mity
patreon
art update - once seen
🕑 Added 2019-11-26 23:14:20 +0000 UTCHello everyone! Hope you're all doing super fine.
Have you already read the coder's update? you can do so
I'm going to call the coder Bob today. Just to make it easier when mentioning him.
Edit: he didn't like Bob so I'll change it to Cody. A worse nickname will teach him to not question my nicknaming sense!
Here's a small recap of what went on. As you know, I had to administer some tough love and forced Cody to take a break. I figured a real vacation of a few weeks or month would bring him back from the dead. Energetically speaking. I heard a few things about what led him to feel like a depleted battery, but as I later learned not the entire story.
Cody has a way of downplaying his problems and for a long time I didn't fully realize this side of him. Anyway. Things looked like they were going well again and then I got a very alarming email from him. It was a one sentence email which contained the words, shattered, ankle and hospital. Not much else.
We sometimes mess around with each other, but in a friendly manner. Never in a let's see if I can get the other to have a panic attack. I gotta admit slight feelings of panic and disbelieve did manifest themselves within me. Communication became extremely slow and limited from then on. It took me a long time to get the full story and I was pretty much at a loss of how to deal with the situation except to wait and see what would happen.
It was very frustrating to not know what exactly was going on. Me and Cody don't even live on the same continent! I can imagine me staying silent has been very frustrating to some of you as well. I really am sorry about that, but I had no idea how to deal with this. So except for answering some pm's, I pretty much went into recluse mode again.
Since less than a week I've gotten the whole story. The comparison Cody made with a confetti cannon in his post is a lot less hyperbolic than you might think.
Anyway, he's had his surgery and right now is trying to get around on crutches and not get stir crazy. Since I felt it was necessary to finally let you guys know what was going on I asked him to write a big post about all the things which had happened so far and brought us to where we are today.
He did and included way more details than I thought I already knew. At least in the first version which he let me read beforehand. But he was also very wary of putting all of that personal stuff out in the open and finally I just told him to forget about all of that and simply write whatever he felt comfortable with. If he feels like adding to it at a later time, fine, if not fine too.
Obsessively checking my email every other five minutes during all of this (and a lot of restless nights) resulted in me not entirely feeling like my own happy self anymore. But now that we've finally been able to put this out in the open it's a lot like a mini catharsis.
Still... it sucks for all our patrons, you guys. I'm well aware of the fact you were unwilling participants in the game of "why aren't we hearing anything from MITY?" and I know several people are upset about that. We've been asking a lot of your patience.
We promise that when the new build will finally be ready we'll email or pm the links to you regardless of your patron status. So if you're a patron you can quit and still receive the build once it's done. It's the least we can do.
----
While all of this was going on I had the choice between pacing back and forward (in between checking my email) or I could try and do some work for FET (in between checking my email).
I picked the latter and although things were going far from easy I did manage to get some work done. I toyed with the idea of just going at it myself and try to create a build continuing the story like I mentioned in an earlier art update, but Cody does have pride in his work and wants to do this thing. It's just that he couldn't and taking this away from him felt too much like me doing a backstab. I also doubt I could've written anything worthwhile. I simply couldn't get in the mood.
So what did I do while all of this was going on? New scenes for future builds, a scene for book 3 and lots of changes to 'finished' work. I might have inserted some of my more negative feelings in some of the new scenes because of this whole situation. Well, it IS the slave route so...
The scene I made for book 3 had been itching as a possibility in the back of my mind for awhile now, but since I was solely focused on the progress of book 4 I never really took my time to address it. I'll tell you about the details when it finds it's way inside a build
Don't expect to see it in the upcoming build even though in theory it could be slid in (relatively)easily. That's because currently I have only one mission and that's to NOT bother the coder with ANYTHING which might somehow hinder him more than necessary.
I also did a bunch of prodding and poking into the software we use to create FET.
Creating a mini-chapter by myself for Halloween made it feel a lot more pressing to know about this sort of stuff, but back then I had zero time to do anything but finish it asap. Let alone do some investigating!
Btw. I'd like to release the links to the Halloween side story to all of our patrons. So if you haven't had the opportunity to play it, here you go!
FET - Spookytimes 0.4 - PC version
FET - Spookytimes 0.4 - Mac version
FET - Spookytimes 0.4 - Android version
It's going to get slightly more technical and quite possibly boring from here on out!
Please look at the pic below. It's a partly transparent .png image file of 335 KB.
As I've told you before I'm putting a lot of my time into creating the scenes and getting them to be as small as I can practically get them. For the longest of times my quota for one scene and it's art assets was about 1 Mb. That's things like a left arm, torso etc put all together.
That's pretty dang small and nowadays I often blow way past that. But it's just nice to keep the game as small as possible for when you have to download it and I always figured it was one of the main reasons which increased the loading times. I think those art files are faaar less important than our script sizes when it comes to loading times now, but I'm going off track here. Somehow I became aware of .webp files.
It's pretty much a different format to save pictures in, like .jpg or .png
I normally use the .png format to save my drawings when they need transparent parts. But I discovered our software also accepts the .webp format. Why is that interesting? It's interesting because it looks a lot like the .webp format can shrink a .png file up to 40% of it's earlier size memory-wise! Without sacrificing quality! If you're willing to accept some quality loss things can get even crazier.
below is the same partly transparent pic again, but this time it's a .webp image and 208 KB! ....Actually just take my word for it, patreon says I can only upload , jpg, jpeg, gif or png's. Not webp. So yeah, the .webp format isn't as widely used as say .png. Anyway , about 30% smaller without quality loss is still nice.
The images can get royally f'd up the Ass when you start messing with the quality settings, but it was still pretty damn interesting to see how small they could become. I'm not interested in lower quality since the gains don't outweigh the cons, but the small-files-fetishist in me was impressed.
below the same .webp format of the original png at 40% quality settings. Actually I just took the .webp format and saved it again as full quality png to capture the bad quality since patreon won't let me use .webp. I messed around with the quality settings, set it at 40% and It's size is only 65 KB now. Really small, but it comes at a big loss of quality though!!
Since our ingame resolution isn't that big to begin with the perceived quality would only get worse if you watch it in full screen mode. The smaller the size the less visible the quality loss. I'll admit I wasn't exactly looking for a good middle ground between quality and size though. 40% is more of an extreme example.
Unfortunately(?) A lot of the game's larger files aren't image files (but for example sound) so even changing all of the image files wouldn't make nearly as much of a difference as you'd expect.
Doesn't it have down sides? Well, I have to use an extra stand alone program to convert my files into .webp and generally have a bit of a harder time processing them. And all of the scripts concerned with those files would have to be adapted so it's slightly bothersome and has the potential to make some bugs pop up when it's not done correctly.
There's also a slumbering fear. The fear I'm overlooking something potentially horrible. Just your average good old fear of the unknown! I'm going to keep my eye on this and maybe start using it for new scenes in the future. Not entirely sure, but a 30-40% decrease is hard to pass up IF there aren't any other things to consider. Anyone with some more experience using webp, I'll welcome any of your insights on the matter!
I also looked into other stuff. But I think this post has become big enough as it is and I still have to prepare the art assets update for this month. I don't think I've ever missed one of those and I don't want this month to be the exception.
tl;dr Shit happened, then some more shit happened and then we had a pile of the stuff. Great. Anyone willing to stay a little longer with us, as we try to crawl out from under it, you guys are saints. Anyone else, we'll make sure you get the build regardless of whether you're a patron in the future. As for when that will be. I don't know. This whole string of mishaps following each other has made me very wary to even want to take a guess!
Comments
1yoyoyo2
Actually yes! Do one where you are Naruto and you just steamroll through all the girls in the story. Part 1 AND part 2. May have to handwave that they aren't minors in your version, I just want to have both outfit styles.
Lil Pump
MITY just a suggestion, but you would make so much money if you made a naruto game. Idk if you have watched naruto cuz its alot to watch but you can get someone who has watched all of it to tell you how things unfold in the story.
MITY
Works for me : ) My nickname can be "dude"!
So you're not an artist but you draw dicks. Dose that make you a doodle doodler? ;P
MITY
Thanks. I can't wait till we're back simply doing what we're supposed to do. Nice and normal sounds like the best thing ever to me right now.
MITY
it's a veeery careful sort of excitement, but yeah I'm looking forward to the future.
MITY
Lol, my sleeping has become infinitely better since I know the coder is starting to do better! Not wanting(or able) to go to sleep because you might miss an important email is it's own hell. I'm pretty certain we'll all look back at this with a smile in the future. And also a better idea of when to take it easy and prevent most of this sorta stuff.
MITY
Thanks. If annoyance/discontent with our own disability to deliver builds right now, was a Turkey, we could invite the world for a thanksgiving dinner. I have no bad thoughts about the coder, rather the opposite. I didn't put my foot down earlier which would've prevented ALL of this. And that's on me. I'll admit I can't truly relax until we'll have a couple of new builds out there again and truly return to normal. But I'll be a whole lot more careful about taking breaks Btw. just knowing the coder is doing better is also doing wonders for my own happiness levels.
UnwiserPoppy
I’m glad things are beginning to look up but I understand you guys aren’t there yet. I’m going to stay a patron through this. It might be a hassle but I really appreciate these frequent posts to keep us informed with what’s going on and hope you can continue with them.
Stove Jeebz
Would you say they are entirely different, breasts?
Patrick
Thanks for the update, excited for this next month.
batman
awesome thanks for the info, big titty equalists is an awesome thing to look forward to
A person
Permission to start calling your team "Insomniac & Cody"? Seriously though, you guys are brilliant. It'll all work out!
MITY
Thanks. The first thing remains a difficult thing for me to do. I have an on and off switch. That's basically it. Second question... yes! There needs to be some equalist fun going on in the game and I already finished stuff for it. Now I'm just waiting for a while before looking at it again to see if I gave her weirdly shaped feet ; ) Yangchen WILL make an appearance and she will help you out. Man I'm giving away more than I usually would, but it has been awhile since a new build so I'm just going to be a little more loose lipped this time.
MITY
The older books do feel a bit lacking in love compared to the newer ones, but if they were as filled as the later ones are.. we might not even have reached book 3 yet right now! Personally I don't have problems with going back and adding things, but goal number one is still making sure this story has an end eventually. We've already been at this for a long time as it is(even not counting our current problems). Different boob sizes, especially considering animation is simply too much. I liked the idea initially which is why we did it in book 1 with Katara, but that's also when I learned theory and practice are entirely different beasts in this regard.
Stove Jeebz
Look chief, i ain't gonna lie. This shit's annoying, but that's a good thing because it's not bad. Everyone burns out, you two have been working on this for years now and no breaks leads to burn out, and if you burn too hard the passion just fucking dies. He needs a break and so he gets one, the dude has been working all this time and just because he needs a break (Not necessarily wants one) doesn't make him a worse programmer. I really hope you two get the rest you need, and that you two are happy with the work your putting out and the amount. I'm gonna stay a patron till this is done, and getting the next build for cheap is a nice bonus that I do want. Have a nice day chief, hope you two feel better soon.
batman
I really feel we missed out on characters in book 1 and 2 book 1 is mostly katara, but after book 3 with all those character it feels a little small. If they ever did go back to older books that would be nice, like include more scenes with Kya. Or more ursa in book 2 or the ember island players would be funny to have zuko fucking a girl dressed as aang in front of an audience.
batman
Let me start by saying I am glad to stick by you because of how well you treat your fans I hope you and the cider can take it easy even with how long it’s been. Second do these pics imply we can fuck an equalist that would be fun, maybe even have asami dress as one to scare korra. Third since we are having kyoshi talk to the mc why not include yangchen the female airbending avatar in this our the love route would be a fun way to learn a new aurbending skill. Keep going you guys
IdarksoulsI
Agree 100% on the first part, another vote for a reworked book 1 it seems. Also want to agree on the other part too but I reeealy like the boobs of the girls in book 2. Also, different options on clothing/ body parts can mess up your schedule pretty easy. Maybe that's something to consider for a mod.
MITY
Well, I wanna be able to sleep too and I'm not going to be able and do that if we just tell the people who made all of this possible "We had problems and now they're yours too. Deal with it." We appreciate your willingness to stick around, but still don't hesitate to simply take a break from us. I mean if we can take breaks, why can't you : ) ?
MITY
More than was initially planned, but like I said. I do not wanna rock the boat. Honestly, right now I secretly would prefer any sort of release over no release.
MITY
I went a bit too extreme with the shadowing part. The pic was made entirely to illustrate the entire .webp story. Hey, I can add this one to the art assets update and change it. Easy enough to do.
MITY
Lol, that's quite the comparison! But Red dead 2 doesn't have to be downloaded in it's entirety again with each new version!
MITY
I'm pretty sure he'll start calling himself something else in an effort to rub out my "Bob/Cody" attempts. let's see which one sticks >: )
MITY
I was kinda worried this would've been game over for a long time to come initially. I even proposed to simply put FET in the freezer when talking to Bob. Bob's running days won't be back too soon, and when they are I'm going to be a bit more aggressive when it comes to "proposing" breaks. (breaks which don't deal with ankles)
MITY
yay for medical progression. It's not nice to need it, but this would've left him a cripple (or worse) for the rest of his life if something like this had happened in less advanced times.
MITY
I told him IF he want's to get back at me for giving him nicknames, he can start calling me Arty. I actually like Arthur. Arthur has a nice ring to it so I'm pretty sure he won't call me that!
MITY
So much nodding going on while reading your post it's like I'm headbanging in slowmo, but yeah, it's a weird sort of slowburning disappointment mixed with unwilling acceptance. There's not much use in arguing with the fact the coder's ankle now has "extra's". Feeling a lot more positive now that he's actually starting to get up and about again,
MITY
Thanks lycos, I(artist) have been feeling the effects, but I wasn't kidding about that mini-catharsis. I think I finally had a normal night of sleep yesterday. And I'm certainly going to keep a closer watch on when Cody needs a break. All of this could've been prevented if we had taken a break waaay earlier.
MITY
The human mind has a scary way of letting things become "the new normal". Can't wait until we're at a time/place when I can say "remember when we were dead in the water all that time ago?"
MITY
That's cool and thanks. Sorry to hear life's got you by the balls. We all have our tickets to the ball kicking part of life. My way of dealing with shit is usually trying to remember stuff will pass, and try to consciously appreciate the things which aren't going wrong. It's easy to let the bad things become a giant in your mind's eye and blot out anything else. And also there's no shame in just dropping us for awhile and maybe come back or not.
MITY
Yes and stormtroopers... they can fly now ; )
MITY
Thanks. Cody has been like a magnet for bad things lately. And I just hope whatever charge his magnet had is now finally running out. Any goodwill people have towards us is going to run out eventually too after all.
I’m excited about all the news, but I just wanted to mention a part that stood out to me. You say you can and somewhat desire to add scenes to past books. Please Do This. While I love all the books, I hope to see all the books (especially Book 1) added upon in the future. Obviously, there is no rush. Take your time. But please add more to all books. And as an extra side note for the future, can we get an option to change the breast size of all the girls? I’m not a fan of big breasts, and in Book 2 every girl has massive boobs. Being able to have some variation between Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee would be great! Thanks for the amazing game!
Gomfur
Honestly, you're a way better patreon creator than most, since you are willing to send completed builds to people who decide to opt out. You understand where they are coming from, and so you helped them out, where a lot of other creators wouldn't care. That's why I'm not gonna stop being a patron until the game is complete.
xanth100
Do we have more content in this update at least? Not sure how much harder it is, but just including a lot more scenes would be cool.
Marinecoco
Great body and whats with the color difference between her arm and the rest of her body. The arm is a darker color?
simon22
Compared to red dead 2 which is 150GB! You are fine with the current file size
IdarksoulsI
Wait, wasn't Bob one of the guards? I'm confused... Regarding the file size thing. Nothing wrong with optimizing file sizes, I wish more developers would think this way. Still, I think you don't need to put too much resources into that. Your game size is pretty small compared to most other lewd games out there. But whatever floats your boat man, if this is what you want to grind your teeth into, just do it.
IdarksoulsI
Star Citizen taught me to respect developers and to understand development in general. It's not exactly something for the impatient kind of people. :)
sparky117
That's not much of a wait in my opinion because I was waiting for a game for about 3 or so years after the released trailers for it. So take your time no hurry and this is my favorite game on here and probably will be untill you guys decide to make another one if and when that happens.
Dog
Figured it was some catastrophic like that. Glad to hear Cody got a new ankle
Kuzuha Chan
Thanks a lot for the detailed update Cody...and Arthur? 😂
I would lie if i said, that i wasn’t dissapointed to hear, that were not getting a build this month as well, but i’m not really suprised either. I’ve kinda gotten to it at this point. Still, i’ll keep supporting the two of you, since i love this game, and because Cody’s ankle got fucked, and he might need a new one. I REALLY hope that the next build is gonna be goddamn spectacular. With that said, keep up the good work, and stay positive, fellow degenerates.
lykos
Good to know hopefully you are getting better coder physically and mentally and you artist must been stressed too by the situation. Pleas for the love of god inform us in the future too if your team need breaks etc. We arent heartless and many of us believe if say when somethigs is wrong keep up with the good work and hope for the better future.
Corben Smith
Honestly the wait isn't that big of a deal compared to what I've chosen to go through b4 (Star Citizen anyone?). You guys have my support through and through.
Lucky
Welp I've waited this long I can wait longer
Hitman3256
Thanks for the update :) As I've said before, you two are some of the best content creators I've had the pleasure of supporting, and following. Shit happens. I'm going through a tough time in life now, too. But me, and a whole lot of us, will support you guys until the project is finished, and beyond!
Nörther
But Cody is such a cool name. How is that punishment
Larry
I ain't goin' nowhere! I'm gunna stay until the you finish the whole kit and kaboodle. I'll be waiting for the next build patiently, and I hope "Cody" feels like themselves again soon.
