these last few days.
This post will mostly be me rambling again as I talk about what sketches I worked on, which reasons I had to do so, etc... As usual it's going to be quite the textwall, so if you're not into reading my random jabbering I added some pictures for you to glance over. ;P
Just know that I'm working on the next patch/update for the demo and hope to get it out in around 2ish weeks
The stuff below might be a spoiler to some of you (sketches from various characters/scenes of different paths), so remember that as you keep reading.
I put put some "heavy" text spoilers into on a black background just in case.
I will divide the sketches I worked on into 4 different sections, beginning why I'm taking a bit longer to make the next demo..
1. Some extra time sketching - "Dream" Fia
First things first, I've been doing some extra work the last few days that wouldn't have been needed but I felt like it was.
I actually would have been done drawing the remaining character sketches for the demo already but this kind of got in the way of it...
Those of you that played the old Dream Molder demo will remember how Fia had two "forms", her usual Braixen and her Anthro one.Anyone that played the character demo as well probably noticed that the anthro form was completely missing this time around.
The reason for this wasn't because I removed it, but because I was unsure of how I wanted it to look like.
Back then I pretty much added breasts to her design, changed poses a little and called it a day.
For anyone that doesn't remember exactly here's what I'm talking about:
Now it wouldn't have been a problem to just do the same thing again and add a chest to the new design (which I was planning on doing) but the new style simply made it feel off.
I had the choice now.
There's around 30~ poses/expressions that I need for the anthro version.
I'm either using the ones I already have to save time and effort OR I redraw all of them from scratch with a completely new design.
But yeah, I guess you see where this is going.
I wasn't completely sure how I wanted to change the anthro form without diverging from the new style too much, but after trying around for a while I ultimately ended up with this.
I wasn't sure if changing the body-type was something I really wanted (I mostly felt like the anthro version wasn't needed), but I wanted to make sure that it feels like Fia actually changes in attempt to mimik what she thinks the Player likes, (Sara?) to make him "notice her" or even seduce him.
It's definitely not perfect, but I will still change some stuff up once I start coloring anyways. So just let me know what you would like to have changed on it if it bothers you!
BTW, unlike in the old demo you will have an option to switch Fia's chest off in the anthro version.
I'm not sure if I'll do it with ingame decisions or a simple checkbox in the settings, but I think this will make the game more enjoyable for anyone that is bothered by the boobiemon.
Now I didn't draw all of the 30ish variations that I need yet since I'm quite slow at getting the sketches just right, but I'm getting there.
There's 13 left I need to draw but only 3 of them are actual poses while the rest of them are different expressions of said 3.
Once those are done I can start adding clothing to the different poses which will go a lot faster again.
Here's a few more previews and a color sample to show the "style" I was going for..
I really tried keeping Fia's original/default poses while using her "new" body.
I wanted it to look casual while somehow more seductive...
I think they turned out fine, but It's for you to decide so let me know what you think. :>
Now on to the next topic,
2. The desert Vixen
I already posted a "teaser" for the "character" a while back, so anyone that looked at my older
posts might remember this:
Mostly referred to as the "Beast Princess" in the story, the idea behind the character was simple.
I wanted a character from a book that Fia could identify with so she would end up getting hooked to books/reading in general, but it was also a good filler for one of Fia's dreams that I've got not even nearly enough of yet.
In the end, Fia was supposed to dream/mess up dreams like this almost every night.
Which still happens, but pretty much isn't shown or talked about inGame...
The story of the Beast Princess showed the most basic examples of Fia's usual "dream-ability accidents".
She finds something that stays on her mind or excites her in some way which makes her dream about it. Dreaming herself into the role of the princess she relives what happens in the books story while unknowingly dragging people close to her like the Player into the role of the prince.
Since the princess mostly uses Fia's graphics with some added clothing there isn't much else to show besides the color sample here, but I thought it was a funny thing to know and the missing sketches from this part of the character sketch demo probably didn't make it a 100% obvious that she was dreaming herself and the player into the main roles.
(Btw, the queen is also played by the Players mother in this part. Even though Fia imagines her with some slight differences :p)
Now a thing that I had a problem or two with...
3. Side Characters
While drawing side characters in itself isn't a problem, having the motivation to draw them definitely is.
Most of them only use one sketch or two for the whole game and will be shown once.
Something that makes it quite easy to deal with them and move on to more important things.
However, I feel since they're less important I just don't get to drawing them..?
I did a few designs for a few characters, but it never felt "real".
Not like characters in a way because I wasn't as invested in them or because I couldn't bother drawing them?
A lot of the missing sketches are exactly that.
Random people in the background. The daycare lady, coworkers, ruffians, etc..
Even the mother which is only halfway a side character didn't quite get to what I want yet.
I did get some sketches done but not nearly enough and the quality that I wanted them in.
Another point why I'm a bit behind with those is because I'm unsure if I'm even using them.
While planning and scripting everything I realized that I wanted to animate the characters.
Animating EVERY single of the characters, even the side ones - would probably be only waste time.
But putting unanimated characters next to the actual ones would look plain bad, so that's out of the question...
What I will probably end up with is animate a few characters that are used a lot, lead a bigger role or "fit" in. But every other character will only be shown on CG's which aren't animated.
This way I don't need the extra character sketches and don't need to animate them either.
But it also means less for you guys to see in the character sketch demo.
So I'm unsure of which ones you'll see in the final Char Sketch Demo, but it's most likely only those three here + Players Mother and the daycare lady...
The maid was kind of a must since she was in the old demo already and I had her sketch ready for a while now. I didn't put her into the first demo since most side characters were missing aswell, but now she's all ready and set up for the next version.
Jasmine isn't exactly a side character, but since removal of path 2 she's also not THAT important anymore..
She's got enough dialogue to be animated and all though.
Same for the mother.
Lastly the Croagunk from the daycare. Nothing special and only appears for a few textboxes, but I thought it's cute enough and kinda helps the scene. It also won't be too much trouble to animate because of it's size, so here it is!
4. Clothing sketches and variations
And as last topic the reason most sketches were missing in the last version, clothing.
If you played the Char Sketch Demo you probably saw a few recoloured unfinished sketches, those were the clothing and variation ones.
With about 70% (~160) of the missing sketches by far the biggest part of what I did the last few days.
Adding different clothing and variations to the sketches and replacing them with their recoloured placeholders.
From the about 80~ sketches that I have left to draw, about 50 of them are still clothing sketches. (40 of which beeing Anthro Fia's clothing, which is why I have to wait for her new sketches before I can keep drawing those)
Posting all of them would probably too much since each oufit has been drawn with a variety of poses aswell. But for everyone interested, I'll add a few variations at the bottom if you don't care about spoilers or anything.
5. Final Word
I know this was all kinda messy and all over the place since I'm quite tired and probably should have gotten some sleep now. :,D
But for everyone that read through the whole thing a big thank you for your interest and I hope you found some interesting stuff in here.
While this whole sketching and behind the scenes business probably isn't too interesting for most, I like to share how far I've come by now...
My work is by no means perfect and I'm still taking forever to get stuff done, but I think I improved a lot if you look back at the stuff I made when I started this not too long ago..
So for everyone that stayed with me over all this time, thank you for your support.
You're the reason why I'm improving.
I hopefully get the last few sketches and scenes done over the next 2~ weeks and am already looking forward for drawing the sketches for the h-scenes after that!
Next "behind the scenes" post will be about those. From sketching, to animation tests and how I improved / started out with those as well.
I hope you're also looking forward to that one!
Thats more than enough for now, time for me to get some sleep while I still can. :,D
I wish you all a nice start into the week!