Anomaly Vault v11 (Patreon)

"It'll only take a day or two once I'm better"
"I'll post again in a bit with anomaly v11"

Well, it's really late, but I present to thee Anomaly Vault v11! If you're interested in why this took so long stick around after the changelog.

Play it online here:
https://noodlejacuzzi.github.io/Anomaly%20Vault/Anomaly%20Vault.html 

Or the mobile version: https://noodlejacuzzi.github.io/Anomaly%20Vault/Anomaly%20Vault%20Mobile.html 

Download it here:
https://mega.nz/file/HrhElDCK#-qUeqrKJ-yoq9uldMjBLT0D_0PvfpE-Gm3QyQS8IBeE 

 If you've already got v10 installed, just download the v10 to v11 upgrade pack in here:
https://mega.nz/file/jnpy2JJI#m5w6rU5E-BCdd5x9zp1f1YreAJFBure-9xCi869SBRk 

And minor bugs were found (pervert radio lunatic ending at work, 5 typos, and a bug reading the file on the intro mission). You can fix them by downloading this v11a hotfix (online version is already patched):
https://mega.nz/file/SuRTwAIJ#xHsct5limGojStWUfEWk8-r1kajzRe6AwGvuE_qxIX8 

--- New Content:
- Added a new mission where you infiltrate the Beta Vault. Complete the intro mission to get briefed on it! You can bring either the CEO Pass or the Skeleton Key along with you!
- Added a new mission that serves as the finale to the game. Complete the above mission to get briefed on it. Entirely linear except for a choice that leads to an ending for each equipable artifact!
- Added endings for both realities in the alternate reality mirror.
- New Dark Vault Artifact: Charity's Cage - Found in the Beta Vault mission
- New Dark Vault Artifact: Perfectly Ordinary Dayz Are Reviewed - Found in the Beta Vault mission

--- Bugfixes & Typos
- Added a new system to allow for loading from string in mobile browsers, bypassing the 5000 character limit. Older saves should still work just fine.

--- Other Changes
- New Cheat: Pool Noodle - Unlocks all artifacts
- Correctly denoted Cryptogreek as the author of a mirror scene
- The Gallery no longer boots you all the way out after viewing a scene

This marks the final planned update to Anomaly Vault, aside from maybe a bugfix if it turns out something's broken. Overall I hope you enjoyed. There are a million unused concepts and unfinished ideas that I'd love to see finished, but between real life and education I just won't have the time. Before I ramble about why this took so long, some notes on the game:

- I think in the future I'd like to focus more on characters than items / scene concepts. I never felt as engaged to work with Veronica as I did some other characters like Jean from HAA or Lana from university, and taking the time to flesh out the characters would probably have helped.

- Working on missions was absolutely exhausting. They're like an entire rainy campaign that needs to be finished in one go, and multiple artifacts increases the complexity of every room meaning if I'm not in a good head space things can go from straightforwards to spaghetti real quick.

- Finally, before I take on a new real porn project I need to convert images and whatnot beforehand. Working from an existing library is many times easier both in the writing process and implementation process.  

Overall, this game is probably the biggest learning experience of my entire library, which is saying something since it's my 4th game! A special thanks of course to Swallows999 for being the game's sponsor and submitting scenes, thanks to cryptogreek for helping write with some of the workload whenever I was struggling, and to all the bughunters and typo-finders (looking at you orangemaestro!) for all the help you've given me. Thanks!

Alright, now as to exactly what happened. I was weeks late with this one and man, I am the kind of tired that sleep has trouble fixing. I don't know exactly what leaves me so drained after doing an update but as I look back over my releases I notice many of my anomaly ramblings talk about me feeling burnt out. 

The following is an overview of the last month and a half:

So the last anomaly update was June 30th, right at the tail end of a massive heat wave that hits me with no AC. I'm practically melting I'm behind schedule since v10 was meant to have the first of the two new missions. I've got other sponsor stuff, I've got more Anomaly, and I've got Rainy I want to finish afterwards. I'm transferring schools for academic reasons towards that glorious goal of a master's degree. I'm swamped, but no problem. I know my pace, I buckle down knowing I can make it.

Two missions, a large pile of scenes both ready to implement and half written. I've got essentially three updates worth of content to do and I normally push myself to do two. Okay, not impossible. I've probably bitten off way more than I can chew, but I'm gonna chew it. I put off the v10.5 release to reduce my workload.

Heat wave returns, and my AC decides to not work. It doesn't break completely, it just starts not working. It turns out I have a blocked filter and now I am trying to work in a room that hits 95 degrees while my completely frozen block of ice AC sits uselessly in the attic. Oof. I guess I'll write at the local library, but there's only so much work I can do on a porn game in a public space. Still, scenes are written, and I prepared a decently sized library for just this occasion. I'm on track!

And then I get real sick. I pass out and wake up with my face either on my keyboard or the floor. Man, it'd sure suck if this were the stage where I needed to code a text-adventure mission in an old clunky engine.

Anyways, so this is the stage where I needed to code two text-adventure missions in an old clunky engine. This isn't Rainy, the lewd content / other stuff ratio is too low to put out just one mission ad call it a day, it'd be an update for just three scenes. I feel I've got no choice but to bite the whole bullet. Lots of authors will compare things to fever dreams, but those comparisons do not do it justice. My sleep schedule is shot between the sickness and the heat, I dream code.

Release day! I charge once a month, I can't give myself an extension and I've come to rely on the muns for food. I normally respond to emails within the hour if not the day, but at this point I have 37 unread emails. I'm fainting, I feel like I have been hit by several trucks of varying models. So, I throw in the towel for a moment. I take a short break, I'll delay the release by a few days and apologize for technically charging twice. Such is life, I'll just have to overcome the social anxiety of what everybody thinks of it. Okay, a few days extra. I'll recover, I'm almost done anyways. I can see the light.

Oh no. It's been two weeks, I'm still not done. I'm neck-deep in code and mechanics I thought were great and would be easy to implement just a month ago, except it's all broken or relies on me doing more engine work to get running. It's 9am, I normally go to sleep at 3am. This is not unusual at this point.

This is the sort of crunch that ends careers and shaves years off of lifespans. There's a nasty headspace where you're 90% into a project only for doubt and self-criticism to settle in as well. I've been floating in that headspace for days now. It's rough. I see someone in my mirror. They are unfamiliar to me. I've written the scenes. The content is done, all the most joyous parts of game development have been over for days, and now I am doing nothing but linking scenes. Bugtesting. Changing, invalidating some critical element that needs to be fixed. Realizing something I felt was finished was actually just a collection of snippets I wrote while on the cusp of consciousness.

TLDR: The last month and a half was brutal. Thanks for sticking with me so far. Each time I'd go to bed thinking "I'm so close to being done", every single time. I couldn't make an accurate forecast post as it'd basically be a daily update of "today for sure!" And that's almost what my discord ended up being.

I'm not gonna do a second charge for the month like I mentioned earlier, I'm just gonna work on wrapping up Rainy and another update for University and release them when they're done.