Updates

The Trails - Chapter One, is finally getting close to a fully play-testable build!

I have finished the 2nd draft of all of the ‘scene art’, and I am currently implementing the audio sections. Originally this was going to be just a few SFX, but after doing some research, I want to test adding in narration for all of the text, which will take a decent amount of time to record, especially to record it all in English and Japanese! Ultimately, probably worth it, but it’ll eat up a lot of production time.

Originally for this visual novel style game, I didn’t want there to be any voice over for the text, especially as the text is a mix of descriptions and an internal monologue. The game was not originally made with any kind of narration in mind. However, after asking different people’s opinions, I’m aware there is a large number of players who would prefer that any text was read out-loud to them, rather than reading large chunks of text. (Especially streamers if we are to be so lucky). Because of this, I’ve decided to at least test how the game would be with some narration over the scenes. If I think that it really does not fit the game, I might make the executive decision to exclude it altogether. Although, the chances are I will have narration as an option that the player can choose if they really want to, but I will specify it’s not how the game is intended to be. Then I can leave the options up to the player, I still want there to be a lot of different options for Players with different play-styles being available to hopefully improve the enjoyment of the game for different people.

So far, we’ve recorded some of our own SFX for the game, (all of the breathing will be us) and I can honestly say, we’re both some pretty darn good voice actors! Overall, I’m very happy with how the recording sessions have been going, it’s so much better than I ever could have imagined. Which is validating considering the recording process made both of us lightheaded!

Truly, suffering for our craft!

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