Biweekly Update - 12-10-2023 (Medication, story rewrite progress, camera movement, zooms, and more!) (Patreon)

Hey everybody, time for another biweekly update - this time, at last, with good feels! I finally, finally managed to get back on ADHD medications as of just a few days ago, and they're already making such a huge difference. I'm finding myself actually excited to work for the first time in a long time, so let's get right into it and talk about what I worked on!

So, we've been in the middle of the CPE rewrite for a while. I've definitely been struggling with writing lately, so it's been slow going, which is why the last 24 hours were such a pleasant surprise. Not only did I finally fill in one of the last big remaining questions I had about the story, which I've been agonizing over for a while, but I also managed to edit around half of the entire game's cutscene scripts as part of the story rewrite, all in just one night of work. Without getting into anything specific, the information I filled out last night will be a huge help in writing one of the game's major character relationships, and I'm really excited to get the chance to flesh it out.

It's been a very story-focused week, since the other work I did was improving the effects and control I have during the game's cutscenes. In the video up above, you can see a comparison of the game's intro cutscene; how it used to be, and how I was able to spice it up with a basic blur effect and nice camera zoom/movement. I also improved the way CPE's zoom functions, so instead of the instant snap to the new zoom level, it smoothly zooms in and out instead. This affects gameplay too, so ingame H-scenes will also have this new smooth zoom. Adding effects like these is something we'll be doing to all of Crisis Point's cutscenes during the process of implementing the new script, to add some more visual interest in the storytelling. It's worth noting that the intro cutscene is actually going to be pretty different from either of these versions - the script rewrite changes the intro scene heavily, but we don't have the assets to implement the new scene yet, so this is just an example of what the updated cutscenes will be like.

As part of the cutscene improvement work, I also did something I wish I had known about years ago, and implemented a huge number of different easing algorithms into the engine for use with animating. You can see them at work in the video up above, with the camera movement and zooms and how they smoothly speed up before slowing down into position. Most modern game engines have things like this built-in, but because of the age and deprecated nature of the engine CPE is created in, it's something that has to be done manually. Because of that, and my lack of formal training, it was one of those things that I didn't know I needed until I found out about them - which, coincidentally, is exactly what happened to me while experimenting with Godot, the new engine I plan on using after CPE is done. So not only is Godot a really fun engine to work with that I'm excited to start using professionally, but it has directly impacted CPE's development in a positive way already, so whoo!

And that's all we have to talk about today. It's only been a few days, but things are really starting to look up; my mental health was already seriously improving before starting ADHD medication again, and now that I have that medication to help grease the wheels, I think things are about to change for the better. I've said it a million times, but thank you all *so much* for sticking with me. I know things have been bad for a long time, and I don't blame anyone who got tired of waiting on me and left, but we're finally turning a corner and I can't wait to finally start making it up to all of you. We'll see you again soon in the next update!