Weekend Update - Hypnosis News - Plus Haley (Patreon)
Content
Hey, everyone!
Progress on the game is going great, I have-
Oh, you wanted to talk about the Haley renders? That booty! Yeah, okay, I don't blame you.
Werey is back at it! He spent some time learning Daz3D by making a version of Haley. Since then, he started up other work on his DeviantArt page, including a giantess and a shrinking series that is a lot of fun.
I put up his original renders of Haley as well to show the progress.
Meanwhile, I'm a bit jealous, as I've been poking around Daz trying to learn the basics for around the same amount of time and still don't even have anything to show for it. Maybe one day...
Meanwhile, back to talking about Hypnosis!
How much of the next update has been completed, and what's left?
Let's start with what's done.
I've spent more time than usual on the technical side, tinkering with little projects I'd meaning to get around to for a long time for both Hypnosis and Endowed that will also apply for future games. Things like...
- Finding a simple phone system I like
- Getting help making the optional walkthrough/hint system
- Made the textbox opacity adjustable to make it easier to read
- Updated a few other visual aspects of the game, including a notification system
- Made Cory's name customizable
- Added back the name your save option (the reason I took this out was it was messing with the Android app by popping up the keyboard and being unable to click anywhere else, but I think the solution is to remove it when I make the Android version).
I still have a few future projects to tackle, such as adding a gallery to replay all the different sex scenes and adding stats throughout each episode for the girls who are growing, but I'll save those for future updates.
I want to update old animations first, especially all the ones before episode 8 when I hadn't figured out how to make them loop correctly and they were choppy. It's one of those projects that will make sense to tackle all at once, and it will take some time so I won't approach it until a future update.
Also finished: The writing!
Well, almost. It's outlined and written to the point where I'm starting to add visuals. Like usual, some of the scenes will get more added for dialogue reactions to the visuals but it's looking good there.
I may have mentioned this before, but I've been spending more time with this episode going back to replay the game and tracking all the different paths. I wanted to keep all the storylines fresh in mind, and after spending the past two years finishing up the first branch, it was worth going back to remember where we left all the characters.
And man... has it been fun.
There's something about seeing the game with fresh eyes and having the benefit of time to distance myself from it to be able to see better where things hit the mark and when they miss. So it's been a lot of fun to replay the last few episodes a few times.
My favorite part was all the little pieces I'd somewhat forgotten along with how they all connected together. There are a lot of character interactions, and even in the replay I found a few inconsistencies as well as opportunities.
For example, if you played Hottie Bartender's path, I originally named her Bailey as I tried to keep her separate from Brandy in Endowed. However, on a replay, this felt like a mistake. She's the same exact model, only with a slightly different haircut and less tattoos. But she has the same flirty yet dismissive personality, knowing guys like her and trying to make things a challenge for them.
Part of the reason I kept them separate was I worried I was overlapping the games a bit too much. Kassie shows up on the cruise with Grace and Laura, Tiffany is the MC's neighbor, and I felt the characters continuing to bump into each other felt a little too convenient. But lately I've realized... this doesn't have to be real life.
So as a retcon, Bailey and Brandy are now the same character, with the events of Endowed happening a few months after the current timeframe in Hypnosis. This update will show how Brandy came to work at the club. Sure, a lot of her backstory was already told in the story Bad Influences, but this will fill in the pieces of how she went from bartender to stripper.
Other adjustments were in setting up more chances for success with Daphne. Previously, to get on her path was pretty simple, you simply had to go along with her little "date" at Laura's house after the pool party in Episode 9. But to hypnotize her, the only option was taking the path when you take her and Grace to confront Laura. And that only happened in two of the six paths.
This is part of why I went back to add a new path to Episode 10 where you can still confront her but avoid being hypnotized yourself. However, I realized another simple thing to add was giving the MC the chance to still catch her and Grace again the next day before she flies home and offer to use the watch with her then.
Both of these options are meant to make Daphne the first girl who was in control of her own growth and body customization, so when we go visit her next update it will be a lot more fun.
So, after all these little details, what remains?
Mainly the visuals. I'm still not 100% about where each scene belongs in the overall pacing of the game when I plan out the next three updates, but I think I have it just about figured out.
Here's what I have outlined currently:
This update will take place entirely in the next day after the gym scene, with the MC figuring out where things landed with the girls obeying him (whether he wants them to or not) and has a meeting with Laura where can decide whether or not to give her another chance or send her packing.
The day continues with him giving Aera a tour of the town while Leah is at school, meeting up with Cory and Brittany for a double date with her friend Shelby, and ending the day spending more time with Leah and Aera together.
Pretty simple, but it doesn't show evidence of the three months this update has taken. The good news is, the next update should take significantly quicker to finish up. We'll go with Grace to visit Daphne, we'll have the Halloween shenanigans with Jenn and Haley with a few more scenes added, and that's about it. This means the next update is already over 50% completed.
The other thing I'll add for the next update are a few more small scenes to the Broken Watch Branch, basically just showing the other girls trying to catch up to Haley. When I finished the last update, I knew no matter how big I made the girls, some of you would still want bigger and we would return to it a few more times.
I'll go over my plans for that more later, but I will say they are meant to be quick and easy so as not to take much time away from the current paths.
The third upcoming update is mostly written as well, and it focuses on the MC deciding how much control he really wants to have around his girls and what it all means to his relationships with each of them, setting up the endings.
What else? Oh yeah! I have a kid now. You may have noticed me rambling about better ways of focusing and working productively a lot lately, and this was why. My luxury of having the majority of the day to myself without a lot of interruptions are now behind me, so I've been doing what I can to make sure I'm making the most of the time I do have.
I'm sure there will be a lot of adjustments with my work schedule and all that, but my goal is simply to control what I can and to make the most of all the time I have to work on things. So, is there a chance of this update finishing up at the end of this month? Yep! That's the goal I'm aiming for.
Have I missed those kind of goals multiple times on past updates? Also yes. So no promises, but I'll keep you updated on how things are going and when to expect the next updates.
Do I have any other projects for you in the meantime? Not really, as I'm focusing on Hypnosis for 100% of my work time until its finished. However, I do have a few other projects on the back burner I'll talk about more after this update.
I still also want to make a post about the status of all the different stories I've posted so far, especially now that several of them are complete. I'll try to post it next week.
Currently I have more time on my phone (especially while holding my kid who refuses to be put down) so I'll probably get further along on the next few chapters of Jazz, but Hypnosis is still my main priority. Can I write scenes for the game on my phone? Kind of, yes. At least basic scenes, but the format usually takes longer to convert so I tend to avoid it. Still, I can at least give myself a head start on future updates.
For now, I'll just be posting an Easter post tomorrow which is mostly an excuse to dress up the girls in little bunny costumes and put ears on them.
Thanks, everyone!