Hello, everyone! Megan here with more exciting (when is it not?) news!

First of all, the incredibly talented Blue Wolfie has joined our ranks as a composer! You can check out his Soundcloud here.

Thanks to latest additions on our team, we're headed in a good direction for our short demo:

Art:

1. All female sprites are finished, thanks to lead artist Dizzy!
2. Male sprites are currently in progress.
3. CGs are currently in progress.
4. Our first background is completed, and several more are in coloring stages, thanks to Burri!

Music:
Of the 8 tracks needed for the demo:

1. 5 are complete
2. 2 are composed and in the mastering process
3. 1 is in progress

Writing:

1. Day 1 is completely written and edited

We're so excited to release part of Lucid9! Thanks for supporting us and see you in the next update!

- Megan

Hello readers! This is Mac posting today to bring you some more Lucid9 goodness! To start this off, I would like to thank all of you who are keeping up with us and giving us your support! It truly means a lot to all of us in this project.

Now, let's take a look at Elizabeth Oshiro, the classmate of Yama, who's always getting into arguments with him! As you can see, her art is complete (there may be a few slight changes however). 

We have new artists! Burri, Sonya, and Nijiiru! Burri is in charge of backgrounds, just like the one below! Sonya is in charge of GUI, graphics, and animation! And lastly, Nijiiru is in charge of lineart! However, we still have some positions open. We are looking for a chibi artist and an artist to do work for the blog! 

Our writing and music have been progressing smoothly as well as the art (as you can see already). I hope you guys continue watching our progress and play our game when it's released!

~ Mac (DragonGuardians)

Hello everyone, Megan here! I've got a lot of exciting news for all of you, as is emphasized by the spamming of exclamation points!

First: we've got some art headed your direction, courtesy of our wonderful lead artist, Dizzy. Meet Rui!

Second: a wonderful track, courtesy of our lead composer, Greg! Thanks to the hard work of our composers, we currently have twelve unique, beautiful songs for our VN.

And finally... a big announcement!

We're planning to release a short demo!

Get hyped! (Or... don't.)

This demo will cover Day 1 of Lucid9 and is planned to be released late Fall 2014. It will be around 20 minutes of reading content. Hopefully, it will serve a good indicator of our world, story, and characters!

Thank you for supporting us, and see you in the next update!

- Megan

Hello, everyone! Megan here for a little writing discussion!

Have you heard of method acting? It's a technique where you try to disappear into your character's thought processes and emotions as you act, instead of just emulating their reactions and such. You try to completely become the character.

I used to think, "That would be a really cool thing to do, but I can't do it." However, one of the most important techniques I've learned regarding writing is actually 'method writing,' which is similar to method acting.

In method writing, you become the character you're writing. Instead of thinking, "What would this character be feeling?", you close your eyes, hear the words in your head, and feel that sadness, that anger, that exasperation.

While it takes practice (and is also too tiring to do on a regular basis), it is very, very useful.

I chiefly use it for two purposes: 1) sarcasm and verbal banter, and 2) generally unrelatable characters.

Sarcasm and Verbal Banter

Let's say that your character is fairly intelligent, and is currently being confronted by a person he hates. The person says the following unsophisticated comment:

• "I hate your face!"

Well, usually, I wouldn't be able to write an adequate comeback. I would just shrug my shoulders and leave. However, my character wouldn't do this, so at this point, I close my eyes, sit back in my chair, and try to hear those words in my ears.

Generally, I first feel irritation, but as I repeat the line in my ears, it becomes something akin to anger. I want to get back at this punk. I want to show them their place. 

With these feelings, usually, the apt retort comes to me.

• A: "I hate your face!"
• B: "The mirror's over there."

Generally Unrelatable Characters

I've run into this situation many times. I'm supposed to write the scene from the point of view of a child, or a psychopath, or someone who's hallucinating. I try my ordinary technique - basing my writing off of some experience or another - but clearly, that will come up short.

So, it's time to become the character.

The brain is an interesting thing. It doesn't matter that I'm not actually hallucinating - I can force myself to feel lightheaded, or my vision can begin to twist. It doesn't matter that I don't actually want to hurt anyone - I can immerse myself into the mindset of a sadistic killer. 

Offbeat. Mentally deranged. Quirky. Simplistic. You build yourself up with the characters memories and feel their emotions and reactions.

This is, of course, actually fairly dangerous for mental health, so it's something that should be limited as much as possible. (There are times when I've come away from an experience feeling shaken, realizing that there are people who actually genuinely enjoy causing pain/sorrow, etc.) But it's a very enlightening exercise. For short term.

Final Thoughts

As said before, while this technique generates extremely authentic writing, it's also pretty taxing for the more difficult characters.

It's easy to immerse into the mindset of someone like you - a college student, an average citizen, a white collar worker - but for people with mental disabilities or psychological disorders, it gets tiring quick.

Have you guys ever tried method writing? How did you find it? Is it something you do regularly, or only for special occasions?

- Megan

I deeply care about this story. 

Lucid9 is much more to me than a project that I do in my spare time. Since I've joined, not a day goes by where it hasn't crossed my mind at some point. Sometimes, I space out on the couch, gazing idely out my living room window just thinking about it, only to realize I missed half of the conversation I was in. No project I've done have I obsessed this much about. 


It's a hard feeling to explain, really. 

I'd like to think it was fate that had brought me here, to help create this story with such amazing and talented people. Speaking of which, I'd like to introduce a few new members who decided to lend us a helping hand! Please welcome Sonya, Burri, and Sarah! 

– Sonya will be creating the background art for Lucid9 as well as handling animation. 

– Burri will also be a background artist. I can say for certainty that both Burri's and Sonya's backgrounds are magnificent. ^^ 

– Sarah will be our Beta Writer. She will be the one supervising and suggesting in depth improvements to the overall story. 

Thank you for joining us in our journey! 

We'll be creating fun and engaging segments on the blog pretty soon, so please be on the lookout for them. 

If you have any questions, concerns, or simply want to say hello, please feel free to write us. We always look forward to it. ^^ 


~ David