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Q&A Session - 2024 - Part 2/2
🕑 Added 2024-02-14 10:30:53 +0000 UTCIn this part, I will answer your questions about game development.
If you missed part 1, you can find it here.
Game development
What are your plans after you finish Being a DIK?
I try not to think ahead too much, as I still have plenty of work to do with the game. But as more episodes get released, that's a thought I will eventually have to explore further. I have several options, but I don't know which one to choose right now. The only thing I'm certain of is that I will take a break and go into maintenance mode after Being a DIK is completed. After the final release, there will probably be a need for v1.0.X or even v1.X.0 patches.
Do you have a team that's working with your content for the episodes or are you solo?
No, I'm still working alone, and I always will be. Beta testers, proofreader and moderators/admins are on the team, but don't create content for the game.
Now that you've developed your tenth episode of Being a DIK, do you look back and think of anything, either game design or story-wise, you would've done differently?
I'd do everything differently if I restarted today - not just the art, but the code, design, dialogue, and parts of the story flow. It's only natural to feel that way when you improve, look back at past work, and recognize what's good and bad. I'm happy and proud of what the game is, but the feeling that I can do better will never disappear, and that's why I keep improving, too.
I remastered a render to show what episode 1 could look like if I remade it today. You can download the full version in the attachments, as Patreon isn't the best with image previews these days.
Taken from episode 1, as it is right now.
Remastered render for the purpose of this Q&A.
Note that I only reworked lighting and updated settings and post-processing to achieve this. This new version showcases the impact lighting has on a render and character model. Remastering the art like this will cause a divide in opinions, as I'm sure many still prefer the original render over its reworked version. I've seen players thinking that I've changed the models of girls throughout the years, but as you can see from this example, it's the same Josy model since episode 1, and lighting has a huge effect on how she appears.
I reflect a lot on what's worth touching regarding a remaster. Like, where do I draw the line? Would I only update lighting, or do I update poses, camera angles, environments, and dialogue? If a remaster comes into question, these are decisions I wouldn't make lightly because I want the game to feel like it's the same game. And just because I'd do everything differently today if I did it from scratch doesn't mean a remaster would have to include all those changes.
When you write dialogue for female characters, do you take any additional steps from your normal work process than when writing dialogue for male characters?
No, I write from intuition with all characters. I've had many female friends and girlfriends, and I love writing female dialogue more than male. It's easier for me to write female dialogue than male dialogue because of all the practice I've had. Regardless of the character I write, I put myself in their mindset and think about their current situation and story. I respect every character and what they contribute to the story when I write for them.
How much of your development time would you say goes to, for lack of a better term, “non setup or story-related lewd scenes” like the ones with Madame Rose? I love the game, but if I have any complaints, I’d like to see more time be used on scenes for more fleshed-out characters. If it takes not much time at all though I guess I’d feel better about it.
Expanding her scenes, as I've done since episode 7 up until now, doesn't take a lot of time. It's just importing a scene and posing new animations and renders. A lot of time goes into creating new environments and preparing characters for the scene. Re-using environments and outfits is quick work compared to anything fresh and new. An animation can take anything from 30 minutes up to a full day of work to pose; it depends on the complexity and duration of the animation. Cutscene animations, or multiple-angle animations, take longer than that to pose.
Having Madame Rose's lewd scenes in the game has been a great way to create a quick chunk of content at the start of a new episode - often done within 1-4 days of work. It also keeps the PC slaves busy with work. I enjoy creating the sandbox lewd scene that she brings to the table.
How was the development of episode 10 for you after episode 9? Considering that episode 9 had a totally different structure than the usual structure of being a dik episodes.
I found episode 9 development similar to episode 5, where the biggest parts of the episodes take place in one spot. I like that kind of episode once in a while to dig into a theme and go nuts with all ideas and stories. I felt it was needed so that every episode didn't feel the same because that could get boring to create and play. Episode 10 sped things up more than any episode has done in the past. It had the biggest time skips, yet it didn't feel like it had them. Skipping time is tricky to write because stories get paused during the vacuum the player doesn't experience, which needs to be kept in mind with how characters evolve and interact. I had more fun making episode 9 because it had lots of humor and felt fresh and exciting. Episode 9 was harder to plan than episode 10, and I enjoyed that challenge. Episode 10 didn't pose that many challenges aside from creating new mini-games.
Previously, you mentioned that the branching plotlines and individual girl paths are some of the main time consumers and challenges in the development. Have you considered an alternative release method to regular episodes? Something like updates for individual branching paths? What would be the pros and cons of such an approach?
Yes, I have thought about this, but the interwoven canon storyline is the main thing that prohibits it. Let's say I would only release Sage's branch as an update. The canon story would be spoiled for players who only play the other branches (and yes, those players exist). I wouldn't want to rob players of that experience.
Writing the episode for me would also be trickier, as many scenes have nods and nuances to choices and branches. The only time that the approach you're describing would work is if the branches are vastly different and there's little to no canon story, e.g., different endings to the game.
While it would feel like the game gets updated more frequently with such an approach, it would be the opposite in the long haul for produced content. Every release requires a lot of time and attention, and it takes me up to a month to leave that behind fully and continue working. For me, more releases would mean more time to manage them and less time to develop the game. That's another reason why big releases work great for me.
My favorite part of each episode has always been the parties. They are a lot of fun and genuinely feel like real events. Is writing the parties harder than the writing of normal scenes?
I appreciate that. The parties need much planning to write because they have been free-roam events in the past. The hardest parts about them are the logistics and branching. Characters move around, and the parties evolve. Everything needs to make sense for different variations, and it is challenging to code. I plan the event flow with other software before coding and writing anything. The actual writing, however, isn't that hard for me. I love coming up with fun scenes and situations and building on them. I draw much inspiration from my youth and the parties I've been to.
There's often a level of modularity in the scenes during parties. I can write a short story with a few scenes and then import those scenes at different stages of the free-roam. You won't think about that when you're playing the game, and you can play the events in any order of your choosing. As a result, the party will come out feeling varied and fun.
Would you ever post some kind of „making off” content? I remember you denied the idea of streaming the production process, but I think posting here something like before-render images or screenshots from the program during posing animations will be so interesting for fans.
I get why it would be interesting for fans to see that. I have some plans in this area when the game is completed, but nothing in the immediate future. When the game is completed, showing and discussing behind-the-scenes content is much easier without spoiling or ruining anything. But I won't show company secrets, settings, and techniques I use. I've worked hard on my workflow process and don't want it to be spread to other developers.
Do you plan to add more mini-games in the future? I like the mini-games a lot, but I believe that adding more would be a mistake that would only add unnecessary time to the development of future episodes. The mini-games in episode 10 were fantastic.
All the groundwork for Season 3 mini-games has been made, and I can build upon the mini-games in the future which is much faster than creating new mini-games. I have no new mini-games planned for the remainder of Season 3. If that changes, it would be something lesser, like the arcade games in episode 10 that I consider to be features. I don't view mini-games as unnecessary time spent in development; I believe they bring immense value to the game. They are a big part of the game; I love making and playing them. As I improved my skills, the mini-games got more advanced. I would never have been able to create the popular party planning or mansion repair mini-games without gaining experience from creating all the other mini-games that came before them.
Whether it's Rooster clucks, phone messages, Zoey's journal, or Helen's note, there has been a lot of great additional text-based content in the game, giving extra insight into the characters and making them feel more alive. You've also experimented with different ways of presenting it (e.g., text messages in Episode 9). What is your process for creating this type of content and can we expect you to continue to explore/expand this aspect of the game?
There's no actual process behind it. I love showing, not telling, and hiding things players can discover on subsequent playthroughs. I think about different aspects of the game and envision how to improve upon them.
For example, Zoey needed to have text message dialogue during the Interlude, and I watched a movie with text on the screen to show that kind of exchange while texting. I thought it was a good design choice to mimic, as I didn't want to create an entire phone for Zoey for the sake of text messages, and she also already had her notebook to replace the phone.
I didn't expect how much I liked that way of showing text messages. There was a new level to it that was lost in how the player uses the phone in the standard chat app. I could show emotions from the sender/reader because sometimes you write a thing, but it can be half-truths, lies, or something else. Having a render show the state of the sender/reader during those conversations adds a lot of detail and context. It lets the characters interact and react in a way that gets lost in the chat app. That's why I decided to keep that for some conversations in episode 9 and onward. I still like the old chat app and wouldn't fully replace it, but if I remade the game today, the on-screen design would be there since episode 1.
I love how this type of content grows organically, with no process behind it. Inspiration and ideas spontaneously add up along the way.
You mention your notes and flowcharts a lot in previous Q&As. I'm wondering, do you store your plans like these digitally or are they handwritten? And if they are digital, do you ever find printing them out as physical copies that you can annotate and have them to hand whilst doing other tasks such as writing without breaking workflow too much helps?
I mostly use digital flowcharts. I don't need to print them out when I work with them. I create flowcharts and then import comments from them into the episode code. Using those comments, I write the scenes. It's simple and effective.
But I do work with pen and paper for some tasks. I tend to plan Rooster posts on paper, for instance. I sit somewhere else when I write them to get a different source of inspiration. The same goes for free-roam events. I plan them on paper and flowcharts initially. Then, I start writing what the scenes will be about on paper and short comments on jokes and sentences that will inspire me when I return to the PC.
Mini-games I always plan on paper first. I have sketches of basically every mini-game I've created on several notepads. I might show them someday. Sometimes, it feels better to write and formulate ideas with pen and paper, especially if there's a problem I have to solve and I end up staring at the monitor too much.
Were there any results you found surprising in the survey? Feet being the least popular surprised me.
This is the survey being referred to.
Feet is somewhat of a fringe fetish, so its lower popularity didn't surprise me. Based on what I've seen throughout the years in this business, with few exceptions, people with fringe fetishes don't tend to support the games they like financially. I was most surprised that a majority of patrons like the same as I do. It also felt reassuring that there are fans of every option in the survey; even though some choices got fewer votes than I thought they would get, they matter to many. Female orgasms being that high surprised me a bit, and it made me reflect more on it. I remember I had some animations of it early on in the game. Female orgasms in the game are also somewhat of a plot point for some girls. As a whole, the survey was a good litmus test.
You seem to be very ambitious, the game is huge, with all the possible paths and romance options, and each episode has more renders than the one before. Is there a "stopping point" in your mind when it comes to the maximum amount of renders you are willing to produce for an episode? or you just take it for what it is and if you feel like 10k renders will be eventually needed then you'll just do the 10k renders.
There isn't a fixed number of renders that I'd say is the maximum for an episode. I didn't plan on reaching close to 6000 renders with episode 10; it happened due to the writing. With many characters and stories to tell, the episodes get bigger. And even when the episode is big, some characters will almost get no screen time. It's a constant battle trying to keep things balanced, but what decides the size of the episode is the scope of the canon story.
The first things I plan for each episode are the theme, the start and the end. I box the episode in and later fill the gaps with planned content that fits. At some point during development, I noticed that the episode got big, yet some important characters didn't get enough scenes. So, I added more scenes, and the episode grew bigger. That's why the episodes have continued to grow.
I can't predict the size of future episodes. Making this many renders for a single episode is hard work, and at the end of the day, the only one I want to satisfy with the content is myself. For now, I focus on the story I have to tell before the planned Season 3 ending, and we'll see how many renders and lines of dialogue it takes to reach that point. I have work cut out for me, but I want to conclude Season 3 in the way planned.
How do you feel at the end of each development cycle? Is it like you're happy that you completed another episode or you miss the development of that episode?
It feels like reaching a climax, and it's exhausting. The work that comes with every release on Patreon is very monotonous and while it's necessary, I don't enjoy the release process, but I do it because patrons deserve it. As soon as the episode enters beta testing, mentally, I'm ready to begin working on a new episode, but I have to put that on hold, and that sucks. As a result, there's this refractory period between the release and the new episode development where I have to recover gradually until I'm back at my A-game. I'm happiest in the middle of every development cycle when everything is up and running smoothly, and I'm having a blast creating. I'm at my worst in between the development of episodes when I feel drained and exhausted. I do take a moment to celebrate each release because it's important to celebrate milestones for morale. And while the release work is boring, seeing player reactions to the new episode makes up for it.
After a release/during beta you mention you start planning development on the next episode and events that will be covered in the episode. Is there a flow you follow? Like do you develop the episode in the order of events that will happen chronologically, or do you tackle the larger scenes/scenes you are looking forward to the most to develop in that episode?
Yeah, there is an established workflow. I want to stay efficient and I want my hardware to work 24/7. The flow comes naturally through that desire. I've got a master document for the game that contains everything from minor to major events, entire dialogue trees or just single jokes. I look at this document and extract what I need to build a new episode. It's a document that grows and shrinks during development as new ideas are added and used. When the game is complete, I expect the document to be empty, as I want to cover everything I've written.
When I create an episode, I have to be mindful of how I split the story so that it is exciting and topical. I look at one episode like one would do with a TV show. The episode has a topic, a beginning, a middle and an end. I map everything out in rough strokes, put events to build the story of the episode and I continue to fill the gaps with relevant content. It happens that some story events fit earlier in the game than intended, and some get pushed back for a later opportunity. It's very hard to predict and create the flow of events ahead of time; even if it makes sense on paper, it needs to fit in the moment.
During an episode development, I don't work in chronological order, and I don't need to do it because the story is solid enough in my head that I know how a scene will play out. Often, there are scenes I look forward to creating. I usually jump on those when I start developing a new episode. For example, I love creating mini-games, and that's one of the things I started doing early with the development of episode 10. With episode 11, I'm working on lewd scenes and animations early on, but there are parts of the episode that I can't wait to work on that are left for later.
Many AVN and other adult game developers use voice acting for some parts in dialogue and/or lewd scenes. You have so far completely avoided these. Is there a game design reason you shy away from this, or a personal preference for some reason? or have you/are you considered experimenting with such sound in the future?
That's not true. I played around with them during Episode 1 of Being a DIK. Jill and Bella had partial voice acting. However, I moved away from the idea for multiple reasons. It was a big task to manage code, preparations, sound, and communication with voice actresses. It felt weird only to have partial voice acting for a few characters and the cast has somewhere between 100-200 characters who'd need to be voiced. I didn't have the budget for it back then either and had to prioritize hardware and software. So, I decided to scrap that idea early so I didn't have to adapt the story and write with that in mind. By now, every player has some voice in their mind for the characters and the workload of getting everything voiced by now is daunting. Even just adding and synchronizing sound to lewd scenes would take quite some time. I haven't planned to add it to Being a DIK in the future, but I'm not against using it in another game.
Be honest, when designing the DIKs how long did you spend on getting the right size dick for each one?
With the exception of the main character, not that long. With him, I spent a full day just designing the dick from morning until late night. I believe I made some revisions to it later, too, before settling on what it would be. I also added more detail to it during development with gloss and bump. So, there's a lot of work behind his member, but the other DIKs didn't get the same treatment because I knew I wouldn't be showing them as much.
I know you take your time for the creation of a new episode that you need and the results prove that it is the right way. But i must admit that roundabout one year between episode 9 and 10 was a long wait for me. Do you think about strategies to shorten this time without pressuring yourself?
I always try to optimize my workflow, but I can't work more or faster than I already do. I'm working at full capacity, and this is what it will be like until the game is completed.
I can't create the same quality episodes without cutting content or rushing the development, and I don't want that. The long development times don't bother me. Making games of this quality takes time and even back when I made Acting Lessons and released one episode per month, some players wanted me to put out episodes even faster - it's ridiculous when you think about it.
At first, from a developer's point of view, it makes you feel like you never will be good enough. Despite working on and thinking about the game all day, there is somehow a way for you to work harder. But with time, I realized that impatience is the players' problem to solve, not mine, and it shouldn't be allowed to cause me stress, so it doesn't.
It is a long time to wait, but games are made by humans who have their own lives on top of work, and that gets lost when you're waiting for a product. I'm guilty of doing that, too, with games that I am excited about. I don't think about the people creating the games, how hard they are working, or what they are going through; I only want to play their games. It's something worth reflecting on, but it can be hard to relate to if you're not working in this business or under a lot of pressure. I can only recommend finding ways to fill your days so that the wait time doesn't feel too long. Find more things to do that you love, and time will pass faster.
Knowledge and resources taken into consideration, how much more efficient would you say you are today compared to previous years?
I don't know how to answer that without going into detail in all areas of my work. But I've optimized almost every part of the development process. Everything that can be solved with the push of one button has been. Every step of creating art has been streamlined. How I create files, write code, add dialogue, plan the episode flow, etc., feels natural. I rarely need to stop once I sit down and work. I have daily routines for everything from bookkeeping, economy, purchases, community management, and post-processing of renders/animations, etc. I work methodically, which is only possible because of years of practical experience. If my past self saw me working today, he wouldn't believe how far I've come.
Will the good hardware performance you've come across help you speed up the finalization of season 3? Thank you.
Every new generation of hardware brings a bump in content, quality and speed. The current bottleneck in my game development is a split between manual work and animation render times. Take the recent generation of RTX4090 GPU cards as an example. They gave me slightly more than double the render speed compared to RTX3090. When that happens, my animation queue depletes faster, and PCs end up idling as I can't keep up with manual work.
How do I solve this problem? I bump the quality of animations so that they take longer to render to balance the manual work. This keeps the bottleneck balanced between hardware and manual labor and, at the same time, increases the quality and content of the game. My recent choice for improving the quality was to create animations @60fps (frames per second) instead of @30fps. It takes double the time to render these animations, but remember that the upgrade to RTX4090 gave me more than double the render power. This results in similar render times but with a great improvement in quality. I'm sure that the next generation of cards will bring similar possibilities in increasing the quality of the art. But, importantly, they won't help me solve the time needed for me to produce art files manually - and that is the true bottleneck that can only be solved by employing artists, which I've been clear about since day one that I never will do because I love to work on this project alone.
Do your current hardware upgrades largely satisfy the development workload for an episode? Do you think you will have a couple more PC upgrades this year/before the next generation of GPUs is released to optimize the development process even more?
I don't think I need more PC upgrades until the next generation of cards is released. I might have to replace 1-2 systems before that happens, but I made considerable upgrades to my hardware during 2023 that will keep everything going at a good pace. I strive to keep rendering and manual work balanced. Meaning that there's no point in having too many PCs if I cannot create the files needed for them to stay 100% active fast enough. If my render queue is gigantic, I would see the need to upgrade the hardware more.
At the moment, I feel that the PCs are faster than me. In December, I posed a lot of animations but couldn't maintain a big render queue. That's why I also feel good rendering at 60 fps, maximizing the quality the PCs can output while still having them work constantly.
What steps did you take to learn how to make these games?
It depends on how specific you'd want me to be. The experience needed for me to do this was amassed through a long life with ups and downs. I've had many hobbies of different natures. I was highly educated and had work experience in several areas. I gained an interest in programming. I have always been interested in games since I played Atari and Commodore 128. I wanted to write a story and considered turning it into a visual novel. I knew nothing about rendering and 3D art but had a photography and digital art background. I started researching and learning how to do it. I tried. I failed. I tried even harder. I kept going. I managed.
The main advice I would give someone else wanting to do what I do is: You cannot expect anyone else to lead the way for you. You have to find your own way, and you're the one who has to make it happen. No one will tell you "start a company", "make a game", "learn this" or "learn that". In life, you're taught in school to be part of a team or how to be an employee, but they rarely, if ever, teach you how to go your own way and how to start something on your own. I woke up one day realizing there was another option in life for me besides being a resource to someone else's company, and that's how I got motivated to do this. At first, I had to work two full-time jobs to make it happen, and it was rough. You can do it, too, but you gotta decide that you want it and stay devoted to that desire. Research. Learn. Improve.
My first art was shitty as hell.
And now I can create this.
Everyone starts as a beginner.
How has your life changed after started working on the game?
I used to have weekends, but now I don't. But on the upside, if I need to run an errand or take time off for something, I'm flexible. The freedom I've gotten from making these games is my biggest treasure. Socially, life took a hit since I'm often alone at work. But friends and family are still available, and I make sure to spend time with them regularly. They know I work a lot, they understand why and support me. There's a lot of crap I have to deal with daily, but overall I feel much happier than I did before. This whole business has been a life-changing experience for me in many ways; I look at life, problems, and people a lot differently today than I used to. I'm very thankful for this experience.
My question is what made you want to get into making adult games in the first place and do you take any inspiration from other adult game creators or is most of what you do based on your own concepts?
I used to enjoy playing them, and I've always wanted to write stories, but I never thought I'd be good enough at it. I gave it a whirl by merging all my experience and passion into a project, and that's how I started. When I started making games, I had to learn how to do it, and naturally, like any other coder, you check how others are doing it and then develop your own workflow from that. I want the ideas used in my games to be mine, so I stopped playing other adult games, with very few exceptions.
In the past; Which moment from the game has been the biggest learning experience for you from a developer POV?
There are many lesser moments that give experience, but not a single big moment. What you see when it comes to improvement is a sum of a lot of smaller moments where I've learned something. The biggest area where I've gotten experience is lighting. I want to learn more about lighting, too and will continue to explore and improve in this area. The difference between a bad render and a good one is almost always how the scene is lit. There are, of course, other factors that matter, but I'd argue that lighting matters the most.
I'm curious about changes you have made during the game's development. I know that the general plot of the game is planned out, but you still write events, dialog and such when you develop a new episode. Could you give an example for a recent major scene (let's say episode 8, 9 or 10), which you had already planned in the early stages of the game's development and implemented exactly or pretty close to how you had envisioned it? And then, could you give an example of another such scene, which you have implemented rather differently than you had originally planned? And if so, what were the reasons for the change? If no such scene exists (or you don't want to give it away for whatever reason), a more minor scene could work as well. Thanks!
This one is tricky to answer. Often, I picture scenes in my head ahead of time, but when the time comes to create them, they come out differently because of limitations with assets/environments and other reasons. There's nothing major that I have changed yet, and I don't know if there will be in the future either. So far, everything is going according to plan with what was written since the early days. I think that's because I planned it well and have had all these years to think about the scenes and continuously shape the game. There's anticipation growing with every episode, knowing that "in this next episode, I finally get to reveal this." It would take a lot to change something that I've foreshadowed for years, and I'd have to ask myself, "Why would I change something now?" when the moment comes for it.
Characters have been fleshed out more than I could have anticipated, and I will respect how they talk and act when major scenes happen. Their reactions might be different than I originally envisioned and that's normal to me. I didn't know the characters when I first planned the game. Like you, I get to know them as their stories get told. And while I don't want that to affect their destinations, it will flavor their journeys.
Season 1 and the start of Season 2 covered Hell Week, and I didn't think I'd need five episodes to tell all of that. That has affected how the story got told and how events that I thought would happen later in the semester happened earlier.
Those are the things I can think of at the moment.
When you are performing your playtesting how many different saves do you use to make sure you're pathing through all of the possibilities, and how do you name your saves to make sure you can distinguish between all of the different paths? I really struggle with save naming since there are so many different variables, but a limited number of characters to use.
I have fewer save files than you'd think. I know some players who have 100s of saves, but I only use twelve different ones. Obviously, I will have to manipulate the variables when playing to see all content and variations, but I feel those twelve have what I need for game development at this stage. It's worth noting that this number has increased with time. I used to have three, then five, then eight, and now twelve. It will be interesting to see what the final count will be when the game is done. I need to keep it narrow to not overcomplicate things for myself when developing. I name them with a short comment about my playstyle or with things I know I'd want to know. But sharing the names and comments I use would possibly spoil things.
I recommend you name the entire pages with something like "Sage saves," "DIK saves," or similar. Create a system that works for organizing your saves. If you didn't know, you can click a page name to change its name.
Do you use third-party software to create or modify assets that don't quite match what you want (like Blender or other ones)?
DAZ3D has most of the tools I need to modify assets. When I need to modify assets further, I use auxiliary software like Hexagon and Photoshop. If I had more time, I'd definitely look into creating my own assets. But boy, that would eat up a lot of time that could be better spent on developing the game. There are more areas of game development I'm interested in learning about, but I have to limit myself and always move forward. Re-texturing models is a fast and great way to make models look unique. I employ that a lot and have a custom texture folder with over a thousand textures I made.
Do you think that AI will be useful to you in the years to come for the production of future episodes?
To me, no. I'm not actively looking into using it.
Without going into a discussion about copyright and ethics, with how AI is being used today, I'm against using it in both art and writing. I see its usefulness in some fields; it's a remarkable creation that will cause a technological paradigm shift. The scary thing about inventions, newfound knowledge, science and technological progression is that we can never go backward, and I think we need to be very careful with how we use this new technology.
If the software I rely on to make my games start implementing AI, I'd have to evaluate what it means for my development.
After gaining experience in Python coding, do you find yourself becoming a more proficient and efficient programmer? Would you recommend exploring game coding as a valuable learning experience for someone aiming to enhance their Python skills?
I feel like I've lost a lot of knowledge in other programming languages by working too much with Python. I haven't touched C++ and Unix-based languages since I started working full-time on the games, and I feel less proficient in those languages. Of course, I've gotten better at Python, but it's still limited to what's useful for the games. My code has gotten cleaner with time, and I divide my code with plenty of functions to increase readability, modularity and flow - particularly for mini-games. For learning experience, I'd recommend you to practice on what will be your end goal. If you're practicing game coding without the intention of becoming a game developer, I'd say your time could be better spent on other projects. Anything you do for thousands of hours, you will get better at. I'm very goal-oriented; if you're just looking to have fun coding, game coding is as fun as any type of coding.
What's your favourite part about creating an episode at this point? Lewds, statics, background girl #3, animations, writing, background girl #11, or being able to tinker with new environments you've not dealt with before such as your current Discord background?
It's the creative process that gets me going, and it changes depending on what I'm in the mood for. Sometimes, I get tired of creating art, and all I want to do is write. Sometimes, I can't get enough of creating art and don't feel like writing. Sometimes, I need a break from game development, and I create wallpapers or other renders to gain inspiration or study new useful techniques.
I'd say the only part I don't like about creating an episode is backtracking to fix bugs from previous episodes while I'm producing new content. It feels like I'm getting halted, but I know it brings value to the product. Oh! And PC maintenance. I hate hate hate it, but it is absolutely key that all my systems are identical and up to speed to function as needed.
Do you have any particular favorite songs that you listen to from the soundtrack outside of playing through the game(to me, Food Chain, We Can't Slow Down, and TIme To Rise are songs that I'm always in the mood to listen to).
When you work and play the game as much as I do and hear the songs over and over, you need breaks from the in-game music. I have my favorite songs from the soundtrack, but I don't listen to them when I'm not working. I prefer to listen to any other kind of music when I work, if possible. The songs you mentioned are among my favorites, too. I'd say that all songs from Melodic in Fusion are favorites of mine, and I really love the songs from Bex, JAM studio, Where is Lulu, Kensington Studios, and many, many more.
That's all for this year's Q&A. Thank you for your questions and for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.
Love
Dr PinkCake
Comments
Kou Wai Hin
Glory to DPC
Kenny
What you've created is an amazingly awesome game from every angle, graphics/animation, gameplay, storyline/dialogue. Just read what you wrote about "if given the chance you would change everything" and "feeling you can be better would never go away." Just wanted to say that whilst you are naturally very critical of your own work, please know that I for one find this game truly enjoyable and that I've enjoyed every aspect of this game since it's conception! You're doing feckin amazing!
Calhoun28
LOL Totally! To me, this looks like an early concept art of Megan working in the store scene from Acting Lessons.
Raven
You're the Michelangelo of AVN development; seriously, this game is an absolute masterclass. Thanks for the hard work!
Geralt
I'd love to see BaD cover all four years of college. MC is almost certain to be president once Rusty graduates, opening up tons of storylines. Plus it would be nice to be on the other end of Hell Week, putting new maggots through their trials. We'd get to see new HOTs, and how things go there, after Sage graduates. Could the DIKs and Alphas put aside their differences, after Dawe and Tommy are gone? There's tons of stories left to tell at B+R.
Geralt
Derek is the better wingman, all day, every day. Twice on Sunday.
penjaga
no, never end it.
Erik Danielsson
aahahahah lol
Xioely
I Will Say I love all that you do, and we are fortunate to be able to enjoy your work. In your post the one thing that came through to me the most and strongly agree with, is YOU, you are the one whom needs to be proud of your work. PS Female dialog is there, TY
steinaech
As for a remaster I'd prefer one of acting lessons. I'd love to see my girl Melissa in updated lighting and maybe some tweaked animations
FireWalkWithMe23
I'm playing Acting Lessons right now. I'm having a difficult time deciding whom is the better wingman. Derrick or Liam!
Sadie Adler
Clappers!
Kurmblog
Thank you for the insights Doc, I am now going to loon foward to that potential behind the scenes content when you finish haha
Austin
Any chance you think our MC could get some tattoo's? I was browsing through the rewards the other day and noticed the MC tats
UrFriend
Just want to say how much I appreciate the work you are doing. I have nothing but respect for your dedication to this project. I may not have been here from the start, but I sure as hell will be here to the end.
Nordwolf
Thanks for the detailed insights. It becomes clear, you absolutely know what you want and what you do. Keep it like that and we will all benefit from it. Looking forward to your creations in ep. 11!
RMZ
I don't think you need to be that cagey about your wokflow. What's going to happen? We all leave to go chase the new shiny thing? I can't speak for everyone of course, but I'm not here because of the workflow (although I realize what it means for your output), I'm here for the story, the characters, the atmosphere, the writing and overall quality and even if someone took your knowledge and made an amazing thing, that wouldn't make me suddenly ignore BaDIK, it would just make this niche better and the wait a little easier to bridge.
Sadie Adler
2nd for sure 🤭
Blue
Yo isn’t that Leon in a wig behind that counter? 😂
Gmoney
The great thing about a remaster… if you waited to recreate season 1 and touch up season 2 till after the whole game came out… we’d still have the OG to love and adore, so you could feel comfortable doing whatever you wanted with a remaster to make it the quality of storytelling you think it should be! I don’t think I’m alone when I say the idea of a remaster REALLY intrigues me, especially with regard to the earlier episodes!
Petrov4ic
I await the end of this story with dread . 🙁
figo
This was the first VN i played and nothing else i’ve tried between episodes has even come close to your creation. incredible, take your time with it we will wait 🫱🏼🫲🏻
Rumleskaft
I love the way you have evolved building the game. The renders a good the stories funny. I played your acting lessons...and it turns to dark for me. This game i love. Is it still leaning towards 20 episodes or?
Beautiful Bro
Hot diggity DAMN is that Maya render going to be in episode 11 or was that for shits and giggles? That's a gorgeous render.
