Dev Diary, December 2nd, 2022 (Patreon)

Animations have been running almost none stop this week. While they were rendering, I've been focusing on the Ren'Py part and got a decent chunk done. Numbers are at 860 story renders and 3,474 animated frames.

I wanted to tell you a bit about what -u4ia- will be like, now that I'm getting into the real scripting part of it and see that it's achievable in the way I planned it out.

u4ia is more like a game than Leap of Faith, and will consist of three types of 'modes'. Each chapter will consist of all these three modes at different stages of the episode.

1. Path mode
In path mode, you choose your path through the current scene. Different events take place as you move forward through the scene. In short, moving from 'A' to 'B' (or 'start' to 'finish' depending on the scene), you choose your path along the way, and who to interact with. They play out like a normal visual novel but are designed to give you great choice in who to spend time with or what to do. Meaning, exiting a path mode will differ greatly depending on your choices. Due to this, it's impossible to see all content in one or two playthroughs.

2. Free roam
In free roam, you can move around as much as you like until you've completed one or several required tasks, or the time runs out. Do note that "time runs out" doesn't mean you have to be fast (in real-time), but there's a certain amount of things you can do before something happens, giving you a chance to plan things out.

3. Story mode
In the story mode parts, you experience the story first and foremost. This is the same as you did in Leap of Faith with conversations, story reveals, cutscenes, etc. Story mode has fewer choices, but does differ depending on your earlier choices.

When finishing a path mode event, or a free roam, you can save it with the choices you just used to play through it. That means you can re-play the story at a later time in full story mode with your earlier choices intact. A 'create your own story' of sorts.

There are 12 girls in the story. Four of them are important, four less important, and four of them, well, without revealing too much, you will have to choose at some point. :) 

Okay, better get back to it. Have a nice weekend. Take care and stay safe out there.

// Drifty