DevLog Update (Patreon)

Hey all,

I know I've been kinda quiet lately but that silence has translated into some pretty heavy progress with the v0.05 update so today let's run through a few of those things and get everyone caught up with where things are. We'll end with a projected release date.

There's a lot to cover so let's jump in.

Writing

So writing is pretty much done. This update is more linear than the past few, which honestly, I needed to help give my brain a break from sorting the original code. I was really looking forward to this update just because of the length of scenes that didn't have as many choices or branches. That being said, I used some of that extra time to go overboard on the visuals for v0.05 (more on that later) as well as to expand some of the previous conversations in the doctor's office and the talk after. The writing, as I've said before, was pretty rough in the beginning of the game. This update wasn't awful to try and rewrite but there are a few places that I polished a bit and I think it's for the better.

Normally, this would be when I would give writing stats based on the length of the code to help give you an idea on update length, however, I've currently started going through the early parts of the code to combine some previous lines and make it shorter. That's going to be a process (I'll most likely work on that and have it finished by v0.05 free release) but it's thrown off my ability to tell how many lines of code I actually added for this particular update. That being said, if you've already played the original, just expect this update to finish out Chapter 2 from the doctor's office scene just like before.

CGs

So as I mentioned earlier, this update has a lot of fucking pictures. The original doctor office scene from the rough draft game had around 72 images. The Revamp scene has around 235 so massive visual expansion of that entire doctor office encounter; much of which will focus more on reactions and facial expressions and just general movements around the room to help bring that scene to more life. If you haven't gotten a chance to see the Before/After pics in the $5 tier, check em out here and here. If you're not in those tiers, don't worry, you can check out a FREE example on my Twitter. The transformation from the old version to the new in this update is fucking incredible and I'm really satisfied with how things are looking so far. Total number of pictures is gonna clock in at 365 and will be much more diverse and interactive than what we originally saw. Another pretty looking update imo so I can't wait to share it with you.

Animations

While we're talking about CGs, let's talk about ones that wiggle :)

So a lot of my development tends to be impulsive on the scenes. I'll be writing a scene and then just get some overwhelming feeling or picture in my head on how it needs to be. In v0.04, I spent a little time doing a quick animation for Braden's facial expression change. It didn't add a ton to the update but from a logistics standpoint, these are necessary and important steps that we'll cash in on later. That animation provided an opportunity to practice some skills for upcoming animations that need to really hit (like the park scene).

So while working on v.0.5, I randomly decided to do another quick animation for this update (it was like 2 seconds long). The animation stuff is a different beast for me so while working on that one, I decided to be an idiot and try to do another one, too. Both of them turned out. The second one is a little longer and clocks in at 8 seconds and will run on a loop so it can pretty much go forever). Both of these are a test and I guess I'll take the opportunity to admit that they're both NSFW. Hopefully, the practice helps me and the addition of the movement adds some more life to the story.

So stay tuned for those when v0.05 drops.

Frustrations and My Stupid Hand

This part of the DevLog is dumb but I mentioned it on the Discord as well as the  most recent Video DevLog found here if you like more in-depth Extras. But basically, I hurt my hand while siting at a desk doing absolutely nothing. It's weird that I've read about artists having this problem before but it was nothing that I've ever had to deal with so tbh, I sorta minimized this. Unfortunately, I've also seem devs try and milk before and make up a litany of excuses just to delay things so sometimes these "injuries" seemed a bit sus. However, I discovered that before I worked on this project full-time, my day job had me at a different computer, walking around, and using a mouse that was shaped differently. So even though I would work there around 10 hours a day at the regular job then come home to work on the game stuff after, the long hours didn't actually do anything to my hand because I was using different equipment and there was some diversity in the way that I held and used it. 

However, now that I'm at the same keyboard for at least 12 hours a day doing this, my hand has been in the same shape on the same mouse for well over a year. I wasn't cramping, but it was more the texture of the mouse had literally rubbed my hand raw (both my palm as well as the two smaller tips of my fingers that I hang off the edge of the mouse and drag across my desk to help stabilize it). So I ended up purchasing another mouse (got a vertical one). That's helped quite a bit so now I can jump between one or the other depending on work, gaming, or whatever. The change has helped but the vertical mouse is fucking crazy when you've never used one before. I just started doing the video series and I delayed the last video just because y'all did not want to watch me try and use that mouse as I wished it to go from one side of the screen to the next. That being said, I'll be back in the videos again soon and we wont' actually see a reduction in them, I just had to push it back a bit until I got used to this thing. Regardless of how dumb the mouse looks, I'll do another one very soon and you can make fun of me, I'm secure enough with myself to take it :p

Good news is that regardless of the mouse issue, it didn't slow down production at all and I'm still right on schedule with where I wanted to be even if I did have to wear a damn glove for a few days.  It's just dumb that I hurt my damn self sitting still and that i've done this for years now and never had a problem until now. Anyway, adjustments were made so we'll see. 

Release Date

So in summary, things are looking good. Right now, Jordyn has to run through my CGs to look at fixing stuff I missed. I'm gonna run through the update a couple more times to try and smooth things out with the writing more and typically I run through it and then walk away for a day or two then come back fresh. I've always done that and it makes a big difference for me. That being said, ideally, I'd like to get this update out this week sometime.

Thank you, as always, for the support. I think you're gonna like this next one.

-Aaryn

TLDR: Update should be coming out this week. Tons of new visuals that expand the dynamics in the doctor office as well as the tense conversation that takes place afterwards. Hurt my hand because I've been using the same mouse position for at least 12 hours a day 6+ days a week and it caught up with me so I got a new vertical  mouse and had to get used to it. Didn't slow me down at all but it did reduce the video recordings because i'm not used to it and i move it like an idiot :p