So for this section of the Jam Post Mortem I want to talk more about the actual process of how I went about making the game.

I spent most of September writing the script.  I felt that- because the game was a visual novel- it simply couldn't have anything less than my best efforts as far as writing went.   Concurrently, I commissioned my good pal Atlas to work their magic on the sprites and CG.  They’re super talented and has a great eye for grungy urban vibes in their design so I knew they would be a great match.  Truth be told, I did think of a few other artists in case Altas turned out to be busy but they were my first choice as soon as I had the idea and I'm very grateful they were able to commit the time and energy to Tri City.  Another major added bonus was that Atlas already knew Mori as a concept character, and knew what made him appealing.

So, for about 2.5 weeks we sort of worked on our own ends of the project.  Atlas works fast and they’re super thorough and by the third week of the month I had all the art I had budgeted for.

Speaking of budget, here’s what I invested in the beta:

>> Character artwork/sprites and CG --> $300
>> Business license for Studio Peaches  --> $10
          (I decided to make a separate company name for Adult Content)|
>> Studio Peaches Logo --> $100
          (done by Screndek on Envato Studio)
>> Studio Peaches domain name --> $30

The business license, logo, and domain names I considered to be an unavoidable expenses, they were tools that would help further down the road so I simply went ahead and purchased them in time to build Studio Peaches up as its own identity and take advantage of any attention the jam got me.  Because this was an unknown venture I really had to limit how much money I was willing to put in since I wouldn't be able to gauge interest until after the jam.  My partner and I went back and forth a few times and, with Atlas' approval, we were able to settle on what exactly would be the bare minimum amount of assets needed for the game and gave that artwork the absolute highest financial priority.

Process wise, I think TCM was super straight forward.  My concepting stage is always pretty messy but some of my notes survived.  This were really early thoughts:

Basically the second the Jam timer started, I had a super rough outline hashed out...  The order of events were to start out with the MC at a show that's crashed by cops, you escape with Mori which implicates guilt and he has to protect you.  Eventually he's forced to transform and he expects you to run from the altercation but you don't and wind up injured in the confrontation, forcing him to keep an eye out for your while he makes his getaway.  The story stayed mostly the same throughout Tri City Monsters as it exists now but I ended up paring a lot off that back end favor of keeping a climax that was better paced and clear.

By and large the hardest part of concepting the artwork was trying to communicate what I wanted out of the expressions.  I used everything from emoji to anime screencaps to try and illustrate the looks I was going for.  Atlas is both very talented and very patient and I'm really glad they had the mental fortitude to parse through my mad ramblings.  Conversely, I had a pretty strong idea of what I wanted out of Mori's CG to start with so I was able to use a rough sketch to efficiently communicate to them.

I wrote the whole script in Google Sheets in my very kind of slapdash way but doing all these columns made it easy for me to keep track of what “stage directions” go with what lines.  Also, I was really concerned about making sure that reading the lines felt natural from text box to text box.

Between all of this I also started putting together the UI elements.  Jam scheduling is tight which means wasting time is a huge roadblock and you can see here I went through a couple iterations of the main menu screen before I was at least semi-satisfied with it.

Here was the rough draft before I even had a title nailed down.

So this isn't my first jam, however this was the first jam where I had a full 30 days to work with.  I think I paced myself pretty well, all things considered, however there was some crunch at the end I wish I had been able to avoid.  Long work days over an extended stretch and a couple of all nighters is kind of part and parcel with jam timelines but they really do suck and take it out of you.  Definitely another goal to examine and fight for the next time I decide to enter a jam.

While I devoted the first half of the jam basically only to writing the script, it was just as much a product of necessity as it was an active choice.  I needed to give Atlas time to make assets and I needed a solid script so I could get into coding without having to make burdensome corrections later on.

Unlike some other jams where I finished by the skin of my teeth and there are tons of issues with the release, I'm actually reasonably satisfied with how this progressed for me at least in terms of time management and order of attack.  I feel like I managed to maximize my time without an absurd amount of crunch (though, again, next time I hope to not have any) and got through the majority of things I felt were minimally required for a fun and polished release.

Anyway I made the big announcement at the beginning of the first part but I am continuing further with this game so if you're interested in seeing more, consider checking out our Discord, Patreon, or Ko-fi!