Devblog #15 – Interface Design 101

LoafyLemon

Hello there, dear reader, LoafyLemon here!

Today I’d like to do something a little different and combine Dev Blog with Dev Dump. A little something to showcase the inner workings of my process, maybe it’ll interest some of you who want to learn more about the design side of things.

So, let’s get right to it. As you may remember from our last announcement, Witch Trainer Silver has a lot of new content coming down the pipeline. That means more interfaces. But hold up, what’s with the old interfaces, right? That’s the problem.

The truth is, those old interfaces are still (mostly) functional, but they’re not only not fitting the game’s style anymore, they’re also severely limiting the game’s potential. And, quite frankly, they’re an eyesore.

Before any of you take out your pitchforks, know that I am solely responsible for that eyesore, so I am allowed to say that it’s ugly! I mean, I’m not one to cry over spilt milk, but this is an opportunity to do something different, something more visually appealing, and more functional that I simply could not do before due to limitations of the engine, but also my own skills back then.

Now, let’s get back to the current state of things. You see, Witch Trainer Silver’s UI is, well, it’s a bit of a mess, but it’s a mess that despite its many flaws, has a certain charm to it. It’s also something that people love, or at the very least, don’t hate as much as they should. (That’s what I tell myself at night, anyway.)

However, Witch Trainer Silver is also a game that has a lot of potential, and one of those areas where it could use a lot of improvement is in the interface. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Why should I care about this?” Well, let me tell you, the interface is not just about looks. It’s also about functionality, usability, and how easy or hard it is for the player to navigate through the game. And right now, those things are not exactly perfect.

Now, here comes the part where I’m supposed to tell you that I’ve been working on Witch Trainer Silver for a long time, and I know what I’m doing. And in a way, that’s true, but in a way, it’s not. Because when you’re working on a project for a long time, you can start to take things for granted, and you can also start to make mistakes that you wouldn’t have made if you had been working on it for less time.

So, what do I do? Well, I do what I do best: Break things down into smaller pieces, and then break those pieces down even further. And then, I try to figure out how they all fit together.

So, let’s take a look at the old interface. It’s not perfect, but it has worked for a long time, and it’s not like it’s going to fall apart right now. But still, it’s not the most visually appealing, especially on HiDPI monitors above 720p, because originally we were limited to just 1080×600 pixels.

You may be scratching your head here, as 1080×600 pixels is pretty low, and it’s even lower than some mobile devices today, and I know you’re asking yourself why we chose that resolution, and the answer is we didn’t. When my predecessors started the project, the original game was running on Windows XP in 4:3 aspect ratio, and the resolution was limited to just 600 vertical pixels. As you can guess, it’s not a very pretty thing, especially on modern devices, but I digress.

Anyway, enough of that. You may be wondering what we can do about this. Well, here’s the good news: we can do a lot of things. For one, we can make the interface more visually appealing. For another, we can make it more functional. Lastly, we can finally do some things that we could only dream of doing before because of limitations.

But, I know what you’re thinking now, “How long will this take?” And I’m happy to report that it will be faster than you think. At least, that’s the plan.

Now, I know that not everyone may be as interested in this as I am, but I hope at least some of you will take a look at this and think, “You know what, this actually sounds pretty cool.” Because, at the end of the day, this is what it’s all about: making something that people will enjoy, and that drives me to do what I do.

Without further ado, here’s the new interface design for Mafkin’s Emporium, a work in progress:

As you may notice, it’s a very rough draft, but I wanted to show it to you to give you an idea of what the new interface could look like. These kind of rough design sketches are very common in the game development process, and that is something not many people are familiar with, so I thought I’d take a moment to explain.

Here’s how the design process typically goes for me:

  1. Gather Requirements: In this case, Witch Trainer Silver has a lot of new content coming down the pipeline, so we need to make sure the interface is scalable and can handle the new content without looking too cluttered or messy.
  2. Research and Planning: This involves looking at other games in the same genre, finding out what players like or dislike about their interfaces, and planning how we can incorporate those elements into Witch Trainer Silver’s interface.
  3. Drafting: Once we have all the information we need, it’s time to start drafting the interface design. This is where we take all the ideas we gathered during research and planning and start putting them onto paper. This is usually done in a very rough, unrefined state, and is often just a series of scribbles or rough drawings as seen on the above image.
  4. Engine Integration: As Witch Trainer Silver uses an engine that has some limitations, I have to work with that engine to see how I can make the interface look and function as I want it to, before I seriously start working on designs. Sometimes this means writing code to make it work, other times it means finding workarounds.
  5. Visual Design: This is the fun part, where I get to decide what the interface looks like, and how it will be organised. This involves designing icons, buttons, text, and other elements, and deciding how they will interact with each other.
  6. Feedback and Revision: Once I’ve made a draft of the interface, I show it to the rest of the team and get feedback on how to improve it. This can involve changing the layout, the colours, the icons, or anything else.
  7. Implementation: Once the design is finalised, I start implementing the interface into the game.

At the moment, we’re at step 5, the visual design. As you can see, it’s not finished yet, but we’re further along than you might think.

The above image is what we call a sprite sheet. It’s a collection of images that represent the various UI elements we need to include in the game, like buttons, text boxes, and so on. Once we have these sprite sheets, we can use them to build the interface.

The new interface design will have a lot more detail and visual flair than the old one, and it will also be much more functional, and more suitable for HiDPI monitors and larger screens, but also compatible with lower-resolution screens and mobile devices, or even controllers.

Now, I know that this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I hope that at least some of you will be interested in how this works, and maybe even help out with some of the design decisions along the way.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings, and I hope to see you all around on the discord where you can give me feedback on this design.

Love,
LoafyLemon.

Cross-Promo: “Ilias: Legends of Alcyon” by OzeCat

Silver Studio Games

Hey everyone,

I hope you all are doing great! Our friends at OzeCat approached us about a unique opportunity to cross-promote each other’s work. Normally we don’t do this, but we liked their game, and they liked ours, so we thought why not?

They’re the developers of “Ilias: Legends of Alcyon” an adult visual-novel-esque game with a fantasy setting and a strong focus on storytelling and character development, with fun and engaging gameplay elements, but most important it has some very… ahem… interesting scenes if you know what I mean. 😉 Anyway, I’ll let the devs speak for themselves. Enjoy!

| PATREON | BOOSTY |

| DISCORD | TWITTER | VK | TELEGRAM |

| REDDIT | SUBSCRIBESTAR | SITE |

You live in a world where everything is decided by wealth and power, but the only thing that you’re actually good at is . . . cooking? A worthless skill, some may say. But why not use that talent to the fullest and see what happens? And romance as many cute girls as you want along the way. After all, the path to a strong woman’s heart does run through her stomach.

Ilias: Legends of Alcyone is an interactive story and dating simulator with RPG elements. Immerse yourself in a medieval fantasy realm with beautiful demonesses, dwarfettes, beast-women, and many other monster girls! Use cunning tactics to claim victory over monsters by utilizing your ability to cook dishes that can defeat even the most powerful monstrosities. Invite strong friends to join your team, enticing them with your unbelievable charm! Assemble an entire harem or choose a single soulmate — it’s a world chock-full of possibilities! And no NTR!

 Game features already implemented in the game:

✔ 4 beautiful girls with unique personalities and 5 supporting characters.

✔ Lovingly-crafted minigames that offer you tools for success.

✔ Dishes to cook that are integral to building relationships with other characters, completing quests, and vanquishing monsters.

✔ A fleshed-out world with many interesting stories

✔ The ability to travel around town using point-and-click mechanics.

✔ A progressive system for relationship development.

✔ Partial voice acting by talented voice actresses and actors.

✔ 100% hand drawn locations, characters and scene.

Help us realize our collective vision for the game — support us on Patreon and take part in the game’s development!

| PATREON | BOOSTY |

| DISCORD | TWITTER | VK | TELEGRAM |

| REDDIT | SUBSCRIBESTAR | SITE |

Announcement – Tonks, New UI, Map, Locations, Translations, and More

Silver Studio Games

Hey everyone,

We hope you’re all enjoying the latest Luna update and getting your fill of sexy time at the office! It’s been a wild ride so far, and we’re stoked to see your feedback and suggestions flow in. However, we know we’ve been a bit quiet lately, and we’re excited to fill you in on what we’ve been working on.

First off, our next character focus is none other than the lovely Tonks! She’s been a fan favourite for a while now, and we’re thirsting to bring her to life in all her glory.

In other news, we’re working on a significant update regarding the development of our game. In the world of game development, we like to say that a good User Interface (UI) is the unsung hero of a game. In the case of Witch Trainer Silver, we’ve never had the opportunity to focus on the UI to the extent we’d like.

That’s changing! We’re working on a brand new UI for the game that we believe will let us move forward in a more streamlined way. This new UI will also let us add in some new features we’ve had planned for a while now, such as proper Android, Controller, and Steam Deck support. That’s not all. One of the more requested features was more locations in the game. We’re working on that too, and the new UI will be able to support these new locations more effectively thanks to the changes we’re making.

Speaking of new locations, we’re back to working on the new map for the game! This one will be a big improvement over our old one, and it will allow us to add as many new locations as we want, all the while retaining the overall feel of the game. It’s a bit of a process, but we’re confident that the end result will be well worth it.

We’re also introducing a new system for tracking the status of locations. This will include a system that keeps track of your progress and tells you exactly where you are and if there’s an event available for the area you’re looking at on the map, or what characters are currently present in a certain location, etc. Stay tuned for future dev blog posts to keep up to date on what’s going on!

Moving on, once the dust settled after the Luna update, we’ve finally had the opportunity to sit down and discuss our internal plans for the game’s future. It took us almost a full month of working non-stop, but now that we’ve got a solid plan in place, we can start making some real progress because we have a clear vision for what we want the game to look like and what kind of features we want to add in the coming months.

We also have heard you loud and clear that you would prefer more frequent game updates, so after discussing things, we’ve decided to try to release preview builds to the public to get more feedback from you, the players, before we release it as a full update. Keep in mind that these preview builds will not be fully stable and might contain bugs, save support might not work and so on. They’re intended to be used as a peek into the future and give us a better idea of how you feel about the direction of the game, while also sating your thirst for something new to play with. 😉

Additionally, these builds will only be provided when we’re actively adding content or changing something major. The first one is going to be a UI overhaul, which is a huge undertaking. We’re planning to release this first preview build after we have a solid base UI built and a working map, so the changes will be noticeable right away.

You may have noticed we haven’t mentioned anything specific about Tonks yet. Don’t worry, she’s not forgotten. We’ve put down a solid foundation for her development and are currently planning her new scenes. Once the UI update is complete, we’ll start working on her content full-time, so stay tuned for that! You may be wondering, ‘b-but, won’t that take forever!’ Well, not necessarily, as we have a plan in place to make sure the UI and Tonks’ development goes as smooth as possible.

Moreover, we’re changing the way we release content by downscaling the size of updates, this will allow us to release more frequently with less downtime in between. Parts of the new interface are already in place and working well, we just have to polish it a bit more before we’re ready to share it with you. Look out for dev blog updates for more information on when the first preview build will be released and what changes it will bring.

On a completely different note, we’re always open to feedback and suggestions. If you have any ideas for the game that you think would enhance your experience, UI or otherwise, we’d be happy to hear them. You can always reach out to us on discord and let us know your thoughts.

Normally, that would be the end of the blog post, but we’re not done yet! There are a few other things we want to address in this post.

First, we want to say thanks for your patience during the past month. It’s been a long and gruelling process, but we’re proud of the work we’ve put in so far and we’re happy to finally see our vision come together. We know there’s still a lot of work ahead, but we’re confident in our ability to deliver something we can all be proud of.

Second, we want to let everyone know that we are working on improving translation support for players that prefer to play the game in their native tongue. There have been so many of you asking us about this for so long, and we’re happy to say that it’s finally on our radar. We can’t promise a timeline just yet, but we’re actively researching options and looking for a solution that we can implement without adding too much complexity in our already complex development process.

That brings us to another announcement: Fan-made Chinese Translation Project. We’ve been made aware of a community project aimed at translating the game into Chinese, and after discussions with the creators, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be providing the necessary tools and resources to help them along the way, opening up the pathway for other languages to be translated as well. That’s not all, the team behind this project has already finished translating most of the game’s text for the current version, and we will be releasing it as an optional download for players in the next minor patch. You’ll be able to switch between English and Chinese (and other languages when they become available) easily. Huge THANKS to you lads!

Before we sign off, we’d like to say thank you for sticking with us this far. You have no idea how much this means to us and how much we appreciate your support. It’s because of you that we get to make the game we love and share it with you.

Until next time,
Silver Studio Games 🫡

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN (April Fools)

Cornelius P. Fudge

Greetings, fellow denizens of the wizarding world.

News has reached my ears concerning suspicious goings-on in something called ‘the interwebs’. I must confess, at first, I thought it was a new breed of arachnid, perhaps related to our eight-legged cousins from the Forbidden Forest. But alas, it seems the reality is more concerning than one might imagine—our kind has started breeding spiders on these so-called ‘interwebs’!

In light of this unsettling revelation, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures has been instructed to keep a watchful eye on this disturbing development. Be warned: any unseemly activities perpetrated within the realms of this tangled web shall be treated with the same gravity as if they occurred in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. A decree has been issued—indulge in illicit practices, and you may find yourself ensnared in the clutches of a dementor-like banishment from the platform or, worse still, sentenced to attend a compulsory course on broomstick etiquette at the Ministry.

The innocence of our community is at stake, and I must implore everyone to keep their wands inside their robes at all times. In the interest of safety, the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes has provided a substitute for your despicable needs—a trusty blow-up doll of human proportions that should keep your wands and wants satisfied, while leaving no harm to the innocent arachnids roaming the interwebs. Stop this perversion before it leads us down a path of no return, lest the interwebs become a haven for spider-buggery.

Stay vigilant, my friends. Let us not forget the lessons of the past. We cannot afford another incident akin to Scamander’s Menagerie, where magical creatures were mishandled in the name of amusement. Keep your activities within the confines of propriety, and you shall be free to continue spinning tales without the Ministry stepping in.

You can find a picture of a deeply concerned arachnid attached down below.

Cornelius P. Fudge,
Minister for Magic.

(Image by: zzzHADOzzz)

Witch Trainer Silver – Update 1.46.0

Silver Studio Games

At long last, after an arduous wait that seemed to stretch on for eons, the moment has arrived – the latest update is live and ready for your perusal. Prepare to dive headfirst into the enigmatic World of Wrackspurt, or WoW for short, as we unveil this Luna-themed expansion. Get ready to feast your eyes upon a collection of alluring hand-drawn CGs as her narrative unfurls, revealing an array of outlandish tactics to combat those bothersome spratters.

The question lingers: what manner of methods await you within? Alas, dear player, you shall have to find out for yourselves, as Miss Luna appears mute at present due to her mouth being too busy. How intriguing…

In addition to progressing Luna’s storyline, Mafkin’s boutique now flaunts a trove of new attire for your delectation. Whispers abound of a rubbery ensemble and something decidedly flashy. Indulge in these fashionable additions as you see fit.

Moreover, we’ve bestowed Hermione with a refurbished assortment of cummmy and slutty escapades. You will be able to experience all events in a single sitting. As the great Merlin would have it.

So, cast off your garments and plunge into your wizardly pursuits; there’s no time like the present to immerse yourself with our favourite blonde.

For a comprehensive rundown of all changes, kindly consult our changelog. As always, you can download the latest version of the game from our download page.

If you enjoy the content, and would like to support us, you can do it on Patreon, and the recently opened SubscribeStar, or if you simply want to chat with us, join our discord!

Happy gaming! 🫡

Devblog #14 – Posing & Playtesting

Johnny28

Hello!

Johnny here with another devblog. As mentioned in my previous blog, I’ve been dedicatedly working on posing events. While I don’t have a plethora of new information to unveil today, given that I covered most of it in my previous post, I still wanted to update you all that I’ve successfully completed the “inspect body” favours posing. Both I and one of the moderators (a devoted Luna enthusiast) who helped me test the events are thrilled with the outcome.

Another thing that we’ve tested for this event is the introduction of the opaque textbox. This means, during CGs, you’ll only see the text without the box, providing a cleaner and more immersive experience. While you still have the option to hide it entirely by pressing the middle mouse button or ‘H’, we recognized that this was not the most optimal solution.

As Loafy is currently working on the final CG scene of the update, I’ve been adding a bit more writing to that event, taking advantage of an additional pose, giving us even further insight into Luna… Yes, I intentionally left that sentence unfinished.

That’s all when it comes to the work and the time for me to be self-indulgent and mention something I just started watching. Picture a school of magic, broom sports, potions, and a protagonist with a lightning shaped mark on their face. Yes, you’ve guessed it, I am of course talking about MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES, an anime about a guy with no magical powers, going to a magic school and beating the shit out of everyone. I’ve only watched about half of the first season this past Sunday, but I must say it’s quite funny so far, and I’ll recommend it to anyone who wants a good laugh. It doesn’t take itself seriously, and I’d say it’s pretty close to the silly things I usually write.

Devblog #13 – Spreading Love

LoafyLemon

Hello there fellow Witch Trainer enthusiasts, LoafyLemon here! I’ve got some bits and bobs to share with you all today, so buckle up!

First off, I want to give a massive shout-out to everyone who chimed in on the recent polls and voted resoundingly in favour of spicing up our Patreon with exclusive behind-the-scenes content. Creating these posts is not just fun, it also serves as a good creative outlet to vent our frustrations and accomplishments. I truly appreciate the love and support you’re showing us. You’re the reason we put so much effort into making this project special! ❤️

Now, onto business! As some astute observers already deduced from previous hints scattered across our social channels and git repository, we’re currently knee-deep in polishing the final touches of the Luna Lovegood update. And lemme tell ya, it’s been quite the roller-coaster ride! 

One scene in particular, has been keeping me awake at night with its relentless demands. I’m talking about the grand finale of our intimate conversation system – the infamous ‘Talk to Me’ interaction. You know, the one where you, the dashing Genie, coax sexy responses from your loyal witch, Miss Luna Lovegood, depending on how naughty you choose to be. Well, this time, we have decided to spice things up, breaking the boring formula and add some visuals and reactions to it!

If you recall correctly, the last time we dropped some tantalizing teasers, we gave you a glimpse of Luna posing provocatively, splayed on the desk with legs and feet held up high in the air. Quite the image, isn’t it?

However, as always, behind every mesmerizing facade, there lies a sweaty, grubby artist, toiling away ceaselessly in his dark lair, struggling to translate those fleeting visions into tangible form.

I won’t bore you with tedious details about selecting suitable colours, tweaking minute details, or trying to get the feet right until my eyes bleed tears of blood (I already did that before! Although if you’re genuinely curious, feel free to drop a comment below, and I might indulge you later).

Fortunately, after countless failed attempts and plenty of cursing under my breath (maybe not so quietly sometimes), I think I finally cracked the foot-drawing code! Well, sort of. It’s not perfect, but hey, nobody said it has to be.

Of course, the previously showed images in the last dev-dump post are merely a rough draft, just a tiny fraction of the bigger picture. There’s still plenty of polishing left to do before it reaches its full potential. But rest assured, my dedicated team and I are pouring our hearts and souls into this project, ensuring it lives up to the lofty standards you’ve come to expect from us. This scene is the last big part of the update that we need to finish. Currently I’m working on the line art.

Line art is basically the skeleton of your drawing – it establishes the basic shapes, forms, and lines that define each element’s silhouette, volume, and proportion. Think of it as tracing the essential outline of the object you want to render, except with lines instead of pencil strokes.

This phase is arguably one of the most critical parts of the process since it determines whether the final product will look cohesive, balanced, and pleasing to the eye. A solid foundation makes it much easier to refine and polish later on.

For this specific project, I’m using *Paintool SAI 2* vector-based ‘Pen Tool,’ which allows me to draw precise, smooth curves and straight lines with various weight and colour settings. Using vectors instead of pixels has two significant advantages: first, they scale infinitely without losing quality, meaning you can zoom in or out as close as you want, and it will still appear crisp and sharp. Secondly, you can easily manipulate and adjust elements later without causing any distortions or artifacts.

In this case, I start by defining the main silhouettes (such as Luna’s body or the desk) using thick, heavy lines with darker colours, making sure they intersect correctly where necessary. Then I move onto secondary elements like hands, hair, clothes, etc., using thinner, lighter lines with brighter hues. Finally, I refine everything even further by tweaking angles, curves, and points, experimenting with line weights, line widths, line caps, line joins, and various other parameters until I achieve the desired effect. On top of the usual typical line art work, and because the scenes are supposed to be dynamically rendered in the game engine, I also must slice and split layers accordingly to fit within the engine’s scope for posing purposes. Once the line art is done, I will move onto shading, but more on that later.

And finally, before I wrap things up for today, I’d like to address one burning question that’s probably been nagging at the back of your mind like an annoying mosquito: “When can I finally play it?!”

Well, sadly, I can’t reveal our exact timeline publicly (gotta maintain some mystery, don’t I?) But I promise you this – we’re working hard as humanly possible to finish this monster ASAP so that you can feast your hungry eyes on all the steamy, sexy delights Luna and company have prepared for you!

Until next time, take care, stay tuned, and don’t forget – your support means everything to us! Thanks for sticking by us this far; here’s to many more exciting adventures together ahead!