After a discussion with one of our readers on Discord last week, I realized that we never went into much detail about the amount of progress that has been done for the heroine routes. At this point in development, I feel now is as good a time as any to throw some numbers your way to give you all a good idea of the scope of the project.
Pulling an all-nighter - by Elphaze
Writing
Currently there are four routes planned for the upcoming release: Airi's, Misaki's, Akira's, and Elizabeth's. While the length of each of these will vary somewhat, they are all estimated to be a little less than the script for Inciting Incident, which clocked in at roughly 230,318 words and 12 hours of reading time. Of course, these numbers are estimations. There are several factors that contribute to the total that wouldn't reflect a normal playthrough, such as the coding commands unseen by the readers. Below is an example of the way we format the scripts.
Current Route Progress
Hopefully these estimates provide a sense of how large the heroine routes are in relation to the common route a.k.a. Inciting Incident, which has already been released.
Inciting Incident
Total: 230,318 words
Reading estimate: 12 hours
Airi's Route
Total: 106,549 words
Reading estimate: 6 hours
Akira's Route
Total: 37,327 words
Reading estimate: 2 hours
Elizabeth's Route
Total: 146,635 words
Reading estimate: 8 hours
Misaki's Route
Total: 35,329 words
Reading estimate: 2 hours
All Heroine Routes
Total: 325,840 words
Reading estimate: 18 hours
Hopefully these estimates provide a sense of how large the heroine routes are in relation to the common route a.k.a. Inciting Incident, which has already been released.
Inciting Incident
Total: 230,318 words
Reading estimate: 12 hours
Airi's Route
Total: 106,549 words
Reading estimate: 6 hours
Akira's Route
Total: 37,327 words
Reading estimate: 2 hours
Elizabeth's Route
Total: 146,635 words
Reading estimate: 8 hours
Misaki's Route
Total: 35,329 words
Reading estimate: 2 hours
All Heroine Routes
Total: 325,840 words
Reading estimate: 18 hours
As you can see, the current total word count for all of the routes have already surpassed Inciting Incident, and will continue to grow as Misaki and Akira's routes make further progress.
Art
Given Inciting Incident was released in 2016, the artists' styles have changed significantly, and so many of the sprites and backgrounds for the heroine routes are completely new.
Each character has their own list of expressions, 2-3 poses, and 2-3 sets of clothing, as well as different shades of lighting to reflect the time of day; morning, sunset, and night.
In the photo above, Masato is wearing his 'default clothes', with an 'intense expression', and has his hand raised in a fist, which we call his 'active pose'. All of these combinations make one "sprite". In Inciting Incident alone, Masato had 12 total sprites. In level of difficulty, expressions are the easiest to draw, with poses and clothing being more time consuming. And so references are chosen carefully to reflect the characters' personalities and significance in the story.
All of the designs for the main cast have been completed, with the exception of a few other characters that need to be drawn. Currently, this is where progress stands, some of the art already being present in the heroine prologues that were released just recently.
Yama (1 base sprite)
Airi (1 base sprite + casual outfit + 7 expressions)
Akira (1 base sprite + casual outfit + 2 poses)
Elizabeth (1 base sprite + casual outfit)
Misaki (1 base sprite + casual outfit)
Yahiko (1 default pose + 13 expressions, 1 vulnerable pose + 6 expressions, 1 active pose + 3 expressions)
Masato (1 default pose + 8 expressions, 1 active pose + 4 expressions)
Katsu (3 outfits, 1 default pose + 9 expressions)
Natsuki (1 default pose)
Izumi (1 default pose + 10 expressions, 1 active pose + 8 expressions)
Hisao (1 default pose + 8 expressions, 1 active pose + 8 expressions, glasses on and off)
Shigure (1 base sprite)
Each character has their own list of expressions, 2-3 poses, and 2-3 sets of clothing, as well as different shades of lighting to reflect the time of day; morning, sunset, and night.
In the photo above, Masato is wearing his 'default clothes', with an 'intense expression', and has his hand raised in a fist, which we call his 'active pose'. All of these combinations make one "sprite". In Inciting Incident alone, Masato had 12 total sprites. In level of difficulty, expressions are the easiest to draw, with poses and clothing being more time consuming. And so references are chosen carefully to reflect the characters' personalities and significance in the story.
All of the designs for the main cast have been completed, with the exception of a few other characters that need to be drawn. Currently, this is where progress stands, some of the art already being present in the heroine prologues that were released just recently.
Yama (1 base sprite)
Airi (1 base sprite + casual outfit + 7 expressions)
Akira (1 base sprite + casual outfit + 2 poses)
Elizabeth (1 base sprite + casual outfit)
Misaki (1 base sprite + casual outfit)
Yahiko (1 default pose + 13 expressions, 1 vulnerable pose + 6 expressions, 1 active pose + 3 expressions)
Masato (1 default pose + 8 expressions, 1 active pose + 4 expressions)
Katsu (3 outfits, 1 default pose + 9 expressions)
Natsuki (1 default pose)
Izumi (1 default pose + 10 expressions, 1 active pose + 8 expressions)
Hisao (1 default pose + 8 expressions, 1 active pose + 8 expressions, glasses on and off)
Shigure (1 base sprite)
The background art also has its share of variations, as seen above. Like the character sprites, there are morning, sunset, and night versions. In Inciting Incident, there were a total of 22 backgrounds. While the old ones won't be redrawn from scratch, there will be 35 new backgrounds that will show up in the heroine routes. 25 of which have been completed.
While there will be CGs and other special backgrounds, these are currently lower on the priority list and will be drawn when the writing has been finished, since they are heavily reliant on the length and importance of a scene.
While there will be CGs and other special backgrounds, these are currently lower on the priority list and will be drawn when the writing has been finished, since they are heavily reliant on the length and importance of a scene.
Music
All of the 36 music tracks that appeared in Inciting Incident will also remain, however, there will be roughly 20+ new tracks slated to be released for the routes, with some having different versions to match the mood of a scene. For example, above you can listen to two tracks that have the same title but different descriptors: Lemniscate (soft) and Lemniscate (medium). This was done to combat some of the whiplash in tone that was present in the first part of Lucid9.
All of the completed tracks with the exception of 1 or 2 can be found at our Soundcloud.
All of the completed tracks with the exception of 1 or 2 can be found at our Soundcloud.
Objectives and Priorities
While significant progress has been made these past few years, we are still some ways from completion. One of the main reasons development has taken so long was mostly due to the constant changing of writers. With the story in a state of flux, the other departments had difficulty making progress.
Thankfully, this is no longer an issue. Elizabeth and Airi's routes are very close to completion, with the latter only needing about 3 or 4 remaining scenes left—each being 2,000 words on average. As mentioned in a previous post, we will be releasing these two routes as soon as they are finished, with Akira and Misaki's coming at a later date.
Our current list of objectives are as follow (in order of importance):
Writing
1. Complete scripts for heroine routes
2. Revision process
3. Editing phase
Art
4. Complete character sprites
5. Complete remaining backgrounds
6. Complete CGs
Music
7. Complete music tracks
8. Find SFX
Thankfully, this is no longer an issue. Elizabeth and Airi's routes are very close to completion, with the latter only needing about 3 or 4 remaining scenes left—each being 2,000 words on average. As mentioned in a previous post, we will be releasing these two routes as soon as they are finished, with Akira and Misaki's coming at a later date.
Our current list of objectives are as follow (in order of importance):
Writing
1. Complete scripts for heroine routes
2. Revision process
3. Editing phase
Art
4. Complete character sprites
5. Complete remaining backgrounds
6. Complete CGs
Music
7. Complete music tracks
8. Find SFX
Closing Statement
Hopefully this update was enough to give you a sense of the current state of the project. If you have any further questions, feel free to write us here or on our Discord server. As always, thank you all so much for sticking with us!
- David A. "CardioPen"
- David A. "CardioPen"
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