r3.4.2 (Or maybe r3.5?!) What and When?
Normally, a few days after an update I do a "What and When?" post to let people know sort of what the vague plans are next. You might have noticed this one has come a little later and that's mostly because, well, I don't really know the answer to either of those questions. Remember that the update schedule for this game follows the Unity one, no new unity content, no new Renpy stuff (I'm hesitant to call what I do "content"). So... all I have is sort of guesses here?
Ferdafs has said the next "update" (that would have the delayed Tricia scene) would be within a week of the previous release (which would have been Dec 14th, now passed with no new info (that I know of, I get my updates from the Unity thread and no new stuff there)). So, now it's guess time.
It's possible (but unlikely) that the Tricia stuff will come with the Mindblower update, which tends to be between big releases, which would put it in January (that would be r3.4.2). However, I think it is more likely to be pushed back into the next big release window (as Jessica was). So, realistically, I think the next update will be in
February/March (or, update r3.5)
.
So, what's coming in the next update? Again, a tricky question to answer. If the new Tricia content is there, then her content obviously. But as for my stuff, the issue is really, what do I want to work on? There is a bunch of stuff in the request list, but most of them are new scenes or big (art intensive) edits. I did the "Spying Summers" scene in the last release (which is mostly traced artwork, but I did draw some of it) and that just reaffirmed how bad my art is... So, honestly, I don't really want to roll the dice on that again... (I go through the list fairly often while working, so maybe something will jump out at me later on).
There are two "feature" updates I want to make, but one of them is WAY too big for a sub version (it would go in something like the r3.5) and the other I don't exactly have a plan for.
First up is slicing. I really like the way that came out with the last release (blinks everywhere added something extra to the game for me (if not for anyone else)). This is however a massive undertaking and has some big negatives that might turn me off from doing. First, it's massively time intensive for minor return (game gets file size smaller, and some blinks). Second, it would mean I couldn't really do a "patch" file with the next update as it would be more or less the WHOLE game in the patch. And thirdly, it would probably break saves AGAIN (I have to do some testing and see if it will, but Renpy doesn't like me changing huge swaths of code for some reason). So... it's on the maybe pile. I might just do a few scenes at a time per update (chip away at it and break only some saves...)
The second thing I want to do is some reworking of the "Do Over" menu. It's... passable in it's current state, but not great, especially on small Android devices where, holy shit, it is almost unusable (sorry android users
). So I'd like to take another pass at making it visually more robust (and functionally the same or similar). The thing holding me back is that I don't know what that change looks like. I've tried a couple different designs for it, and I hate them all.
And... that's it. At the time being I have no new content plans. No edits, extra scenes, or additional options. Something may come to me, or someone may suggest an idea I really like. But for now, just sort of waiting...