Look at this, another update! Holy crap we’re still alive!
It’s actually quite interesting to look at the progression
of blog posts in the past years. 35, 22, 20, 6, and now 3 with this post just
sent out. From the looks of things we’ve certainly declined: not only with just
the number of written posts but simply with the general forum activity as well.
However as I’m looking at the loads of work this team is putting in there
certainly seems to be a strong seen difference between telling everyone what
you’re doing and actually doing it.
So what is new with us and what are we currently doing?
Well for one thing me. I’m a new writer that is. Myself and
a few other individuals have been brought on to spark some new and fresh talent
within the project and so far it seems to be working. Frankly it’s been so
refreshing to see the energy and dedication everyone is now putting into a VN
4+ years in the making.
Here’s the list of everyone new assisting with polishing up
a demo that is still proving to be a massive undertaking.
Blank Mage – General Writer of connecting scenes and
overall story flow.
Kuiper – Updating the “twin” route into a new story
to make more sense.
Windreda(Myself)
– Taking over Isolda’s written route.
DM_Sinclair – Taking over Annaliese’s written route.
Ultra_HR – Editor to assist with grammar, continuity,
communication, etc.
Turns out the current script needed some massive reworking from the previous few months (Which is a good thing that we're editing this). Like in the past we are still working hard to send out
something that you all can enjoy.
This time around there are a few key differences:
- Somnova Studios has always been plagued with communication issues: not only in regards to simple miscommunication but with certain members being unable to be reached. This time around we’ve moved to Discord for team communication/Missing Stars organization. The formatting is not only a lot easier to navigate, but if someone from a specific area of the VN has a problem this can be addressed immediately.
- Stronger emphasis of deadlines are being implemented. Bi-weekly voice chat meetings are used to not only have existing members check in, but also to establish certain time frames for things to be submitted. Sprites, backgrounds, and especially editing are hot priorities for completing our upcoming public demo(that is at this point long overdue). While we all unfortunately have lives outside of Somnova Studios VN completion at some point needs to be prioritized.
- Finally it’s just fun at this point. Despite some of the issues in the past the members of Somnova are just having a good time working on this project. We laugh, goof off, and share our occasional meme but at the end of the day there’s a real sense of pride and enjoyment pushing out the new written/artistic/musical drafts that will be put into our “finalized” product. To be working on a project that’s educational, heart wrenching, and enjoyable just means the absolute world to us.
And so far it’s still looking just as good! Here’s a colored sprite of Ela (one of our side characters at St. Dymphna) that Morthiasik sent over that still makes me smile every time I look at it.
Any questions/comments/concerns or frankly any simple hellos
you have I, or any other member, will be more than happy to address in the
forums.
Thank you for your continued patience with us!