Hi Everyone! You've all been patient, and I appreciate that. I've been trying not to write much on this thread while I'm working on getting this update out. There's a couple reasons for this: (1) writing these updates takes time away from working on the game, and (2) I don't really have much new to say. But I'll answer some questions, give some news, maybe post a picture, and then get back to work.
Anyhoo,
mailbag time:
It's gonna be close, but I think I can have it completely finished by then.
Thanks! As long as I'm still alive, I'm gonna keep working on it.
What? OMG! I can't believe you'd do that!
I got a few that I'd like to give some shout-outs to. I haven't had much time to play games, but when I'm stuck on MVB, I like to look at the masters for inspiration. These games are put together by true professionals, not lone weirdos still trying to figure out how to use Ren'Py and DAZ. Here's 10 games that I think are worth your time.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/power-vacuum-v0-7-official-release-what-why-games.36240/
- POWER VACUUM
- This is a fun game with good characters, solid art and design, and humorous storytelling. Great concept.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/babysitter-final-v0-2-2b-t4bbo.2428/
- THE BABYSITTER
- Superb art and a very good story. This game is one of a few that inspired me to try my hand at MVB.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/big-brother-v0-13-0-007-dark-silver.1519/
- BIG BROTHER
- This one is great! It's controversial for reasons I can't figure out, but I recommend it.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/the-headmaster-christmas-special-altos-and-herdone.23470/
- THE HEADMASTER
- I think I've mentioned this before--it's great! It's nothing at all like MVB, but I'm very impressed with the artwork and the design. It sometimes makes me wonder if I should start using HoneySelect instead of getting repeatedly heartbroken by DAZ.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/runaway-princess-v0-1-alpha-mobumgames.68151/
- RUNAWAY PRINCESS
- I love the developer's work in general, but this is a very promising new game, particularly if you like a fantasy-world change of pace. Great artwork, great humor!
- https://f95zone.to/threads/long-story-short-v0-7a1-kamo.31351/
- LONG STORY SHORT
- Great artwork and a fun story with lots of different story threads to choose from. Really impressive and polished gaming experience.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/culture-shock-ch-2-v0-5-king-of-lust.13753/
- CULTURE SHOCK
- Love this game! You can choose to be an Alpha or a Beta male. Fantastic artwork, and very polished.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/the-tyrant-s-a-z-mod-update-0-9-1-hot-fix-v05-mod-s-a-z.18297/
- THE TYRANT - SAZ MOD
- The original Tyrant is great, but SAZ's mod opens up entirely new windows on the experience. SAZ is my hero and role model in many regards.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/a-family-venture-v0-06-public-willtylor.24965/
- A FAMILY VENTURE
- Fun and well-written, plus I really like how unique his characters look. Every update gets more and more intriguing.
- https://f95zone.to/threads/school-dreams-3-goblinboy.723/
- SCHOOL DREAMS 3
- An oldie but a goodie! It's worth downloading a TADS player and figuring out how to run it. GoblinBoy is a master writer. Soooooo hot.
There's many more I can recommend, but I'd be here all day.
Those emoji... they get me in the feels...
...sigh... sadness...guilt...frustration...
I hear you, dude.
I wish I could say I'm just a few renders away from being done, but it's more than a few I'm afraid. I've written how part of my problem is my ineptitude with RenPy coding and DAZ. Another problem is that the system I've been using to run DAZ is fairly unstable and prone to crashing. I can basically eke out about three renders before I need to reboot my machine. And if I dare so much as tap out an email on the machine while it's rendering in the background, everything gets all fucked up. About this time last year I bought a PC hoping that it would be more stable than the Mac I was using. It was marginally more stable, but it was also slower. So I bought a new graphics card, and then DAZ stopped working entirely (high-end games worked on it just fine--go figure). So I sold that machine and went back to the unstable, ill-suited Mac. That's what I've been using for the past 9 months or so.
Today, however, I bought a new computer. Hopefully this will fix the stability problems, or, at the very least, allow me to render on one machine while doing real-life work on the other at the same time. Fingers crossed.
As for the story, well... it's kind of taken a strange turn, but I think you guys (and maybe girls!) might enjoy it. Here's a sample image of where I'm currently at:
View attachment 1086771
Anyway, I'm still working on it. I understand if you give up and move on. I'm not giving up, though. I'll post it here when it's ready. And it
will be ready. In the meantime, I'm gonna try not to post much on here just so I can focus on the game.
Now...back to work. I'll start by setting up the new machine.