Worklog on Terry Nguyen

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 6 - New Ideas, Concepts, and Clones?!

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Let’s think in hypothetical terms. Let’s say that you have a clone who are at this very time. Let’s say that this clone, at the point of creation, was exactly the same as you were in both mind and body, but not place, because then we’d have two things occupying the same space, and who knows what would happen then. What would you do?

I’ve always dreamt of having a clone of myself that I could work together with. It’s not because I love or lust for myself excessively so, but if I could have a clone, then I could get twice the amount of work done in the same amount of time, provided that I could merge with my clone and merge our intelligence together into one, but we wouldn’t really have a conflict if we could hide ourselves with just a snap of the fingers.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 4 - Development Tools

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’s been rough around these parts as I’ve been beaten up by my classes. Homework threw the first punch, classwork threw the second, and projects came in with the finishing blow. Did I mention college applications? It’s been difficult to really spend any time on the visual novel project as of late. The plot hasn’t seen a new addition in weeks now, so this’ll be a short post.

I was spending some time on an IndieGaming subreddit when I came across some neat tools. Every four months, there’s an event called the Ludum Dare where people try to put together a game in 48 or 72 hours from start to finish, depending on whether you enter the competition or “jam” respectively. To help participants out, a page on the Ludum Dare website lists some popular and free development tools.

Write a Visual Novel - Entry 3 - Struggling With the Idea

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Early on in the project, I had assigned themes to everyone’s routes. For example, Character 1’s route was considered to be the rational and unworldly route, a path best suited towards those who did not have an incredible attachment to material things. On the other hand, Character 2’s route was the designated route for those who were more worldly or attached to material possessions.

Initially speaking, the idea that caused me to start developing this visual novel was that it revolved around materialism. Do you place too much value in the things you own? Is the matter that makes up the item much more valuable to you than the sentimental value you’ve attached to it? Are neither important at all?

Write a Visual Novel - Day 2: Inspiration!

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Finding the inspiration to actually write something was arguably the hardest part for me as a writer. Back when I was young, naive, and ambitious (i.e. two years ago), I wanted to write a novel. It was November and NaNoWriMo had just begun. I had no plot, no plan, no clue, and no real desire to actually complete that thing. Completing an entire novel just wasn’t something feasible for me. Try as I would, each successive attempt would be equally met with self-depreciation and dissatisfaction.

Write a Visual Novel - Day 1: Why?

terry@terrehbyte.com (Terry Nguyen) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Keeping in mind that this isn’t actually the first day that I’ve worked on the visual novel, I think it’s best if I bring everyone up to speed. The point of trying this self-designed programming exercise is to ease me into programming and learn something in my spare time. I have always wanted to design and build programs, but because of the fact that I get easily discouraged by a lack of results meant that I’ve never been able to do so. By gradually building up my knowledge, I will be better prepared in the future to take on programming classes and assignments as well as having fun in the process by designing a visual novel.