proxxie
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Weekend Update
🕑 Added 2018-07-28 02:46:27 +0000 UTC Greetings!I moved into the new place Wednesday, spent all day yesterday unpacking, and now I'm settled in, finally. This past month has been really weird, but the weirdness is now over, thank God. This means that I'll be able to work on the game much more effectively, and it also means I'll be much more responsive - so you can expect more regular updates, comment responses, et cetera.
So, that's the good news. The bad news is that I will not have 0.6 out this month, contra my earlier promise. I have a good week's worth of work to do- maybe up to 1.5 weeks - before it'll be done. To let you know where the next release stands, I'll break it down:
- Renders: The renders for the H-scenes are done, but I'll be tweaking and re-rendering 2-3 of them. I'm finally able to do this now because my desktop is back up. I expect this will only take a few hours (minus the rendering time).
- Portraits: One of the features in 0.6 are conversation portraits for the Bunnies. I still need to design Ren, tweak Shiri and Jovi, and generate a good number of expressions for them. This isn't a huge job, but will probably take a day or two. I'd intended to do this during my sojourn, but it turns out that I didn't transfer a couple of files that I really needed to my laptop before I left the old place.
- Dungeon: The boss battle is as complete as I'm going to get it before the testing phase. Since my last update, I've created maps for about 50% of the levels, and I've planned out what I'll be doing for the remainder. I don't expect the mapping will take much time, but the eventing and coding will take a bit longer, since there's a lot of non-combat activity going on. (Don't worry, those of you who hate minigames - this stuff doesn't really qualify as a minigame. And besides, it'll probably be fun!). I expect this will take 2-3 days.
- Scenes/dialogues: Since my last update I've written about 20% of the dialogue, and planned out which scenes I'll be including and what'll be in them. The writing itself was very, very difficult for me to do during the sojourn, but I finally have my workspace back - it's considerably better than before, actually - so it should be much easier. I expect this will take 3 days.
- Testing: This will probably take a day. I'll try to avoid the game-crashing bugs I usually include with first releases :)
I will be including a hard mode for the new dungeon - for those of you who like challenges - but that won't be implemented until 0.6's final patch. The main reason is that making something hard but not too hard is a tricky thing to get right, which will involve quite a lot of playtesting, and I don't want to delay 0.6's release just for that. I'll also be implementing an extra mechanic or two in hard mode, and I haven't finalized exactly what that'll look like yet.
So, that's where the game's at. Now, I feel like I should share what's been happening with me over the past month, which directly relates to why development hasn't been faster.
I've been living out of hotels for the past month - literally. My companion and I moved all the way across the country to what she thought was a job. It turns out that she didn't actually have a job there, and what's more, we really didn't like it there. So, we've been spending the last few weeks driving around to different places - and she's been looking for jobs - with the remainder of my time split between developing the game and doing my other job, to the detriment of both.
Things are sorted out now - we're in a place that I think we'll do well in, and I'm glad to be back in the PNW! - but it was really weird for a while. I'd probably describe it as a long anti-vacation. You go places and see things, but it's not fun because you're constantly wondering if this is "the place", or if you can get a job there.
Also, a free tip for anyone who might be in a similar situation one day: don't bring a pet without a lot of pre-planning. Put 'em in a kennel or something if you have to. Long term traveling with a pet is expensive and makes everything much more complicated :/
On the up side, I have a much broader perspective on what the housing and job markets look like across a pretty broad chunk of the country, and I've ideas for a few apps that I might try to develop :D
Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know what was going on with the game and with me. I'm sorry it's taken so long - I really didn't think it would take as long as it has to get things worked out - and I'm as frustrated as you that development hasn't been faster. Things will be faster now, but I really wanted to let you know that the release won't be out this month since I'd earlier promised that it would be.
Thank you for your patience and your support! ◕‿◕
Comments
BlackDragon
Glad you finally settled, really love the game, (you have my support ;) ) hope the next installment comes out soon. :)
Ren just kinda has a boring personality to me -- too laid back at the moment, feels like he doesn't give a care in the world. Makes it kind of hard to relate to him. That might change in the future though! And that's quite a strive towards improvement! Always like people like that. Though I know that feeling all too well lol.
Proxxie
Thank you! It was fun for a little bit, but not having a routine was *really* starting to get to me. I'm still putting stuff away here and there, but the stability is definitely welcome :)
Proxxie
:D Hey, what's wrong with Ren? But yeah, this game is more character than story driven, so I have to devote more time to getting to know 'em. I'm not entirely happy with how I handled it/them in 0.5, but I guess it must have worked a little bit.
Whoohoo, Pacific pride baby! Man, as someone who's gotten used to the tame weather up here I would have been miserable hotelling east and south of here! Glad you're settled in, done the road trip thing across and back from west coast to east once and even lived outta a hotel for a bit and it's ROUGH! Hopefully things are more stable for ya now, I imagine some routine would be pretty welcome after all that! <3
You know, I'd let to take the extra time to thank you on the character development. Typically, games just introduce characters by throwing them at you, but you have events such as parties and stuff to let the player familiarize themselves with all of them! I like them all, even my least favorite Ren!
Proxxie
Not in 0.6, but maybe in the future. The distance between level design and interior design isn't as far as you might imagine.
Do I sense the guild getting a little Shiri 'spruce-up'? :D
Danielle
Don't worry we will always be with you we dont mind if things take an extra day or an extra month we won't abandon you and congrats on the new place make sure you get plenty of rest so your physically and mentally ready to turn out more perfection
Proxxie
Funny you should mention that! I've developed a greater appreciation for interior design lately. The layout, colors, and lighting in a space really does have a huge impact on how you feel while you're in it.
Proxxie
Lol, I may do that.
Proxxie
Yeah. I'm not going to add hard modes to older dungeons, but my current plan is to add hard modes to every dungeon going forward. I expect the hard mode will always be in a later patch, though, because of the playtesting required.
Proxxie
Thanks :) I was starting to feel like a bit of a vagabond, actually. I thought it would be a lot more romantic than it actually turned out to be ಥ_ಥ
Proxxie
"Don't make promises" is the lesson I re-learn every update (◡﹏◡✿)
Wendy Knightshade
Fantastic you got yourself settled down and in! Way to go. Life happens we all know and understand it. Just glad you not vagabonding around! :) Look forward to what you have in store for us!! :)
Proxxie
Thank you :D
I meant what I said that you're true fans will wait as long as it takes. You are human and have outside lives. We need you, the brains of this masterpiece to be mentally healthy in order to keep this game going! Now that you are in a stable place the work will now be concentrated on and more complete than if you were still moving around too often while trying to make the game AND measure the stress of wondering if you will be under a roof the next day. My advice to you is to never make promises. Always say things like "I'll do my best to *insert what you want to say here*". That way you don't bring hopes up and then we see this. If you don't make promises then you lessen the back lash. Not all of us are willing to let you slide and some will straight out unleash the rage. I personally am still very excited for this next update and the furthur updates to come. You are still my #1 Game (SFM/Porn/ Hentai. . . W.e) developer.
Also, hard mode will finally be implemented?! :O Naisu~!!
"The bad news is that I will not have 0.6 out this month, contra my earlier promise." That's okay, I'm sure more people trust my predictions nowadays. ☆(>ω・)
