VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.10.1] [DrPinkCake]

[Bleiu]

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Grab a cup of something and take a break. A large chunk of text without a tldr incoming.

First off... Boom! The 5000 render milestone was reached this week. Now episode 10 has more renders than episode 9 - the previously biggest episode in the game. And because I reached this milestone, I had to try and estimate how much is left in terms of development.

I have been working on art and coding all week. I started by completing two smaller scenes and one free-roam event. The better part of the week was spent on creating the last free-roam event of the episode. Since it's a new environment, there was environmental design to carry out first, and also preparation of the characters for it.

The dialogue for this free-roam event was written months ago, so it's a matter of creating the art and coding the events and buttons. It's a labor-intensive yet easy free-roam event to create, so I should be able to maintain a good speed without any speed bumps.

After the recent weeks of playing and polishing the game, my flowchart has been updated, and the following checklist is what the current state is like.

As I develop these episodes, I always ask you to take numbers with a grain of salt because the scene/render/animation count will change until the last few weeks of development. This is why it's always hard for me to give accurate estimates.

As you will notice below, the scene count is larger than I reported earlier because of the addition of some scenes that were needed to make some branches feel whole.

Checklist Episode 10
This is the current checklist of what's left to do before beta testing can begin.

Scenes
Three lewd scenes - One is written. Neither scene has any art.

Three free-roam events - One is almost complete, another has a few scenes left, and I'm ~70% through the last one. All writing is done. All need a different degree of testing and additional phone content.

Three normal scenes - One is written, one has partial writing, and one is planned. Neither scene has any art.

Art
Based on the scenes above, I estimate I must pose an additional ~600 static renders and 70-100 animations.

Current static render count: 4892 produced. 220 posed renders in the render queue. 5112 renders total.

Current animation count: 237 produced. 28 posed animations in the render queue. 265 animations total.

Code
Pack Quest - In the planning phase.

Vault - Ensure that numbers are placed and work as intended.

Rewards/2D art - 70% completed. The rest will be placed in free-roam events, story scenes, and the Vault. Testing and possibly correction of code are needed.

Gallery - The lewd gallery has been coded but can't be tested until all lewd scenes have been made. Some art remains for miniature images.

Phone content - There's some work left with the Rooster and Chat apps. Also, the new phone gallery will get additional planned content. The music app needs updated code to include new songs.

Bios - I always leave bios for the last part of the development.

Episode end screen and report - In the planning phase.

Credits - I haven't added new patrons to the credit section yet.

Sound
SFX work has been done as I play-tested parts of the episode; I estimate it's ~80-90% done.

For music, it's the same as with SFX. Most of the scenes that are complete have songs in place. 25 new songs have been added so far.

Testing
I haven't played the episode from start to finish yet because of gaps in the episode and missing content near the end.

My personal tests and polishing remain. How long they take usually depends on how much I have played the episode during development and whether new features are involved.

Episode 10 is packed with new things for the game, meaning testing might take some extra time to ensure high quality.

My thoughts on the checklist.
The animations will be the most demanding part, but cannot be skipped or trimmed as the scenes are essential for the episode.

The static render estimation can change in either direction but is likely lower than stated.

The code tasks are all fast tasks to complete. I estimate that I could get all of them done within 1-2 days of work, but they depend on the art content I need to produce first.

The remaining work on SFX and Music won't take too long, 1-2 days here as well.

Testing is another demanding part. I have lots of new features to test this time around. And we are talking about the five main branches on top of some very ambitious branching within them.

As always, there will be waiting time for animations near the end of the development, and this is when I plan to perform my personal tests and polishing.

Hopefully, I have covered all aspects of the checklist, but I may have missed something minor - all big tasks are accounted for.

My plan going forward.
I plan to work with art until I need to write the last scenes. Animations will be posed intermittently.

I plan to be done with my testing as the final animation frames are produced, thus minimizing the time between the PCs being idle and the start of beta testing/proofreading. As usual, at least two weeks will be allotted for private beta testing and proofreading before the episode can be released on Patreon.

Next up for me is to continue with art on the free-roam I'm working on and hopefully be able to move on to other scenes later next week.

Have a nice weekend, and thanks for reading

Dr PinkCake

This is perfect.
We get a Thanksgiving episode in probably November and the Christmas EP will be around Christmas 2024

 

[aykarin]

When it ends, if it ends, like all products with a long production time it will be terribly outdated, perhaps the last avn, probably the last renpy

The first two episodes already look quite outdated and don't really fit with the quality of the rest

 

[SirDawcio]

When it ends, if it ends, like all products with a long production time it will be terribly outdated, perhaps the last avn, probably the last renpy

I wouldn't count that as something bad. I don't know what other developers do to push this genre forward but I don't think the tech that BaDIK is based on is something that will make it worse in the long run.

At the end of the day for me this game rules because of its great writing and the most realistic, believeable characters I've ever
seen in this type of a game. I know that DPC isn't without flaws but as long as he keeps the same quality, I'm not worried.

Would pick outdated game with great story over any technological render beauty marvel any day of the week.

It really helps to follow some great games with a more "regular" update schedules that weren't blown beyond all proportions by their developers due to splitting them into 9 or so different paths (still counting) far to early.

Then again, it could be worse. Just look at A Song of Ice and Fire. The last book published in the series came out, when the first season of the TV show was just released (July 2011!). That was over 12 years ago and Martin claimed a year ago, that the book is only about 3/4 done. So that would means another ~3 years until it is released. And it isn't even supposed to be the last volume. The guy will simply die before the book series is complete.

Bottom line: As good as BaDIK is, I really wouldn't make it my main game to follow on this site, that is just torture.

I think he has every right to do what he wants to do and he set out to do. George failed because it overwhelmed him to the point of him wanting to do everything but finish Game of Thrones. I know the feeling. Writing BA Thesis which overwhelmes me? Naaah, no way! But making side artistic project? Yeah! I don't even need to go to sleep.

I think the difference is, DPC is still doing it, taking his sweet ass time but still doing it. And as a artistic perfectionist myself I understand him wanting to take time to make it perfect. Aside from bugfixes the moment he releases every episode that's it. It's not like this popular weird game where developer just remaded the whole game in the middle of the production because why not.

I wouldn't recommend following this game either. What I do is that I get interested max 2-3 months before release, a little bit discussion after and I'm gone. Cya!

It's just that no other game here is worth close following in my opinion. They're not bad, per say. They get the job done for what they are, but no worth spending your time on. And the ammount of pages on this thread in comparison to other games just confirms what people like to talk about.

Edit: I forgot to add the fact of patreon supporters. It's the grey line between "Does DPC owe anything to people that support him?" and "People can support him but it isn't required and he should be free to follow his own vision just as he did in the past". I think the answer, as always in life is somewhere in the middle.

 

[gamingdevil800]

This is perfect.
We get a Thanksgiving episode in probably November and the Christmas EP will be around Christmas 2024

Nah DPC will outdo himself and episode 11 will release at the start of 2025

 

[Lichlord45]

Am I crazy or did we use to get two updates a year in the past?

 

[Tremonia]

Three free-roam events[...]

Oh, for fucks sake... What kind of trend is it that devs are making so many freeroams lately? These things are nice at times, but most of the time they're really annoying and disrupt the flow of the game. If I want to play a point and click adventure, I don't choose AVN. The last three episodes had too much of this already. I can get this in Ep9 because it was the best way to put all branches on the same stage of the plot, but man... I want to play an AVN and not Monkey Island.

 

[dalli_x]

She invites 30 students who donate $10 each, that's $300, it's not nothing, it's also about publicity, the more people she invites to the campaign opening the more word of mouth spreads and therefore more money comes in from strangers. For example, she invites Fuckface, the campaign makes an impression on him, he tells Neil and he looks into it and is also moved to try and help, he tells all his colleagues on the building site (lets say 10 people), they then tell their families and friends (lets say another 10 people each), they then tell all their friends (another 10 each). That's already 1+10+100+1000 so 1111 people, they donate $10 each that's over $11,000 and obviously the number grows exponentially from there as word of mouth spreads further and further out.

If I was Jonathan and Jill asked for my advice on how to start a fundraiser for her campaign that's what I would advise her to do.

100000 likes on Rooster. Promote Jill's campaign on Rooster for free, involving Tremolo, and there aren't that many tickets for all fans to get one.

ROCKSTAR TREMOLO

 

[Abhai]

Am I crazy or did we use to get two updates a year in the past?

the dev needs more support, he is doing this only as a hobby.
despite that he manages to push one great update per year.
what would you expect more?
btw, there were never two or more updates per year...ever...furthermore no game/dev had it, has it, or will have it, ever...more.

 

[Takkatakka]

Oh, for fucks sake... What kind of trend is it that devs are making so many freeroams lately? These things are nice at times, but most of the time they're really annoying and disrupt the flow of the game. If I want to play a point and click adventure, I don't choose AVN. The last three episodes had too much of this already. I can get this in Ep9 because it was the best way to put all branches on the same stage of the plot, but man... I want to play an AVN and not Monkey Island.

I think for BiD they are basically a result of the structure of the game. If you make linear scenes that involve the LIs, those scenes have to be done specifically for one of the paths...at least most of the time. That means anyone not on that specific path will just not see that scene. So with as many paths as the game has now, DPC would have to make different scenes for all the different paths every time that path plays an important part in a scene.

With those free roam events you can have the different paths have "mini scenes" inside the free roam or just make little alterations, keeping the differences between paths to a minimum.

 

[ProxyGist]

hat kind of trend is it that devs are making so many freeroams lately?

Freeroams was inevitable when he announced the branching. With them, now you don't have to create separate environments for each path, you just have to put some characters in one location and create scenes for each one. It's so much simpler that way. On the other hand he won't be able to put absolutely all love interests in all freeroams, which is why he'll have to create several. For example, there will obviously be no Bella and Jill in the final freeroam, but there will be a freeroam in the library for example where Sage and Quinn won't be. That way it balances everything out.

 

[Darkwen]

First progress report of ep 10

Last progress report of ep 10

Oh, the duality of men! At least we can stop pretend DPC is good in planning and accept that whole "i have all the story map out" is straight up bullshit.
EDIT: Also, perceive how he not even mention/remember his initial "plan" of make ep 10 smaller. Probably because it'll be the same of admit he failed in something and God forbid the great DPC admit he failed in something

Yeah its very clear DPC doesn't have a plan a outline yes and the big points yes but how he gets there hell no. The writing should had been done long ago. Still going to hope for October but could be November maybe December. DPC doesn't do the things we think he should maybe that why the game is so great or in spite of

 

[Jamez999]

The threesome with Sage and Quinn isn't a cooperative loving affair like with M&J. It's a competition for MC's attention and affection, at least as far as Quinn is concerned. On most paths Quinn won't do the threesome, but the Quinn who is interested in MC (after he helps her when she's beaten up) will.

There are more subtle clues when Quinn is interested in MC vs when she's just being her usual bitchy self. A good example of this is when she and Rio stumble across MC and Sage in the back yard of the HOTs house during the party.

Spoiler

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That's a very good point.
We can even notice a little difference in her face.
In the first example (when she doesn't care about MC)

In the second one (when she's falling for him)

That's a little detail that makes Quinn even more special

 

[PereFourreAss]

 

[TomUK]

We going with annual updates now?

 

[Bloker997]

Am I crazy or did we use to get two updates a year in the past?

we did, but when you count how many renders/animations were in each episode, they're getting bigget and bigger. For ep.10 there will be more than 5k renders, there is no other game that have that big updates.

 

[Jamez999]

we did, but when you count how many renders/animations were in each episode, they're getting bigget and bigger. For ep.10 there will be more than 5k renders, there is no other game that have that big updates.

 

[Takkatakka]

we did, but when you count how many renders/animations were in each episode, they're getting bigget and bigger. For ep.10 there will be more than 5k renders, there is no other game that have that big updates.

It is certainly not a case of the "Female Agent" developer who seems to breed for months over a few lines of text. DPC DOES a lot of work.

5112 renders and 265 animations is A LOT (and it isn't even finished yet).

The last Eternum update had about ~1/4 the amount of renders (1300) and 1/5 the amount of animations (50) and that one took about 5 months to make. Maybe splitting what DPC thinks should be in one update into two would make more sense at this point.

 

[Orgitas]

I don't mind the long update times. Get a heck of a lot of content with them. At least he is committed to the project and doesn't half ass (whilst still taking a year+) it nor just ignore it like two certain devs.

 

[89898hh]

I really like this game but damn the wait for each update gets longer and longer .
DPC desperately needs to hire some help but just wont do it.
The free roam events seem pointless considering how long it takes to do them and without help.

Its going to be a looong time before the game gets finished.

 

[Ray_D]

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Grab a cup of something and take a break. A large chunk of text without a tldr incoming.

First off... Boom! The 5000 render milestone was reached this week. Now episode 10 has more renders than episode 9 - the previously biggest episode in the game. And because I reached this milestone, I had to try and estimate how much is left in terms of development.

I have been working on art and coding all week. I started by completing two smaller scenes and one free-roam event. The better part of the week was spent on creating the last free-roam event of the episode. Since it's a new environment, there was environmental design to carry out first, and also preparation of the characters for it.

The dialogue for this free-roam event was written months ago, so it's a matter of creating the art and coding the events and buttons. It's a labor-intensive yet easy free-roam event to create, so I should be able to maintain a good speed without any speed bumps.

After the recent weeks of playing and polishing the game, my flowchart has been updated, and the following checklist is what the current state is like.

As I develop these episodes, I always ask you to take numbers with a grain of salt because the scene/render/animation count will change until the last few weeks of development. This is why it's always hard for me to give accurate estimates.

As you will notice below, the scene count is larger than I reported earlier because of the addition of some scenes that were needed to make some branches feel whole.

Checklist Episode 10
This is the current checklist of what's left to do before beta testing can begin.

Scenes
Three lewd scenes - One is written. Neither scene has any art.

Three free-roam events - One is almost complete, another has a few scenes left, and I'm ~70% through the last one. All writing is done. All need a different degree of testing and additional phone content.

Three normal scenes - One is written, one has partial writing, and one is planned. Neither scene has any art.

Art
Based on the scenes above, I estimate I must pose an additional ~600 static renders and 70-100 animations.

Current static render count: 4892 produced. 220 posed renders in the render queue. 5112 renders total.

Current animation count: 237 produced. 28 posed animations in the render queue. 265 animations total.

Code
Pack Quest - In the planning phase.

Vault - Ensure that numbers are placed and work as intended.

Rewards/2D art - 70% completed. The rest will be placed in free-roam events, story scenes, and the Vault. Testing and possibly correction of code are needed.

Gallery - The lewd gallery has been coded but can't be tested until all lewd scenes have been made. Some art remains for miniature images.

Phone content - There's some work left with the Rooster and Chat apps. Also, the new phone gallery will get additional planned content. The music app needs updated code to include new songs.

Bios - I always leave bios for the last part of the development.

Episode end screen and report - In the planning phase.

Credits - I haven't added new patrons to the credit section yet.

Sound
SFX work has been done as I play-tested parts of the episode; I estimate it's ~80-90% done.

For music, it's the same as with SFX. Most of the scenes that are complete have songs in place. 25 new songs have been added so far.

Testing
I haven't played the episode from start to finish yet because of gaps in the episode and missing content near the end.

My personal tests and polishing remain. How long they take usually depends on how much I have played the episode during development and whether new features are involved.

Episode 10 is packed with new things for the game, meaning testing might take some extra time to ensure high quality.

My thoughts on the checklist.
The animations will be the most demanding part, but cannot be skipped or trimmed as the scenes are essential for the episode.

The static render estimation can change in either direction but is likely lower than stated.

The code tasks are all fast tasks to complete. I estimate that I could get all of them done within 1-2 days of work, but they depend on the art content I need to produce first.

The remaining work on SFX and Music won't take too long, 1-2 days here as well.

Testing is another demanding part. I have lots of new features to test this time around. And we are talking about the five main branches on top of some very ambitious branching within them.

As always, there will be waiting time for animations near the end of the development, and this is when I plan to perform my personal tests and polishing.

Hopefully, I have covered all aspects of the checklist, but I may have missed something minor - all big tasks are accounted for.

My plan going forward.
I plan to work with art until I need to write the last scenes. Animations will be posed intermittently.

I plan to be done with my testing as the final animation frames are produced, thus minimizing the time between the PCs being idle and the start of beta testing/proofreading. As usual, at least two weeks will be allotted for private beta testing and proofreading before the episode can be released on Patreon.

Next up for me is to continue with art on the free-roam I'm working on and hopefully be able to move on to other scenes later next week.

Have a nice weekend, and thanks for reading

Dr PinkCake

Okay guys I'll see you in December then.