Rolling Star: Script and Sprites done; on to CGs!

I'm finally working on the rough sketch of Rolling Star's CGs. Just looking at them right now embarrasses me because I have mixed feelings about the game's intro...but a challenge is a challenge. OTL;;

As you can see, I failed to finish on time for NaNo, but I kind of expected it to end that way what with me starting really late and all lol. The release date is moved around May because I'm going to be busy in the next few weeks, so please look forward to it. >w<

NaNo '13: Rolling Star

Rough character design of the Rolling Star cast. Design is not final.
(From left to right: Alien #1, Alien #2, Alien #3, MC, Alien #2's human form)

I'm so sorry for being way behind on replies/comments. I have been sick for the past few days...that, and college and NaNo. /cries

I've been rather secretive about Rolling Star (originally dubbed as "April Fools game") due to my indecisiveness over whether or not I should participate in NaNoRenO this year. By the time I made up my mind, it was already March 21st. OTL;; 

Not sure if it would still be worth it to make an LSF thread for this anymore, but I decided to mention it here because I finished the script yesterday. Huzzah! Currently, it's 10,341 words in total, though it might get longer (or shorter) once I edit the script. I only have to worry about finishing the sprites, CGs, and GUI as fast as I can, which I'm really hoping I can finish on time due to the timing of the date...the good thing for me though is that unlike HM!, this game only has a single pose for each character lol.

This game is weird...and wacky...that I still don't know what to make out from it? It was quite a fun ride, but it's also painfully hard, mostly because I had to make sure I met the req's of my friend's challenge. OTL Since it's somewhat spoiler-ish, I'll write about the challenge after I release the game.

P.S. The characters' haircolor are very much inspired by these delicious-looking ice cream. ;_;

Rough Character Sketches: Done!

I finally finished them! There are still a lot of errors that need to be fixed, but at least I don't have to worry about drawing them from scratch.  I decided to add some flats so I can use them in the WIP thread.

Edit: Forgot to add Carmeline! xD

Progress: Carmeline the 13th

Since the reasoning behind Carmeline's design isn't spoiler-driven like the rest of the cast, I thought it would be all right to share my griefs on designing her.

I think it hardly comes as a surprise that Carmeline is the hardest heroine I have ever designed. Of all my characters, she is the one I resketched many times until I was at least satisfied. That's not to say she has a complicated design, mind you - in actuality, it's the simplicity of it that made it so difficult to begin with.

Part of my struggles comes from the fact that her entire design was based on these two principles:
1.) Make her look generic.
2.) Make her distinguishable.

In most stories I've seen and read, princesses are always painted as these perfect and beautiful beings...but that makes them somewhat superficial as a person in my opinion. Just like the way Nomura designed Rinoa, I'm trying really hard not to make Carmeline "beautiful", but "cute". Otherwise, I erase the sketch and start all over again lol. (I burden myself too much...)

Next, her distinctness. Indeed, I'm still having a hard trying to come up with a balance between those two...however, if everything about her looks generic, what could set Carmeline apart from, say, other brunette characters out there?

Adding quirks will surely help, which may or may not be true in her case (this will all depend on how well I can present her as a character in the end... /knock on wood), but the truth of the matter is that people will judge the characters by their looks first. There's just no way around it.

Her Majesty!'s Main Menu.

Hi guys! Welcome to skyline+.
Like two years ago, I want to show you guys how the final main menu design came about. I decided to redo the whole thing again to match my new GUI! It's a good way for me to keep these old art as a memento now that I'm in the process of erasing sketches I no longer need. xD