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It's the "I Paused" update...
🕑 Added 2022-05-04 10:05:49 +0000 UTCHi all,
You'll have noticed I paused this month. Some of you, those who follow me on twitter or visit discord or the forum, will have also noticed that about two weeks ago I just dropped off the face of the electronic earth as well. Given that I usually hit at least one of these once a day, and of late had been tweeting like a goldfinch that had found a bag of birdseed, what gives?
Well for once it's not me suddenly wanting to redo huge chunks of the game or remake a pile of animations or any of the usual suspects. In fact the opposite. I'm pretty happy with everything and, winding back a few weeks I'd just put the testers on alert for chunks of the game to fly their way.
So if it's not that, what is it?
The Rover ate my homework
I had a little accident.
I'm fine. Well I'm not - but I will be with the miracle of time with nothing worse than a scar on my right foot of all places (a lesson there about wearing sensible shoes perhaps). But at the moment I'm in a bit of poor shape. I haven't slept a full nights sleep for what seems like forever; I'm in a fair bit of pain, especially in the neck and shoulders and staying at a desk for any real period of time is a bit of a no-no right now. Whether it's a combination of the above or whatever I'm taking these days to wobble through the day I'm not sure but my head feels stuffed full of cotton wool 24/7 as well so not scoring high on the clarity of thought front either. Not exactly ideal for making test builds, clearing bugs and wrapping things up.
Sadly, one of the problems of not being a spry twenty year old is that you don't quite bounce back from things as quick as you once did. Especially, if like me, you've have had multiple shoulder/neck injuries before (this isn't my first rodeo...). Torn muscles take a while to sort themselves out for example (and hurt like buggery if you move just so...).
But all of this will pass and my hopes and dreams of one day driving the route of the Mille Miglia* remain intact. Not something that can be said about my car which, last time I saw it, was in slightly more pieces than a respectable motor vehicle has any right to be in.
I would have posted something, anything earlier but....see above. It's painful to type so imagine what it was like if we rewind a week or so. Tweeting something would have been a possible as I keep that on my phone (for security it's the only the game related thing I do have on there) but I've honestly no idea where my phone is these days (three guesses who uses their phone for sat-nav).
Refunds and whatnot
So I only ended up doing about two weeks last month. Ordinarily, you know me, I'd have refunded April instead of pausing May but I'm afraid that wasn't an option for me given....um. I spent it all on the 3090ti (of which more in a bit). Pausing this month seemed to be the best option available to me. Well that or keep the billing open but some of you know my strong thoughts on patreonage and work done so that one wasn't going to happen.
So how long am I down for?
Another week? Maybe two? I'm as keen to ship this chapter as you are to play it but I don't see any mileage for any of us if by getting back to it too early I end up knocking myself back. I'll keep progress in view and let you know. If it looks like I'm not going to be able to do enough work in May then I'll probably pause again to be honest but let's see how quick I knit back together again.
But, to re-iterate, I will be fine. Nothing is broken or missing. There aren't pieces of dev strewn down the road. It's really just a case of letting myself get better and then, thrilling scar excluded, I'll be as fine as I was before this interruption.
Chapter Five
Not a lot to say to be honest on the chapter itself. As far as I'm concerned it's done bar the testing and the Bored Pilot cover girl (something to do while the boys test ofc). There was one optional scene I ended up dropping as it turned out I'd have to be Pixar to pull it off. A pity but aim for the stars and sometimes you reach the moon and all that.
Amanda's dinner party scene remains as cursed as hell in anticipating real life events but I'm not minded to change it again as a) it would slow things down even more; b) it's not as screamingly in your face as Afghanistan was so I think I can get away with it and c) what if I wrote something else and unleashed some new fresh hell on the earth? Oh. Pro-tip....don't make any plans to go to Burma over the next twelve months would be my advice. Just in case. (seriously, you chaps in Langley, Virginia should drop me a line. I'm better at this stuff than you are. My rates are pretty cheap too...)
Other than that it looks pretty good. The refresh especially (lore junkies are going to have a whale of a time...). The tactical combat, strip poker, VR, Annie's and Trisha's scenes...all of them look pretty damned sharp to me and play well too.
So on the whole, I'm happy and I expect (and hope!) you will be too.
The 3090ti!
It arrived! My long suffering friend took delivery last week (I never buy anything game related directly myself, using a third party instead. Especially anything that requires an address) and brought it over at the weekend. Even better they set it up for me too. Well, sort of. There is a pile of software and Daz files etc I need to transfer over but that can wait a while yet as Five is in the can more or less (and there's a big clue to how rough I am right now. I haven't rendered anything on the new machine. Given how long I've been moaning about needing one....).
But they key thing is I have it. I now have the speed and power I so desperately craved so once again, thank you. I'll do some speed tests when I'm a bit more able and let you know what the scores on the doors are but if I'm not at least cutting the production time by more than half I'll be shocked.
And finally....
One of the things I've been tweaking this year is my workspace. Well I spend a lot of time on the game so...The notty den!
(Yes, my mate takes crappy photo's. He knows)
That's the 3090ti on the bottom right. Big sod isn't it? Five fans no less. The 2080 is in the middle and skulking at the back left is the 2070. A flick on a switch and some keyboard jiggling allows me to use the 2080 and the 2070 on the one monitor.
I'm showing you this not for the purposes of "Look at all my stuff!" but more to show my commitment to this project. There's over £10,000 of hardware on show there with about half as much again in software and assets all raised by patronage. So...around $20,000 all in all at todays rate. All down to you. Thank you.
Stay (or become) lucky,
Notty
*The race itself stopped in the 50's but the route is still driveable. It's basically a 1,000 mile drive around Italy.
Comments
Really glad to hear from you. Glad it was not chicken pox. Get well soon! I am slightly dubious that is your real office as there's nary a Jaffa cake in sight... Brill to see where the magic is made.
Space Fred
I await the continued adventures with great anticipation!
