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Chapter 16 progress update
🕑 Added 2024-07-22 21:17:38 +0000 UTCHello everyone!
As anybody who has been following my progress over what is nearly a decade now will know, I sometimes don't say very much.
This is usually because I'm so busy working on the latest content for the Academy series that I neglect to let you all know just how much I've done.
Chapter Sixteen was always going to be a much bigger challenge when compared to the preceding parts of the story.
Pretty much everything I've worked on so far since launching the dsp3000.games website a couple of years ago was improving and building upon what I'd already created.
All of the chapters (apart from the Introduction) had at least 50% of the images and pages produced already by the time I got to the remake and expansion process.
Even Chapters Fourteen and Fifteen had a big chunk of the material created for them before I added the finishing touches a few months ago.
Most of the chapters have doubled in size compared to their previous incarnations.
Chapter Sixteen however, has been the first chapter I've started from scratch.
I fully started work on Ch16 just after Ch15 was released towards the end of May 2024.
That's about 9 weeks ago.
To quantify progress on Ch16, I'm just under 1400 images in right now, with the overall structure of the episode more or less completed.
Based on what I want to include, which is a lot, I anticipate this one being one of the larger chapters.
In other words, I still have much to do and that will take time.
Given that I won't be releasing any significant amounts of new work until Ch16 is completed, you may want to adjust any Patreon pledges accordingly.
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To give some context and scale, here's a list of all the chapter sizes so far...
Introduction = 180 pages : 478 images
Ch1 = 530 pages : 525 images
Ch2 = 1070 pages : 1195 images
Ch3 = 830 pages : 770 images
Ch4 = 1780 pages : 3050 images
Ch5 = 1500 pages : 1700 images
Ch6 = 1880 pages : 2570 images
Ch7 = 1450 pages : 2490 images
Ch8 = 2090 pages : 3390 images
Ch9 = 2370 pages : 3640 images
Ch10 = 2610 pages : 3340 images
Ch11 = 2340 pages : 3645 images
Ch12 = 3540 pages : 5050 images
Ch13 = 1900 pages : 4800 images
Ch14 = 2200 pages : 2500 images
Ch15 = 2300 pages : 3500 images
Interviews Mini Game = 420 pages : 444 images
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The Interviews Mini Game was originally intended to fit in as part of Ch15/16.
I later decided that it didn't quite fit and shelved it.
It does instead work nicely as a standalone, has allowed me to try out some new coding techniques, and of course give all of you some say in what happens next.
Creating the mini-game has accounted for just over one week of production time since the end of May.
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You'll notice that the image count in completed chapters is usually far higher than the page count.
That's because animated sequences generate many more images than static ones.
Looped animations usually have about 5 frames, while the larger animations can have up to 70 frames.
I haven't really started on the animated sequences yet for Ch16 so the image count will ramp up significantly once I get to that phase of production.
For some more context, along with about 1400 images, there are currently 1324 pages completed for Ch16.
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What does that mean when it comes to a release date...?
I'm not going to speculate on a release date yet, but I do antipate another 8-12 weeks work will be required to get this chapter to where I want it to be.
October 2024 will mark ten years since I released my first ever game over on vdategames.com
It's been a long time now since the Tara series, and about eight years since I first came up with the concept of a five part 'Academy' series, each comprising about 1000 images.
That was supposed to be a simple year long project...
At over 42700 images and counting, I make no apologies for massively exceding my original ambitions. I hope you agree that it's been worth the extra effort.
Chapter Sixteen will conclude the main part of the Academy story.
Day five will tie off all the narrative threads that have been developed since day one.
But it won't be the end of the story...
More images and updates coming soon.
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dsp3000
Comments
CJ
When I read this will be the final chapter for the Academy side I was like shit I hope not, then I read that it doesnβt end there π
Adam Pawnee
Wouldn't it be a little too easy if we get a scene with her in the next episode? We haven't had much flirting related interactions with her at all since she was introduced. I guess it would depend on the build up within the chapter itself though. I feel like the principal and Megan are the ones that have had more of a build up.
Brian Keith
I am personally hoping that there will be a bonus scene with Megan. We have been building that up since Day 1. She has been the one elusive character that has the promise to have a wild bonus.
Jim ACEP
I hope the image of Olivia Goodhead with what I interpret to be a sly smile means an upcoming sexual bonus scene with her which is not limited to her namesake π I've been waiting for a scene since she won the earlier poll on favourite non-student characters affiliated with Goodhead Academy especially now with her new hairdo and her sexual innuendo when talking about a job for the PC like "multiple positions". "a few openings", etc. π
