I updated the first post... I just crossed-off item #6 on the list.
Finally, the most excruciating part is done! (Mostly)
It is functional, for the moment. However, it is not exactly like I want it to be. I am trying to rush this a little. I was getting hung-up on the stupidest shit. Literally, my mind would draw blanks, as I sat down with a full concept and game-plan for tackling a hurdle... Then, fuck-me, RenPy would have other plans for my next few hours.
To make a long story short...
1: Icons now properly display who is where, without ghetto "tricks" in code.
2: The greater majority of code is drop-in ready, for modding and expanding the story and graphics.
3: A large majority of the "structure", follows a constant format... Though it is still a little bit of chaos.
4: The scenes are responding to the dialogue, as expected, with the schedules and icons. Here is one area that needs major cleaning-up, in code. Looks hack-ish, like beta-testing code. Um... Which it is.
5: Playing the introduction tests, it didn't feel odd. I feared that the format might be a little too far from standard, but it grows on you and isn't that far from the norm.
6: Forcing myself to make a stopping point. Much can be done, or redone later. I have enough of the foundation to begin the writing, until I hit that first hard-fork in the story.
Still "TO DO": At a later date... after release.
1: Character status indicators. They are soft stats, not like LIFE, ENERGY, COCK-POWER... More for letting you know which paths you are traversing. LOVE, CONTROL, RESPECT/TRUST, VOYEUR... Along with Eric's stats, which show the main story progress and your influence to his paths. (Or lack there of.)
2: Character icon stacking. At the moment, they are at fixed locations. Lisa is always on the far left, followed by Alice, Kira, Ann and then Eric. I didn't like seeing Max's icon in the locations. Your selected location is mostly clear. Essentially, Lisa is always in the same left slot, and Eric is always in the same right slot, on every location. Doesn't look horrible, but I would rather that they stack centered and close. I opted for easy to manage code instead.
3: Setup the "main events" and "quests". These will all be important to path-progression and/or advancement. Quests over-rule any main-events, and main-events over-rule any generic event. (Generic, like talking, flirting, snooping and peeping.)
4: His computer... So much will depend on the computer. Since, in the beginning, he is home-bound. This will be slightly more interactive, and not require multiple, and odd, back-out selection-lists. You actually, kind-of, interact with the screen, directly.
5: Game-codes... I want game-codes, for progression markers. I trust them more than RenPy's save-game style. It normally just saves the games "state", and reloads it. Tends to fail if you alter anything which it saved, and it suddenly doesn't exist anymore, or the values changed. Game-codes don't give a shit! You just don't get the luxury of restarting exactly where you left-off, down to the micro-second. (Plus, easy to exchange codes than it is to exchange whole save-files. Not to mention the potential to manipulate them. I don't mind, the game doesn't have any bad endings.)
6: True isolated graphics. (I will have to render those from scratch. Nothing much that he made, is able to be used as isolated graphics. Not even the same exact scenes! How the fuck to you screw that up?)
7: The "official", incest MOD. Since I have decided to gut the incest completely. Unless you imagine all the characters being related... Which is possible. This will also open-up the "non-incest" selections too. Now, you get what I tuck-away into the story. Hell, it's a BETA release... I'll be happy if it works well enough for everyone, without issue.
On that last note... I may release the CORE and the IMAGE-PACK, as well as the WHOLE GAME, all at once.
I will keep the CORE changes as "fixes", and bundle those into the new WHOLE-GAME packs. Might sound confusing, but that is the best way to do it, at the moment. The total graphics-pack size, unzipped, is currently only 16.1 MB. However, I have not added any of the scene images yet. I will only add them as needed, in the story.
My code, without any real dialogue, is about 5.27 MB.
My scene files are roughly, 106-272 KB. (Avg: ~145 KB)
The originals are roughly, 419-2019 KB. (Avg: ~982 KB)
Which is why updates/fixes, which don't alter images, will be isolated as just the code. 6 MB to redownload, is a lot less than the 21.3 MB for the whole thing.
NOTE: All his images, alone, total over 1.7 GB.
I may also try to make image-pack updates too. But no more than a few. It will be a while before I get near 1.7 GB. Still, that is a LOT to keep re-downloading, every single time. If I had a server, I could use RenPy's internal update tool, but I don't have a server anymore.
So... Off to get some sleep and then I will begin the final clean-up and removal of the test-code. Going full force on the actual "story" development.
Good night everyone!