Technical Update for the Future! (Patreon)

Hello! I hope everyone who has the chance to play v0.11.5 is having a good time!

But the boat doesn't stop, and we aren't stopping ;)

One question I am always asking myself is, "How do I make the game take up less space?"

We solved a bit of that question by inventing a lighter version for mobile. But I want both versions to take up less space. I hate when games require 88gbs of space. Why do I still play Destiny 2?

So, we figured out a new technique! And that is how we are utilizing our sprites!

At the moment, every time a sprite shows up on the screen, you get the entire sprite—everything. But that is a lot of alternative versions of every outfit, pose, and expression. We are now switching to a layered sprite system that will be less of a memory hog and also run better in the code, taking up fewer lines and being less annoying.

On the right, we have the old way. Every character has every outfit, pose, and expression saved separately. Now, we look on the left, and everything is in its own separate file. We take that and layer it: the body, outfit, and changing expression.

But how much is that really saving us?

 Hazel, being the main love interest, has the most sprites and other pieces. He used to take up 237MB with 447 files. Now, he takes up 8.28MB, which is only 57 files. Nearly 230MB saved right there. Now, you take that and account for every character, and we are going to save a lot of space.

This is something we are working on for v0.12 to make the game and experience better.

We're hard at work chugging along on v0.12, but we hope this was insightful!

Thank you all so much for your amazing support. Have a wonderful day, and Stay Rad Out There!