I am well aware I am a few months late to writing this blog post, considering the game was released on March 13th, but for some reason, I didn't think of writing anything, hence the reason why this blog post is a bit messy compared to others. Now realizing my mistake, I decided to share how everything went and what I learned from the stressful 14 days of development.
The Game
I am not sure whether the players of the game recognized its heavy inspiration from Steins;Gate. However, before the jam's commencement, I was engrossed in playing Steins;Gate on my PSP. When I saw the theme was "Aberration," I instantly knew that I wanted to create a game reminiscent of it, albeit it wouldn't match up to it in terms of storytelling.
I approached the visual novel aspect with a slight twist, deviating from the norm of list-based narrative choices. The choices weren't pushed onto the player's face but were implemented in a way that correlates with the story. I wish I could have infused this formula more in-depth with even more branching possibilities, but alas, the deadline was not long enough.
Getting Out of My Comfort Zone
Now as for the process as to how everything came to be. I'll be honest, although I am curious to learn new things, there are boundaries I typically prefer not to cross. But not this time! I challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone: writing a story in an unfamiliar genre, drawing backgrounds (which I don't particularly enjoy), and illustrating the same characters multiple times for the game's CGs. Before delving into these challenges, I'd like to first talk about what this game is about and how I approached creating its various elements.
Art
Despite a shorter deadline compared to the previous Jam I participated in "Winter Jam 2022", I aimed to draw more than ever before. This included varying character poses, CGs, and drawn backgrounds. Drawing backgrounds is a completely foreign topic for me; I mostly specialize in drawing characters and characters only as seen from my gallery. I don't see the joy in creating a background or spending hours on end on a single piece.
Reluctantly, I still forced myself to draw backgrounds. The process was... quite torturous to say the least. I wanted to get over them as soon as possible and keep drawing my characters. In the end, I managed to draw 6 backgrounds by tracing over photos I took and some CC0 photos I found on the internet.
In addition, I drew three CGs and pre-rendered four CGs of the translocator in Blender. These experiences have certainly pushed my boundaries and taught me how to draw faster and keep everything consistent. Each CG had to capture the scene, convey the right emotions, and most importantly be consistent with the overall art style of the game, a topic I am not that great at. But the effort paid off.
Initial Sketches
As with all things, every character needs to have their first version. Designing their main features didn't take much time, and I had their initial rough sketches ready on day one.
Maike
Maike’s character was inspired by the idea of a hard-working, cold, yet caring for his friends. Hence the reason why her clothing and overall design are kept quite tame and simple.
| Sketch | Version 1 | Finished |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
Franz
As for Franz, he is someone who jumps the gun at every opportunity, no matter whether it's bad or good. So I tried to capture his playful appearance as much as possible.
| Sketch | Version 1 | Finished |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
CG
Surprisingly, I didn't have a hard time drawing the CGs. I would've loved to color them all, but once again the deadline is to blame for the lack of polish on most things. Anyway, the way everything turned out I feel like captured the scene in a really great way, and I am happy about how all of them came out.
Creating the Translocator
I wanted the device to be a pre-rendered 3D model. This approach made it easier to maintain consistency across different perspectives and gave it a mysterious, otherworldly appearance.
Getting this device to work took a few iterations during the development, and I feel like I nailed it in the end. Ren'Py is impressively extensible but can also be quite finicky when it comes to custom UI elements and mechanics. Implementing the translocator made the usually repetitive gameplay of just clicking the left mouse button more engaging as the player had something more to do than just reading. The best part is that it fits seamlessly into the game's story as the central plot device.
I'm quite proud of how the device turned out. It looks deceptively simple, and it truly is, but it perfectly captures the game's eerie, out-of-place aesthetic.
Writing
Writing a mystery/abstract story was a completely new experience for me. Initially, I planned to incorporate more branching story elements with exploration-style storytelling that would lead to a good ending. However, due to time constraints and the challenge of implementing these ideas cohesively, I ended up focusing on a narrative with only bad endings.
One of my initial ideas was to include a fortune teller as the catalyst for the events in the game. However, I felt this element was too out of place within the story's context. Additionally, I envisioned different worlds, each progressively more mysterious and eerie, but I didn't have enough time to fully develop these concepts and had to cut them.
This shift in narrative focus compelled me to concentrate on the core elements of the story and the characters, ensuring that every event had a clear purpose. While it wasn’t the ideal way to write a story, this approach ultimately streamlined the game's narrative and provided a cohesive experience for players. It taught me the importance of adaptability and focusing on essential story components when faced with tight deadlines.
Feedback and Reception
Although the game didn't pop off on itch.io itself, I do think I received really valuable feedback from other developers who have participated in this jam. Players who are not used to reading heavy games found it interesting to have interactable items that had a part in the game.
However, there were some suggestions for more branching paths and better integration of certain story elements. This feedback is invaluable, and I plan to improve and incorporate these ideas into my future projects. Hearing directly from developers who had more experience in this field gave me a boost of motivation.
Conclusion
Throughout this journey, I got faster at drawing and found new ways to make visual novels more fun. I might even pick up background art at some point. The experience has taught me the importance of stepping out of my comfort zone and pushing my creative boundaries.
Participating in Acerola Jam 0 was an incredibly rewarding experience. It pushed me to explore new territories and hone my skills. Moving forward, I plan to continue experimenting with visual novel mechanics and storytelling techniques. I hope to create a visual novel much longer in length and character cast.
If you are ever interested in how I implemented everything in the game you are more than welcome to check the GitHub repository. And you can play the game on my Itch.io page.