DEVLOG - 2024 Celebration and Recap!

Catalyst: Blind Faith » Devlog
8 days ago by Just Write Studios
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I have never been so excited to celebrate the end of a year. 2024 was far and away the most challenging year of my life, and there is an ENORMOUS amount to show for it!😤

In addition to the strides made with the demo's development for Catalyst: Blind Faith, hundreds of thousands of words written and edited for the full game, and a staggering amount of progress on art and animations, we've had an avalanche of community support. MANY innovations in accessibility were made possible by the Ren'Py community and our Discord's killer members too!

It took me several days just to organize this recap, due to the astonishing amount that was accomplished. I could not have done a fraction of this much work without the love and support of my partner and CBF's producer (I love you Gob <3), the entirety of the legends in Just Write Studios, and all of you who have been cheering development on!!

We'll be celebrating in the community Discord on January 3rd to bring in the New Year! Whether or not you can join us then, I hope you have had happy holidays and are just as excited for 2025 as I am.

Just want to mention, there are a hell of a lot of pics to share, but due to itch.io's excruciatingly small file size, every image here is compressed to oblivion and many were simply too large to post here! All images are embedded in the crosspost on Patreon, are viewable by anyone, and I also have high-res downloads for free in that post too! You can find it here.

Without further ado let's dive into this utterly ridiculous recap. I tried to make it easy to read but it's still a lot. I hope you enjoy!!!

ART AND ANIMATIONS

  • CHARACTER CONCEPTS, SHAPE LANGUAGE, AND DESIGNS ARE CEMENTED FOR:
    • Father Richard Anscham - Main character
    • Ray - Arguably actually the main character
    • Ofelia "Eagle-Eye" Banks - Optional party member
    • Celegwen - Optional party member
    • Lord Yech the Disgusted - Optional party member
    • Orgoth - Antagonist
  • You can read more about the extensive considerations for these characters and their shape language, silhouettes, AND MORE in this devlog here!
  • Over 92% of the demo’s camerawork and animations are complete!
    • WIP sketches are in place for all visuals, transitions, character designs, expressions, poses, and more!
    • Here on Patreon we have a short trailer showcasing a ton of that action for patrons at any tier! 💖
  • 🙏 Concepts for every deity's CG in the pantheon are a WIP, I am fighting god to not spoil anything but I am very excited 🙏
  • And the longest animation in the demo, the timelapse near the start, is complete!
    • Its timing has been improved and thoroughly tested.
    • It can also be paused or skipped at any time!

MENUS AND ACCESSIBILITY

locked in for this one


  • The photosensitivity splash screen has been replaced with the Options screen immediately displaying upon first starting the game. This immediate prompt only shows when first starting the game, but the Options screen can be accessed by players from any screen at any time.
  • A huge visual overhaul of the Options screen and navigation has been made to improve colors, icons, and its layout for maximum clarity!


  • The Ren'Py Default Accessibility menu has been given a complete style overhaul, massively clarifying features. It also now matches the other menus in Catalyst: Blind Faith. 💖

  • Created a color picker for the high contrast text feature, with the incredible help of the Ren'Py community. This innovation in accessibility was a multi-week endeavor, that now allows players to choose their font color and contrasting background in real time, all without restarting the game!

  • The Content Warning, Autosave Preference, and Saves Unlocked screens have had their verbiage updated for clarity and brevity! They are also presented entirely with code, making it (and all other menus) compatible with screen readers and all other accessibility settings!

The new chapter screen is so crisp. so prettyyy 😌💖

  • I've replaced 13 flat images used as placeholders for the chapter title screens with final code! This freed up a whopping 10MB by removing those placeholders.
  • Now I can display all chapter numbers, titles, and subtitles in any combination with smart interpolation of variables in parameterized text!!!
  • What this means for players is regardless of how you progress through the game, your chapter numbers will always accurately count up – and if any wacky time travel stuff is involved, it accounts for that neatly too!
  • The text in-engine also just looks so much nicer aaaa

  • Text tags (bold, italics, underline, etc.) now render on the History screen!
  • The timelapse from the prologue also now populates in the History menu!

ADDITIONALLY✨

  • The main menu's layout and positioning is complete! A total overhaul has been done to its buttons and animations, freeing up even MORE placeholders.
  • Complete revamp of the Gallery is done, using the Multi-Touch Zoom Gallery code by Feniks!
    • Custom navigation for the gallery has separate sections for Places, Characters, Gods, Demons, and Demo Endings.
    • New features in the Gallery include improved navigation, zoom (with mouse, keyboard, gamepad, or touchscreen), rotate, and a timed slideshow with auto-play.
    • The "Momentos" category has been cut from the gallery, as key item acquisition is now handled with the in-game screen signifying their narrative importance. They populate in the Inventory tab of the Journal menu for reference.

YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH UI BUT THE JOURNAL HAS BEEN FINISHED AND DESERVES ITS OWN SECTION

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  • Final assets are completed!!!!!!!!! Matching the quality, semi-realistic, and painterly style of the final release. 💪💪💪💪
  • Greatly improved clarity on all assets! Tons of care put into improved ease of navigation! I spent weeks on finalizing the UI design!!!! 🧠🧠🧠🧠
  • Navigation is now in alphabetical order, with all tabs spelled out (rather than using images alone for deities).
  • Bug fixed, by adding a named but previously missing asset related to events with the Goddess of Time.
  • The bookmarks, sub-menus, scrollbars, and all pages now remember where you last left off too. It feels amaziiiiiing

  • A hover image has been added for the inventory with its final asset! This really helps with controllers especially, for clarity and ease of navigation.

  • Isometric maps are complete too! Art, their modular nature (areas you have unlocked are the ones that are displayed), and the final code!
  • The code has been so massively streamlined, I removed 28 redundant lines of code and 1.54MB of images! 💪

  • The Hover Hand™ has been programmed!
    • Upon hovering over the first page of any deity's section of the Journal, a shadow will appear of the MC's hand with a nice animation.
    • The appearance of the hand can change depending on if the player's choice have caused the MC to lose a ton of blood (a little shaky), if he bulks up, different poses to reflect extreme emotional states, etc.
    • The art asset of his hand will be updated with its final visuals to reflect the MC’s lanky physical appearance before our next build!

🪞 ON THE NOTE OF REFLECTING THE APPEARANCE OF OUR MC 🪞

  • A new "Find Reflection" feature is now available at specific, story-appropriate moments!!!! Catalyst: Blind Faith is seen through his eyes, so this is so you can view his reflection in appropriate nearby surfaces when it makes sense to.

  • Just like how the “Find Reflection” feature reflects the MC’s current appearance, his appearance reflects your choices. (Please take good care of him 🫶)

FITTING ROOM

  • Just for fun (this has no effect on the in-game appearance of our MC, as that would be changing continuity and wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense lol), we have a cosmetic image viewer!
  • You can view appearances you have unlocked from any playthrough in this demo screen, the "Fitting Room," on the main menu.
  • This feature is a WIP. A demo version will be available in the upcoming build!

ITEMS OBTAINED SCREEN

  • Upon acquiring story-significant items, a new screen now displays!
  • This screen for obtaining items contains an image of the item in question, its name, a description, and accompanying SFX.
  • Items seen in this fashion always populate in the “Inventory” section of the player’s journal, along with its flavor text.

WRITING

Home stretch and this is the biggest section. STRAP IN


Embarking on writing the darkest content in the game – a route where you pursue your relationship with the God of Vengeance above all others - has taken LEAPS AND BOUNDS longer than anything else I've ever done.

It should come as no surprise that writing such serious content with the gravity and care it deserves has been far from a solo endeavor! 💪

SHOUT OUT to KnowledgeDomain, our lead editor. Her standards for quality are astronomical, and only paralleled by her professionalism and dedication to her projects. I am intensely proud to work with her. 💖

In Just Write Studios, we have numerous Quality Assurance experts!! HUGE shout out to our narrative consult, Cirno, who has been working on Catalyst: Blind Faith since day 1. His sensitivity reading, continuity checks, and feedback is invaluable, along with all of the hours he's spent hearing me ramble about outlining and what content to cut or keep. 😂🫶

I've also had the help of a dedicated critique group (QueenofOj and TheRealWiwaxia, you ARE REAL ONES, thank you!!!), as well as a small army of volunteers who have shared their experiences, offered focused sensitivity reading, and an overwhelming amount of support.

IN FACT THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE SAID ABOUT ALL OF THIS WRITING, I began a 10-part devlog series to do justice to it all. That’s where the flowchart all the way above comes from!

I am really looking forward to picking up on those deep dives into the narrative and technical structure, as well as how I handle things like unreliable narrators and sensitive content all throughout 2025! ❤️ We are well on our way to plowing through its crazy narrative structure, and I have also outlined all other routes and narrative structures for the full game!! ✍️

AND LAST

BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

COMMUNITY

  • VN CONF 2024: I gave a very well-received 20 minute talk at the start of the year with analysis on choices in games! You can find it here on YouTube: "Choices in Visual Novels – What Makes Them Meaningful?"
  • VN CONF TALK COMIN UP IN 2025: I'm giving a talk on accessibility in games on January 25th! More info here!
  • HAD A LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE DEMO IN JANUARY 2024
    • 50k+ interactions on Twitter!
    • Over 200 auditions!
    • 5 voice actors were cast for a 4 hour live performance: Anicia, Kiri, Lord Rexworth, Cren, and RizzosBT!
    • Their talents will be featured with voice effects in the full game! 🎙️💯

  • 1,500+ followers on Bluesky in our first 2 months!! ❤️

  • 165 MEMBERS IN OUR COMMUNITY DISCORD ❤️❤️
  • SO MUCH GOOD FANART (PLEASE GO SHOUT AT THEM ABOUT HOW NICE IT IS)
  • 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OUR COMMUNITY DISCORD 🥳❤️

  • Partnering with Feniks to make a tool out of my SFX toggle in a SFX suite of tools to improve accessibility for other Ren'Py Devs!!

  • Worked with the support of the Ren'Py Discord for the High Contrast color picker tool!!
  • Many streams of the early development demo this year also aaa! ❤️❤️❤️

AND THIS ISN'T EVEN ALL OF IT (but that's quite a lot and just about everything huuuge)!

I'm elated to rant more in our community Discord and on Bluesky daily with updates. Catalyst: Blind Faith is an epic endeavor and I mean that in every sense of the word.

Despite the incredible hardships 2024 brought for me, I could not be more proud of everything that was accomplished, and am ecstatic for what the new year will bring!! Next month I'll be releasing a roadmap of my goals for 2025. You can find my devlogs here and on Patreon!

January 25th is the Visual Novel Conference, where I'll be giving a very short talk on accessibility in games, and all the rest of the year will be blasting ahead with more work for our demo!!!

I'll see you all on Discord, Bluesky, itch.io, and hope to see you at our Discord New Year's party on January 3rd!!!

Thank you for reading!!! Here's to conquering every demon 2024 had to throw our way, and to a very happy New Year!🎉🎉🎉

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