Progress

Hello everyone, I am moving along with the project, still developing the assets for the first chapter of the Project Yggdrasil. Here I can reveal a few more details of what’s happening so far.

Firstly, I have settled on using Ren’Py as the engine powering my visual novel as I felt it fits best due to ease of use and had previously used it for my past project. So I’m learning more python along the way. At this stage I have implemented a custom title page that changes based on progression in the story. The main menu system is heavily customized though early in the design element. I have planned to include the standard features of history, save and load page and preference, as well as Glossary, a Gallery page and a Music page, all under Extras menu section. These three will be unlocked as the story advances.

The Glossary page will house all the details about the characters, locations, and lore mentioned in the story. The Gallery and Music room is where you can review unique “CG” backgrounds and music featured in the project and will unlock as the player progresses through the story. All of these feature will persist regardless of game save.

As for what I have planned for the Prologue chapter, the story is set 15 years prior to the main story and is centered around Doran Dawnstrider, the main protagonist of the story. It will be set on a beautiful tropical island of Kamanse, where he is born and raised. He is written to be a deaf person wearing a hearing instrument and is a half-breed. I wanted to use Doran as a window for the reader to experience the trials that most folks born deaf or hard of hearing go through in real life. Especially when trying to navigate between deaf and hearing world. He wears a hearing device called Lapis Lazuli, named after the color of the stone embedded upon it. It is built with ancient artifact repurposed to help facilitate Doran’s ability to hear and understand the world around him. He is able to learn how to speak and sign. Despite all of his setback, he remains strong and positive in his outlook and is gifted with use of light magic and fencing, serving as a metaphor for being a guiding light.

And I am writing the story from his own point of view for majority of the story but I do have some interesting ideas to put into the story later on, so look forward to it.

For now to do list is: Write in the prologue text into the visual novel. Generate placeholder graphics and test out the layout and flow of the story. Generate short music clips to act as mood of the story with plans to have fully developed tracks.

At this point the story is currently in rough draft phase from chapter Prologue through 2 written and should have the proofreading done by mid March. and I aim to have a least the barebones of prologue completed by end of March with soft launch around that time.

So keep an eye out for further updates.

Cheers Hyperion