The Text Box and Other News

Things are coming along nicely as always! And I have a few things to show today.

Firstly is the text box which I designed a while back:

 

As you can see I have also begun compiling the character expressions. Rheeven's stock is complete and Laythan's is well on its way. Here are a few examples from Rheeven's stock:

 

I have been cutting down the word count in Rheeven’s story and will continue to relentlessly shave it down until only the relevant parts remain. It’s not an easy task because it’s very difficult to read my own writing objectively but I will make sure I'm being as relevant and concise as possible!

Fresh updates!

Well it’s been over a month since I finished Rheeven's script (not counting three endings which can’t be written until I'm sure of D'rosk's). I've been spending the time pondering over D'rosk's story and it’s all piecing together quite nicely. I had hoped to have it all in place by the time I'd finished Rheeven's but unfortunately its a process that I cant hurry; it happens in its own time and I just have to deal with it. 

The result of this break from writing is that I've been doing artwork and character design whilst listening to inspirational music. And at some point along the way I designed Laythan’s mum. She's Asian which means Laythan has been given a change in skin colour and he's looking much better for it if I'm honest. The colour scheme works very nicely.

Laythan for Hadron Gateway

So what do you think?

I'll need to do an update on all images containing him but I think its well worth it.

The Joys of Code..

As I'm sure you’ve guessed, this one is all about the progress I’ve made in actually putting the game together. I'd like to start by saying that I have absolutely no programming knowledge so I might as well be trying to build a game in Swahili for all the sense it makes to me. But I have to say that despite having no programming knowledge, I’ve done a pretty good job setting up so far. It hasn’t been without its difficulties though.

Luckily for me I'm using Ren'py which tells me when I have a problem and what the nature of the problem is like so:

This one is fairly self explanatory because it tells me that "colour" is an unknown property (Ren'py goes by American English so its looking for "color"). It’s telling me that I've tried to use a property that doesn’t exist. So it can be very handy when it’s simple and specific. But when it starts giving me unspecific code gibberish back then I start to loose my patience. Even things that would be simple to a programmer, like "X is not a valid child of Y" etc, I find it very difficult because I have no basic knowledge of the correct names and terms nor how to work them properly. This makes solving problems almost impossible for me. So baring that in mind, have a look at the progress I’ve made.

When opening the default game, it looked like this:

Perfectly usable but hardly personalised. Obviously I want this page to scream Hadron Gateway so I set about designing the look I needed for it and came up with this:

As you can see, I went for a wide screen look to give more space for the game content. That and its 2014... who’s not using widescreen? The big difference is that instead of a "Start Game" button I have split the image into three clickable areas, each representing a character and story. I thought this might be more interesting and practical than simply leaving a "Start Game" button at the side with an illustration as mere decoration. Plus it made more sense given that there are three different start options (but I'll come to that later). The main menu on the right side has been spread out and taken out of its individual boxes for a bit of breathing room. I used a font called Octant that reflects the futuristic yet slightly steampunk feel of the game, so that gives it a lot more interest overall. I gave the title a gold and silver shine to jazz it up a bit.

So how does that translate in the code? It’s fairly easy to explain. This is how the default looked:

It has clearly created buttons in a set style then told the game where to put them and what to do when they are clicked. These buttons are separate from the background image and the text on the buttons is separate from the button - think of it like lots of separate layers all piled on top of each other. Unfortunately for me I have no idea how to create my own custom buttons so that made life a little awkward. The easy way around was to simply create one flat image with no buttons and no layers. All I had to do then was create hotspots.

To put it simple, a hotspot is a rectangular area with a command set to it. I place the rectangle then tell the game what I want to do when the player hovers or clicks on that area. It looks like this:

The coordinates tell the game where the rectangle is and then the action tells it what to do. The top line for example tells it to Start - a command which Ren'py understands. It doesn’t understand "begin" or "commence" etc so I have to make sure I'm telling it things it already knows how to do. I'm sure there’s probably a way to define "begin" as meaning "start" but that’s currently over my head. The part after that is just an extra bit to tell it where to start from. I've already previously told it what "laythan_script" is so it has no issues. So that’s not very complicated.

Unfortunately, using hotspots left me unable to do the fun stuff I wanted to do. You see where it says "ground 'MainMenu1Ground.jpg'"? Well that’s image number three in this post and it’s the flat file I used to put hotspots over. The image below is the hover image. Imagine it as being placed underneath the first one and whenever you hover over a hotspot, a little rectangular shape the same size as the hotspot is cut away to reveal the picture beneath. So if I made a hotspot over "Help" and made it so that the world "Help" on the image underneath was bright orange, it would look as if the help button turned orange each time you hover over it.

I wanted it too look as if each character's whole section glowed whenever someone hovered over it. So for example, if the player hovered over Laythan it would look like this:

But what’s the problem? It’s glaringly obvious but it simply didn’t occur to me... hotspots are only rectangular... that hover area is not. There was no way of getting the whole thing to light up without catching parts of the other two. So I had to settle with just making the character names glow as the mouse gets near. I was disappointed but prepared to accept it for the sake of not wasting any more time.

So what’s the problem then? Well... the main menu might work using hotspots but all other menus don’t. I'm currently stuck on the default. The game menu for example currently looks like this:

As with the other defaults, it’s perfectly usable but totally bland. I want it tailored and in keeping with the main menu. In the end it means I'm going to have to work out how to define and use my own buttons... which would be fine if the instructions were made for novices but they’re not. So all my previous work on the main menu is for nothing!

On the upside I worked out how to make Rheeven and D'rosk's stories unlockable! I have set it so that when the reader finishes one story it unlocks the next. I did run into a little trouble though. If the reader had unlocked all of three games and went back to play first game then they would find that the third game had re-locked itself. I worked out that I had to copy and paste the entirety of all three stories under a new heading that I called Game_Complete where there are no locking rules. The reader would arrive into Game_Complete when the third story was complete. I'm thinking of adding in a reset button just in case anyone wants to get back out of Game_Complete mode and start from scratch with the locks back on.

So what do you think of all this? Does it seem strange to see it all coming together?

This will be a big one...

Hello again!

Since there’s been a break I'm going to have loads to talk about and plenty to show.

I think it makes most sense to start with the news that I'm now writing one of the two final climaxes of Rheeven's story. There was originally only going to be one but you can blame Requiem for a Dream (which I've refused to let X Factor ruin) for inspiring the second. Zack Hemsey's This is our Legacy also inspired a change to the idea for the first climax and it’s now even better.

I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear that the story is way over my chosen word limit at a full 130 812 words. I've had to accept that the addition of a new climax scenario will force the word count up but I still intend on cutting a good few thousand out at least.

So with Rheeven's story now in the final quarter D'rosk's story is beginning to demand my attention. More accurately, D'rosk is. His personality is coming into much sharper focus and I'm finding myself very curious about him. I think out of all three, D'rosk will be the strongest main character but I have a feeling he's going attract both love and hate - either way, you wont forget him in a hurry.

I have an idea for the main twist of his story but the rest can go in several directions. As you know D'rosk's story will centre around his struggle to control a revolution while trying to assassinate the six people preceding him to one of the most powerful Empires in human existence. I would like to have a power struggle between D'rosk and one of the main rebels whilst another struggle emerges between him and one of his six targets. I had lots of exciting action scenes rushing through my head when listening to Requiem for a Dream but I found that the constraints of Laythan's story keep scuppering me. D'rosk has to be safe in certain places at certain times and that makes it hard to throw him out of his comfort zone or add any amount of struggle or peril.

So all this talk of D'rosk and yet I've still not unveiled him yet... perhaps it’s about time.

Palvan D'rosk

Palvan D'rosk for Hadron Gateway

The design for D'rosk was good fun because it gave me the chance to try to design a face that could look like both a villain for the first two stories and a hero for the last. I went with a tall athletic build that you might expect from an assassin and I think his proportions have worked out quite nicely.

I did come across a problem with his clothes however. D'rosk is the Head of State and his clothes should reflect some aspect of that, but he's not the type to wear finery - it’s far too impractical for such a practical person. And, since he’s not interested in showing off and looking rich, I couldn't go for anything too fancy. In the end I settled with his travelling attire but spruced it up with rich red, cream and gold. Overall he has the look of someone that has status but tends to be in the thick of the action.

So what do you think of him? Was he what you were expecting?

You'll also be pleased to know that I finally got Caelin sorted out so I can finally introduce the youngest member of Laythan’s team!

Caelin Tiel

Caelin Tiel for Hadron Gateway

Caelin (the redesign of the first character in on the right of Design Sheet 1) has had a bit of a makeover. As I had said with several other redesigns, there wasn't a lot of ethnic diversity amongst the cast (and as I write this I've just come to the realisation that all three main characters are white males... how boring! I wonder if there’s room to change any of them.) Anyway, I redesigned the character but I kept the clothes the same because they're great. I did have to change the colour of the t-shirt even though the blue worked better, simply because Laythan and Denji are both already wearing blue and I wanted a little more variety. I chose the natural colours of green and brown because it goes with his gentle personality.

Caelin’s face was drawn to match his kind nature and I tried to give him a look of naivety because he's so young. I went for a gentle rounded face and features, trying to avoid anything to pointy. He has the skinny weak look of a teenager who hasn’t quite broadened out and trustworthy eyes to add to his likability.

 So who likes Caelin?

I was messing around one night when I couldn't concentrate on writing and I wondered what might happen if the two hackers Caelin and Filo ever met. I decided to do a slightly couple-ish image of them together (for those who like that sort of thing). It was just a quick sketch but I'm sure you won’t mind.

Caelin and Filo for Hadron Gateway

So apart from all that, I've started putting the actual game together but I'm going to post about that in detail later because I've got loads to say about it and even more to show!

Keeping you updated!

It's been almost a full month since I last posted so as I'm sure you can guess there has been a lot of progress. The word count is at 102363 which may not seem like a big jump, however the script went through some thorough editing and is looking all the better for it. 

I've mainly spent the past month doing concept artwork, trying to get the characters onto the page and inhabiting their world. It’s been working out quite nicely. And since everyone is keen too see them I've decided to upload a few. It’s a little difficult to choose what to upload however, because the majority of the illustrations give away important parts of the plot so I've decided to draw a few specifically to upload here.
Until then I will leave you with a new character design which I'm sure you'll like.

Dr Faolon Kahl

Dr Faolon Kahl For The Hadron Gateway

Faolon is a complex and caring character that is both incredibly intelligent and comfortingly sturdy. His role appears drastically different depending on the story but overall he is most present in Rheeven's story as a dependable person. I wanted to get across the fact that he is both strong and intelligent without losing any of his gentleness which was quite a difficult task. I think I pulled it off quite nicely by giving him a strong build and kind eyes. I chose purple to reflect his authoritative position because red felt too aggressive and green was just too weak. I had never originally intended Faolon’s skin colour to be so brown, but it went well with the colour scheme and it seemed to make sense that someone as well rounded as Faolon would be a mixture of the best of all races.

Overall I'm extremely pleased with the way he turned out. What do you think of him?

Some Art and Updates

Rheeven's path is now at 95175 words! It will be roughly on target for the word limit but I might have to cut a few thousand if it goes much over 110000. It’s been very action heavy because it’s the peak and naturally humour has taken a sideline. I'm now at the point where I need to start thinking about the twists in D'rosk's story. He can't ride on the back of Laythan's and Rheeven's. Though the stories intertwine, I want them all to have their own plot to keep things exciting. Instead of figuring it all out, I've been doing some artwork instead so allow me to introduce my next character design.

Count Oren Avio

Count Oren Avio For The Hadron Gateway

Avio is a colourful and mischievous smooth talker who delights in winding others up. He makes sure his contacts spread far and rise high, giving him the edge. Despite his constant attempts at grinding Rheeven's gears, he’s a good and fair person plus a loyal friend. I tried to capture his nature in his face and I think I got it spot on. I gave him a good sturdy build because he needs to look like a dependable friend and I kept his colours calming. I had always pictured him to have black hair until I came to colour him. I decided it was best to have Rheeven as the only black haired character in the group to keep him standing out.
So what are your thoughts?

I did some more sketches to help visualise the story and if more people would like to see then I'll upload some sketches before I get them coloured. Let me know!

Bit of News and Artwork

Good news - things are running smoothly and the story is heating up! Poor Rheeven has a lot of tough decisions facing him and the situation is starting to spiral out of his control. There’s plenty of action and some humour to break it all up. It’s now at a whopping 76000 words (I've yet to work out how this has happened!) and I've been feeling especially inspired.

Not only that, but also I did a lot of concept sketches to draw myself into the story a little more (pun intended). I've been debating on whether to upload them or not. What do you think? Upload the sketches or wait until I find the time to colour them first?

In the meantime I have a little something for you to look at. I have Rheeven looking very strapping in his party outfit and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Rheeven Lo For The Hardon Gateway

As with the girls, I kept the colour palette the same as his original outfit which he wears throughout. I think the whole thing reflects his smart and proper nature perfectly. Despite the fact that most of the men at the party would be in bright colours Rheeven is dressed in black and isn’t overdone on the detailing. So what do you think?

Shooting Forward!

I've gone and done it again... gotten so distracted by the work that I've forgot to keep everyone updated on it. And now I don't even know where to begin!
I'm now about two thirds of the way though Rheeven's path and its coming along just great. I had to abandon it for a few weeks to refresh myself from writers block, but I got back at it again and it’s running smoothly. Poor Rheeven is currently in over his head and getting a little roughed up in what is going to be a very exciting scene for all of you. I should show him a little mercy really... but where is the fun in that? He's got some big challenges facing him and its going to get tense!
The word count is currently at 63741 and is turning out much higher than I'd anticipated. I suppose stories have a habit of running away with you when you enjoy them so much. Luckily I've been sure to make sure every word counts and has you hurtling forward desperately wanting to know what happens next.

As for the artwork I have so much that I haven't shown you yet! I've designed and coloured Count Oren Avio who appears in all three stories and features mostly in Rheeven's. I also completed D'rosk but I have a sneaking suspicion that his head is a little too big for the design. I can upload him once I've toyed around with it a little. I designed Rheeven's party outfit however his necktie needs a quick edit. Then there's Sayjan, one of Rheeven's accomplices. I was unfortunate enough to have his file corrupt on me and all I had to work with was a flat version but I managed to complete him regardless. Since he's relevant to the path I'm writing now and he’s been such a pain I thought I'd show him first.

Sayjan Zueda

Sayjan Zueda For The Hadron Gateway

Sayjan is from Rheeven's story and he's Code-Kind, hence his blue skin, fumes and inbuilt mechanics. (For anyone unsure as to what Code-Kind actually means have a look at Cakes, Counts andCode-Spawn. the explanation starts at the third paragraph.)
Like the rest of his race, he's skinny, eyebrow-less, small nosed and pointy eared. I found that giving him a personality without the use of normal eyes and eyebrows was more difficult than I'd first thought but I think I got his kind nature across regardless. Because of his blue skin, I felt limited with colour and decided to keep his clothes fairly plain with the odd splash of orange and red to bring it out. I gave him a long scarf to bring the whole thing together and it should add drama flying around in the action scenes. 
As I'm sure you noticed, there’s a large squiggle behind his head. I had planned for something a little more aesthetically pleasing to make his hair visible and I'd only placed it there temporarily while I did the smoke. Unfortunately I can’t get rid of it since the file flattened so you'll have to put up with it. I'm sure it could have been worse. 

So what do you think of my first Code-Kind design?

More Designs!

So, this time round I have two images of the same character. The first is a redesign and the second is her outfit for the party scene. You might be wondering why I seem so interested in the party scene, but I can assure you its not for no good reason - it just so happens to be where some of the characters converge and interact making it a really interesting part of the story. Anyway... allow me to present Nile Castaneda:

Nile Castaneda

Nile Castaneda For The Hadron Gateway

Nile corresponds to the second in from the right on Design Sheet 1 on the original designs. She plays the part of Rheeven's bodyguard and I wanted her outfit to reflect that. I chose dark clothes that wouldn’t snag on anything, keeping it roughly to the same idea as the original but with a more practical look. I liked the yellow because it stopped the design from looking too black and colourless so I kept that in. I liked her being curvy because I felt it gave her a tougher look which is exactly what she needs. The hair was already had a nice cut so I simply translated it over into my illustration style and altered the colour a touch to match her skin. As I've said before, I felt that the original cast weren’t varied enough so I gave Nile a more olive skin tone to vary things up a bit.

The main change was her face. I gave her a diamond face shape, slanted eyes and a button nose with full lips to give her a sharp look. The tough bodyguard look matches her personality and I'm very pleased with the way this turned out.

Nile Castaneda For The Hadron Gateway

For Nile's party outfit I designed a very enhancing dress that exaggerates her lovely figure whilst still looking classy. Like with the others, I chose the colour based on her casual clothes but unlike the others this has a detailed pattern and sparkles to make it stand out. I didn’t want to give her too many accessories because I felt like it might drown out the detail on the dress so I complemented it with full length gloves instead. The style of the dress also has the added bonus of allowing her to conceal weapons under the material on her hips, much to her delight. As for her hair, I was a little stumped. There's really not a whole lot I could do with that sort of hair style so instead I went for an accessory rather than an updo. 

I think it’s a lovely outfit and fits in nicely with her overall look.

So what do you think of Nile?

Image Update

I noticed the images on this blog were much bigger than they should have been and it was making them difficult to view in lightbox so I've been through and resized them all so you can see them all properly without having to wait for them to load. It’s made them look better in quality and now they're all roughly the same size. I'll do that with all my new uploads from now on, that way there won’t be any trouble viewing them.

More Character Work

The writing has taken a back seat this past week or so, giving me a chance to get through some more artwork. Have a look and let me know what you think of them.

Filo

Filo For The Hadron Gateway

Filo is from Rheeven's story. I have to say I absolutely love her. I got her exactly the way I pictured and captured her personality. I originally wanted to give her full leg dungarees but I decided against it because her jacket was already covering her scrawny build and I felt she would loose character. I gave her a mismatched outfit to exaggerate the point that she’s not the type to ever look in a mirror. I used green and red to add a bit of a clash and an eyebrow piercing to show her more daring side.

Brendt

Brendt For The Hadron Gateway

Brendt is an oddly polite and colourful rebel in Laythan's story. He will be heavily involved in D'rosk's story too, but I'm not clear as to what part he will play. Like Filo, I managed to peg his personality and draw him just as I pictured. Brendt doesn’t have a scrawny build but he's definitely a short guy and one of the only characters that seems to keep himself looking presentable. He has a kind looking face to suit his gentle nature. Mostly his colours are natural with the exception of the splash of purple, which I added to emphasise his camp side.

I'll leave it at that this week and hopefully by next week I'll be showing you the finished version of D'rosk. And just as an update on the writing - the word count on Rheeven's script is now at 33500 and could do being cut down. I might try and merge some scenes together where possible which will also quicken the pace.

So much to say!

It's been far too long since I last posted! You'll be pleased to know that’s because I've done a hefty amount of work on this VN.

My biggest news is probably that I started Rheeven's script and I'm now at 28725 words. It’s been so strange not writing about Laythan especially since I don't know Rheeven very well yet. Trying to match up the events of each story is even harder than I thought but at least its going well. There's a lot more of the political side of things in Rheeven’s story but its certainly not lacking in action - he's already had his fair share of close shaves. I'm only a few hundred words form the point where he and Laythan's paths first cross and I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy writing that part a great deal. 

I've been working hard to make sure his story has plenty of mystery and doesn’t give too much away too early. It's been a lot more difficult that Laythan's in that there has to be a lot of information given at the start to make it all make sense. I've had to try and find a way of spacing and balancing it out without making it confusing to read. I must be roughly a quarter of the way through so I'll need to go back and cut the word count down a little but that shouldn't be too difficult. 

There was a horrible moment when I lost 6000 words because of a file mix up. I managed to retrieve 4000 but the rest had to be rewritten and any writer knows that it’s never as good the second time. You can imagine my frustration. Still, apart from that hiccup, it’s going very well all in all and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

So aside from that I'm just waiting on my kind test subject getting through Laythan's script so I can do the final editing and then I can start to code it!

As far as the artwork goes I've got lots to show you starting with one of the main 3 characters. Have a look through them and let me know what you think.

Laythan Joel (L.Joe)

Laythan Joel (L.Joe) For The Hadron Gateway

I first drew Laythan in a dynamic pose instead of the usual dull upright position and I think he looked a lot cooler the first time. I also found that he’s near enough impossible to draw in such a dull pose. I don’t know what it is about him... it took me 5 tries to get it right (even then his legs are too small). Yet when I draw him from awkward angles doing action poses I can do him no problem - it makes no sense! Oh well, its not like I'll be drawing him standing doing nothing at any point in the story so it doesn’t really matter.
I wanted his design to match the others but still stand out so that’s partly why he has dyed sandy hair. I went with purple and blue as his main colour scheme which I think was a bit risky - It’s not often you see a main guy in purple. However, I think it works perfectly. He's got the odd splash of gold here and there to give the colour scheme some life and stop his hair from seeming totally out of place and it’s pulled it all together quite nicely.
His build (when the legs aren’t too small) is quite slender but not the thinnest of the bunch by far. He’s got a youthful sort of body that’s still broadening and filling out so he’s not the most impressive guy to look at. I felt if I made him look to strong, his fights and struggles would seem less believable. As far as the three main character go, he’s in the middle - D'rosk is stronger and Rheeven is weaker.
I think his face matches his personality perfectly; kind natured but ready for mischief.


Denji Javhwa

Denji Javhwa For The Hadron Gateway

Denji (redesign of the fourth guy in on design sheet two) was one of the easiest to redesign. I didn't have to change his clothes so I simply added in the plain black shoes. As for his body shape, I decided to make him more buff to suit his rough and ready attitude. He's Laythan's right hand guy so he needed to have a tall, solid, dependable look about him.
I gave him a long face that’s wider at the bottom and a mess of dark hair. I think he has a lot of character and his face matches his loud energetic nature and need for mischief. I also gave him brown skin to go with his dark dependable theme. The original cast wasn’t varied enough in skin colour and I thought Denji would be a good candidate for a more Asian look.
I really like Denji's design, partly because it turned out exactly as I pictured first time with no fuss and because it fits in nicely with the others. What are your thoughts on Denji Javhwa?


I did have another design to show but I noticed that I had forgotten a few details on him so I'm going to go back and fix that before uploading him. So you should get to see him sometime soon.

That should be plenty for one update! I hope you enjoyed it.

Rylie Redesign!

Rylie Negeen

Rylie Negeen For The Hadron Gateway

I just realised that I hadn't uploaded this yet! It's been done for ages now. So this is Rylie Negeen (Third in on Design Sheet 2). As you can see there’s been a few changes to the outfit. The original one wasn’t that practical as far as her dangerous job goes, so I covered her up a bit while keeping the overall idea there. Her hairstyle is pretty much the same but I changed her face to suit my style. Ignoring the fact that this particular illustration of her has no expression, I think that she has loads of character with her long face and pointed lips and nose. I made her the curvy one out of all the girls but without over doing it. As part of a set I think she fits in perfectly with the rest and I'm really pleased with her.

Next on the list is Denji, who I'm already halfway through colouring so he should be up at some point in the next seven days.

So Much Artwork!

I've been working like a machine this past week and managed to churn out the designs for Denji, Caelin and Skont plus a re-draw of Laythan (which still needs edits) and I even managed to draw Lonyo in his party gear. None of this is in colour yet but I've begun inking. I also have Rylie finished but I want to fix the dodgy shading on her knees before I upload her. So as far as character designs and redesigns go, all I have left to do is Faolon, D'rosk and Xenison!

I lined them all up on one page and got very excited at seeing them all together. I think they all work together perfectly and are consistent in style and detail. Overall it’s going very well. I feel a little guilty that I haven't uploaded much art the last few weeks but I'm sure you understand that these designs take a lot of time and effort to get right. There will be no settling for poor quality rush jobs in this VN.

Done but not Dusted

Laythan's path is finished! After adding in three extra chunks it’s finally done. I haven’t been over it to edit it yet but I want to leave it a week or two so I can look over it with a fresh eye. So now that it’s complete I have found myself at a loss for what to do... My evenings suddenly seem so long and empty without it. It looks like I'll be getting back down to the artwork and concepts. Aside from that I need to work out the timing of all the events in Rheeven’s path to match up to Laythan's. The most difficult part about this is that Rheeven and D'rosk's paths are heavily intertwined by a character named Xenison, whose actions are very important to the overall progression of each path. Since D’rosk’s story still isn’t clear cut I'm going to have difficulty with Rheeven's.
Even so, I'm itching to start writing Rheeven's path. The world he has to deal with is really coming into focus and I feel for him over the adversities he faces which means I'm becoming attached to him. Once I become attached to all the characters the story writes itself. My only obstacle is the timing parameters.
So with Laythan's path standing at 112 266 words and set to loose a good few hundred of scene descriptions once the artwork is complete, I'm estimating the final number to be at 111 000. Rheeven’s is probably going to reach about an estimated 90 000 tops and D’rosk’s will most likely be around the same. At that sheer amount of story you'll certainly be getting value for money!