Semester 2 Week 12 18/10/16 Tuesday

I continued to work with Ren' Py and began understanding the engine a bit more. It was, in fact, rather easy to use and the coding was straightforward. It is, however, an engine made for dialogue based visual novels, and not comics. As I was figuring out how to place images in my Ren' Py, I discovered that the program would not dwell on an image unless there was dialogue with it. To remedy this, I added "fake" dialogue in the script, which is blank spaces tricking the engine that there is dialogue present. This in turn caused a white transparent dialogue box at the bottom of each page, and I have yet to find a solution to this problem.

Another issue I had with Ren' Py was that it did not support GIFs (graphic interchangeable files). It did support some forms of videos, but these had to take up the entire screen, and would slow down the program significantly. With the amount of animation clips I have for my project, adding all of them in my game would be impractical.

The blank spaces in the quotation marks of the script indicate what is shown in the dialogue box. In my case they are all null. I could not find anything on the Ren' Py website that could assist me with the issue.

The animation could not be played in Ren' Py.

The one benefit I got from Ren' Py was that it was able to create custom "menus"; options for the user to choose and alternative endings in the story. This could be created rather easily with a few lines of code in the script. I did not have control over how the options appeared, however, as they were always positioned in the top part of the screen. There may be ways to customise this, but I did not have enough time to find out.

Points where the user could choose their own paths.

I was also able to add some sound in the game. It was somewhat the same process as adding an image, and simple command statements would initiate the sound when the user clicks to a certain page. 

As the user reaches the end of the comic, the engine would take them back to title page. 

In conclusion of experimenting with Ren' Py, I find the learning process quick and the coding language easy to understand. However, it is better for creating visual novel projects rather than animations, as it does not handle video files very well, nor does it support GIFs. It has much potential in creating a branching narrative as the menu command is able to present the various options to the user during the play-through. As aforementioned, Ren' Py is more suitable for dialogue-based visual novels that involve little to no animation, and functions better in a landscape format with full screen images rather than multiple panels spread across the screen. It was fun experimenting with Ren' Py, and I might consider using it for potential future projects, but it may not be the best option for the current project I am working on. 

Semester 2 Week 11 10/10/16 Monday

I apologise for not updating anything for the past three weeks. There was some trouble with my developer and they said they would not have enough time to build an APP for my project. They, will, however, create a website for me. As the due date is closing in, I really hope they will be able to complete it on time. I have already handed all the necessary files to them to make the website. In my exegesis, I will discuss the benefits of having a website than an APP: the developer is able to build the site so that it can resize accordingly to different screen sizes, enabling the comic to be read across multiple devices. A website can be read on computers as well as smartphones and tablets, unlike APPs, which can only be read on portable devices. The interactivity is retained, readers can still advance at their own pace and make decisions of their own in the narrative; the animation can also run on the website, but these can only be in GIF files to reduce the loading time. The only disadvantage I can see here is that there must internet connection for a website to function, while once downloaded, an APP can run anywhere at anytime. This is a minor issue as most smartphones have 3G or 4G data, and if not, WI-FI is usually quite accessible, especially considering the digital society we live in today.

I am not doing nothing while waiting for the website to be built. I a have edited my comic together as a single video file which can be viewed as an animation; although it may not seem that interesting. I also added sound to create some atmosphere.

I also experimented with a visual novel engine called "Ren'Py". I tried my best to understand the coding, and apparently it is supposed to be incredibly simple compared to other code languages, but I cannot seem to fathom it nor able to make it function for me. The tutorials I looked at so far were different to how my scripts operated, I am not sure if it's because I did something wrong or the engine versions are not the same. But I was introduced to this engine by a gaming tutor, and it seems appropriate for me to utilise. I wish to learn how to use this program properly and build something out of it, however, considering the time frame, it may prove difficult.

Attempting to use Ren'py.

Semester 2 Week 8 19/09/16 Monday

Apologies for the lack of updates, I was waiting on a response from my supervisor regarding my exegesis draft. If all goes well then I can begin writing my exegesis while also hoping my developer can make the APP on time. As a back-up plan I am going to make my comic into a video compilation of all the pages. There are 65 pages worth of story, plus an additional 2 dead end pages and 1 alternative ending which loops back to the beginning.

Here is the final plan that I am going with.

I am using After Effects to composite all the panels together. Each panel will appear one after the other. The most difficult thing about this is the timing; as every person reads at a different pace, it is impossible to make the timing perfect for everyone. Which is why the APP is the most ideal format, as the reader can go along at their own speed.

Semester 2 Mid Semester Break 05-07/09/16 Monday-Wednesday

I have now officially completed all the necessary pages for the comic. Now I just need my developer to begin assembling the APP. I will also go on to compositing the panels together to create a video file just in case the APP does not get finished. I will also compile a PDF for the comic which might be printed out as a book later on.

I also have my exegesis left to do, in which I will have to state all my reasoning for the choices and decisions I made. I also need to be more specific in detailing my work in progress, as well as explaining what worked and what didn't. All in all I am feeling quite accomplished at the moment, I will be busier towards the end October since that is when everything is due; I am also going to the Armageddon Expo this year, so that's another thing on my to-do list.

Anyway, here are some WIP. Sometimes I forget to take screenshots because I was so focused on completing my work.

 I had to draw in a page for the alternative endings. In this screen capture, I was working the "dead end"; or a wrong choice that causes the reader to "die" in the comic. I wasn't planning to add dead ends, but it seemed to fit the narrative, and it was also interesting to explore this type of branch. Therefore I decided to create an ending like that for my project.

 Testing out the animation. I know most of my animated sequences aren't that great, but I have too much to work through right now to go back and fix every one of them. The focus of this project is not primarily on the animation, but more on how static comics and moving animation can work together to form a flowing narrative. I must admit that most my animations are quite rushed through, and it would it be incredibly time consuming to polish everything up. But the animation is enough to be indicative of movement, and that is what I am aiming for at this point.

 Here is an instance where I have gone back to fix the animation. This is because the error I made here is rather obvious, and even young children would spot the mistakes. It took a long time to re-do these panels, but at least the movement of the caterpillar is more natural, instead of it teleporting from one spot to another.

 Old animation for page 35.

Fixed animation from page 35.

The very last page of the comic. This is the "good" ending.

Semester 2 Mid Semester Break 01-02/09/16 Thursday-Friday

I am very near the end of the comic drawing. I still need to finish the "true" ending and add in a couple of dead ends, as well as an alternative choice somewhere for the readers. There are also areas where I need to fix, but I have made time for myself there. I should also mention (in the exegesis) of certain design decisions I have made along the way.

But anyway, here are the updates.

 Nelly has finally returned to the real world in these last pages, which means there is little to no animation. The shades of grey are also gone, indicating she is now back in the reality.

 WIP of page 62.

 WIP of page 63.

 Rough base sketches for page 64.

Line art layer above rough sketches.

Here are a couple of completed pages.

 

Semester 2 Mid Semester Break 29-31/08/16 Monday-Wednesday

I am nearly finished with my comic! There are still around 6-7 pages to go, after I have done those I can go back and fix things and make sure I have everything I need for the APP.

I am currently up to page 60 of my comic.

Here are the WIPs updates.

Beginning drawing rough base sketches for page 55. 

Cleaning up the lines for page 56. This path is where Nelly chooses to force herself through the branches. She uses the secateurs she got from Natalie. I will come back and create another alternative ending should the reader choose the other option. But that one would lead to a dead end.

 Animating on a separate document with key frames.

 

Setting the frames in the timeline of Photoshop.

Adding some speech bubbles.

 

Completed animation

 Continuing animation for the rest of p56.

Adding the final touches.

Completed p56.

 WIP of page 57.

 Completed p57. This is another path readers are able to choose for themselves. The reader will advance forward if they choose B.; but will be sent to the beginning of the comic if they choose A.

Adding some small animations for page 58.

Completed p58.

 Rough planning sketches for page 59.

 Finished line work of p59.

 Moving on to page 60. I usually draw the lines down first before adding any animation.

In After Effects I used the Colour Key to delete the background of the firefly animation. I then positioned it and made sure the scale was appropriate.

For this particular panel I added the 3D layer effect in AE. This adds to the atmosphere and gives the animation a depth of field. 

Completed p60, the latest page.

Semester 2 Week 6 22-26/08/16 Monday-Friday

The semester break is next week, and I am currently up to page 54 of my comic. I have been stretching out the story a bit to get the most out of the narrative and character development, as well as the narrative objects in the comic. So I might end up with 70+ pages.

I also handed in an exegesis draft on Wednesday. I mostly copied and pasted writing from the contextual review and methodology. The new writing I added was all my WIP, the issues I had with my character designs and the story, as well as a bunch of my drawings and screenshots of what and how I did my project. Pretty much like how I update this blog except with more words in hopes of it making me sound more intelligent.

Anyway, some updates while I was gone.

Still shot from page 51

Animation test for p51.

Completed animation.

WIPs for page 52. I usually have the animation followed by some still images of the comic so the readers can take a break from the real time action. 

WIPs for page 53. I used After Effects for the animation in one of the panels.

An animated panel from page 53. This was done with Photoshop.

Cleaning up the lines for page 54.

The completed page 54 with the options at the end where the reader can choose their own path. I may have waited too long for these choices to come in, so I am going to add in an extra one earlier on.