OniArtist
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Rogue-Like Update 02-17-2020 (First Draft)
🕑 Added 2020-02-17 09:30:52 +0000 UTCOk, another progress update, and basically at some point last week I finished what is basically the "first draft" of the code overhaul. I've converted every bit from being something that worked in the old system to something that works (in theory) with the new. That means that the next step, which I've been working on, is to remove all the left-over bits, the stuff that got made redundant by the changeover, to check to make sure that no calls are being made to removed elements, and to do basic testing to make sure that at least the simple stuff doesn't break immediately. The player testing will be more about the complex system interactions, that nothing breaks down over time, or finding small glitches and typos buried in one specific encounter.
The other big thing I need to do is basic organization, since systems are a bit scattered around at this point. When I'm going experimental, I tend to put everything into some "scrap" files that don't get put into the official releases, and it's all just a jumbled mess, but I'll want to put them into some sort of sensible order before releasing it, so that it's easier to find things later. I don't think this should take too long though, and my initial testing seems to work smoothly.
At this point, I'm not planning on having the ability to convert older saves in the first first build released, because I still need to do some testing on that and it's not worth holding back on the initial testing phase, but I'm still hoping to implement that by the end of this release cycle. As a reminder, if you want to carry over save data from previous builds, load up a recent copy and make sure to make a save in the player's room with no other character's present, that is most likely to work without error. Scenes that are right in the middle of something *probably* can't be reasonably salvaged.
Comments
Oni
Heh, yes. The new options available to me can give me a lot more flexibility, so as I was doing this I was constantly coming up with small tweaks I could add here or there.
blankm1nd
wow. you both impress and intimidate me. to rewrite the code is no small feat, and for you doing it to improve game... that's something i'm not seeing around here much. and i i'm to be honest: i'd rather see content updates delayed, than this. why? because, when you improve code, we can get more updates, more often... ^^
Oni
Honestly that would probably be more work for me. The actual work I have to do is run through and go "do they have this variable? If so, make this other variable into that one, and then ditch the original, repeat." Through all the existing variables. It's not actually hard, just a little time consuming and I need to make sure it'll actually work as intended. Then with any luck I can just apply that as an "after load" script like I have in previous versions and it won't bug out.
Shremedy
Compatibility doesn't have to be built into the game. Just create and include a quick and dirty standalone script to do the save game conversion, end user runs once and done.
Oni
Well, I do most of it. At minimum I coordinate everything, there have been some story beats provided by members of the community, some programmers helping out with tricky problems, and a lot of the clothing variations get outsourced, but I do the character bodies, design work, and most of the coding and dialog myself.
The Holly King
Are you doing EVERYTHING by yourself? Writing, art, making the actual f'in game? If so, you are a tremendous badass, that would be way too many hats for me.
Xenos
Oni, hard at work as always. Been a minute, but glad to see the grind has paid off so far.
Oni
Hmm, possible. There are ways to manipulate the game's memory, but I haven't messed with that directly. If anyone had more experience with that sort of thing I'd be all ears. ;)
Serialpeacemaker
I feel like the original animation caching system would bog the game down immensely after a fairly short amount of game time. Just my experience with the game though.
IWriteWithATalon
Okay, cool! You've been talking about so much cool stuff I wanted to clarify on the release cadence. You're doing amazing work, thank you so much.
Oni
The addiction mechanics, massage options, and a few other things will be a part of this "overhaul" build. Those aspects are done (at least pending further testing). The Jean intro isn't in mainly because her sprite does not exist yet. :D This has been a code-focused period, so I haven't gotten any real art done. After this build settles down, I plan to focus on a more art-heavy release, with Jean's basic stuff done and some pieces for other characters as well.
Oni
Well, the next build I release will likely be a bit buggy, but there will basically be no option but to start that one from scratch. If you're just looking to have fun and not bug test, I would recommend waiting a few weeks after that until I put out a more stable build. Hopefully by that point though save games can be transferred from earlier versions too.
IWriteWithATalon
So will we be getting the code overhaul sometime this month, and then the addiction mechanics/massage options/Jean intro scene in later builds? Or will those things be patched in as well?
Phillipe Farneti
Is now the time to restart or wait?
Oni
Definitely. That's how I fix things. ;)
Becks
Can't wait to test it and send tons of bug reports to you. I'm sure you'll love to see those.
Breon Flowers
i don't mind starting a new game hell i'm looking forward to it
etralt
been awhile since i started a new game
Julian Banks
It is time to start anew Boys and Girls.
Pervy Rogue
Great work Oni! Cant wait to see what you can do with the new system.
Anthony Michelli
The time is nigh
Oni
Not yet. Basically since all the variables have changed, what will happen, in a natural situation, is that if you load a save, the game will start looking for a bunch of variables that do not exist in that save file, and most of the variables that do exist will be junk that it doesn't care about, and it'll almost instantly throw an error "can't find this variable" or something worse. There is a technique though that I believe can fix this, in some cases, by making sure that all the new variables get initialized and filled with the data from the old variables, but like I said above, I haven't fully tested this, so the very first version I put out won't have this, but likely one a week or two later will. It won't work in all situations, because there are too many situational variables to work with there, but it should protect the long term details like character histories, core stats, etc., and allow you to pick up where you left off. This is why I recommend saving in the Player's room while alone, less stuff happening.
WeenisPrime
i assume saves will not work with the new coding build?
Booty4Bass
I'm ready Oni. Iol where's the link? One final push
Jackaljax
Looking forward to testing out the overhaul!
