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It's the "Let's try that again shall we?" update...
🕑 Added 2023-08-27 13:01:17 +0000 UTCAs, seems to be tradition these days, let's start with an apology. Sorry about that the last upload and also for the delay in sorting it (of which more in a bit).
My God, I borked Chapter Two. I mean -really- borked it. I don't think someone has ever done that much damage to a set of files since someone said to Edward Snowden "Hey, Eddie could you look after my password for me while I pop to the shops?"
The damage was more than extensive and wasn't just confined to the script. Movies, images and sound too which, sadly, means a simple script fix is not a solution for anyone who downloaded the earlier version (Sorry, again...). I'm afraid the whole thing was riddled with errors that had been fixed months ago and I can only shamefacedly cringe at my carelessness in overwriting the files in such a stupid manner.*
I'm afraid this led to multiple fixes (and multiple testing of both versions - my thanks to those on Discord that helped me out here) which did take some time. More so as of course all these errors were now in the later Chapters too which also needed correcting. This, of course, is partly why it's taken so long to sort but isn't the only reason.**
The other reason is simply down to having a large workflow stack for other parts of the game which were due for testing. The revised VR combat especially, which is a key and critical path for the games redevelopment. This has to be right. The gameplay mechanics for this need to be fluid, fair and to give players who want to win a challenge whilst not penalising those who are more inclined to lose. Due to the nature of the training module in VR, this was also the heaviest one, workload wise, to implement it on (All the various stages of undress and the multiple combinations thereof).
But it wasn't just the VR, the "real life" combat also had to spruced up in a way that added some more tension without turning into a quick time event and if both of those weren't enough, Strip Ping Pong had to go out for testing and the "supah sekret project number one" engine needed finalising.
So, as big an idiot as I am, I have been busy. Promise. There's never a good time for something like a file overwrite, but this was possibly the worst time possible.
Still, not one to waste a crisis, whilst all that was going on I polished up the VR lewd in Three (multiple machines are so handy....) and dropped another 1,500 frames into it. It's a lot better, so that's something?
Downloads
Chapter Two "full fat"
Chapter Two "compressed"
VR Testing
The good news is that I seem to have fixed the problems with VR combat. It's had multiple tests and the overall conclusion is that the fixes have achieved my aims with this. I'm happy enough to roll the mechanics out into Four and Five.
If you're curious as to how it looks, there is the module that went out for testing below.
Ping Pong testing
Also Strip Ping Pong passed muster with the testers. It needs a bit of topping and tailing but for a silly piece of standalone fun it does the job quite nicely. And as a concept it's no more outrageous than Chess Boxing***
Given where I am progress wise generally, I think I'll finish Three (which is more or less there) and then finish the freebie game off. The level one is for everyone to say thank you for putting up with me, the version for the bonus pack will have two additional opponents and since these haven't yet all been completed I'm tempted to put up a few characters and put that to the vote. It's been a while since we've had one since I paused Patreon.
Now, no doubt some of you wonder why I make other little side projects eating up time that could be spent on the main game. And it's a fair point. Partly, it's down to having an older 2070 powered machine hanging around that isn't really powerful enough or fast enough to make what I need for the main game anymore. Using it for something like this, means it does more than gather dust and gives you something extra. But it's also a way for me to wrestle with developing content for the main game at the same time. Things I learn from these side projects allows me to add content that, at the time, I don't really know how to do.
For example, this was meant to be in Chapter Four but I didn't really know how to make it work as well as I wanted it.
The original version (subsequently dropped due to being not good enough) was clunky, graphically poor, not very fun and overall a bit of a disappointment.
However I now know how to make a fully animated, fast paced game of ping pong in Renpy....so watch this space (but not for Four, that would be a bit faffy at this stage and just generally slow everything down. So I'll probably drop into content for Six.).
I think that's about it. Bar my usual lack of time to rebuild the patreon page or answer messages. Which still remains awful of me, I know. It's just every time I block out some time to deal with these, something else needs rectifying or dealing with as a matter of urgency. Assuming I don't bollocks up the re-release of Three I should be able to catch my breath then.
And I think that's about it for now. Stay, or be, lucky.
Notty
* I now have a far more disciplined approach to file back-ups....
** I'm still not happy with the video quality of Annie's lewd. I might rebuild it again when I have time to pause for breath. It's fine - but good do with higher video quality especially at the start.
** No, this is really a thing. Honest.
Comments
hello
Do you need rendering help?
My game stops when pilot comes in MC room and says Walker is missing. Did it end at one chapter? I doubt i played 4 chapters.
