Bobbyboy Productions
patreon
Dev-log June 16, 2024
🕑 Added 2024-06-16 19:19:55 +0000 UTCHey guys, it's time for another dev log.
I know most of you aren't too interested in anything other than the game, which is totally understandable so skip the next paragraph to get into what's going on with the development of chapter five.
The past few weeks has been a whirlwind of events, some good and some bad. Thankfully my mother is out of the hospital and she's doing a lot better now. Thanks to everyone who has wished her well, it means a lot. She lives with me now since she needs help changing her antibiotic through her PICC line and she has a lot of trouble walking, so she needs help doing a lot of things. It's funny how life circles around. Our parents take care of us when we're kids and eventually we need to reciprocate and the roles are reversed. You don't ever think about things like this when you're young, but time just flies by so all you young'uns out there enjoy your youth while you can. But I'm really happy she's getting better and out of the hospital at least. It was looking for a while that she might not be leaving, which was a scary time.
Development has been going smoothly, albeit slow. One of the longer scenes in this update requires a ton of video memory just for the environment asset alone. Because of this I have had to do multiple renders of each image and merge them together using Gimp. So three renders per image, plus I can only render on my main PC so I'm stuck rendering and unable to use my PC until each one is complete. This is because the scene requires close to 23GB of video memory and try as I might, I wasn't able to optimize this in a way that didn't significantly affect the quality. I really wish I didn't get stuck into this environment asset to begin with. I'll be more careful from now on and make sure vram requirements are low enough so I can render on my other rendering PC, which will leave my main PC free.
This update is going to have six scenes and contain about 700 renders. As I've mentioned in some of my other posts, this update will be less dark than chapter four, while still moving the story along. We'll see a new family member in this update, along with other familiar faces. As for an estimated release date for the first release on Patreon, I'm going to say it's probably going to be the first week of July at least. I know that is longer than the roughly two month release cycle I've been on up till now, but it is what it is. Hopefully I won't have as many distractions for chapter six. Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll last week. With regards to polls, please know that the results of polls like the last one will have an impact on the game going forward, but not drastically. 90% of you voted to give Kathryn the option to cheat, but this doesn't mean that you will be able to have her become a horrible cheating scoundrel. The story is already planned out, but there are some scenes I had considered where Kathryn could do some things behind Luke's back potentially. The results of this poll have helped me to decide to go ahead with them. Other polls which will be upcoming will involve less story and character writing specific things such as, outfits, hairstyles, etc. I will hopefully post a couple of these this week.
I want to thank all of you for the great support you've given me, allowing me to work on this game as more than just a hobby. Without all of you, I wouldn't be able to justify all the time I spend working on it. Hopefully we can keep this going and get this whole story done early next year. And maybe if things are still going well I can begin working on the prequel. I also have another original story that I will shop around to you guys late this year to get an idea of what you all think. Maybe that will be the next project, who knows.
Anyway, thanks again guys. I'll see you in the next one.
Bobby
Comments
Bobbyboy Productions
Best show ever, I watch a few episodes per week on netflix.
Sure, Not
Thinking about how funny Castanza was on that show makes me want to fire up the show from start to finish on Plex again.
Dennis
I am trusting you :) . And nice that you yet have ideas for what is going to be in two years time or so. Oh, ok, bad luck then with AMD. nVidia always trying to keep technologies for itself as Intel did in the 90s.
Bobbyboy Productions
As for the 4090, Daz studio only supports nvidia gpus for it's iray engine unfortunately, otherwise like you said I would go for the 7900XTX 24gb which is about half the price of a 4090.
Bobbyboy Productions
Kathryn was 19 and Luke was 22 four years before the east block. I probably shouldn't have mentioned the whole prequel idea, but since I already have I guess I'll need to explain the premise. Luke and Kathryn aren't a couple in the prequel, at least not for most of the story. They are attracted to each other but there will be obstacles and bad luck that keep them apart. There will be new characters and a new small town environment where it takes place. You're all just gonna have to trust me bro, lol.
Dennis
Thanks for explaining the 4090. Hope you will get it soon. Would an AMD-Card be an alternative? They had bigger VRAMs for a longer time - so you coult get the big package cheaper if no pure rendering power is needed. (Just aksing, I do not render, so I do not know the specific needs of your tools. In RayTracing-gaming, AMD is a little behind nVidia, but not that much.). So you really had considered that Kathryn will be too young 4 years ago - I thought you chose the 4 years involuntarily. I wonder why exactly you chose to do a prequel. I mean, starting new again could be easier: No targets to reach instead of having to develop Kathrin and the other to the characters we already know. Even a sequel would mean more freedom for you. And, as Sprayman already said, both MCs did not have that much experience in the beginnig of the current game, so it sounds the bar for their debauchery is quite low in a prequel. Don't feel critizised :) . If you were not a nice guy and did not have a good current game, I would not even bother to ask myself. I like your game, but I am not gifted enough to make a good story out of the circumstances mentioned above.
Bobbyboy Productions
Kathryn and Luke won't be together through most of the prequel, not until the end. I'm still sorting the story out, but I'll work it out so it makes sense.
Sprayman
Ok. The way Luke and Kathryn talk and act is like they are doing this kind of stuff for the first time in so many scenes. So its a bit weird going back to the past and the same kind of stuff has already happened before. It kind of takes away the meaning of this current game, if so much has happened previously. Hope it doesn't devalue the story.
Bobbyboy Productions
It's going to take place over four years. three chapters per year, so she will be in there for the second half. That's the plan at least.
Sprayman
It was at that moment I realised Bobbyboy was killing Independent George 😆
Sprayman
4 years.. Does that mean Rebecca will be too young to be apart of the game then?
Sure, Not
lol Yeah I caught the Seinfeld thing too. That was pretty good. Like an easter egg.
Sprayman
Oh... you mean you're not 21 like me lol. I figured when you put seinfeld on Alberts TV we were around the same age.
Bobbyboy Productions
Yeah we're all a bunch of old pervs 😉
Sprayman
I get the feeling a lot of us on here are a similar age 😄
Bobbyboy Productions
Thanks Dennis, the reason I have the 4090 in my main PC is because I need to be able to do iray previews while I'm working, so I need a gpu that can handle worst case scenarios such as the scene I mentioned. I ideally would have a 4090 in the other machine as well. I'm hoping the prices drop after the 5090 is announced this summer and I can grab a one for a lot less. As for the prequel, it starts four years before. A lot of things happen during those four years that develop the characters to how we see them at the beginning of the east block. Kind of like a "I'm never drinking again" sort of thing lol. But we all know how that usually goes.
Bobbyboy Productions
Yeah my Mom is 74, but honestly you'd think she was in her 80's. She didn't exactly take care of herself when she was young. Thanks for the well wishes, I hope your Mom is doing ok as well.
Dennis
Glad to hear the worst is over for now. Wish you all the best and even though it might sound stupid, but if you can, also try to enjoy a little this phase. In hopefully many years, there will be a time that you will look back to today and have a smile on your face because you could give her something back and enjoy her presence a little - even with all the work and stress it means. About your VRAM-problem: Ever thought about switching the GPU from your main- to your rendering-PC? Should speed up rendering and an your regular PC, you do not need that much VRAM, do you? I liked the dark chaper, but I am looking forward to the next one as well. Hats of to your that all this trouble only costed you a single month. A Prequel? This sounds a little boring to my poor imagination because both of them were so vanilla when they arrived in this story, but you will have a better imagination and I am looking forward to it. I will expecially love that you will naturally even create a better story by learning from doing the current one that is already good. All the best,
Sure, Not
Glad to hear that things are looking up for your mom. Totally get where you're coming from. We're helping my mom move closer to us in late June, will be a huge relief for me to have her closer for when she needs help (Usually she just tries to do stuff on her own and a couple of times at least we are lucky it didn't end up in disaster - She's 80....so....yeah).
