[ENG] September 2023: Monthly Report (Patreon)

Monthly Report tl;dr --

Ren'py 8 update, M11 release, G10 delay, assets, character updates, new gameplay feature, and possibly save sync across platforms.

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Good timezone, everyone, Andy here! Hope you guys are doing well! I've been really exhausted with my current schedule, and I have more flight to catch next month...

Anyway, since I'm running low on fuel, I'll make this quick and as clear as possible:

-- Story and dev stuff --

Updated game to 0.11.31:

Since public update had been released earlier this month (1st of September), we only get Patreon update this month. I didn't expect M11 would take this long! Initially I thought it would not be longer than 2000 lines, but we ended up having about 900 lines more.

There's also an error in Day 10 that I haven't fixed yet, it's a d7_m_wait error. If you see it, feel free to ignore that. It doesn't affect anything as of now. I also have added one variable in M10 that will affect your M11 save, so make sure you reply M10 from the start!

There's a lot happening in M11, so make sure you get your save slots ready!

He's happy to see you, but he'd be happier if you brought your wallet along.

Fixes, adjustments, improvements:

I have fixed more (known) errors. typos, and weird bugs here and there. I haven't gotten to fix the Now Playing screen though. I'll get it done once we're starting with the yearly housekeeping update.

There were also some adjustments needed before releasing this update due to me updating from Ren'py 7.x to 8.x. We're using Python 3 instead of Python 2.7 now, so there will be some incompatible things coding side. What this means is that you might encounter errors, and some of your save files will be incompatible with the game.

Edit: Ren'py 8.x doesn't support 32-bit Windows anymore, if you guys need 32-bit version, do let me know, I'll make 32-bit build for you.

Now playing screen now shows most of the music playing correctly. It'll be updated more in the future!

Assets:

Oh, boy, my favorite thing to talk about. We have commissioned Vui to do backgrounds, but so far, we've gotten nothing but sketches. It's part of the reason why we don't release polished update until the 10th of October.

I have more music and sounds added to the game, hopefully it makes your experience more immersive.

That aside, we now have a new character sprite by Wolgen. Welcome Ediltrudis, the winner of September 2023 Character Poll. We also have Andrew's side image by Ven! Looking sharp, tiger. I wasn't able to add him and Andrew's side image into the game this month, though.

Nicknamed Eddie because who the heck names their children Ediltrudis??

Save sync - accessing your saves everywhere:

You might notice something new and ugly stamped onto the title screen. It's part of Ren'py's new update called Ren'py Sync, which allows you to upload your saves and download it on another platform. This is big, I have to admit, but I can't get it to work for whatever reason. If you guys know how to do it, please let me know!

I'm so sad and mad about this, LOL.

Collectibles!?

I have added a new, totally not important, original feature: collectibles. For now, it's going to be shown in notify screen, but once I know how to implement a collection - essentially an inventory - screen, I'll make them available there.

Collecting stamp is only one of the many collectibles I've planned to add into the game, please look forward to it!

Maybe you'll unlock something once you collected them all...?

-- What's next? --

Schedule

Well...judging from my previous and upcoming schedule, I don't think it's possible for me to update twice a month. Every time I plan to make the route shorter, it ends up being longer than before. I'm not going to back off, though. I'll keep this schedule until the end of 2023. This means G10 will be in the same folder as M11 update (September), so save the link and the password if you don't play on pledging next month!

Big Pack Tier II

I also plan on reopening the Big Pack tier and then adjusting ALL TIER in 2024. Since Big Pack tier is for existing patrons, you can read more on AFCL's Discord server.

I'll also post it here later!

-- Links--

Where the heck are they??

Due to piracy issue, all download links and passwords are posted on the Discord server. You should be in the server upon pledging, if not: Getting Discord access – Patreon Help Center

Once you're in the server, just look for #vn-news, and head over to #release- channel.

Yes, I use white theme.

Alternatively, if Discord isn't your thing, you can integrate your account with itch.io and download the itch.io App for easier updates! We update it regularly.

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I think that's all I have for now.

Thanks for reading!