Hello, hello, haven't done a devlog here for three weeks so I figured we were about due time for an update. The release of the game was just over a month ago now, and during the past month I have been actively working on Chapter 2 more consistently than I ever did for Chapter 1. As I think I've said before, this game began as a passion project, and still very much is, but one that I worked on as and when I could. But since the release of Chapter 1, my motivation has been incredibly high, and I'd like to think that this has translated to efficient work.
As most people will know, the biggest sticking point with games made using DAZ is render times (also, sometimes, finding good assets for things). The renders take as long as they take, and, while there are things that can be optimized, particularly as someone with just one computer, my image production times, for now at least, will only ever be so quick.
That being said, the render count is currently at approx. 700. What does this mean? Well, Chapter 1 contained around 1400 renders. Does that mean Chapter 2 is nearly halfway done? Unfortunately, no. As mentioned in a previous devlog, Chapter 2 is looking quite a bit longer than Chapter 1, which is good for story development and content but, naturally, not so good for development times.
Similar to Chapter 1, Chapter 2 covers around another week of time in the story. For what it's worth, this won't be persistent throughout the game. After Chapter 2, there will be more time jumps over days as the story progresses; it's only during these first few weeks of the story where the day-to-day nature of life is particularly relevant. Currently, I have renders complete for the end of the Friday, as well as Saturday, Sunday and Monday (as well as scene later on a later day I worked on ahead of time). So, more or less four days done with five more to do. On paper, this also looks like about half the Chapter is done, but the remainder of the week contains a lot of scenes, some quite large with a lot of characters, and generally a lot more content. Particularly, a quite long party scene that is probably going to have depressingly long render times.
I mentioned previously that another sticking point that comes from using DAZ is an occasional lack of (good) assets for particular things. I've rendered a scene using an asset, but I just don't think it looks great. Generally, I've been really pleased with a lot of the improvements I feel like I've been making to the visual side of the game for Ch 2, so this scene in particular sticks out a lot to me. Even if it were in Ch 1 I would've been inclined to re-do it. However, I've looked around for alternative assets and they just don't seem to exist. So, if anyone reading this has any knowledge of DAZ assets, or knows a dev or artist who does: are there any good athletics fields/track assets out there? If there are, please point me in the right direction. Otherwise, I may have to try something I've not really done much before, and customise an environment myself.
Another question I have, this time for a more general audience of players, is how much you value animations in these games. Personally, while good animations elevate a game, bad animations are a lot worse than just having static renders for a whole scene. Specifically, I'm talking about lewd scenes here. As Ch 2 will contain some of the first opportunities for sex scenes (!) I'm curious to see people's opinions. For what it's worth, I've played around with animating a bit, and, long story short, it's not easy. So, I'm hesitant to include them. Also, including animations would add to the development time not just in terms of pure rendering time (a 3 second animation at 30 fps = 90 extra renders, for instance), but also added time for me to learn to properly make animation that look good enough. So, I wanted to gauge opinion. How important are animations in sex scenes?
Overall, then, I am feeling very good about the progress of the update so far. Chapter 2, for me, is such a progression on the story from Chapter 1, which was a lot more about establishing things and sowing seeds, that it has been so much more fun to write for and create images for. Some of the things in Ch 1 are already being paid off in Ch 2, and some things are only just beginning in Ch 2 that I've planned for the future that it almost just makes me frustrated that I can't release the game quicker. I want to get to the fun bits. I want the consequences of people's choices to start appearing. I want all the little things in Ch 1 and, particularly, in Ch 2 to be explained already. Sometimes, I almost wish that I'd made the game up to Chapter 5 before ever releasing it. But we've all just gotta be patient. And, trust me, it's harder for me to wait. I've never believed in something as much as I do this story. And I'm determined to make sure it lives up to my expectation.
Something something therapy something something.
I'll leave you with some honestly kinda random previews, so y'all can get a little glimpse at what I've been working on these past three weeks or so.
. Thats a silly plot more fitting for a dumb ntr game. In a game without ntr it is just an annoyance that has no reason to be there because you already know it will amount to nothing(SUPPOSEDLY) so it is just cheap and predictable, makes the girls look like dumb bimbos that can't deal with shit themselves, like they are retarded or something. The girl's looks are to my liking at least, but hopefully it starts focusing in developing the relationship between them and mc and less about those tiny bits of extra info that dont really add anything to their characters except, in my case, making me dislike them like they did with Mia.
