Detective Butler Episode 1 FINISHED!

Yes, I can't believe we made the deadline either! Happy Comiket 84, everyone!

I'm kind of at a loss for words right now. There's really too much to say. Two years of intense work has boiled down to this day. I was hoping to get the game out a year ago, but compared to that older version, this one is just so much better. I really hope everyone enjoys playing it!

As I've stated in many blog posts before, a lot of revisions have been made. For those who played the old demos, you ...

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Let's Post Something

First, the opening movie is finished. I could put it on YouTube and spoil the fun right now but I kinda want to tidy it up (which I will probably do at the last minute, as usual). Second, if you check the actual Detective Butler website, I have (once again) changed the logo and added a plethora of screenshots for your eyes to gaze upon. Third, I still have some scenes to write; that's nothing new.

Fourth, and actually most importantly, I've been having some issues with a long-discover ...

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Of Locks and Keys

During my beta testing session, my amazing beta testers found more glitches and typos than I had hoped. But, more importantly, they had found some plot inconsistencies and had difficulty putting some pieces together. I saw this as a major problem with the mystery aspect, and began to wonder to myself what exactly I was doing wrong.

The main problem was that I hadn't done a "proper" mystery before. In Umineko, the mystery is left unsolved at the end of each gameboard, but conventional ...

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How (Not) To Make a VN

One year ago today, I released the first demo of Detective Butler to the world. And one month from now you'll be playing the final version. (ironic how I said the same thing a year ago...)

Anyway, it's times like these that make me feel a bit nostalgic. I've compiled a small variety of screenshots to demonstrate just how far the game has come.

Those are just the visual aspects, of course. The story's taken quite a lot of changing and so has the internal code and various inte ...

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Major Decisions

Writing's almost done. However, I've stumbled into one final roadblock of sorts.

The story has taken a direction I didn't really anticipate. I've heard that most writers experience this situation, where the characters lead the story places they didn't think were possible. I have been changing things quite drastically in order to accommodate for the characters, but I wonder how far I should go.

Part of me feels like the omission of certain things seen in the demo would be far t ...

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Summer Plans

Not much to report this week. I want to finish writing Detective Butler as soon as possible, but I hit a few roadblocks. It feels as though the story is too short, and I might attribute that to poor planning... but at the same time, I can't think of a 'way' to make it longer. Should it be longer? I don't know.

All I do know is that I will get it done before summer ends. I'll then probably take a break from writing for a while. That doesn't mean I'll stop making things, but I'll probab ...

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Opening Movies in Visual Novels

This is something I need to tackle eventually, so I'll blog about it now.

Most EVN do not have opening movies. It's even questionable whether or not they SHOULD have movies, given their potential quality (or lack thereof). However, I'll admit that a lot of OP movies seem to have a decent amount of effort put into them. I'll give a list of some I knew of / could easily find just to show a variety of what is out there:

@CameliaGirls Doppelganger Doppelganger (2) duplicity Dy ...

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Mystery Discussion

First off, I'm probably gonna ditch the forums since they're dead and all. These blogs posts have been working out as better vehicles for discussion anyway.

Now, writing a murder mystery is not easy. While it is quite fun to think of all the ways the culprit could go about committing murder, there are a few things I've noticed in my progress:

1. Occam's Razor -- the simplest solution is usually the best. That is, a solution should not prompt more questions than it ans ...

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