✓ All's Well That Ends Well! FINAL POST

* Please note that our static pages are saved as blog posts! Unfortunately, due to the layout, static pages do not show up as they normally would on a standard template. You can find them instead as posts on this blog (right before this post).

Claire here! (Shahnoor will jump in a little later in this post, so stay tuned.) Here it is: our last post of the school year. This past semester has seriously flown by. We've practically been measuring our progress in frou-frou coffee drinks (with way too much sugar) and hastily typed words, switching back and forth between slurping down diabetes-inducing drinks and cranking out chapter after chapter of our visual novel's storyboard.

Let's run through a quick recap. Our goals at the beginning of this project were - roughly - as follows:

• Make a promotional video
• Begin programming and scripting (Ren'Py and Python) ✓
• Map out the story line ✓
• Choose defining moments ✓
• Choose endings (3) ✓
• Kick major butt ✓

Believe it or not, we succeeded in accomplishing 5/6 of our goals, which is pretty incredible considering how unsure we were of how long certain aspects would take. We have an intricate storyboard with a solid beginning, middle, and end, which has made writing the script (dialogue and staging, in this case - not Python scripting) a million times easier. Our script is 136 pages long! Unfortunately, we can't publish it on here because that would spoil all of our endings, choices, and plot twists. However, if you have any specific questions about the premise of the visual novel, please e-mail us! Our contact information is available on this blog.

As for our incomplete goal of making a promotional video (think of it as a movie trailer, but for our visual novel), we started making progress - selecting music, editing video clips together, finding/making sound effects, etc. - but, as luck would have it, my computer (which had all of our visual progress on it, like character sprites, backgrounds, and all programs necessary for making a visual novel), got a Trojan virus.

I know.

I died a little, too.

This happened on Sunday (5/24/15) night. I was trying to download a free trial of WinRAR from the official site so I could unzip a file, since I'd been having issues with the program I was using at the time. As it turns out, I accidentally clicked on the wrong site, and consequently, a file automatically downloaded and opened on my computer. Suddenly I was bombarded with pop-up ads about meeting local Russian singles and an annoying, fake dock called “Bubble Dock” that wouldn’t go away. I thought I solved the issue when I uninstalled all of the programs automatically added to my hard drive from the virus (Add/Remove programs, the whole deal), but only a matter of minutes later the programs would reinstall again. The virus even installed a fake Chrome browser that would automatically load whenever I tried to go on the Internet through my real browser. Long story short, I had to wipe the entire hard drive and backup drive. The rest is history.

On the bright side, I created a Tumblr account early into the process where I posted my visual progress with character development, so I had a bunch of character sprites stored on there that are salvageable. That’s definitely one thing both Shahnoor and I learned from this experience: You should always have a backup option! Be prepared for the unexpected. You never know what’s going to happen, and unfortunately, technology isn’t as reliable as we’d so often like to believe.

If we had another semester in this class and were to make changes to optimize our results, we’d definitely be more conscientious about having backup options. Save your files to a flash drive - or, better yet, Google Drive once in a while so you can turn to either one if you lose your saved data on the computer you’ve been using. An added bonus is that then you can work on your project wherever you are - all you need is that same flash drive or Internet access to boot up Google Drive. As I mentioned in the TED Talk Shahnoor and I gave to our class on Thursday reflecting on this experience, the Internet is a beautiful place! (Except when it causes you to get a Trojan virus, in which case it’s deadly…) There are many opportunities online to get advice from communities and forums with awesome people who can help you overcome any obstacles that arise from your project(s).

I’ll post a few samples of the visual work I accomplished here:

Above is a sclera (white of the eye) I hand-painted to mimic a bloodshot eye. An actual eye (pupil, iris, etc.) is supposed to be used as an overlay on top of this, but that is what it looks like before the eye is complete.

Above is the first version of Fey (our protagonist) I created. Shahnoor and I were (and still are) going for a more realistic look, while maintaining some cartoon-like elements. More recently, Fey has been developed into the sprite below:

This is the finished Fey. We wanted her to look troubled and less cold/aloof than the first version, as if she has seen and experienced incredible hardship. Her eyes - which were my first handpainted creations! - fill more of the sclera than realistic eyes, but I thought it would make her look slightly more vulnerable, which we wanted to go for. Underneath, however, she’s a tough cookie and doesn’t let fear keep her from accomplishing what needs to get done to stay alive.

Here, on the boy’s face above, is a compilation of smaller projects I completed over the course of this project. The eyes I made for him are more on the realistic side than some of my other works. I referenced pictures of real people from the site Faceifi to create his nose and eye shine, as well as the eyebags. His slightly ruddy cheeks are a result of a blush/pore blend I was working on up until the virus hit.

Hey guys! This is Shahnoor and I am just going to talk about our overall experience with the project.

All in all, I feel like Claire and I grew up as individuals thanks to this project. We learned to compromise and adapt to shortcomings. We also learned to have fun with ourselves and that the only way we can come up with the best ideas is by being relaxed and happy. (Trust me, we tried conjuring a plot on one of our bad days and we ended up just slurping coffee and staring at each other.) Another thing I learned was that although professionals are the ideal source for information, we have to look for answers ourselves. The Internet is a magical thing and we have knowledge at our fingertips. We just have to spend time searching.

As we checked off our goals and built depth to our project we ended up having more questions than answers. One major thing was if we were going to be able to finish our visual novel. Based on how things were going like finding accurate ways of measuring social intelligence (SI), creating sprites, visualizing settings and doing other techy stuff we had a feeling we wouldn’t be able to finish it by the deadline. All I know is that if we had an extra semester then we would’ve been further into visual novel development (the graphics). Maybe instead of meeting once a week we would meet twice so we could get things done. Another thing I would change would be my researching schedule. I kind of admit that I slacked a little when writing my report but if I had another semester I would assign myself the things I needed to get done by certain days. Now going back to the questions that have arisen from this project, when I was doing my SI research I wondered if playing visual novels and reading books had an effect on our social and emotional intelligence. Apparently reading helps us become more empathetic because we are experiencing social situations, difficult scenarios and such but is there a deeper effect like building our personality? Another question that occurred was if certain parts of our brain expanded, as in gaining more mass because of social activity. Yet I have learned that brain mass doesn’t promise anything but I am still curious.

Now let’s talk about the TED Talk! It was easy. Claire and I are comfortable talking in front of a group of people because we know how to articulate and we have an extensive knowledge for our project. Also, note cards are weak. Thus, we didn’t have to prepare much other than finishing our slides and doing several run-throughs to ensure we were on the same page. At the end of the day, it was nice sharing our ideas and educating people on the inner workings of social interactions. If Claire and I had a chance, we would do this again.

Although we've reached the school deadline for this project, this isn't by any means a good-bye! In the grand scheme of things, this is only the beginning, and we plan on continuing this project into the summer. We've even agreed to adapt our storyboard into a novel if college life gets too busy for making a complete visual novel.

Signing off,

Shahnoor Jafri & Claire Strickland