Project Lambda FAQ (Patreon)

I've gotten a lot of questions since my announcement, so I thought it would be good to put a FAQ here to make things easy for everyone. It's a big switch, and I appreciate everyone wanting to know more. I'll update this, as needed.

Does this mean I need a powerful PC with a nice graphics card to play future releases?

Nope. I'm sparing you from that purchase. I use a game engine called Renpy, and that is used by nearly every visual novel out there. What Project Lambda is doing is changing how I create the art for the game. Unreal Engine will produce the art on my computer systems, but I'll still package everything into Renpy as images and videos. You won't have to worry about framerates, graphics quality, or anything else. If you can run the game now without issue, you will be able to in the future. The only big change I'd expect is that releases will be larger in file size with all the videos.

When will you make the switch?

I wish I could say. Anytime you make a switch like this, even when it is for the better, it throws development into an unknown realm. All the timing I have down from years of experience with Daz goes out the window. Any estimates I make now are very rough and subject to change as I learn more about Unreal Engine and getting my existing characters and other assets into it. Some things I already know are a breeze and will just take a few days to get switched over. Other things I am having to experiment with.

I am pushing hard to make it happen for Chapter 11, but I am not going to hold up Chapter 11's development for a long time to get it done. I promise to keep everyone updated as I have a better idea, but it is too early to say now other than sometime this year.

Why make the switch during development? Couldn't you wait until your next project?

I could do that, but To Be A King has at least another 18 months of development ahead. That is a long time to put off a change that has many benefits. While it will take me awhile to get there, I already know that this switch will reduce development times, increase quality and immersion significantly, and make things like character swaps for scenes an absolute breeze. Using Unreal Engine for development means that I can quickly make big changes and improvements, and then those will automatically update previous work I've done in Unreal Engine. I am gaining a much easier development process, and you, the player, are gaining full animation and more choices for how the story plays out. It's a win-win, once we complete the transition.

Won't it be weird that the game suddenly changes like this?

You're not wrong. Volume 2, before its final & complete release, will get a full overhaul with everything being done in Unreal Engine to make that transition a bit easier. I'd like to redo Volume 1 as well, but I will need to have a better idea of how long that would take before I commit to it.

You keep teasing new things you will introduce with this change. What are these new things?

Some stuff is still on the drawing board, and I need to explore before I commit to it. Here is what I can say is going to happen, once Volume 2 reaches its final state (not necessarily the first chapter where I use Unreal Engine for the graphics):

• More choice in when you visit your love interests instead of me dictating when those happen.
• Significant differences in how scenes play out, including having the same scene with totally different characters.
• More outdoor scenes.
• Battlefield scenes with large armies.
• New locales that you will be able to travel to.
• Full animation of every scene, not just a few animations scattered here and there (what I originally planned a few months ago).
• Improved scene transitions.
• More choice in how scenes play out.
• Larger scenes with many more characters in the background.
• Some choice in outfits and hair styles for your love interests.

Is the game going to be "free roam" now?

No, though I will present more choices for you to choose what to do next. But there won't be any map selection, time of day BS ("The tavern is currently closed."), or confusing game mechanics. To Be A King is staying a pure visual novel, though now it will have better quality, full animations, and more choices available to you.

When will you have a demo or something to show us?

Within the next few weeks. My goal is by the end of February, and I am actively working on an animation demo. I need something that, while it does not have to be perfect, is not too rough around the edges. I am going to be bombarding everyone with previews, once we reach that point. Have no fear there. Until then, rest assured that I'm working hard to get everything in place.

So, uh, pregnancy will be a thing now?

All I can say here is maybe. That would still require a decent amount of work in Unreal, but it should be much easier to pull it off. It is on my long-term list, and I will be testing the process to implement it in the future.