Second week of the rework, hairstyles preview. (Patreon)

 Howdy! Here’s what we did this week, Moana has finished coding in the text part and I’m still busy with layering system. We’ve started implementing actual pictures into the game with various adjustments made as we go, basically we’re testing how the layers work, and what should be on top of what. We’re getting close to the final version of Kira’s character art, displaying every costume on top of every possible appearance in the right order, and it’s one thing on paper and a completely different story in reality. That said, we only have to do this once, after it will be finished we won’t have to struggle with layers (physical changes and outfits) at all. 

 There’s also this issue that we’ve been trying to fix with Moana for a while, you might have noticed occasional “black” screens between the change of pictures, or rpg maker showing during some H-events. That’s because every pictures needs to be preloaded beforehand in order to appear when we want, and maker doesn’t have this built in. Previously we’ve dealt with it by using this “black” screen (yes it was intentional) to give maker some time to “think”, but now with everything being on a separate layer it won’t be possible, since we can’t show you “black” screen with every line of dialogue.  

 In v0.4.4 the loading screen was there to preload everything and fix it, but it appears that it crashes the game at random for some players, so we’ve replaced it with another solution. Our testing shows that it works, but only after we’ll release v0.4.5 we’ll know for sure. 

 Since every little detail is now tied to a specific variable, number and layer, I had to draw Kira without hair, the easy way out would be to just leave a blank space that will be covered with her currently available hair (white and pink), but, it’s entirely possible that in the future we’ll decide to add in a hairstyle that shows those areas, so I’ve drawn a couple of hairstyles, for the testings sake, even though we might not use them in the future, just to see what areas could be potentially shown and test the system. In addition to that, instead of drawing her head completely bald, I’ve decided to give her a short haircut. So, as a byproduct of this rework we now have a third hairstyle, it will be added in and available at the mall in the v0.4.5.  

 It appears that not everyone is happy with me asking for the number of changes (breasts, tattoos, etc.), since it looks like you’re doing my job for me, and in a way you are - in some cases I just don’t know what would be better, so I’m asking for your opinion. Not to mention that when I don’t know what the people want, deciding just by myself just feels unfair. In other cases, I just want to engage you more, hoping that this might ease the waiting time. 

 That said, hair is by far the hardest thing to implement, it needs to be drawn in different angles for different events, so I’ll decide the number on my own, and when the time will come - we’ll vote on what hairstyle/color should be added in. 

 The next poll will be out next week, I’ll ask about the piercings. To have a better understanding how severe should we pierce Kira and what places should preferably be pierced, I would appreciate if you’d send me your suggestions, either in pictures or in text, if you’re interested of course. You can pm me here on patreon, in discord, or email me (freshmulan@gmail.com) I’ll be gathering ideas and materials up to monday (including monday). 

The way I see it, this update has three major parts and the code that goes alongside them. 

Writing - 100% written and coded, but we might alter some parts. 

Character art and outfits - half drawn, in the testing.

Events - half drawn, work by the same system as Character art, but there’s a lot of them. 

I think you should know this: I believe I will be able to more or less predict the release date and the things will go quicker once we’ll finish layers and the code for the character art. But, there’s still a lot of work and it’s entirely possible that v0.4.5 will be out in May and not in April.  

 Last week it was exactly a year after our first release, and it wouldn’t be possible without you, so thank you for your patience, support and attention from both me and Moana! Here’s a preview picture of Kira with alternative hairstyles, first three will be available in the next release, but I will most likely change them a bit here and there.