Hi guys,
Here's a
quick update from the front. It's been over 2 weeks ago since the last release.
Improving older events:
First thing I've been working on is replacing some renders of some older events.
This time I replaced almost all the CG from the 1st and 2nd nurse events. (By CG with less ugly/absent shadows)
One thing led to another and I even ended up adding a few CG. Mostly during the conversations so it changes May's expression.
I also added some polish on both events and even ended up fixing the recollection room.
I found out that the 1st nurse event in the recollection room actually replays the 2nd nurse event instead of the 1st.
Funny nobody else had noticed that before. Or maybe they have, but didn't report it.
I also replaced almost all the CG of the 1st teaching assistant event. Some people might have noticed that May skin color looks very off/weird compared to the other CG. That was due to the lighting settings.
I changed the lightning making it a bit brighter and more in line with the other CG. Some difference can still be see, but I think it looks better overall.
Higher resolution version:
Another thing I have been working on is a Higher resolution version. The current CG resolution is 1087 by 768.
When scaled to Full HD you can clearly see some distortions in some pictures.
I've though about using a higher resolution before, but the increased filesize held me back. When I started this game I didn't even know it was possible to get a higher working resolution or even and the more popular 16:9 format.
So why am I considering it now? Well I saw someone who made a compressed version using webp compression while still maintaining the JPG extension and it works! RPGmaker VX ACE does not support webp format, so I was kinda surprised it works as long as you have installed the necessary codex. Know this now might make it possible to use a higher resolution without increase the size of the files by much or any at all. (depending on the compression).
So which resolution will I aiming for if I eventually get it to work?
For now 1280 by 960. Why this specific resolution you might ask?
Well that's simply because I've used that resolution when cutting out from the original 1080P images.
So I still have copies of almost all my cg in uncompressed png format in 1280 by 960 resolution making it fairly easy to use those images.
Choosing another resolution would mean that I would have to cut new images from over 1800 images manual! I'd probably end up have to recreate quite a few them consuming even more time consuming. By using the images in the resolution that I already have same me a lot of work!
Have said that, even if I use these images it's not simply a matter of copy/paste and done. All the maps will have to be adjusted.
Some images might be missing or renamed. I need to check every one has the proper name so the game doesn't crash when it can't find the correct image. I've already made a test version and it runs, but it crashes quite often because the game can't find the proper image or because it's simply missing.
So if (BIG IF) I manage to make it all work at some point I'll probably release a test version that players can play around with and report any problems before I even considering a main release with higher resolution.
The main focus for now is still working on the game and work on the HD version when I have time.
The new stuff:
Next to all of that I've also started working the first new event for the next update.