Happy Nazrin year! I know better than to say ‘here’s to another decade of ESR’, but we’ll surely have plenty to work on to fill up this year at least, so here’s to a productive 2020.
Here’s the updated progress scorecard after another 4 months:
- Pass 1, main writing: 83% (+0)
- Pass 2, scripting: 70% (+8)
- Pass 3, effects: 38% (+0)
- Pass 4, minor writing: 27% (+0)
In terms of what I’ve been working on, I’ve been sticking with the status quo, as you can see. But the scripting is definitely on track to catch up with the main writing this year, and once that happens, it will be trickier to make progress. So it’s time to talk about Passes 1, 3, and 4 a bit, and to think more seriously about who needs to do which part.
Pass 3 – Additional visual and sound effects, mostly for battles
I’m not particularly worried about this. Graph is still around to discuss ESR matters, so it’s just a matter of when it gets worked on. Also, I’ve worked with Graph on Touhou Mecha and basically know what goes into the animation code. So even if Graph doesn’t get around to it, I can also work on this part. (It would turn out better if he does it, though, because he can create new image assets for new kinds of danmaku and stuff.)
Pass 4 – Other writing: Koishi advice, stat boosting, and slight dialogue variations depending on story path
Ideally, our more experienced writers would be the ones to write these parts. But realistically, even if they came back tomorrow to resume ESR work, they would have a disproportionately big workload on their hands if they had to finish both Pass 1 and Pass 4.
A second option is to recruit new team members into DSD to help here. However, we’d need an experienced writer with a lot of availability to guide any new writers in the right direction. ESR is quite far into development, after all, and keeping cohesion with the existing script is important. Maybe this option could open up later, but it doesn’t seem like the best idea at the moment.
A third option is for Graph and/or me to give Pass 4 a shot. We have discussed the game with the writers for several years, and we’ve read the script they’ve written several times over, so we should be able to leverage that experience to write something that fits into ESR. It’s just a matter of whether our writing skills are up to the task.
Graph, of course, does have Touhou Mecha on his portfolio. I’m the one who has more to prove in this department. Since I’m almost caught up with Pass 2, though, I do have time and momentum on my side. So I’m planning to give Pass 4 a serious look soon, and see how I fare.
Pass 1 – Main scene planning and writing
As any writer knows, a lot of little things have to come together to form a cohesive and satisfying ending. Iced and LT have left some plans on the remaining 17% of the scenes, but the plans are brief and at times noticeably outdated. Chances are, after all the years of working on ESR, they have thought up a lot more detail for these scenes compared to what the plans reflect.
So it would be strongly preferred if they came back to work on this part, at least to plan things out in more detail. Graph and I could try filling in the gaps ourselves as a last resort, but we would likely be reinventing several wheels in the process.
No matter how we look at it, we’ve got some work to do. Perhaps enough that another demo release seems like a good idea. It would be nice to get feedback on how our work is coming along, and to give you something new to play after all this time. Demo 3.0 does get fairly far, and maybe going much further is unusual for a visual novel demo – but the full game is planned to be free anyhow, so I don’t see the harm.
It wouldn’t be a good idea to use half-completed scenes in the demo, though. So for any new scenes we include, we’ll want Passes 3 and 4 to get up to speed first. Demo 3.0 goes up to 27% (in terms of unique content, including all paths). I think a good goal for Demo 4.0 would be 45%. Anything before that kind of leaves you hanging without much closure, and anything after that is getting too close to the final pathbreaks.
So we’ll see when we can get Passes 3 and 4 up to 45%. We should still set our priorities in a way that gives us the highest chance of finishing the entire game, so no guarantees on when this goal will be met. But once we do, we can think more about Demo 4.0.
Wrapping up with the usual screenshots:
It’s always awesome to see an update here!
I’ll be waiting warmly for demo 3 and beyond to be ready.
Thank you so much for all the work you continue to put into ESR.
4.0 hype!
Keep up the great work.
It warms my heart every time I see an update on ESR. Remember finding out about it back in about 2016 and have been lurking here ever since getting all excited on every bit of progress you made on your project. I wish you all the luck and let’s hope we get to enjoy a finished experience before the turn of the next decade. 😉
No Momiji, I’m sure there’s no reason at all. She’s a child, you’re a dog. It’s natural.
Nice to have another update; good job on catching the scripting and minor stuff up (and the final main story).
Always great to see another update, it just shows that you plan on finishing this project rather than leaving it unfinished like so many others. the story itself it good and the writing is good (which is what brought me here to begin with), so don’t rush it, take breaks when needed and be sure to take care of ya self.
I hope you’re all doing well during this absolutely apocalyptic SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Remember, masks of ALL types absolutely DO work to varying degrees.
Stay safe, cover your face.
@Back: Yeah, it’s certainly been something – a lot of bad news to take in day after day. We’ve been fine so far though, and already in the habit of using hand wipes and stuff. It’s been hard to find masks, but I do agree they can only increase our chances of staying healthy. Best wishes to you as well.
Must say, I wasn’t expecting to see it come up here too.
Stay safe everyone.
I hope everything is okay.