wistaria

Wistaria is a story currently in a continual process of creation. Here, I experiment with code while I'm learning to draw and telling a story I've had stuck in my head. Thanks for visiting!

table of contents

Welcome!

09/17/24

It's nearly 4 AM so this is for yesterday's progress along with the last few hours LMAO. I set up a page for the Theo/Haru conversation in Theo's house, so that's all linked up on the page now. Even though it's not a very complex page, I really wanted to get started on this scene! It might also help with directing people to the right flow of gameplay if they don't figure out what's going on with the computer. :D I also replaced ALL of the images I've drawn, at laaaast. Tomorrow (...today) I need to work on making the front page mobile friendly. And I'm also bored of this home page layout lol

OH YES AND I NEED TO MAKE A FRONT PAGE DISCLAIMER!!!! The story is for adults and is going to have heavy themes, so that should probably be said upfront.

09/16/24

I just finished replacing the portraits on the Limbo page, everything is linked up rn so if one wanted to view it, it's possible by exploring the site! But the story isn't really told in a fluid way atm. I did spend a lot of time plotting out the game/story and how everything should progress. But the actual full gameplay aspects I'll have to tinker with over time, because I do want to make sure I put at least an equal if not greater effort toward the coding aspect. Trying to figure out what will introduce more complexity, from a game design standpoint (*´-｀*)

09/14/24

It's actually 3:30AM here on the 15th but we'll say this is for yesterday lol. Finally getting into some more intricate code, I think I'm going to need to slowly move from Limbo's current string arrays to objects, which is probably a good thing.

I'm trying to do things that push me to cement the basics that I just have never had time to focus on during my career so far. I need to go through this entire site and make things responsive, it is SHAMEFUL ;n; but it's satisfied me enough getting things out the door to keep working on everything, so. I also need to go through and add alt text - or at least empty alts, because I'll have to set aside quite a bit of time to properly describe every image I've drawn. oof.

09/12/24

So much... coding....... so much....... drawing.......... I'm not tired and it is 6AM which, in my case, is actually a very bad thing. Off to sleep I go I guess ;-;

09/12/24

So I haven't really talked about myself much, but I just want to celebrate that I went outside on my own for the first time in ages! I have diagnosed agoraphobia and it's very easy for me to isolate myself right now, but just going to get the mail is a big deal. I'm very proud of myself

EDIT

I took a little bit of a break today from drawing, a TINY bit of a break... Because I did draw a portrait for Theo's PC page which I've been working on, and updated "That Character" in Haru's Room. I did a lot of coding today and last night. Theo's PC isn't ready to share as the functionality is still being built out, but the updates are on my feed if you're curious ;u;

I've added windows for "My Computer" and "Lera's Stuff", and the mIRC window (aka Chat) is pretty much done. I've also started on the story progression for the next interactive talking sequence, which will be introduced via the "Recycle Bin". That does currently do super secret stuff though hehehe :D

09/11/24

I HAVE BEEN WORKING MY ASS OFF DRAWING ALL DAY LMAOOO I'm literally going to laugh in an unhinged way bc this is the fourth time I've updated Theo's portraits. This time I didn't really use a base it was just hours of adjusting and adjusting and ahhhh.... I'm sure he still looks wonky but I think it's an improvement. He just looked really young in the last set, and these characters are NOT supposed to be kids. Theo might act like a big immature baby sometimes but he's a grown ass man.

In all honesty I should be focused on coding but I drew Haru and Lera too, it's literally been an entire day of drawing.

Maybe I'll find the energy today? I took a nap so it's not too late. My ipad keeps dying in the middle of me drawing because it's losing so much power (probably Pikmin Bloom draining it tbh)

09/10/24

I did iiiit, I spent a lot of time trying to refine my portraits for Theo in Room 1... Idk if how I used my inspo is transformative enough, I'm still learning what the heck all of this means. But I linked the base in the credits, I couldn't find the artist's site with reverse image search, so it's from where I found it on pinterest :(

I really like how they came out! I'm tempted to redo my Unknown Character but it's fine rn.

EDIT

I've been drawing all day and studying art stuff ;n; Before working on this game it had been a really long time since I last drew something but hopefully there's still enough muscle memory to make the art ok. I replaced "her" portrait, idk if I like the change because she's clearer but again it's another "it'll do for now" kinda thing.

EDIT #2

Think I finally got the mIRC text content in Theo's PC where I want it to be, and there's now a bit more to the layout of the chat window! I also fixed the time on the clock since the "start" button should be clicked between 3-4AM. I need to focus on more code tomorrow and not spend a whole day drawing but it's so nice to practice again.

09/09/24

YEAH! I got my charger so I've replaced the Theo and (secret character) placeholders! My art is really rough... It's probably a lil cheesey and maybe takes away from the story but I'll refine it as I learn and get comfortable drawing, but it's fine for now... At least it's mine.

I'm pretty shy about it but I imagine not that many people will see it idk. ^___^; Might need to ctrl+f5 for a hard refresh if you've ever loaded the game before!

If you've taken any time or decide to check it out, thank you so much!

EDIT

I've just learned that tracing bases is ok...? I never knew that, I'm going to give it a shot because I really think my game could benefit from me being able to create something nice. I'm obviously not making money and will credit people! I'm excited about having a little more guidance though bc I am feeling... uncertain and kind of want to revert the drawings u___u

EDIT #2

I reverted Theo's placeholders and restored the credits for the picrew I'm using - but I'm working on new ones! I just got too excited lmao

09/08/24

Decided to pull everything onto my PC so I can work without updating 500 times and also retain all of my changes via github. The first room is as ready as it's going to be for a little until inspiration for cleaner storytelling or progression hits me. AND until I get my darn charger this week so I can actually draw some art for the game! Might work on the personal bits of this site soon, idk, who's to say.

I do need to work on the light switch and wanted to add some choice consequences, add keys, and do something more interesting with the driving sequence but it's fine for now!

09/06/24

I've made a lot of progress for the first "level", I just added music but have a few effects I need to kick it off. I'm really stoked though, I haven't been pretti-fying or even adding the main personal pages here at all because I'm so excited about the game stuff -___-' it'll come with time tho. I also ordered a charger for my pen so I can start on the art instead of using my placeholder picrews. It's gonna be shabby but... It'll be mine!!

09/05/24

SO MANY IDEAS!! I wish I could draw well, I know what I want to do for the first legit gameplay level and it would be much improved if my drawing capabilities were decent. I'll make do though. :)

09/04/24

Started on the game!

09/03/24

I figured out an entrance I like! Unforuntately... Now I want to make a game out of it lol. Well, lots of changes coming.

09/02/24

I'm still not sure what to say here. I'm slowly building up this page, and I'm not sure why other than I find it therapeutic to work with older web tech.

I would like this to be a super cool page, but I'm not really an artist and it's been a really long time since I used old-school stuff, so going back to the basics of javascript, poking at jquery, and seeing what newer technologies other creators here use is interesting to me!

I can eventually create some kind of credits/buttons/linkback page. All of my assets right now are sourced from free png sites (like the ones in my background image which was a pain to make as someone who is, again, not an artist) or they're images and midis found by browsing the Internet Archive, specifically sites via Anipike's v i n t a g e website.