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Hello, everyone!
One more development iteration is finished and we’re here to share the details about what’s been done and what’s still left to do for 0.11A. Let’s start!
First of all, the art-preview (available in the following post). This time it’s a work-in-progress piece of art depicting a male character, Blaise Zabini, who will play a part in a side quest planned for 0.11B.
Next, a summary for what’s been done during the past 10 days.
- Almost all of the time was put into working on 0.11A. As a result, the main bulk of the code has been finally added into the game files and combined with the text. That means we can start working on the next step, namely on replacing the placeholders for the art in the code, as well as internal testing and polishing the flow of the events. The plan is to go back to the start of the chapter and gradually fill in all the gaps and fix the bugs all the way to the end of the chapter. We expect it to take several days minimum, as the chapter is quite big and spread due to variations on the events based on player’s choices.
- In addition to the main part of the code, the fullscreen scene for 0.11A is now also finished.
In it, Marcus will deepen his relationship with the elf-maid as a part of the main events in the chapter. However, if you’re not into her, you will be able to skip this scene.
You might wonder why she was chosen as a character for the fullscreen scene this time. The main reason is that the chapter revolves around Marcus searching for the missing waifu, and since the choice of waifu is dynamic, we decided to make a scene with someone who will 100% be present in the game regardless of which waifu is missing. On top of that, she plays some role in the main events, and also is quite established as a character for players via multiple events with her. So, why not become more acquainted with Marcus and his wand?
- Finally, there were some minor fixes and adjustments here and there based on the reports from our dear players. As an example, a bug with cookies has been fixed which prevented a scene with the elf-maid to be triggered in Act 1.
Now let’s look at what’s planned next. We have two main parts that we will be working on.
First, testing and polishing the events for 0.11A. As it was mentioned previously, in order to use the dev. time more efficiently during the period when the art is being drawn, we use placeholders in the code for the places where the said art should appear in the game. This allows us to write the flow for the events in the code without having the actual art ready. While this sounds logical and pretty intuitive, there are of course caveats. For example, without having the proper art, it’s usually very cumbersome to work with the locations, since they include interactive zones and miniatures all over the place. In addition, the placeholders have temporary coordinates, and once the art is ready, both the files and the coordinates need to be adjusted respectfully. Another issue that can happen is when the art ends up slightly (or sometimes very) different from what was described in the task because the artist had an inspiration and decided to improve / expand the initial idea. In this case even knowing which art is coming and making placeholders for it, the whole thing becomes obsolete and needs to be constructed in the code from scratch. You can imagine that jumping back and forth between replacing the placeholders and adding new content or adding the new code that uses this new art, all of it takes away the focus and slows down everything.
Howewer, even considering all these challenges, we still move forward and expect to be finished with replacing the placeholders in the code with the calls to the actual art pretty soon.
The second part in the plans is the work on 0.11B. This release will be aimed at adding side content and expanding the existing chapters with new things to enjoy, together with QoL adjustments and fixes. At the moment we have planned one relatively big side quest that will involve new characters, one of which will make her appearance in 0.11A. We will also try to cram in the update for the alchemy in the game, together with the events in the potions classroom which were roughly outlined in one of the previous news posts. More information will be provided once we’re finished with 0.11A and can calmly gather and discuss the specificities
One more piece of news that we wanted to share with you today is related to the old plot and its future. Since it’s still a bit confusing for players and we still get questions about which story to choose, which one is better and so on, we’ve decided to disable it in the game starting from the next release. However, you will be able to activate it if you want to with a similar mechanic that is used for activating the cheats. We will also hint at that in the game itself, so even the new players will know that there’s extra content available if they want to check it out. In the end we want to make this whole thing less confusing but naturally we won’t remove the existing content from the game, especially the one that is not added to the new plot.
And now, let’s wrap up with a round of voting! This time we would like to hear your opinion on a pretty important topic, namely, the behavior and motives of the game’s protagonist, Marcus Redblack. More specifically, what do you think about him as a character when it comes to how he behaves and interacts with other characters, as well as his motives and goals? Do you think he’s just a horny man who wants to take all the females in Hogwarts? Or maybe he is a noble hero who values the opinion of others and relies on help from his friends? Do you think his character is written well enough so that you can grasp the general understanding about him as a man? Please let us know by voting or leaving a comment below!
That’ll be all for today, folks! We greatly appreciate you staying around and continuing to support the development by donating and leaving feedback. Thank you!
We’ll meet again in 10 days. Until then, stay safe and have fun!
Peace✌
Your,
Sad crabs.
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