Goodbye, 201X!

It's crazy to think that not only is 2019 almost over, but the entire 201X decade is almost over. I haven't been spending the decade making visual novels, so I won't go into great detail on that front, but this is the decade where I first started making visual novels around 2 years ago, and it's definitely been a bit life-changing. But as for 2019, how did that go for Good Tales? Well, surprisingly well, actually!

There were three big accomplishments for Good Tales in the year 2019: the release of Berry Street's demo in January, the start and completion of REDD War in March, and the start and completion of REDD War: Showtime in November. I didn't think that going into 2019, I'd release ONE complete visual novel, let alone TWO. Yet here we are.

The main concept that eventually became REDD War has been in my head for around 5 or so years now, that concept being "The Purge but improved", but I never thought I would actually do anything with it. But when NaNoRenO 2019 was approaching and I needed a break from Berry Street, I decided "What the heck. I'll give it a shot.". That entire month of March was certainly a fun one, I must admit. Which is ironic, since usually from what I hear, game jams are stressful and painful. I don't know what I did differently, exactly, but I had a blast working on REDD War. Maybe it was finally starting a new project from scratch. Maybe it was my understanding of avoiding mistakes such as making your scope too big. Whatever the case, I'm still very proud of how REDD War turned out even after all these months.

If you haven't read it yet, you can here. It's free and only takes about 1-2 hours depending on your reading speed.

After that, it was back to Berry Street. I used that time to update the demo with more custom features and more code-savy features like blinking and mouth movements. The issue lied in the fact that I was still a bit burnt out on Berry Street. Like a month wasn't enough. And it was slowing progress as a result.

But in mid-June of the year, I stumbled upon the trailer for "The Banana Splits Movie", a slasher film based on a children's show from around 50 years ago. Maybe it's because REDD War was still fresh on my mind, but I was quickly able to form a hypothetical REDD War scenario based on what I had seen, and 5 months later on November 30th, another visual novel was released.

If you think I had a lot of fun working on REDD  War, you can only imagine the amount of fun I had with its sequel. No proper time restraint meant more freedom to make a proper visual novel without limiting myself in story and art. But I didn't want to end up working on the project for TOO long, so I gave myself the deadline of 'fall/autumn', which would only be about 3-5 months. While Showtime ended up being about 4x the length of the original REDD War, it's still relatively short compared to other visual novels. Though, honestly, I think it's at a great length, given the story. Trying to make a visual novel, or any project in any medium, a set length can lead to either filler or removed content. I think REDD War: Showtime is exactly as long as it needed to be, and having that freedom is one reason I enjoy making visual novels compared to, say, a movie or TV show.

So as far as I'm concerned, 2019 was the "Year of the REDD", introducing and exploring the REDD War concept as well as showcasing what you can expect from a Good Tale going forward both in writing and presentation. While reviews, from what I've gathered, have ranged from 'great' to 'mixed', I'm very proud of what both myself and the Good Tales team have created this year, and I'm very much excited to see what will come next. Speaking of which...

What's next for Good Tales in 2020?

Well, the obvious answer is continuing work on Berry Street. What exactly does that entail?

I've spent the month of December going back through Berry Street and replaying what I had thus far, getting myself back into the world and mood of the story. After all, a wholesome slice-of-life is much different than a suspense horror-thriller. I've also organized BS's  horrible spaghetti code a bit to make it just a tad better behind-the-scenes, even if you don't see the difference while playing. I've taken the rest of the month/year to relax a bit and enjoy myself. Once 2020 hits, though, that's when the work properly continues.

For starters, I want to update the demo one final time to have no placeholder assets, and I want to work on the character sprites where applicable, whether the changes be small enough to where it might not be noticed to big enough where the entire thing will need redrawn. If I want Berry Street to look as presentable as possible, I'll need more work done in the art department. So there might not be any story progress for a while, but once that resumes, I'll hope to get Act 2 completed well before the year is over. As for Acts 3 and 4, that'll vary depending on the route. It would be easier on my sanity to write only one route at a time, as these are essentially 4 different stories for the price of 1, so my current plan for that is Brittney, Christeena, Donald, and Eleanor. How far will I get on writing Brittney's path? Only time will tell, but when Act 2 is complete, I'll have a better estimate in place.

But what about projects outside of Berry Street, such as another REDD War or a completely original project? Well, minds can change, but as of now, don't expect anything other than Berry Street for 2020. As much fun as it would be to work on something for NaNoRenO 2020, I feel like taking ANOTHER break from Berry Street after getting right back into it would just look bad. But if by the time I get the demo updated, it's nearly March, I might reconsider depending on what you guys think. Though if that's the case, I'll need to think of an idea...

As for REDD War, I certainly plan to continue that series, but I for sure can promise that it will not be released or even announced in 2020. Like I said, I want to focus more on Berry Street, and even if I wasn't, I don't want to oversaturate the series with constant releases with nothing original in between. 2021 might be a different story in terms of REDD War, but for 2020, don't expect anything.

Outside of Good Tales, though, I'm happy to announce that I, along with SlightlySimple, are going to be helping Team Member Mattyd on his very own visual novel, "OmoNeko"! We'll be working on the coding/cinematography of the visual novel rather than writing, but I'm sure it'll be a great experience nonetheless! You can follow development of the project on its Twitter page, if you're interested.

On a final note, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who has been supportive of both me and Good Tales as a whole. And a huge thank you in particular to these fine individuals:

SlightlySimple, you've been there since Berry Street's demo released and REDD War was first 'pitched', and the feedback, suggestions, sprite editing, and testing you provided during development of both projects really helped, so thank you so much!

HazardSquare, it's so awesome to finally work on a project together after knowing each other for so many years now. The artwork you provided for Showtime was phenomenal and really gave it its unique appearance and tone, something that definitely helped make it a better experience, in my opinion. Add the fact that certain elements such as Kate's outfit during the show was conceptualized by you and you've got an artist I'm proud to have had help me in this project, so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Mattyd, when we first met, you were just the guy I had help make the backgrounds. Now, I'm honored to call you one of my best online friends! It's clear you care about visual novels as a medium, and your passion of making one of your own is crystal clear. So thank you for both the backgrounds and all that you do for the VN community! I can't wait to work with you again on both OmoNeko and any future projects, whether they be Good Tales, MDM Studios, or whatever!

thugzilla and Xeno, you two are very much great people to have on the Good Tales server, whether you're giving feedback on development or just contributing to a conversation. So thank you both for being relatively active and just being incredible people overall!

Eric Matyas, even though none of the songs you made were made specifically for REDD War or REDD War: Showtime, the fact that soundimage.com exists and is a great source for royalty-free music is phenomenal, and neither REDD War story would be the same without it, so thank you! I'm very happy to consider you an honorary Good Tales team member.

And last but not least, anyone who's actually downloaded and read the visual novels released! Whether you loved them, hated them, or just thought they were okay, the fact that someone downloaded and read my story is just amazing and makes it all worth it.

With all that said, I think that's a wrap! Once again, thank you to everyone who's been supportive of Good Tales in some form, and let's all have ourselves an incredible time going forward, not just this year, but to the entire 202X decade!

- Cole Goodrich