I've finished polishing and rewriting the first half of the stage 2 script. It took a couple of rewrites to get it there, but I think
the script is at a good enough point to move on from this polishing phase of development. I will probably end up doing another small rewrite once I've made the rough version of the stage in Kirikiri. It's a lot easier to notice pacing issues when you've got a rough version of the sound novel to go off on. I've also managed to make a rough estimate of the total number of rebus boards that will be required in this first half: 113. The total rebus count for the whole of Ubu stage 1 was 134, so I think it's more likely than not that stage 2 will end up with a bigger rebus count once all is said and done. As I've been rewriting this first half, I've also made some small progress on the second half. I've plotted out the first three rebus boards for the new stock photo character who will be appearing in this second half. My focus has mainly been on the first half of stage 2, so there hasn't been much progress with the second half. I won't be putting all my attention on this second half until I've done enough work on the first half.
Now that we're out of this rewriting stage, my plan is to start gathering and making all the new background images and UI assets that will be used in this first half. I mentioned in a previous update that I had a rough idea of the assets I'd need to collect for this first half. Since then, the number of assets needed for this first half has only increased. I'll be putting all my energy into gathering as many of these assets as possible. If all goes well, we should have all the assets we'll need for this half. Once that's done, I'll put all my focus on the second half.
I've written and added a lot more to the first half of the stage 2 draft. Any additions I make to the draft after this point will be for more minor things. The next step with this draft is to refine it. The draft for the first stage was also rough to begin with. It took a lot of polishing and rewriting the same lines to get the script to a point where I felt satisfied. With all these revisions, my main goal is to make the prose of the narration and dialogue consistent with how it was in Stage 1. It's vital, too, to rewrite some lines to make them work better in the rebus format. There are also factors like characterisation and readability to consider.
While I've worked on this first half, I've also managed to reach a small breakthrough with the second half of stage 2.
I've begun to formulate the "plot" for the new stock photo character who will be introduced in this second half. For a while, I struggled to define what this character's background and perspective would be within the narrative, but after thinking about it for a bit, I've finally decided on a theme to centre this character around. I plan to give each stage of Ubu some central theme that will ultimately coalesce with the rest of the stages to form one big thesis for the entire novel.
From the beginning of Ubu's development, I planned to make it five stages long. I've already got a good idea of how the sound novel will end (along with certain plot points), but everything before that point is more rough and vaguely defined.
When all five stages have been made and compiled together, I don't think you're going to end up with a very long sound novel. The current plan is to make it as concise as possible while filling it with details that will only be perceivable on repeated read-throughs. At the moment, that is the plan I have for Ubu.
I've completed the rough draft for the first half of stage 2. It was a bit like pulling teeth though.
I've reread what I've wrote over and over again, and there's some bits that work and some bits that need fixing up and added to.
For now, I've got a rough idea of what assets I'll need to collect and make for this first half. There's still so much to do and it's only going to get harder from here on out.
It's been a couple of months since I finished work on the first stage of Ubu. I've decided to start work on stage 2.
I've already got a rough idea of how I want stage 2 to play out. The first half of the stage should be the easier section to make. The second half is probably going to be much harder because I'll be introducing a new character in this half.
I've already got a sprite in mind for this character. The "story" of this character is still being formulated. For now, I'm going to focus on scripting out the first half of stage 2. The focus for this half is to fill in the gaps of knowledge that I didn't include in stage 1 and to add more characterisation moments for the two main characters. There was too much to establish in stage 1, so I didn't get a chance to write many characterisation moments.
In the meantime, I've also released an update for stage 1 to fix some of the issues I found while replaying it. This new version can be downloaded from the bottom of the Ubu itch.io page.
Going forward, I'll be keeping up this production journal to help keep track of Ubu's development. Not every entry in this journal will be as detailed as this one. I've also started up a website here to host this production journal.
