Inner Circle Update for December 26 2016! (Patreon)

So, things have been a bit slow this week due to everyone having holiday commitments, but there's still been a lot of progress!  Check below for details!

Images and Content for this Update on Google Drive 

New Artwork Print, 4K and Updated HD Wallpaper

Check above for a look at the new artwork print design!  There is also a version without the logo (you can check it out on Google Drive at the link above).  These are now available to those at the $40 and $50 tiers.  In addition, I've added a 4K wallpaper and updated 1080p wallpaper to the Google Drive link above.

Animation Complete!

Take a look here  or at the uploaded content above for the full size version of the completed animation for the intro story segment to V0.06!  

I mentioned last time that I still had to add support for animations to my render management software, which while took longer than expected, is now working great thanks to some help from APL in rewriting and improving my DOS batch script for organizing renders.

For anyone wondering, the final version of this animation took just over an hour to render and process (after creating an automation action for this specific scene in Photoshop).  On the old computer it would have taken up to 10 hours at this quality, and I honestly wouldn't have even attempted something like it since I had to do multiple test versions beforehand to get it right.  I'm pretty pleased with the jiggles!

Animation Previewer Idea

Regarding testing animations, it's actually quite a bit of a pain for me at the moment since it's impossible to scrub animations in realtime in Daz, and it's also impossible to match the exact possible framerates that RPG Maker animates sprites at with GIFs or movie renders.  Therefore, APL and I actually came up with a neat idea for an animation previewer/testing tool within the game itself.

The idea would allow me to directly render animation previews from Daz to a folder that the game would read, so within just a few clicks I could see the animation in game and test various sprite framerates to see how it would best look.  Currently to do this I would have to make a spritesheet and set up a unique test case in game (as I've done with every single enemy animation up to this point).  Anyways, we have the general design planned, so hopefully it ends up working out!   

New and Improved Sound Effects

I haven't had the opportunity to test these out in game yet, but audio guy whipped up an impressive 46 new or improved sound effects to use or replace current ones with.  I've uploaded a small batch of them to the content above for you to check out!  

Up till now I've only made custom sound effects when I can't find one in the RPG Maker library (some of those include the gunshots and heavy machinery sounds throughout the Access Tunnels map).  So, as it stands, the menu user interface sounds and a lot of others are either relatively low quality or just generic as hell and don't fit the tone of the game at all.  As this is sort of a test batch, I'm not certain as to whether we will have the new ones ready for V0.06, but from hearing these I can tell you the game is going to start sounding way more original and dynamic. 

 It's also worth noting that I'm really confident we'll have some great audio for H scenes soon enough!

APL's Coding Progress

When not slaving away for his family's holiday plans, APL has been busy continuing his work on the battle overhaul.  He also created a draft design for expanding the options menu (since it's running out of room) and integrated his work from the battle overhaul into possible new options.  

Some of his major successes this week include:

• Improving enemy spawning, meaning we should have much more flexibility over when enemies can spawn in battle (basically, we have future plans for doing more detailed and interesting things similar to our little demonstration with the elevator battle at the end of V0.05).
• Finished implementing things like simultaneous battle actions and variable active time battle speeds (and related variables are now easily configurable for testing/balancing through an .ini file instead of spread randomly across the engine).
• Added the option of using Manual Struggle with battle Wait modes.  Manual Struggle will now behave kind of like Escape does in Wait modes, meaning time will flow normally while it's active.

More Details on V0.06

Admittedly, fleshing out the details for the V0.06 story got pushed back this week, but I can give you the rundown of the basics.

============= SPOILERS AHEAD!==========

The basic gist of the new story is that it follows Neon and Malise as they try to avoid authorities while infiltrating the city to reunite with Doc.  It will likely also serve as an introduction to some new factions that will play important roles in the main story, such as the corrupt corporation that wields government influence over the city, the criminal underground that works for said corporation, and a neo-occult sect whose purpose is yet to be revealed.

The majority of the new enemies will probably be humanoid, so I'm sure a bunch of you will be glad for a change of pace from the battle H content so far.  It's also probable that at least some of the new enemies will be connected to the scene at the end of V0.05.  There will almost definitely be at least one animated story scene as well.  

 ============= END SPOILERS ========== 

TK and I hope to have a preview mock-up of at least one map (potentially the "town" area mentioned in the previous update), and hopefully the design of at least one new enemy ready for next week.  The potential challenges for this version are many, so wish us luck!