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Weekly update - The "Crikey!" edition
🕑 Added 2020-02-25 07:21:28 +0000 UTCHi guys :)
So the animations for the naughties have been re-run and are all finished. By using both machines and just leaving them to get on with it (Daz can slow down and do weird things at times if you try to run other applications I find with four minute renders slowly creeping up the time to eleven minutes at one point, so I just left everything alone bar peeking at the render time), I've cranked out over 2,000 renders. In a week. (alright a week and an overnight but even so!)
So that's a benchmark going forward. Ring fence a week for the ani's, keep it to 2,000 frames and I'm golden for each chapter. They also look a -lot- better than the animations I originally ran, so worth it.
So it's just quality checking now. Thankfully with all the scenes set up and with no "Ooo! I could put that in"'s from me on this chapter it should be a lot more straightforward than the mess I had with Chapter One where I ended up having to re-do most of it due to it continuity errors.
I've twelve blocks of scenes so I'm trying to get three or four a day (some are bigger than others) and I've got Thursday off from work to help me whip through to the end.
I am spotting a couple already. Nothing major and I dare say a lot of people wouldn't notice anyway but they do make me look a little sloppy and I don't want to spoil your experience at all. But if they stay at this level then they are all in the realm of spot rendering work. See if you can find the error... (no, there isn't a prize :) )
I do have one thing to ponder as I work through it though on the clickables side of things. Oh they don't need more work or anything like that. It's more of a gameplay experience sorta thing I just want to think about as I run through the file again.
My thoughts on the clickables was that I had three types of players. Those that didn't care for them; those that would every now and again hit them and the completionists who would actively go out and find them all.
Since the main game can be played without them (your progress doesn't grind to a halt just because you haven't found something) and with a little mix of jokes and hidden objects I thought I'd got the balance right to appeal to everyone. But the thought struck me that since some hidden objects can change scenes (the die or the beer bottles in One for example) would I be forcing the players who didn't care for them to hunt them down anyway so they didn't feel as though they missing anything? So instead of it being a reward for those who like to hunt stuff down am I now making a chore for those who don't like them? In essence forcing them to do stuff they don't want to be doing and making their gameplay experience poorer so they don't feel as though they've missed stuff. I dunno.
I'd welcome your thoughts on this one.
Anyhoo. Renders to QI! Laters.
Comments
NanasBananas
I think it comes down to "lasting effects." Meaning, whether finding the clickables has any long term effects on the gameplay/story. If they change the general story or our overall progression with a character then people will probably feel compelled to look for them even if it's not their thing. But if the rewards are more temporary, like a few remarks here and there, or even a specific scene changing or an extra scene being added, but we can still get the same level and type of relationship with each character and enjoy the same overall story without finding the clickables, then I'd say it's fine. I like that finding the clickables can affect the dialogue or flow of some scenes in the game. It's more immersive and rewarding than just getting an extra image in some kind of gallery. But as someone who rarely finds all the clickables without any hints (I used to play Myst, how can I be so bad at this?), what reassures me is to know that while I may have missed a cool scene or piece of dialogue, my overall standing with the characters, the nature of our relationships and the direction of the story are still the same. At least that's how I personally feel about it... Oh, and is the mistake in the render Becca's thigh clipping through her jeans a little bit? Is it? Had to enlarge the image, but I think I found it! I never find these!
Given all the different paths, missing stuff is a design feature, no? ;) Clickables are not mandatory, so, no, you aren't forcing anyone. If players want to explore deeper into the game's many layers, they can. It's their choice. Pretty much every game that has some kind of exploration gameplay element involves some kind of "work" from the player, be it just going from point A to point B or actively searching for stuff. I think having clickables that are rewarding and consequential, while still being logical, is a very positive feature. :)
Yeah, what juicy said. Quite like clickables that unlock special renders. The best use of it I have seen, was NOTvil in Day zero of Areas of Gray. They were only in the free roamish part, so you could freely look for them in between the main story. And they were memories, for the various characters. For example, while playing as Oli in free roam, there is a clikable on the balcony, when you click it she says "I saw Abi taking a selfie there yesterday, I wonder who she took it for" and the unlocked image is the selfie.
Juicy
Well, is the die absolutely necessary for getting in RahRah's good books? Some developers have clicketies which are only used to unlock images within a special gallery, but which do not affect in anyway the players progress or standing with any of the characters. So, if those dice just unlock an extra remark, or even an extra scene, but have no further effect on interaction with non player characters, then I don't think you need to worry about it.
