Day one redux... (Patreon)

So - Patreon FINALLY cleared your pledges!

And boy, was it a busy day, here - but before I get into alla that...

Every time you migrate a Unity project from one system to another (especially if you've just upgraded to Unity Pro,) you have to spend a few hours removing tons and tons of compiler errors:

While clearing them out, you have to make sure that no member of the orchestra is standing on one another's shoes, which means a TON of module uninstall/reinstall cycles.

Last night, we finally got the source running on the new machines, albeit without our sky, no fur shaders, and zero post-processing effects.  

This was an excellent first step, as bringing in the missing parts is relatively easy, once you have the core running.

We're taking this opportunity to bring in a new, improved day/night cycle & weather system, along with a better ocean- but more about that on Monday, when I can SHOW YOU...

We also want to show you the improvements we've made to the apartment/home office, but for now, things are still a mess around here.  Once we have one more shelf installed in the hallway, we can clear yet another bookshelf to make room for whatever desk Big Lots happens to have on sale this month.

SO, as I was saying: this morning, The first investment ya'll put into this project arrived, and it's been a busy, busy day.

Our first contact this morning was with our lawyer, who will proceed to draft NDAs.  This is of PARAMOUNT importance, as it protects both all of the work we have put into the project, and the trust you've placed in us.

After a discussion with a new animator, we headed out to get a few keyboards and mice, to ensure that all four of our development machines are good to go.  

We then procured year-long licenses for the software we need for the development of Peace Island, ensuring that no matter what happens in the future in terms of support, we have the tools we need to keep working.

And really, it was LONG overdue to go over the foliage we used on Peace Island...

Don't get me wrong- I'm pleased with where the project has been going, visually (and apparently, a lot of other folks do, as well,) but there was room for improvement.

There just wasn't enough variation, due to previous budget constraints - we only had about six trees, total, which we re-mixed to create about 15 sub-par variations on the same theme.

We also still were using some bushes & scrub that were not wind-reactive, which created bizarre visual inconsistencies during high winds and storms.

In the next alpha, the world will be far, far richer in motion & detail, with fewer draw calls, meaning better performance.

There's a TON of other stuff going on - interviews, meetings, dev news on a dozen different fronts, but I can't go into all of it here, because I have so very, very much to do, before I sleep.

News, Screenshots and Pics coming this Monday!