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Post release status update - Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2021-09-04 14:30:42 +0000 UTCHello everyone,
Here comes the post release status update. We are still waiting for your feedback so feel free to leave a comment down below and tell us how you feel about Chapter 4 of The Best Days of Our Lives. π
This post was written by the both of us, Jachu - the art side of Underground Studio and Arisushimake - the writer.
How Arisushimake put it - this was the MOST taxing update we've worked on till now. No matter how much we pushed ourselves, it kept demanding more and more from us.
Truth be told, we had to skip around 20% of the originally planned content (and move it to 0.5) simply because we did not want to delay the release any longer. This way, if you choose one path, you could say that this update was pretty short and we are sincerely sorry for that. π That path from the script side is ready and we will catch up in the next update.
Still, when we finally finished everything and played through the update, we were pretty happy with the end product. And we really hope you like what we have in store for you.
Now, something more from our writer:
1. Branching:
In our last update, I said - starting from 0.4 each of the romantic branches will slowly start shooting out one by one. However, (as a result of skipping the 20% mentioned above) while we did "technically" have the branching option in - we could only work on one branch. (When you see the "completed" branch and some "choices" before that, you'll be able to tell where all that time and effort went into.)
Still, for what it's worth, players will be able to clearly see that - they have complete control in rejecting any love interest they don't want.
2. Testing out smaller choices:
There is a particular section in this update, where we tried to give as many choices to the players as possible, so they can make the MC react to a situation in a way they like (while also remaining true to the characters' core.)
That single section has 6 different conclusions. (Note: These choices do not affect the story branching. Those are a separate thing.)
3. (Sadly) bigger doesn't mean longer:
Though there are more number of panels, lines of script and animations than our previous updates, they're distributed quite unevenly among some choices. Therefore, the overall run/play time of the update will remain the same as usual (or even quite shorter for players who choose to avoid that specific character). So, if you want the maximum bang for your buck, we recommend checking out the available branching - even if you're not really interested in that character.
However, I assure, starting from 0.5, things will be a lot more balanced for all routes. π
4. Obligatory clarifications made at the start of every release:
- The game has been pretty linear till now, but all your choices DO matter. (There are also scenes which are unlocked only if you make the right choices - So, choose carefully).
- There will be no harem route in this game. (If you choose a love interest, you're pretty much tied to that person for the majority of the game).
- No characters will steal the MC's girlfriend at any point of the game.
- The MC will not be forced to see other characters (friends or love interests) indulge in sexual acts with anyone else.
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We hope that all of the information above will fulfill your curiosity regarding the script/story side of The Best Days of Our Lives. If you have any questions feel free to ask and Arisushimake will answer them. π
From the art side, as we said it before - animations were rough. But we should start it from the beginning.
In the middle of July, I went for my vacation and to be honest, I had a really tough time getting back to work. I really needed some rest and I started my work around the end of July/beginning of August. Basically from my side I managed to finish the renders in one month. And that one month wasn't easy but in the end I think the hard work paid off π
As I started I decided to try out the Spectral Rendering option in Daz3D and that was a total disaster. The renders did look much better with it but it kept creating these weird seams on the skin of characters. I tried to change the skin shaders itself for them to work better with Spectral Rendering but it generated dozens of new problems so I decided to drop it. Because of that βlittleβ experiment I lost around 2 working days. π
The next thing is that Arisushimake gave me a free hand on how to create the nude scene. π
And that caused a lot of trouble. π Firstly I wanted to make maximum 6 animations. And that was my big goal for this update. As I started working on them I felt that I could do more. So I ended up almost doubling the amount I previously assumed.
To be honest, I didnβt have a lot of experience with animations before but after these 11 that I did, I feel that I learned them quite a bit. The hardest part was rendering which took days (if every frame counted as a static panel, we would have reached 3000 mark easily). I hope it will change after reaching our Patreon goal (with your little help π) - with buying a new GPU and rendering on the second computer.
In a few days, there will be a lot of polls to vote on about this Chapter (and the future ones). I hope that you will help us develop our game even better.
We hope that you enjoy our first post release status update. π Expect next one after the release of 0.5 but for now follow us on our social media to get some daily informations how the things going π
Instagram - @undergroundstudiogames
Twitter - @UStudioGames
Stay safe,
- Underground Studio
