Truth Scrapper News

[p][/p][p]Hope everyone is once again staying cool in this dreadful summer.[/p][p][/p][p]In case you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I am the creator of timeloop RPG In Stars and Time, and now am working on my next game, memory visual novel Truth Scrapper. It’s gonna be a good one.[/p][p]
[/p][p]DAY 4 (out of 11-ish) IS FINALLY DONE AND IMPLEMENTED. This is the moment in the game where the story and character development picks up in a new way. And the Romance Sections are starting to get somewhere… It was so fun to get all this in the game![/p][p]
[/p][p]So… What does it mean to say that a day is “done and implemented”? Take my hand. I will explain.[/p][p]
[/p][h3]WRITING:[/h3][p]
First is writing the damn day. The first step of this first step is writing down bullet points of what happens during that day! What will happen? How does this further the mystery? How do the characters develop, and how does their relationship develop? Depending on what the player makes Sosotte remembers, will Sosotte be more attracted to Amour or Betz? In what way? Etc etc.[/p][p][/p][p]Once I have those bullet points written down, it’s time to actually write the scenes! Thankfully, I am getting to the Fun Parts of the game, so some of those Day 4+ scenes have been written down for a while. As I write, too, I usually realize I didn’t foreshadow some parts well enough, so I tend to rewrite some old scenes from previous days too. Day 1 has changed a lot since I first wrote it…[/p][p][/p][p](Part of my script. As you can tell, this has no caps because it's easier for me to write without thinking about it too much at this stage. I will regret it later)[/p][p][/p][p]This part takes me maybe… 3 weeks, a month? Longest part for sure.[/p][p]
[/p][h3]ART:[/h3][p]Now that I have all those scenes written out, I need to do ART!!! Thankfully, the artstyle for this game is pretty simple for me to do, and having the backgrounds be collages of stock pictures make the background work a breeze. Day 4 in particular was VERY HEAVY with art, so that one took some time. (20+ backgrounds, 2 new characters and their myriad of expressions, 20+ illustrations and all their variations…!!!)[/p][p](This sweet thang is from Day 4)[/p][p][/p][p]This part takes me around 2 weeks![/p][p]
[/p][h3]IMPLEMENTATION:[/h3][p]Now that all the text is written, and the art has been done… WE GOTTA ADD ALL THAT INTO THE GAME!!![/p][p][/p][p]I divide this work into a few parts:[/p][p][/p][p]-Add all the text and dialogue in the game, which means copy/paste, but also adding all those pesky quotes so the software can recognize this as text. I also add the character tags (here, “a” and “s”) to let Ren’py know who’s talking, as well as {w} to tell Ren’py “hey I want the player to have to press a button before the rest of the sentence appears”.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]-Add all the damn code. Which means: adding when a point and click section appears and how it works, adding any “if AmourPoints>BetzPoints then do this”, etc. [/p][p][/p][p]-Add all the expression changes.[/p][p][/p][p]So for the above, the white text can be translated as “Character Amour, side pose, eyes “hm”, mouth “eh”. Here’s Amour’s “callsaul” pose, named after a certain guy.[/p][p][/p][p]During the implementation stage, adding expressions is the part that takes the longest amount of time by far.[/p][p][/p][p]-Add all the glossary/case entries. Truth Scrapper has many words and Sosotte needs to remember them all, and so the game has a glossary full of the many words, which needs to update as you find the new words.[/p][p][/p][p]-And finally, add all the music and sound effects. PHEW[/p][p][/p][p]This took a week this time because I exhausted myself doing it, but this usually takes me more like 2.[/p][p][/p][h3]EDITING:[/h3][p]
And then I usually spend a week or two playing through the ENTIRE game to make sure it’s good. I usually make a lot of edits, and so I have to play it through a second time, and a third time…[/p][p][/p][p]AND THEN WE’RE DONE. PHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is how I go about things.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Anyway I finished Day 4 so I’m taking a break for a couple weeks. Heehee DON'T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THATS THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!![/p][p][/p][p]Links!
📚 Official Website
📚 Join the Discord
📚 Sign up for my mailing list
📚 Follow Truth Scrapper on Bluesky
📚 Follow ME on Bluesky[/p][p]






[/p]

[p][/p][p]Already a month since the announcement?! Time passes by so fast. I hope everyone is staying cool in this dreadful weather.[/p][p][/p][p]In case you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I am the creator of timeloop RPG In Stars and Time, and now am working on my next game, memory visual novel Truth Scrapper. It’s gonna be a good one.[/p][p][/p][p]This month, I took a trip to Paris, and reworked the memory gameplay a bit![/p][p] [/p][p]So, as you perhaps can tell, TS’s backgrounds are collages of photographs. I’ve been using royalty free images from websites like Pexels, and it’s been going relatively well. Unless I was looking for pictures of Paris that weren’t taken by tourists, or looking for pics of stairs taken from the top of the stairs for some reason.[/p][p][/p][p]In light of that, I decided to go on a trip to Paris for a couple weeks to take reference pictures [/p][p]Ok it might look like I only took pictures of food BUT IT’S RESEARCH OK IT’S RESEARCH OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/p][p]
(Not an actual screenshot– this is how my illustration template is structured!)[/p][p][/p][p]The rest of the month was taken by rewrites and replays. Unlike with ISAT (my previous game) where I worked chronologically with minimal backtracking during development, I feel like for TS I keep going back to previous days to add things, change a scene, remove a bit of foreshadowing that was too obvious… It’s not a bad way of working, but it’s so different from what I’m used to that it stresses me out anyway!!! [/p][p]
[/p][p][/p][p](Old screenshot. The hardboiled eggs aren’t here anymore)[/p][p][/p][p]I also reworked the memory gameplay. The only way to impact the story in TS is not through choices, but with which memories Sosotte decides to remember day-to-day. I originally had some memories be dud memories, or memories that are just here as flavor, but playtesters seemed to keep them anyway… So now, I’m making sure all memories will give you a little something something![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This is how the memories for the prologue look now. Note the icons! [/p][p]
[/p][p]So, if you pick that “funny cloud” memory, you will gain the “sight” perk, which allows Sosotte to, uh, remember to use her eyes. Yippee![/p][p][/p][p]In July, I will finally finish that goshdang script for Day 4, and get it implemented. [/p][p][/p][p]kthnxbye[/p][p] [/p][p]DON'T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THATS THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!![/p][p][/p][p]Links! 📚 Official Website 📚 Join the Discord 📚 Sign up for my mailing list 📚 Follow Truth Scrapper on Bluesky 📚 Follow ME on Bluesky[/p]

It's been a week, and upcoming visual novel Truth Scrapper has already passed ✨ 10,000 wishlists ✨! Thank you for your support! 🤯🥰💖

I got a picture from Sosotte to celebrate the occasion, and here you can see Betz, Sosotte and Amour posing. They are making "10,000" with their hands. I think this is very cute and you definitely can tell they're making numbers and not just looking silly

- Truth Scrapper Intern

We announced Truth Scrapper with a beautiful trailer this month!!! The response has been absolutely incredible, thank you so much for following me on another funky memory adventure. Throughout the development of ISAT, I have written monthly devlogs on Steam, talking about the making of the game. People liked them a bunch, so...

That’s right. It’s time. For the Very First Truth Scrapper devlog!

In case you just stumbled upon this, I am Adrienne, also known as insertdisc5! I am the creator of timeloop RPG In Stars and Time, and now am working on my next game, memory visual novel Truth Scrapper. It’s gonna be a good one.

Alright! Development talk time. Where’s the game at?!?!

So, right now, I have just finished writing the script for Day 4, so I "only" have the art, code, and implementation to do for that day.
Truth Scrapper is divided in 7 days, with three different routes you can go through from Day 6 onwards. So really, I need to write and code 11 days. Which puts me at almost ⅓ through development! WOAHRGH!??!
At this point, I know where the story is going, I know what each route will consist of, etc. I just don’t know the Details. The portraits are all done, backgrounds are done sequentially for every day, gameplay is all figured out…
TLDR: It’s In Good Shape!!!

“That was a good short paragraph, but can I have the detailed timeline of the game. Please.”
ok fine you asked for it


📚 this image was made so early in development, it didn't even have Betz's shibari-like pink harness

[h3]TRUTH SCRAPPER TIMELINE[/h3]

DEC 2022: I finish ISAT around NOV 2022. I get an idea. I write it down. It was going to be an RPG but nobody got time for that. Main themes and ending are here. I work on pre-production very slowly over the next couple months (because I am recovering from finishing ISAT and still gotta keep working on post-production stuff for ISAT)

JULY 2023: Ok fine let's make a renpy file and figure out if the most important gameplay thing can be done. AKA: can I make a book menu where the game remembers the choices you make, and how complicated is that gonna be for me to add to it down the line. It works and I am happy


📚 this image was made so early in development, it just looks very bad

AUGUST 2023: Character design. They look Not Great and character design takes me like nine months. Plot is getting somewhere though!

NOV 2023: In Stars and Time comes out. People like it I think.

MARCH 2024: I decide I need to work on something, and decide to work on that and apply for the Ontario Creates grant. This game is actually starting for realsies!!!!!!!

MAY 2024: I actually lock down character designs.

JUNE 2024: I hire Dora, who was the producer of In Stars and Time and who rules.


📚 dora and i signing our lives to one another on discord. the bond between a creator and their producer can never be broken

SEPT 2024: I work on da gaem

MAY 2025: Day 3 is implemented. We announce the game. Now we’re here!!!!

Alright, that’s it for today! This first devlog is more about telling you where the game is at, and every month you will have a whole new devlog where I can tell you about all the great things I did that month for the game. You can even comment with questions and I might answer them one day. Ok. Thank you. And as always,
DON'T FORGET TO WISHLIST THE GAME ALSO IT REALLY HELPS BECAUSE STEAM’S ALGORITHM IS MORE LIKELY TO SHOW OFF GAMES WITH A HIGH AMOUNT OF WISHLISTS THATS THE REASON WHY GAME DEVS ALWAYS ASK TO WISHLIST!!! OKAY BYE!!!!


Links! 📚 Official Website 📚 Join the Discord 📚 Sign up for my mailing list 📚 Follow Truth Scrapper on Bluesky 📚 Follow ME on Bluesky

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