Artwork

As mentioned last time, we are currently working through all the Live2D stuff right now so that means Sunimu is busy making the .PSD layering for all the characters and all their outfits! As you can imagine that is a lot of work so there is no CG being worked on right now. That being said, once Live2D is done, it done for the entirety of the game so we'll have a lot more CG artworks that'll be coming in going into the future!

As for the Live2D component itself, we have the base Luna model done along with a sample expression chart and animations! Check it out:

Animation Test

https://drive.google.com/file/d/16w74uMVmW_qUw6bjP3_TU7mt9HgzwYaL/view

We are very happy with the work our new Live2D rigger/animator is doing and hope that the attention to quality comes through. On the note of Live2D, Crystalline was the original that we did and then every rigging and animation list was modelled around Leanna with slight variances. This is where it sometimes felt that the animations and characters moved in a 'same-y' way. It was the expression charts that carried the previous games for personality. For Astra, we are doing each rig unique and their animations are all independent and specific to their traits. If you notice, Luna's expressions are more 'big-sister' vibe, whereas when we eventually get to Vaela and Iris it'll look and feel uniquely independent.

Background Artwork

Based on our previous poll, we are going with both artists and will build a much bigger pool of BG's for Astra. One common feedback we had for previous games is that BGs were reused, either in its own game or between titles so we plan to make sure that isn't the case for Astra. To be honest, it will basically be impossible since our game is now made for a 4K canvas so previous assets would look unclear in comparison! Here's a space dock from each artist along with the WIP for Aetos' kitchen/dining:

BG's are coming along at a good pace and will continue to do so as the artists diverge to work on different locations from hereon out.

Music

We wrapped up Astral Crash! Attached to this post is variant A and B of the track for your listening pleasure. Along with this, we have a more SRS BSNS track for the more darker undertone scenes named Encroaching; both variants for this as well attached. Please feel free to have a listen!

Writing

This has been getting bigger and bigger as we've been making and expanding choice variances, branches, fun route specific dialogue shifts along with the jealousy stuff (which also has a bunch of variant depending on who you are or are not romance). We've also retroactively gone and make big improvements to some of the episode 1 scenes. 

One thing that came up was that if you were being 'nice' to a girl, it could be perceived as you being interested (just like real life! :P), so in some relationship specific encounters, you can early on make it clear you are platonic with them so you don't get bamboozled by surprised jealousy scenes if that was never your intent. If trying to go for a harem is your intent, you'll have those types of scenes too. All in all, lots of flexibility and all that means a lot of word count.

Speaking of word count, let's recap just how ambitious Astra is pacing to be! These are the word counts for our previous games:

ACE Academy - 220K (it's actually less in scale to our other games because ACE didn't use Live2D and we needed a lot more exposition and narration)

Crystalline word count - 180k

KAS word count - 46k

Ethereal Enigma word count - 150k

Episode 2 of Astral Ascension by itself is already 63k word count. In comparison, the reason this has been taking longer is that you are essentially getting almost 2 episodes worth of content compared to Crystalline / EE. With the word count being this high, it is already pacing to outdo ACE Academy as our biggest game yet. Oh, and that doesn't even factor in that Astra is most likely going to have 6 episodes which would then completely rocket past ACE as well.

All I can say is that the game size is creeping, and I am going to go ahead and let it creep because I really want Astra to be a fully realized vision. Yes it'll take longer, yes it'll cost more resources in time and money, but let's make Astra the benchmark for what an English VN can be. Just to be clear, this is only possible because of your support through Patreon and previous game sales so this would not be doable if not for you. <3

General Update

For a general update, I was hoping to get your feedback regarding regarding choice feedback. One thing that is hard to recognize is when your character traits are doing anything or if you are seeing a relationship specific scene or not based on points.

What I have been thinking is that we can add a little SFX chime + emblem that shows up on screen (like a little barbell for athletic or a little heart for romance) for a split second so the reader understands this is based on what he picked.

The downside to this is that it obviously slightly impacts immersion because you are getting feedback that you as the 'MC' would not know. For this reason, I think that it will work well for the character trait (since that is MC in his head using a characteristic he is good at) but we skip it for relationship (it's external, MC can't tell definitively from his perspective and will make romance feel more 'natural'). In any case, pleases feel free to vote your pick in the poll!

Phew, that was a monster update! I hope that provides you with an insight on what we've been working on for the past month and where things are headed currently. As always, thank you so much for all your support and I hope you guys are looking forward to the read only version of episode 2 as it is looking to be coming in hot sooner rather than later!! :^)

- Dishu