Making of OSAS Excerpt: Voice Directing for OSAS, An Interview with MAHO!Cody
over 2 years ago – Mon, Jul 31, 2023 at 07:51:02 PM

Hello, August! As we wait with bated breath for the three week mark of the campaign, I thought you all would like another glimpse into the production of OSAS--namely, through MAHO!Cody's voice direction:

I first (peripherally) worked with MAHO!Cody on Parasite in Love by Night Asobu, where he also served as voice director. Though I was only a designer for the game, playing through the voiced endings really showed me the importance of having someone direct.  And so, when I put out a call for voice directors and he got in contact, it was an obvious choice.

The process of voicing for the game thus far has been incredibly smooth, and I can attribute this in part to MAHO!Cody's help as someone far more experienced with voice acting than I. It says a lot that, despite my personally never having been part of the recording sessions due to time zone conflicts, the end product for every voice scene he's directed Max and Shaun for thus far is as perfect as it is.

(He also helped develop the Remote Voice Acting Script Template I made for the purposes of recording, and you can find it here!)

It's been a rewarding process to work on OSAS with MAHO!Cody as a voice director, and it's only right that I give him a moment in the spotlight! In addition to the VA Interview which we gave you an excerpt of in our Week 1 Update, there'll also be an interview with him in the Making of OSAS book! 

Here's an excerpt of that interview for your reading pleasure:

Voice Directing for OSAS: An Interview with MAHO!Cody (Excerpt)

QUESTION: You’ve worn many hats in your internet career—your Tumblr description defines you as a “Voice director/Youtuber/Game dev/Lyricist” (and of course, “The ‘What's up, GAMERS?’ guy”—your greeting of choice). Given the diversity of roles you’ve held and your own perspective as a dev yourself, how is voice directing for an interactive medium like a game different than for other mediums?

MAHO!CODY: "No lip syncing! Thank god! I grew up on the early 90’s boom of American cartoons, like Animaniacs and Rocko’s Modern Life. Unlike an anime dub, cartoons get voiced first and the animation is matched to the line delivery. Anyone who’s done dub work will tell you that you are a prisoner to the facial expression and lip flaps you need to match."

  "Visual novels often have the character sprites done before casting, but the ‘animation’ can still be the product of the actor’s (and reader’s) imagination. I enjoy having those wide margins and that room to play."

QUESTION: How did you prepare to direct for OSAS?

MAHO!CODY: "That essentially boiled down to playing the demo, taking notes, and identifying what about a scene is important now, and what will be important later. A character can say “ice cream isn’t my thing” and it can be completely benign, or it can be that ice cream unlocks a terrible memory and several chapters of backstory that we have to foreshadow for later. The weight of implication lies heavy indeed."

"This approach has been very workmanlike, but I try to bring what authenticity I can to the project. Do I know anything about being gay? [Classified]. Do I know anything about Victorian England? Not really. But can I help tell a story about two wayward souls who find each other and become better people through having found each other? Absolutely. Abso-freaking-lutely."

An excerpt of the Chapter 4 voiced scene from the Extended Demo:

QUESTION: How did your expectations for the project change after the Extended Demo voice sessions?

MAHO!CODY: "Your first work session with a new team always carries some anxiety and some hype, and you’re all hoping for the best that the project takes off. "

"I feel that Max and Shaun were excellent choices for the lead characters. They play off each other so well, and their chemistry has only improved as we’ve continued. If your actors understand a scene and each other well enough, sometimes the best thing you can do as voice director is say nothing at all. Just be ready with a joke (and gracious applause) when they’re done."

 "Scheduling them to act together, in one voice call, really helped iron out wrinkles and elevated things in a way that wouldn’t have been possible directing just one at a time."

"The additional sessions we’ve done have only proven to me that it isn’t just my own brain trying to hype things up; this is a wonderful story, managed by a great team, and despite taking place in the 1800’s it is a story that is worth telling right now. I’m excited to continue."

QUESTION: What were your favourite scenes to direct thus far?

MAHO!CODY: "The first one! The initial meeting in Chapter 2. That real anxiety from the first session translated very well into the meeting between Hugo and Seamus. Let’s just get it all out there and make it as cringe as possible. The kids will love it. Well, they’ll probably take massive psychic damage from how #relatable it is, but then after Hugo makes his bold proclamation, we reel them back in."

 "We want them to believe in Hugo and Seamus having a happy ending. And we want the audience to hold out hope for their own happy ending, as well. Take it from somebody with experience: Love isn’t always where you expect to find it."

I hope you enjoyed this look into MAHO!Cody's perspective as Voice Director for our game!

As ever, thank you for being a part of this campaign no matter how big or small! 🫶✨ If you'd like to recruit others to join in on the making of this game, that would be a great help! You can link them our linktr.ee or Itch.io and Steam pages. 💌

Yours truly,

Ing

P.S. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, we'd love to hear from you!

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for weekly campaign updates written by the characters of OSAS! We're sure Hugo would love for another reader to join him for the Illustrated OSAS News.

Our Week 2 Progress, Plot Thickening, and Fanart!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jul 26, 2023 at 05:14:11 PM

Dear Backers,

We have now reached the 15 day mark on the Of Sense and Soul campaign, meaning we are just about halfway through our 30 day Kickstarter. How time flies! Thank you once again for coming along on this journey with us; we hope you aren't refreshing the page too much!

First, as this is business, the usual PSA: If you know of anyone who would consider backing the campaign or who would know people who do, now is as good a time as ever to share Of Sense and Soul with them. (Our linktr.ee is a great place to start for newcomers!) 

Alright! Let's get on with the rest of the update!

Progress

This update marks the end of Week 2 of our campaign, and we're sitting at 42% of our funding goal! 

Another 30 backers joined us this week (potentially including whoever is reading this right now!) Thank you so much for being here, along with all the rest of our supporters and backers, to make this possible.

As for our community challenges...

•  Spread the Word 📯 500 of 300 Tumblr Notes ✅ 147 of 200 Retweets, 190 of 200 Backers
•  Love Letters 💌 8 of 20 Posts
•  Inspired Works 🎨 8 of 20 Fanfics/Fanarts

We're only 53 retweets and 10 backers from unlocking that blooper reel! There's still time before "re-x-ing" catches on, so you can make this announcement post one of your last official "retweets" if you'd like to support our cause. 

We also received a few Love Letters and Inspired Works! There'll be a fanart showcase at the bottom of this update. 🎉

Be sure to tag us @ofsenseandsoul on Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram if you post about OSAS or create some fanwork for the remaining two challenges!

The Plot Thickens: Brainstorming for Hugo Ch.6 and Everett's Attic Study

Like a well-simmered stew, we've been steadily writing the game alongside getting Seamus Chapter 1 gameplay-ready! I thought I'd tell you a bit about our writing process and give you a glimpse into the "writer's room" in this update.

Of Sense and Soul is written by two people: Rowan leads on Hugo's route and I lead on Seamus' route. It makes for some fun interplay between the perspectives we're presenting, and keeps the plot events fresh (since Hugo and Seamus share common moments together all throughout the game!) 

(We also occasionally exchange chapters—Rowan rubs their hands together for Seamus' family drama chapters, for example, while I got to write Hugo being all flustered for the Omnibus scene in Chapter 8 and have written Hugo's poems thus far!)

For the most part, we work independently, but in our weekly meetings we come together to discuss progress on the game. We then either run writing sprints to add to the game content, or we go through edits and brainstorming. This past meeting was a brainstorming day in which we discussed Hugo Chapter 6, which continues the Dr. Everett Lewis work assignment plotline after its introduction in Chapter 3. It features a new location, Everett's Attic Study, and a new character—Ananya Lewis, Everett's wife. 

We ask ourselves what the main objective of the chapter should be, and then determine how we'll frame the events depicted: is it a recollection of some earlier event, or is it chronologically linear? Then, Rowan and I flesh out and bounce ideas regarding the conversations characters share during the chapter as well as their movements throughout it, in pursuit of that chapter's objective. 

Beyond the story events themselves in the case of Hugo Chapter 6, Hugo is visiting Everett's study for the first time and will be doing a good deal of observing the space he's in. This means Rowan needs an idea of what Hugo would be seeing.

That brings us to the visuals: We've always operated with art and writing being in production together—with my being the main artist, the visuals of the game have been very much planned and catered to the writing and vice versa. I'm also the resident Victoriana expert and have many references on hand, so we factor this into the brainstorming process!

Everett's Attic Study is an entirely new location, but one that we've had ideas for since 2019; it's one of the more strongly real-world inspired locations in OSAS. It could be considered an amalgam of the study in Thomas Carlyle's House for its unique attic and skylight features, Charles Darwin's study in Down House, for clutter a naturalist would surround himself with, and Linley Sambourne House, for its fashionable late-Victorian Aesthetic interiors. We took a look at these locations from photos I've collected to flesh out our conceptions of the setting, and to think about the character details translating to interior touches. 

Dr. Lewis is notably a naturalist who studies birds but is opposed to capturing live specimens, (as many scientists did at the time) so what would he keep instead? Empty birds' nests, perhaps, or displays of dropped feathers, or trays of eggshells, or carvings of the birds he studies? These are also the kinds of details Hugo might notice in looking around the room, so they're important to get right. 

And so, this brainstorming serves several purposes: to further the story of Chapter 6, to deepen Everett's character, to lend direction to the background design, and to align Rowan's and my ideas so we can navigate co-creation smoothly.

After the meeting, I sat down to search for references for those decor items and create preliminary designs for the space (via sketching by hand and 3D rendering on Homestyler), and sent these to Rowan to use as they write the chapter. After the chapter is drafted, I'll do an editing pass on it (which we then review together) and then it'll be ready to put in the game. 

That's just a quick dive into our brainstorming process, but I hope it was an interesting read!

Fanart!

There is nothing we love more than seeing Hugo and Seamus drawn by other artists. I draw them so often, it's refreshing and heartwarming when others depict them in their own ways!

Recently, there's been a #SixFanarts trend going around the Indie VN sphere on Twitter, and we were spoiled for lovely little portraits of them! 🙌

From left to right, top to bottom:

•  Hugo by ladymeowsith (100% my favourite Hugo expression) and rottentief (So sweet and cheery!)
   
•  Seamus by nefferinthia (So refined and serene...), GuhuhuGames (I'd like to pinch those cheeks, and that cheeky smile!), teamgalens (BISHIE SEAMUS???? 😳✨), and elduator (he brought his hair and cheekbone A-game!!)  

We also received a stunning surprise from n4c9s of Seamus pulling Hugo in for a waltz in the rain!

Such an adorable scene and idea! Sometimes when the dancing bug hits, Hugo, it hits, come rain or shine! (And of course, you just have to pull your significant other into it.) 💖💦

See or share this art on Tumblr or Twitter!

Last but not least (and I'm technically responsible for this, having leapt to commission them) Siyokoy has drawn this tender portrait of Hugo and Seamus! 😊🌈

I have nothing else to say. Please just look at them... 🙏

See or share this art on Twitter! 

That will do nicely for our Week 2 update, I think. It's yet another read and a half, but I couldn't just update you and leave it at that, could I? 

As ever, thank you for being a part of this campaign no matter how big or small! 🫶✨

Yours truly,

Ing

P.S. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, we'd love to hear from you!

If you'd like to recruit others to join in on the making of this game, that would be a great help! You can link them our linktr.ee or Itch.io and Steam pages. 💌

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for weekly campaign updates written by the characters of OSAS! We're sure Hugo would love for another reader to join him for the Illustrated OSAS News.

A Paper Doll Add-On & Sneak Peeks!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 23, 2023 at 07:52:12 PM

Dear Backers,

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and will have a lovely week ahead. This update is to inform you all that the KS Exclusive Paper Doll Set of Hugo and Seamus has now been included as an add-on for your pledges! ✨👀

If you've backed at the Vignette or Reflection/Early Reflection tiers which don't include the paper dolls and have been wanting them, or if they're included but you'd like an additional PDF to gift, they are now available in the Add-Ons for our campaign for HK$55 (~US$7).

(Of course, every little bit counts towards our funding goal! And we're not too far off from reaching half of our funding goal at our current 40%... If you'd like to help us get to 50% and that new demo chapter more quickly, the add-ons would be a great place to get yourself an additional treat!)

Since we're here, why don't I give you a little peek at how those dolls are going?

Doll Outfit Sketches

The art for the dolls isn't complete quite yet, but things are coming together slowly and surely!

I'm currently at the stage of sketching out the outfits they'll have, including their undergarments/bases, everyday wear, outerwear, and nightwear. The GIF below shows these off!

There are one or two more outfits planned on top of this, including evening dress. (Black tie, anyone?) 

Designing Dolls for Accessibility

As I've considered the rewards for this campaign, I did some prototyping and testing of the printable rewards, including the bases for these dolls!

If you've ever played with or seen paper dolls in situ, you might know they're a bit fiddly to cut out and stand up! They tend to be quite tall if they're at full body proportions, which means I had to ensure the dolls could be supported by the stands included with them. 

As a printable reward, I had the following accessibility elements in mind as I tested and designed them:

• Users should be able to cut the dolls out using standard paper scissors, without special cutting tools.
• The dolls should look good printed in colour or in grayscale, accommodating different printer types (i.e. laser versus inkjet) where possible.
• Options and/or features should be provided for users with limited hand dexterity, stability, or motor skill who may not be able to cut around tight corners. 
• The dolls should stand when printed on regular A4/Letter size printer paper, which is flimsier than paper used to print commercially sold dolls.

Added Print-out Features

The sittees were made available as a Vignette Tier reward as part of offering more options to users who might find it difficult to cut the paper dolls out—they come with a smooth white margin that you can cut around, which is easier to accomplish than navigating the tight corners and details of the main figures of the sittees and paper dolls.

The printable Hugo & Seamus Sittees also endured a similar process of testing as the paper dolls, including having coins taped to their bottoms in the scientific pursuit of finding ways to anchor them in place. (Yes, very scientific!)

While the paper dolls themselves would be difficult to provide that same option for, the pages themselves have been given additional purpose through the addition of fashion factoids about the outfits the dolls wear, both for people who wish to print and cut the dolls out or for people who want to flip through and read about the 1870s wardrobes chosen for Hugo and Seamus.

Prototyping the Dolls

Here's video showing the extremely rigorous testing process endured by the boys for this reward, making sure that the stands were sturdy enough to hold them. Obviously, the stands shown here didn't make the cut!

And here they are, properly printed on their current stands and, as promised, holding hands! 🤝

Further testing will be required once the outfits are lined, as they'll put additional weight on the dolls, but this is a good starting point for me to build on. 

Though the remainder of the work for these dolls (among the game and all the other rewards!) is still to be completed, I'm excited about them already! I hope you all are too. 💖

Yours truly,

Ing

P.S. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, we'd love to hear from you!

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for weekly campaign updates written by the characters of OSAS! We're sure Hugo would love for another reader to join him for the Illustrated OSAS News.

Our Week 1 Progress, a VA Interview Excerpt, and Seamus Chapter 1!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jul 19, 2023 at 05:34:49 PM

Dear Backers,

We have now struck the 7 day mark on the Of Sense and Soul campaign, and what a week it has been! 

(How is everyone feeling? Let us know in the comments below!)

The initial excitement of the first few days has subsided and it's quieter now around these parts—we're certainly feeling it! Still, we're bolstered by the knowledge that every crowdfunding campaign encounters this post-launch lull, and we're in a great position to reach full funding with just over three weeks still to go! 💪

If you know of anyone who would consider backing the campaign or who would know people who do, now is as good a time as ever to share Of Sense and Soul with them. You can even whisper it to the winds of the social media void, if you like, and it could even count towards our community challenges. (Our linktr.ee is a great place to start for newcomers!)

Of Sense and Soul and its message is only as powerful as the voices of the people who listen to it, and we'd love to spread the warmth and heart of this queer romance as far as we can. 💌✨ Whether you're a backer or not, thank you for being here with us, and let's forge onward to the next week of our campaign and with this update!

Progress

This update marks the end of Week 1 of our campaign, and we're sitting at 36% of our funding goal! Here's what you all helped us achieve this week:

• We were 30% funded in the first 24 hours—an amazing feat! 
• The exclusive Omnibus Tier was claimed on day one, contributing to our stellar start.
• A total of 160 backers joined us this week (potentially including whoever is reading this right now!)

And for our community challenges...

•  Spread the Word 📯 455 of 300 Tumblr Notes ✅ 141 of 200 Retweets, 160 of 200 Backers
•  Love Letters 💌 6 of 20 Posts
•  Inspired Works 🎨 5 of 20 Fanfics/Fanarts

As you can see, we've surpassed 300 tumblr notes for our Spread the Word goal, and we're only 59 retweets and 40 backers from unlocking it! We received quite a few Love Letters and Inspired Works too, in the form of Twitter posts mentioning us and sharing some fanart of Hugo and Seamus! (We'll do a feature of some of these soon.)

Be sure to tag us @ofsenseandsoul on Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram if you post about OSAS or create some fanwork for the remaining two challenges!

Making of OSAS Voice Actor Interview Excerpt

The main characters of Of Sense and Soul are voiced by the incredibly talented Max Herzfeld (who voices Hugo) and Shaun Mendum (who voices Seamus), both of whom have felt personal connections to OSAS and are excited to see this campaign succeed!

They've been so excited, in fact, that the Brooks' Guide to London: The Making of OSAS book in our rewards will feature a joint interview with them! 

Though the full interview hasn't been conducted yet, we've already asked some preliminary questions regarding their experience performing in the Extended Demo voice recording sessions under MAHO!Cody's live direction--what their takeaways were from the experience, and how that impacted their views on the project:

•  MAX: After the first recording session with Shaun and MAHO!Cody I remember being surprised how silly and playful the experience was. OSAS was my first big [voice] role and I kind of expected it to be very serious and all business while working but I was very thankful to be wrong. The playful and spontaneous conversation that flowed put me at ease and helped I think to capture a more lively and lifelike performance.
•  SHAUN: I guess it only made me even MORE excited for people to experience this! I already had such a love for this world and the story and the heart-filled, complex characters, but being able to actually explore it with Max and MAHO!Cody (our wonderful Voice Director), just made me so excited to see it come to life! This also cemented how much love EVERYONE involved has for this, and it made me feel very grateful to be part of something that is being carried by these people so gracefully. I think because this piece is so unique, in art style, writing, story, etc, it kind of breaks the mould, and it made me more confident and determined that this should be enjoyed and experienced by as many people as possible; for anyone who enjoys a slow-burner, or a really heartfelt LGBTQ+ story, this really is for you. All the feels!

For an idea of just how playful and spontaneous recording got, here's a taste of the Of Sense and Silliness VA Blooper Reel, which is also our Spread the Word community challenge reward! 

Seamus Chapter 1

In our last update, we announced two Milestone Rewards, including the addition of Seamus Chapter 1 in the Extended Demo when we reach 50% funding! 

The chapter itself is almost ready to play, so I'll show you some screenshots further below, but first it's worth noting the chapter won't be the only update made to the demo for this milestone!

Behind the scenes we've been working, in part with our programmer Fen, to finesse the gameplay experience, including improved mini-game/choice animations and a nicer History menu layout.

We've also been making changes to our game's "camera" work to make it easier to do the cinematography that makes OSAS such a visual treat, meaning the demo's existing camerawork has been smoothed somewhat! 

Last but not least, here are some screenshots of Seamus Chapter 1 to give you an idea of how it's shaping up:

Well! This wound up being quite the hefty update—given, there were quite a few things to update you all on!.

Once again, thank you for being here with us! It's incredibly validating to know so many of you are supporting OSAS and sharing the love we feel for this game of ours. 💖

Yours truly,

Ing

P.S. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, we'd love to hear from you!

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for weekly campaign updates written by the characters of OSAS! We're sure Hugo would love for another reader to join him for the Illustrated OSAS News.

Milestone Rewards: New Demo Content & A Voiced Preview!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 04:30:34 AM

 Dear Backers,

We've had a stellar start to our Kickstarter campaign and are currently at 35% of our goal with 25 days still to go!

​This wouldn't be possible without all of your help, so thank you very much for your contributions to our campaign and support beyond it.

Now that things have slowed down a little, it's time we announced our ​Milestone Rewards!

Milestone Rewards 💝

​We're ultimately, of course, aiming for 100% funding and hopefully beyond—but in the interim, why not have some incentive to keep things moving?

We are currently at 35%, but...

• At 50% funded, we'll add Seamus Chapter 1 to the Extended Demo (and that greyed out choice in the prologue will plague us no longer!)
• At 75% funded, we'll release a Chapter 8 CG Voiced Scene Preview video for you all to enjoy!

New Demo Content at 50% Funded

​Ready to play from the start through Seamus' eyes and see exactly why he does all that brooding in Chapter 2? 😱  

The Seamus Chapter 1 content added to the demo at the 50% milestone will be made free in the demo not only for the duration of the campaign but forever after! 

Work is already well underway on this chapter. with an unheard soundtrack, new arm poses for Seamus, improved menu animations, and other upgrades to gameplay coming with it. 

It's shaping up beautifully thus far, and we can't wait to share it with you!

That's all for this update! I'll be back for our first week check-in as well as with more information on the Chapter 8 CG Voiced Scene Preview when we've hit the 50% mark, but once again, thank you for all your support! 

Let's get to that new demo content! 💪✨

Yours truly,

Ing

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for weekly campaign updates written by the characters of OSAS! We're sure Hugo would love for another reader to join him for the Illustrated OSAS News.