This article is a repost from the Japanese creator support site “Ci-en.” For the complete version, please refer to the Ci-en article.

Production Progress Report

Enemy Character Walking Graphics Image Export

　After the previous article was posted, I proceeded with the skin color adjustment as planned and then began exporting the images. This turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated.

Creation of Event Character Walking Graphics

　Next, I began creating walking graphics for event characters (mob characters). For the differences between enemy characters and event characters, please refer to this past article.
　At this stage, I have completed the images for 36 characters across 4 types. This progress is much faster than expected.
　Currently, I am reusing the body sprites created for enemy characters and drawing new faces for the event characters. For each body, I create three different face variations, each with three different hairstyles. Since I’ve done this for four types of bodies, the total comes to 3×3×4=36 characters.
　Please take a look at how they appear in the game.

　For each character, the following five patterns of images are prepared.

　Since the body template is already created, there is little need to redraw it. However, preparing a large number of characters requires combining these different parts, which is a truly painstaking task.
　The newly drawn faces are as follows:

　Regarding mob characters, I had a similar experience of creating a large number of sprites in the past (around August-September 2021). The number of variations created back then was 27 characters across 3 types (see below).

　Looking back at the record from that time, it seems that creating the 27 characters took about two weeks. In comparison, creating 36 characters across 4 types in just over a week shows that the speed of production has greatly improved.
　Additionally, at that time, all characters shared the same skin color. While I thought this was acceptable at the time, I have been able to use different skin tones this time. However, for the sake of efficiency, I’ve limited the skin tones to 3-4 variations per body type. Ideally, each character would have a slightly different skin tone, but this was abandoned for practicality. As a result, the skin tone differences are more prominent, which might feel a bit extreme. This balance will likely be a point of study for future projects.
　As for the faces themselves, they have been drawn extremely well.

▲ I am quite proud of the depiction of the girl character. Some of the variations are surprisingly well-executed. Is this really the time to be putting so much effort into this?

Future Work Plans

　Having already created the 36 event character images, I plan to create two more types. However, depending on the situation, I may reduce the number of face and hairstyle variations.
　After that, I will proceed with creating the maps and event backgrounds, and finally, I will begin working on the events themselves. The road ahead feels far too long, and it’s a bit overwhelming, but progress is steadily being made. I will continue charging forward with production.
　Please look forward to further progress updates.