TheMartinExperiment

He's back! Our talented artist is back!

Greetings, dear supporters and followers! As you may know, the Artist, one of the creative minds behind the narrative of The Martin Experiment, had to step back many months ago to take care of his health. Since then, I've diligently worked to fulfill all the needed duties and make this dream come true. I've met some incredible people who helped me handsomely in many areas of this project. Still, no one had the muscles to handle the drawing process as well as our original artist, so I had to l...

May development build is here!

Hey there, amazing patrons!

I've just uploaded this month's development build for all Level Three: Contributors to test and explore!

To access the development build, simply check your DMs where you'll find a message with the download link. Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us as it will help shape the final version of the game.

Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm. Let's make our visual novel the best it can be!

The Martin Experiment Survey: partial survey results are in!

Two weeks ago, I launched a survey to gather your valuable insights and opinions about the game, and I must say, the response has been overwhelming! I'm getting new answers almost daily, and I couldn't be more grateful for your active participation. It's WAY more than I was waiting for.

Now, let's dive into the survey results together, shall we? But before we do, let me extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you who took the time to share your thoughts and ideas. Your f...

Sprite dump from Discord! Also, the survey is going very well!

I have been posting work-in-progress images on the patrons-only Discord server to receive feedback for some time now, and I decided to dump the prettiest ones to express my gratitude for your participation in my survey! Your answers, especially the written ones, are unbelievably helpful. :D

I'm planning to make a post discussing the preliminary results next week before it becomes too overwhelming to fit into a single post, so wait for it!

If YOU haven't participa...

2023-05-19 21:40:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Help shape our visual novel - Fill out our survey now!

Hello everyone!

I've created a quick survey to gather feedback on some aspects of this project and its community. Your feedback will help me make informed decisions about the direction of this project and ensure that I'm creating a story and a future experience that you will love.

The survey only takes a few minutes to complete, but the insights I'll gain from it will be invaluable. I appreciate your honest feedback and look forward to using it to shape the future of this project....

April dev build ready and uploaded!

I am currently sending it to all Level Three contributors. This build features Martin and Melissa interacting for the first time in their new drawing style. I am planning to create as many Melissa sprites as possible throughout March now that I have all the necessary assets working well. Things are starting to get visually exciting!

I'm back! :D

Hello, my dear patrons!

It's been more than a month since my last post and I'm sure some of you are wondering where I've been.

I just wanted to let you all know that I have not given up on this project, not even close. In fact, I went temporarily radio silent so I could focus even more on improving the quality of my work. I had to do some major rework on the 3D model that I've been using as a reference for my drawings because I'm determined to create the best possible content for ...

Real-time file updates.

Dear Patrons,

I am excited to announce a new feature on my Discord server that will allow you to track my work in real-time like never before. Starting , I have added a new bot to the discord server that will report every file change I make on the project as soon as it happens.

This is a great new feature because it will allow you to stay up-to-date with every change I make to the project. You'll be able to see exactly what I'm working on, and you can even as...

Melissa: almost ready for drawing

Attention all Patreon supporters! It's time for an exciting update on our project progress!

Do you remember her? It's the mysterious woman that comes to see Martin and passes out.

After countless hours of hard work, I've finally completed the necessary code to handle the mysterious woman's interactions with Martin, and I'm now ready to draw her stunning cutscenes! But that's not all - I'm...

The latest addition to the interface:

I made one more layer of visual clues to make the game feel more responsive when the player interacts with the environment. I can't hold my excitement. This addition completes what is needed to handle interactions with that woman on the floor.

• You can click on a specific button, and these stencils show up in the environment to make it clear where you can interact with the environm...
  2023-02-14 02:58:54 +0000 UTC View Post

January Development Build Uploaded!

Sending to Level 3 supporters immediately! 

This month I overhauled the code to support exciting special effects for the interface. The backgrounds were updated to the rendering style and I reorganized the folder structure to make better use of some Ren'py helper functions. The game is rapidly coming together and we're getting closer to the juiciest parts ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) of the project. 

I'll make a detailed post next week describing all the news. Stay tuned!

Big improvement on backgrounds

I was working nonstop on this since December 28 and the effort is paying off so much that I can't even believe it.

I've converted almost all my Photoshop pipeline to DaVinci Fusion nodes, as you can see above. I had to learn a lot of things about color spaces and some DaVinci-specific things to achieve similar results to what I had with Photoshop.

But why did I pass all this trouble if I ...

New feature optimized and fully implemented!

I started to call it "notification_icon" while refactoring it, but I'm unsure if the name will stick. Its purpose is to show where are the interactable regions of the house to make it easier for the player to figure out what Martin can and can't do.

The player clicks on the "test" button to activate it, and after displaying it for enough time, it quickly vanishes to keep the game visually clean. This activation button is temporary, and I will replace it when I figure out the design of t...

New feature! (I don't know how to call it yet!)

It shows where you can click to interact with the environment. I made it work in a kind of hacky way, so Ren'Py stutters a bit to show the visual effects. The next step is to refactor and optimize this code a bit, so I can make it more versatile and responsive for future updates.

I need a proper name for this feature. I'm calling it an "exclamation mark" in code, but it won't hold much longer, as I could make it show other symbols for different interactions.

Task Trackers working again!

I've made good progress rescheduling my routine and putting everything in order! This is so satisfying!

• I've found a way to wake up consistently every day at 05:50 AM without feeling sleepy, expanding my available time to work on this episode.
• I also found a checklist management app to keep track of everything I need to do daily.
• I emptied my entire brain on this checklist app, so I don't need to keep spending energy trying to remember things all the time anymore...
  2022-12-03 23:32:36 +0000 UTC View Post

November Build!

- 53 images updated

- It could be WAY more images, but a weird bug in some .psd files made me rework an entire section and revert other stuff. I will fix that in the next update.

- Sent the download link via DM to all Level Three Contributors.

Still planning my new schedule. Almost there!

I already have a date for the next monthly build: I will send it on November 28, Monday. I plan to include all the cutscenes I made during these last four hellish months.

I've found a new app to help me track all my tasks and started figuring out the best way to use it. I also found a way to visually map all the blank spots I have to cover with artwork inside the game, and I'll implement it right away, so we will have a clearer view of how much we are from completion. 2022-11-24 20:05:41 +0000 UTC View Post

I'm free again

The contract with that psychiatric hospital has officially ended. I walked out of there with all my pockets refilled. I'm sure this much will keep me afloat for enough time to release this game!

I just started to plan my schedule to work more efficiently and to keep up with all the Patreon perks, including the monthly builds. I can't wait for it! :D

Cutscene: showering

Four more days!

I can smell the freedom already! :D

Cutscene: inspecting keys

They've updated the last day of my contract at the hospital: it ends on November 17. Two more weeks and I'll be free again!

Two more cutscenes!

- Martin finds insecticide cans

- Martin finds a key in the wrong place

We are getting closer and closer :D

Cutscene: martin texting

It took me almost the entire day to make this cutscene work right. This cutscene will be procedurally animated during gameplay and have more reactions based on what you make him write. I hope you like it!

I wish I could write more, but I have a 12-hour shift tomorrow starting at 6 a.m., so I got to sleep fast. My contract at the hospital ends on November 15. Just 34 more days, and I will be free again!