Heyo lads; back a bit later than ideal. The weekend was packed with a lot of non-development related priorities, including some unexpected driving across state. Kyle's back in the office and ready to kick ass, share cuties again.
Part X Release
In regard to the remaining work/animations, I'd like to echo my response to a supporter from our Discord:
"Out of curiosity since we are all basically waiting on, if I understand, that one guy to finish with the animations, is this an instance of mistakes were made and shit happens or more of a this person [screwed] you and you’re looking to replace them in the future in order to avoid this debacle?"
FatCat has and continues to work on other animations, both for his own Patreon page and for commissions, providing him income. Between that work, backtracking on previous anims for Part X and constructing the final anims required, it's more than enough to keep him preoccupied.
In the mean time, our team is working on what we can for Act II and cleaning up any remnants of Part X we deem necessary. FatCat will be making some vocational changes early 2020, meaning we'll likely train for our next animator as locally as we can. I'll have more specifics as that develops in a future update.
Training a local team member is the ideal, best-case scenario for animations; having in-house control over every development aspect (writing, posing, rendering, etcetera) allows direction to be made on a whim rather than the more delayed, diluted exchange that comes over long-distance communication.
Realistically, it'll be best to contract out Act II - Part I's animations so there aren't any huge hang ups in quality/time, something that would surely happen while simultaneously designing, training and executing animation during the same development cycle. Similarly, crystal clear scheduling between our team and the contracted animator is a priority so the current debacle doesn't occur a second time.
Better, more relevant question: when?
Echoing what was said in the previous post, Gumdrop Games will be preparing every day for Christmas, ensuring you have something special to open. We'll be able to say definitively next week if it's St. Nick or the Grinch showing up that morning; at worst we'll have a release date bump, no death or coal, don't worry.
FatCat has given his guarantee that he'll finish the animations before his leave in early 2020, as they've already been paid for. If Part X doesn't make the cut for holiday, I'll make sure it doesn't sour the festivities, time off, the coziness you're looking forward to. There will always be presents from me under the tree, whatever they may be; this Christmas is no exception!
Act II
Just in time for snow, we'll be having our first previews of Act II - Part I out this month. We've established the majority of the settings we'll be using, mashing several assets together to fit the time-skip between Act I and II. Get ready for a change in pace, scenery!
An expansion of the cast may be daunting to some and for good reason; this would likely mean less attention to current characters who already have their interactions spread thin. The main four ladies of the cast will continue to be the majority time-holders, furthering the relationships you've already developed with them.
That said, we've solidified the new characters joining in Part I; some have already been mentioned in conversation, others will surprise you. The small, quick-cut nature the majority of Act I parts possess would make this a daunting task, however Act II's parts will be closer to Part IX in length. This will allow major development with the main four ladies while still squeezing in others both new and familiar, if you so choose to spend time with them.
In closing, I want to remind that we'll have a definitive answer on Part X's Christmas release sometime next week, along with the first Act II previews coming out this month. Make the final push through work and grab some time off if you can for the holidays; we'll do what we can to make it a fun one.
Next post this weekend (for real this time), see you there
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