#fatal twelve

[satoshi-mochida]

Some indie game recommendations from ones I’ve played or know enough about them to suggest them to others(mostly in no particular order), Part 8.

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9

LiEat

Rise of the Third Power

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin

Indivisible

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass

Eastern Exorcist

Everhood

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User(JJBA fan game)

Gravity Circuit

Rusted Moss

Laika: Aged Through Blood

Bramble: The Mountain King

Refind Self: The Personality Test Game

nameless(fan game for Hololive Vtuber Nanashi Mumei)

M.A.S.S. Builder

NAIRI: Tower Of Shirin and it's sequel NAIRI: Rising Tide.

Fatal Twelve

Fading Afternoon

The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa

Killer Frequency

Oh…Sir!! The Insult Simulator

Full Void

ENIGMA:

Seven Days

Siren's Call

Koumajou Remilia: Scarlet Symphony

Little Goody Two Shoes

Pocket Mirror ~ GoldenerTraum

Battle Princess Madelyn

When the Past Was Around

#Indie Games #long post #LiEat #Rise of the Third Power #Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin #Indivisible #Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass #Eastern Exorcist #Everhood #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #Gravity Circuit #Rusted Moss #Laika: Aged Through Blood #Bramble: The Mountain King #Refind Self #nameless #M.A.S.S. Builder #Nairi #Fatal Twelve #Fading Afternoon #The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa #Killer Frequency #Oh…Sir!! The Insult Simulator #Full Void #Little Goody Two Shoes #Enigma: #Seven Days VN #Pocket Mirror #Siren's Call

[4noki-vns]

The Art of Asset Reduction: VNConf 2024 Write-Up

This is a write-up for my Visual;Conference 2024 talk on asset reduction: presentation of scenes with reduced art labor.

I will discuss how to reduce production requirements via various methods of asset presentation and staging, walking you through case studies of existing visual novels. This talk will guide you to answer the question: How do I fulfill my project scope without asset bloat?

This is an art talk that assumes you have already scoped down your story and have created a list of scenes that you need. This is not a talk about scoping down your game's story.

You have scenes you need to make. How are you going to make them (and with style)?

Abstraction

Cut-ins

Reduce

Reuse

-

I. Abstraction

I start off with abstraction as a reminder that visual novels are a combination of visual and novel (amongst other aspects)

Abstraction

Abstraction is a strong tool for bringing focus to the writing, highlighting ambiguity and setting the mood with colors.

Examples I mentioned in my talk include:

Black screen

Solid colored screen

Sky BG

Of Components

The mood-setting power of abstraction also extends to scenes with characters, especially CGs.

As again, abstraction draws focus to what you choose to emphasize: the characters.

(FLOWERS -Le volume sur ete-)

They are gay. Thank you for coming to my VNConf talk.

-

You can similarly abstract characters.

(Lachesis or Atropos)

Consider representing irrelevant characters (e.g., NPCs) as silhouettes. The reader can fill in the details within the shapes themselves.

Silhouettes are especially great for crowd scenes where you want to draw focus to the main characters.

This will be a recurring theme:

What do you really need to draw?

-

II. Cut-ins

One common not-quite full screen piece of art you'll see in many visual novels is the cut-in.

The cut-in typically consists of the:

Item/focus

Frame

And is often for topics such as objects or small animals, which may exist in the scene but may not be within the same frame of reference as the background and sprites.

The separate framing informs the players that the item is "separately framed."

(Who is the Red Queen?)

For example, this small bird is not huge and would not be the size of a character's head even had a sprite been on screen.

The Foreground-Backdrop Heuristic

Cut-ins make strong use of what I refer to as the "foreground-backdrop heuristic."

(Shikkoku no Sharnoth)

A general backdrop informs the reader of a broad location or scene (especially if characters are present). Then a more specific foreground (the cut-in) informs the reader of the specifics.

As the foreground cut-in is in a different frame, the pairing of the two helps create a mental model of the space in the reader's mind.

Cut-ins can be used for:

Backgrounds (mix and match foregrounds with a backdrop)

Reduced CGs

Presenting existing assets in a different frame of reference

CG variants

Try tackling your visual presentation in a layered, comic book-esque fashion with cut-ins!

Just be careful about clutter.

Whether you want to go for the layered cut-in style, the 3d stage cinematic style, or a combination of the two, make sure you have a vision before you jump in.

SD CGs

I had to make an obligatory mention of SD "super deformed" CGs in this talk, so here it is in the write up as well.

(Grisaia: Phantom Trigger Vol. 1)

SD, chibi. However you call these, they're great for playful scenes that might require more art than your classic sprite-background combination.

What SD CGs do best is that they:

Fulfill the role of a CG

Are easier to draw than fully rendered non-chibi art

Can be distributed to different artists to reduce artist workloads due to style difference

Just keep in mind that a simplified CG is still a CG and thus may lack reusability.

Consider what scenes really need a CG.

-

III. Reduce

Now, consider asking yourself: "Does what a player does not see need to exist?" (mostly applicable for games with opaque UI)

Yet, what you need to draw is what you need to draw. How can you reduce the work in what you need to draw?

One option is:

Palette Limitation

You've heard of gray scale games, but don't forget about other ways of limiting your palette to reduce workload.

Dramatic, mood setting color power

Less rendering work

(Sona-Nyl of the Violet Shadows)

A similar idea can be applied to NPCs for a more detailed take on silhouettes.

-

IV. Reuse

Lastly, please remember to be economical and reuse assets as necessary. One of the great joys of cut-in BGs, for example, is reusability.

I had to give an obligatory mention to CG variants in my talk, such as:

(Fatal Twelve)

However, overall, you never know when you'll want to use various components of your art elsewhere such as intermixing CG and sprite art.

Please keep your working layers if possible.

Other reuse examples:

UI (especially in episodic games)

Gameplay (e.g., Kogado's rhythm game)

Consider asking your programmer to work on a framework to reuse, reducing repeated code work.

-

Conclusions

All in all, you can make your game.

And it doesn't need to be hellish on your budget or timeline.

If you take anything away from this talk, let it be to:

Prioritize reusable assets

Maintain aesthetic; avoid clutter

Display important scenes

Do not scope up; aim for a set goal

A scene can be presented in many stylish ways, some of which will suit your workflow better than others.

So, go on. Make your game!

-

Interested in my works? Find me on itch:

And check out my newsletter:

-

VNConf 2023 Talk Write-up:

#visual novel development #vnconf #visual novel #vn #vndev #development guide #devlog #game development #talk write-up #gamedev #indiedev #this talk is also a yuri visual novel recommendation (kind of) #lachesis or atropos #shiei no sona-nyl #fatal twelve #grisaia phantom trigger #shikkoku no sharnoth #flowers visual novel #who is the red queen?

[mindesendian]

「どうしたんだい、凛火？」

#fatal twelve #shishimai rinka #hebinata miharu #mishima miharu #yuri #lgbtq

[furuichis]

#odette malacon #federico carminati #fatal twelve #fatal12 #hey has anyone played this game

[kimpining]

fatal twelve is at its core a really mid yuri death game visual novel but i have to give it so many points for the fact that the bad end you get is from being too gay and ignoring the death game in favor of dates with gf

you simply win the game by 'being a worse girlfriend'

#fatal twelve #yuri #kimposting

[miharuhebinata]

the top 6 games i played in 2022

1. Elsinore

2. The Sexy Brutale

3. Forgotton Anne

4. Fatal Twelve

5. Chrono Trigger

6. Immortality

#i know this is way too late but i really wanted to make this post idc #also this is just the order in which i played these btw. i don't think i could rank them from most to least favorite if you paid me lol #also also YES it's top 6 instead of top 3 because i couldn't choose just 3. Leave me alone 😭 #elsinore #the sexy brutale #forgotton anne #fatal twelve #chrono trigger #immortality #🎮 tag #2022 game tag #send tweet

[when-they-meow]

SHE SAID THE LINE

#yuri posting #fatal twelve

[moonsinkfoxgirl]

her outfits are sooo good...

#fatal twelve #character design of all time #shishimai rinka

[dignifiedfire]

#fatal twelve #shishimai rinka

[albaharu]

Pls talk to me about Fatal Twelve 

#fatal twelve #federico carminati #odette malancon #i was like im not looking at tumblr to avoid spoilers until i finish!!! #and then i saw there was 4 people talking about it on 2018 im so sad IS A GOOD VN

[satoshi-mochida]

Fatal Twelve visual novel 5th Anniversary artwork of Shishimai Rinka from it’s developer's Twitter.

#Shishimai Rinka #Fatal Twelve #Lycoris #visual novel #Official Art #I bought the VN some time ago but haven't finished it yet.

[hikari-ni-naritai]

dont know if i ever posted it but i made this rinka emoji a while back for my discord server and i want to share it with the world. its just an edit of one of the steam achievement icons but its cute

#fatal twelve

[mindesendian]

#fatal twelve #shishimai rinka #mishima miharu #oguma mao #fake subs #boku

[wildmike48]

surprise sequel to my cocoa caligula 2 post reading through Fatal Twelve

Odette is the woman ever

#fatal twelve

[dameronalone]

thinking about how percy jackson is seen as intimidating because of his godly powers from his father but the thing that makes him the most dangerous is his humanity from his mother

#I like to think that's the point but still #percy jackson #pjo #pjo tv #obsessed with this kid bc he only cares abt the 'cause' as long as it aligns with his interests which is keeping his family safe #THATS why he's so intimidating to everyone #because yes he IS extremely powerful #but it's the the ruthlessness to protect the drive he has the utter determination that makes it so much of a threat #like in tlt just the sheer determination he has to bring back Sally. jfc kid I've met adults with less spine than you #HE WAS TWELVE. GOOD LORD MAN #obsessed with this kid I love him #like percy didn't get that loyalty and devotion from his *father* that was all Sally baby #loyalty to the point of it being his fatal flaw. yeah. not his dad. not the divine ichor. that's all humanity

[miharuhebinata]

"Let's stay here. For just a bit longer."

#i miss themmmmm #rinkharu #p: i'll do whatever it takes to protect you #fatal twelve #🎮 tag #send tweet