Game Update #51 (Patreon)

Happy Wednesday, friends! I've got March's first game status update for you today.

If you read the accompanying post to the belated February Bonus Gallery, you'll know I had technical difficulties last week with renders, which put me a little behind. But I'm still moving steadily along creating the next dev build for the Morning After Update. Let's look where I'm at.

Art

See above, re: technical difficulties. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any actual renders done aside from the gallery. In the meantime, I've been scouting out more assets that I'll need as the first week of school continues in the game. I primarily need clothes for many of the characters, and in particular I wanted a pair of belted jeans that could have the fly open, for reasons you'll find out later. I just found something yesterday that I think will work—with how limited male Daz figure assets are compared to female figures, I wasn't sure I'd be able to! 

With my rendering issues now fixed, I can set about creating more new CGs. I'll share a sneak peek with Juniors, Seniors, & Graduates soon.

Writing

There's not much to say on the writing front except that I've started the script. For those who haven't seen it yet, or would like a refresher, here is the specific section of my flowchart that shows what's being written now. (As usual, this is purposefully too small to read to avoid spoilers.)

The script is focusing on the turquoise section at the top, which follows up on  Griffin's story, as well as everything in purple. The purple section takes place in your dorm room and follows up on pretty much every storyline—and there are tons of variants to those storylines I need to account for.

The green section on the right may or may not be in the next dev build—I haven't decided just yet. It's a follow-up to a specific Dominic path, and I may not have time to fit it in since it includes a bunch of art. The magenta section below it involves Riley, and I don't currently plan to have it in the next dev build. It's better saved for what comes after your time in your dorm room.

I was originally going to start with writing Griffin's stuff, but I've been getting a lot of ideas for the continuations of other storylines. There are so many ways to end your second day at 21CA, so I'm following where inspiration takes me to make sure all of those variations get my best work.

Coding

One of the big hang-ups when I make each build is testing. There are so many different paths you can take that it can be difficult to test every one to look for errors. There is choice-based dialogue layered within other choice-based dialogue, and on and on. It can become overwhelming.

As an example, the dev build I released last month had a game-stopping error along one path that I missed while testing—and it wasn't even some esoteric course through the game! Luckily some kind players pointed it out to me, so I was able to replace the game file before too many people downloaded the busted version.

I'm going to be trying a new way to track variables so I can spend less time testing while also being more effective at it. This is gonna involve creating additional flowcharts that have a node for each and every branch of the story tree that shows how those choices link together. 

Here's an example of what this looks like for Evan's new scene, which is relatively simple compared to other sequences:

It's a bit of a spiderweb, but it lists down every previous choice that's referenced and every new one you can make. For instance, there's nested dialogue that references if you propositioned Dominic or not, did you hang out with him at the party or not, did you kiss him or not, did you decide your relationship with Evan is platonic or not, etc. Some choice-based dialogue gets buried pretty deep. This chart is sort of proof of concept for myself and needs refining, but I think it'll better help me visualize what all I need to check.

Anyway, testing continues to be tedious, but as with all the different aspects of creating the game, I'm trying to make things smoother and easier for myself. In particular because I don't want you to wait so long for new content!

Looking Ahead

So when's the next dev build/development milestone? I have no clear idea as of yet. In the second game status update later this month, I may have a better idea. For now I'm just focusing on doing as much as I can without burning myself out.

Fan Art!

Lastly, I wanted to share this awesome piece of Matt fan art created by @Flyaway_art on Twitter:

I love seeing the guys in other art styles!

That's what I've got for you today! Now, back to work...