DevLog: Plan B--Changes for Poker Night (Patreon)

So... today is one of those updates where I sheepishly take center stage to talk about underestimating my vision on the previous DevLog and the poker game. Before I get into all the details (of which I will continue to be honest and forthcoming about) let me first state that the new plan for this update will probably not actually change any anticipations you have about the poker game. However, it will be a change from my last announcement and I want to be honest about that.

The Problem

So essentially, my last plan was to allow the user full control over the poker game during each round. Basically, each round would allow you to choose who would win or lose. Supporters seemed to like this idea because it will cater to their individual vision of the story/game rather than mine--which I'm totally cool with. While I anticipated this was going to be a coding nightmare, I didn't realize how many actual variations and rounds that would require. Basically I would have dozens and dozens of rounds to code, all of which would have dialogue between them. 

For example, as I was writing, I found that one projected outcome, where Braden lost back-to-back rounds had around 200 lines of dialogue. To pull this off for the entire poker game, I would literally be writing thousands of lines of dialogue--much of which many people may never see. Basically, the anticipated length of coding this would be comparable to the entire game thus far just for a fucking card game!

Bottom line: I like my vision but execution of this was going to take a lot of time that many people would disappointingly never see. Additionally, it would delay the next update for--in my opinion-little justification.

The Fix: Plan B

So this is one of those cases where I will assert that I'm not a professional and I will make mistakes, biting off more than I can chew. However, I want to include the highlights from the original poker vision without destroying myself for 3-4 months to write an event that will take 15 minutes to go through. 

Instead of full control over each round, you will have control over three major outcomes to the poker night itself. 1)Zack will win flawlessly, 2) Braden will win flawlessly, or 3) it will be neck-and-neck until the end where you will then get to choose whether Braden or Zack win the last round. So three major trajectories with one having 2 possible outcomes. You would still have control over the outcome of the night--just not each individual round. In short, this should hit on all the possible routes that people would have chosen anyway and will likely net a more consistent story based on that choice. Just a lot less coding...like thousands of lines less. To balance this change out, each route is fairly lengthy with dialogue and the usual banter and insight between the characters. 

Summary

In summary, I found that I needed to remind myself of the vision of the game; that lesson I learned from around build 4 where I should "play to my strengths." I'm not a coder and that original poker vision was really cool but most people would have glossed over 90% of the work that I put into it unless they played the poker event about 80 times. 

I wanted to get this out before the beginning of the month where pledges come in because I want to be honest and upfront with my supporters on what is and isn't going on. 

As always, let me know your thoughts. Hopefully, this will meet all the expectations that people had anyway and I have a better chance at getting the update out quicker. I'll post an actual status update in a few days. Right now I'm in the process of restructuring things for Plan B. 

The CG Above

So the CG above is from the new poker update. Braden must've won the last round and he's enjoying his victory lap as Zack has to lose something.