Art update - did you notice? (Patreon)

Hey ho, Marty here. With words! Maybe a lot of words, but I'll try and keep it short since I'll also do a couple of shout-outs at the end of this post.  To start off with, I created a new hub page with links to older projects. I just wanted to have one place which I can link to so I can add that to new posts. That way, anyone looking for older stuff has an easier time of finding it.  HUB HERE.

Second of all, I can't express how glad I am we finally  released a new build at the start of this month and I started working on FET again.  I am not a super patient person and not being able to work on FET was making me unhappy. 

I've been suggesting some new things to Cbob  (quality of life stuff) which I think could really help him (and thus MITY) out.  By the way, I don't know when we can all expect a new build.  It's too early to talk about such things. Especially since estimations haven't exactly been our strong point in the past.

Cbob is certainly giving me the impression he's ready to throw himself at it.  I've sent him all the new scenes for the next build shortly after we released the last build this month. It's supposed to be a bit more special for story reasons and will require more attention. Even during cbob's most energetic moments that would've held true.  I also told him he can cut stuff and keep it for a later build if that will help. I really don't want him to feel like he has to make up for time lost because that's simply not possible...  and is more likely to backfire. Going slower, but being more dependable, has my preference and I told him so.

Once I know more I'll tell you, but I've at the very least gotten Cbob's solemn promise he'll send me whatever he's got finished from now on whenever I ask. Just so I can keep better tabs on what's going on.   We started talking again about details for the upcoming builds. Having small disagreements and finding our way to something we both are happy with and that's a nice thing to return to.  That has been missing for awhile!

I asked Cbob to write a little blurb for this update, but since he hasn't finished that yet I think I'll add it to this update later or write a new shorter update in a few days when he has.

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Soooo ... for everyone who has already played v0.9.1c...  have you noticed something different?  I kinda fucked up so it can only be partially seen but I used higher resolution images for the Jinora massage scene you got to see on day 11.  Well, a couple of them. During the fixing of some bugs a few older, lower res pics replaced the higher ones again. 

You won't be able to notice it if you play the game on a small screen or in a window, but otherwise it should be visible when you play the Jinora massage scene (and only that scene). It's a test of sorts which I can  (relatively) undo with little effort, but I've started creating the future scenes in the same way. 

Another thing you might have noticed is that the file size of FET is significantly smaller than the earlier versions. About 200 Mb(?) smaller. 

Well, that certainly doesn't make sense. Using higher res pics and the size going down? What magic is this?!?    It's the magic of a reduced color pallet. 

So far the pics I made contained a lot more color information than was needed. Since I try to keep everything very cartoony the amount of colors doesn't need to be high, but I had problems getting the png's to do what  I wanted them to.   Png  is a file type which allows for transparency. 

We need that transparency to have characters move in front of  backgrounds. It cuts down on the size of FET by being able to layer stuff.  Yet, png doesn't always play nice with a reduced color pallet and transparency,  giving you jagged edges. That's at least what I was constantly running into. 

My examples are kind of shitty as in they don't really portray how bad it can really get, but it should give you an idea of the possible problem.

Those jagged edges become extra visible and annoying  when images move across the screen. Maybe things are a bit more nuanced than that, but all I know is I never was able to reduce colors and keep full alpha transparency going.  I tried a bunch of stuff, but never could find the solution. Until recently. 

I walked into a little program pngquant which pretty much managed to do all I wanted it to. Transforming all the existing png images to a smaller, reduced file size without losing transparency, in a very easy way no less. 

Higher res pics using this are still smaller or evenly sized as the smaller res versions using my old method! It might not be the holy grail, but it sure felt like it when coming across this.

I could've also done all of this using another file type called webp , but its drawback is that I'd have to change the scripts and not all of my drawing software can deal with webp properly.

Since I'm still using a trick to hack in the higher res versions and have to do this for every scene separately it's not like I can make all the scene higher res. But it did make the older, already existing files a lot smaller.

If you're doing something yourself which relies on transparent png files and where file size is a consideration, I'd highly recommended doing some researching and testing it yourself.

___________________SHOUT OUT!___________________

And now for something completely different!  FET has been going on a for a while now and during it's existence we've been able to inspire/give advice to some other people trying their luck at creating their own game. 

Hell, I even helped code super small parts for some of them or help figure out the cause of some bugs. It's the benefit of having stepped into problems yourself. You get to recognize when others step in the same ones!

We decided to do a shout out for some of them. We had some restrictions in place and some groups had fallen apart in the meantime. Unfortunately that sort of stuff happens. Not everyone bounces back after internal troubles.

BUT we have three groups which we'd like to turn a spotlight on.  All three very different.  I asked them to give me a short description, a couple of pics to give you an idea of their project and a link to where you can find their demo etc. 

So, here they are! 

______Creepy House______

"Creepy House is a game where you play a recent high school graduate but do to your family moving, and with your less than stellar test scores you are stuck going to a cheap community college in your new town. All your neighbors tell you to stay away from this one house,  you decide to risk it and knock on the door, leading to some fun fucking some goth girls all over their home. Plus unlock some pin ups of other iconic goth girls as you go. If you have any ideas for what you want to see let me know. Won’t you come visit the Addams family?

Me and the artist do this part time after work so our builds may be small but we do put a lot of heart into them. So far you can get bjs with clothed variants, have them strip, and fuck them with more coming."

 dev chickenscratch 

________Cyber Rift_______

"Hello everyone I'd like to announce my brand new adult Visual Novel  game Cyber Rift. It's a cyberpunk style adventure set in the year 2769.  

You are the main character, a young adventurer type who decides to take  your ambitions upward (literally) and travel into space in search of a  long lost treasure. Your journey will take you across the universe in  search of any clues that might bring you one step closer to that prize.  Traveling the galaxy is no easy task alone, but you will meet many  interesting people (and sexy girls) along the way. Your first encounter  along the way is with your new traveling companion, Everie. She is a  humanoid automaton left for dead on a derelict junk planet to be  destroyed, but you find her before that can happen. She joins your crew  and quickly becomes more than just a crewmate, and she’ll help you do  whatever (or whomever) it takes to help you in your journey."

dev cyberowlgames  

______Inquisitor trainer______

Our game is a parody of the grimdark future. In this game you will find a lot of High-quality hand drawn drawings and elaborate animation of erotic scenes.

Player will take the role of a young female protagonist, an Acolyte in service to an inquisitor. She will be tasked to investigate the disappearance of several officials and other mysterious cases in the city which might be related to certain heretical cult, twisted mutants, and other abominations.

However, there are times when she will not conduct her investigations in a conventional manner, as she lacks the proper training and equipment. So, she will have to 'improvise' and use whatever means necessary to achieve her goals

Enjoy an adventure of solving perverted mysteries, traveling to new locales, interrogating suspects, and performing sexy, diplomatic, non-combat tasks."

dev adeptusceleng 

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Quite the variation, right? Well, give those fellow perverts a look-see if you liked the little preview!

Like I said earlier, I'll keep you guys in the loop to the best of my abilities and I'm really, really looking forward to the next build myself...  for small and big reasons! Not gonna spoil it, but we dropped some foreshadowing in the last build so you might already have an idea why.

Till next time!