- Dec 28, 2019
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I'm thinking March. I hope it doesn't take me until April, but I think I can finish up for a March release.
- Thread starter N2TheFire
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- Dec 28, 2019
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Hello everyone and happy weekend again! It has been a VERY busy week as usual at my full-time job. All those damn computer upgrades are finally done though (last few done this week). Still, I was able to finish scene 10 (pretty long scene) and I'm about halfway through scene 11 now. I am kind of stuck because I really want to add an animation (Kat driving a car like a maniac) but I am not fast at making animations. Although I've come a long way since I started, I don't make enough of them I guess to really remember all the little nuances and tricks. But with timeline, that does make it easier. So, I think I may try to do it over this weekend. It would make the scene a bit better to me. I have to do another driving animation in a later scene anyway so why not get warmed up with this one?
Anyway... not a whole lot to tell you this week outside of that. I did suddenly come up with the coolest idea for another story. I had to write it down and save it for later. I am still considering Viral Affair for a small project after Serenity, but I do need something bigger for after that. Viral Affair, if I do that one, will be a single game maybe slightly longer than Serenity Chapter 1 was.
Oh, I did want to mention this also. And this is about Last Human (yes, I'm working on Serenity right now, but I still think about my other project a lot). There is a section of the game in episode 1 when they arrive at the StarBase to board the Aurora that has a lot of dialog while sitting on one image. It is because at the time that I developed that, I was waiting (looking for) something nice to use for the interior of the StarBase. I'll talk more about this in the first devlogs for LH episode 4 but thought I would throw it out there. I'll be fixing that whole section of the story so that you at least see a short sequence of them walking to the port where Aurora is docked. I am 'considering' redoing that whole approach to the StarBase at least up to the point where they enter the Aurora for the first time. I had forgotten about that missing section of images until I happened to look at my checklist for the next development and scrolled back in my spreadsheet where I still had highlighted red.
Well, that's all I have for now guys. Enjoy this preview image from the episode - young Kat hanging out with young MC in a very short flashback scene. Have a great weekend, love you all! ...Fire
- Dec 28, 2019
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Hello again everyone and Happy Friday
Alright, let's get right to business... I am nearly done with scene 11 and will begin scene 12 probably by tomorrow night. I HOPE to finish scene 12 by Sunday night and on to scene 13 by Monday. Beyond that will be just 4 scenes to go, getting these renders completed. This takes so damn long because I render a LOT of images. My image-per-line ratio is like a 2 average, with a lot of '1 image for 1 line' also. Meaning, each line of dialog has a new image. Do the math, it ends up being a lot of rendering. We'll have between 1400 and 1500 images in this episode alone. You can look forward to about the same number of images for episode 4 of Last Human also.
The attached images for this devlog are of Kat. She's made herself over for a special date with MC. Two weeks ago, I posted a Patron-only devlog giving this preview (Serenity C2 Episode 3 (Devlog 14) - Patrons). I'm releasing those here now for everyone. Aside from the hairstyle which may be temporary, I did make a few minor changes to Kat. They were just little things that bugged the hell out of me, and I felt needed some tweaking. You may not even notice these changes as easily as I do. But you might notice that the color of her eyes is a bit brighter now. I love heterochromia and realize the colors in her eyes was just a bit too dull. So, I lifted the saturation a bit and also gave them a tiny glow. And another thing that was bugging me was her mouth shape for certain facial expressions. When she smiled it just didn't look right to me. I adjust that a bit until I think it's better now. For fans of her classic "Tifa" hairstyle, that will be back. But from here on out, you can expect to see Kat in different hairstyles from time to time. I really hope you guys like her new look!
Now, let's talk about the release for this episode. Last month in one of my devlogs, I think I mentioned that I planned to have this ready by mid-March. Right now, looking at what I have left to do, I feel like that might actually be possible. But I make no promises. I am shooting for the week of March 18th. It all depends on if my full-time job decides to screw me. I never know how that is going to go and how often I will have to work late dealing with some crazy network issue or putting out other fires. So, all I can say is... thank you for being patient thus far... I hope you continue to be patient with me. If you guys saw how a typical day goes for me, you'd all think I was absolutely nuts. Seriously. One positive I can say towards that predicted release time is that all our computer upgrades are finally DONE... and support stuff is starting to slow down slightly and is trending that way considerably! Keep your fingers crossed for me that it keeps going like that!
Now I need to get back to work. It's the weekend (prime development time for me) and I don't want to waste a moment of it. If I don't answer you in Discord or on my other sites, trust me - I will eventually. I'm just busy. I love you all, ...Fire
Glad your development is coming along well and it seems like the new release might be upon the players soon enough which gives a perfect opportunity to replay the favorite content all over again, which probably is the full game itself lol. But yea definitely do take ample relaxation duration in between as you have posted above about your work log so that is certainly strenuous and would demand energies, so better to attend that while being energised and even if it pushes back the release a bit, would be perfectly fine considering its essential for the self-care of the body. Take care there!View attachment 3401785
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Hello again everyone and Happy Friday
Alright, let's get right to business... I am nearly done with scene 11 and will begin scene 12 probably by tomorrow night. I HOPE to finish scene 12 by Sunday night and on to scene 13 by Monday. Beyond that will be just 4 scenes to go, getting these renders completed. This takes so damn long because I render a LOT of images. My image-per-line ratio is like a 2 average, with a lot of '1 image for 1 line' also. Meaning, each line of dialog has a new image. Do the math, it ends up being a lot of rendering. We'll have between 1400 and 1500 images in this episode alone. You can look forward to about the same number of images for episode 4 of Last Human also.
The attached images for this devlog are of Kat. She's made herself over for a special date with MC. Two weeks ago, I posted a Patron-only devlog giving this preview (Serenity C2 Episode 3 (Devlog 14) - Patrons). I'm releasing those here now for everyone. Aside from the hairstyle which may be temporary, I did make a few minor changes to Kat. They were just little things that bugged the hell out of me, and I felt needed some tweaking. You may not even notice these changes as easily as I do. But you might notice that the color of her eyes is a bit brighter now. I love heterochromia and realize the colors in her eyes was just a bit too dull. So, I lifted the saturation a bit and also gave them a tiny glow. And another thing that was bugging me was her mouth shape for certain facial expressions. When she smiled it just didn't look right to me. I adjust that a bit until I think it's better now. For fans of her classic "Tifa" hairstyle, that will be back. But from here on out, you can expect to see Kat in different hairstyles from time to time. I really hope you guys like her new look!
Now, let's talk about the release for this episode. Last month in one of my devlogs, I think I mentioned that I planned to have this ready by mid-March. Right now, looking at what I have left to do, I feel like that might actually be possible. But I make no promises. I am shooting for the week of March 18th. It all depends on if my full-time job decides to screw me. I never know how that is going to go and how often I will have to work late dealing with some crazy network issue or putting out other fires. So, all I can say is... thank you for being patient thus far... I hope you continue to be patient with me. If you guys saw how a typical day goes for me, you'd all think I was absolutely nuts. Seriously. One positive I can say towards that predicted release time is that all our computer upgrades are finally DONE... and support stuff is starting to slow down slightly and is trending that way considerably! Keep your fingers crossed for me that it keeps going like that!
Now I need to get back to work. It's the weekend (prime development time for me) and I don't want to waste a moment of it. If I don't answer you in Discord or on my other sites, trust me - I will eventually. I'm just busy. I love you all, ...Fire
Thanks for reading Dev, best wishes for ahead
- Mar 23, 2022
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You put so much work into your games N2, I guess that's why they're great, have you ever thought about hiring or getting help to deal with that many renders??View attachment 3401785
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Hello again everyone and Happy Friday
Alright, let's get right to business... I am nearly done with scene 11 and will begin scene 12 probably by tomorrow night. I HOPE to finish scene 12 by Sunday night and on to scene 13 by Monday. Beyond that will be just 4 scenes to go, getting these renders completed. This takes so damn long because I render a LOT of images. My image-per-line ratio is like a 2 average, with a lot of '1 image for 1 line' also. Meaning, each line of dialog has a new image. Do the math, it ends up being a lot of rendering. We'll have between 1400 and 1500 images in this episode alone. You can look forward to about the same number of images for episode 4 of Last Human also.
The attached images for this devlog are of Kat. She's made herself over for a special date with MC. Two weeks ago, I posted a Patron-only devlog giving this preview (Serenity C2 Episode 3 (Devlog 14) - Patrons). I'm releasing those here now for everyone. Aside from the hairstyle which may be temporary, I did make a few minor changes to Kat. They were just little things that bugged the hell out of me, and I felt needed some tweaking. You may not even notice these changes as easily as I do. But you might notice that the color of her eyes is a bit brighter now. I love heterochromia and realize the colors in her eyes was just a bit too dull. So, I lifted the saturation a bit and also gave them a tiny glow. And another thing that was bugging me was her mouth shape for certain facial expressions. When she smiled it just didn't look right to me. I adjust that a bit until I think it's better now. For fans of her classic "Tifa" hairstyle, that will be back. But from here on out, you can expect to see Kat in different hairstyles from time to time. I really hope you guys like her new look!
Now, let's talk about the release for this episode. Last month in one of my devlogs, I think I mentioned that I planned to have this ready by mid-March. Right now, looking at what I have left to do, I feel like that might actually be possible. But I make no promises. I am shooting for the week of March 18th. It all depends on if my full-time job decides to screw me. I never know how that is going to go and how often I will have to work late dealing with some crazy network issue or putting out other fires. So, all I can say is... thank you for being patient thus far... I hope you continue to be patient with me. If you guys saw how a typical day goes for me, you'd all think I was absolutely nuts. Seriously. One positive I can say towards that predicted release time is that all our computer upgrades are finally DONE... and support stuff is starting to slow down slightly and is trending that way considerably! Keep your fingers crossed for me that it keeps going like that!
Now I need to get back to work. It's the weekend (prime development time for me) and I don't want to waste a moment of it. If I don't answer you in Discord or on my other sites, trust me - I will eventually. I'm just busy. I love you all, ...Fire
- Dec 28, 2019
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Honestly, I don't really make enough to hire someone or to have a 'team'. However, I do still occasionally commission Cryoxxx to do some animations for me. I do most of my own animations, but sometimes I ask him to do a scene for me so that I can press on doing renders. More about that in this week's devlog I'll be posting later today
- Dec 28, 2019
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Hey everyone! Well, I have good news... I have started on scene 15 as of yesterday, so I've had a really great week development-wise. I have commissioned Cryoxxx to work on an animation for me so that I can keep plugging away at these renders and get this thing done. So, it's thanks to him that I can keep rendering. After scene 15, just 2 scenes left to go, and they aren't overly long and should be fairly easy to manage. I'm going to do as much as I can over this weekend. I do have some animations to do, so that will slow me down a bit. But I am determined to complete this episode finally and get a couple of weeks break before starting on Last Human again for its next episode.
The image this week is of course Kat in a very simple pose. I just think it's a sexy one. This image is taken from scene 12 during the date event with Kat and leads into a nice remake of the shower scene from way back in Serenity Chapter 1.
Well, not much else to talk about this week without spoiling the story. So, I'll keep this one short and get back to work. I appreciate the kind messages you guys have been sending. There are just over 1800 of you following me (on Patreon alone). If you just joined, thanks so much! Love you all, ...Fire
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Release Notes: After edits and trimming a few things, 1272 images were added, plus 9 animations. Around 3200 lines of code. 14 new music tracks (a couple of previous tracks were also reused). Development time: 5 months
This release took 5 months to build... But it actually took much longer (about a year) because I did 2 updates to Last Human before coming back to Serenity. I don't plan to do that again unless something major happens. So, I apologize for the long wait. However, development times for each episode (of either game) will probably always take 4 to 5 months. So, be patient... I'm not going anywhere.
Serenity is going through some changes, one being the addition of more choices. I added a few in this episode, but I am planning more in future episodes. Mainly, these choices will only affect the immediate activity or conversation. These small choices will lead up to bigger choices in later episodes (closer to the end-game stuff) that WILL have some kind of impact on how Serenity ends.
Now that this is finally done, I'll be around for support and to make patches or rebuild if needed. But I'm thinking it should be fine. I'll be taking a 2 to 3 week break from this stuff to destress and prepare for a really big update to Last Human. I fully expect that update to be 5 to 6 months of development time. It will be the biggest update I have done for either game. More on that in the first devlog for LH... which will mark the start of development on that.
Release Schedule: (Due to the long wait from the last update to Serenity, I am drastically shortening the time here between releases and combining the top 3 tiers for the first release).
Today: Dream Angel ($50), Fade Crown ($25), Fade Defender ($15):
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Friday, 15 March: Fade Goddess ($10), Fade Angel ($5)
Sunday, 17 March: Fade Visitor ($2)
Tuesday, 19 March: Public (Free)
- Dec 28, 2019
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I'm working on 2 games. Each update takes between 4 and 6 months to complete. I don't have a team helping me. I have a full time job and family responsibilities. So, it is pretty much impossible for it to go any faster than that. Especially if you want plenty of content in each update, and better quality to go along with that. If you enjoy my work enough, then hopefully you won't mind the wait. I'm doing my best on it.So it's basically going to be a year per update going forward now
- Mar 23, 2022
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Do you have any idea of how many episodes will Chapter 2 have? And if it's going to be the end chapter of Serenity (At least for now) so you can focus on last human?
Cause LH sure looks like a greater project... in potential, possibilities, lore etc
- Dec 28, 2019
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Now this is a good question to ask. It's no secret that I am looking to end Serenity (for now) but when you consider the development time I mentioned above, obviously it still won't happen soon. With that said, we have 3 episodes now, and I think I will need about 4 more to complete it with the finale episode being about the size of 2 episodes. MAYBE 5 more if I choose to do something I was considering.
But it should be understood that just because I am working my way to and ending, it doesn't mean I'll be rushing through it or giving it any less love than I do LH. All of the same passion will go into Serenity as always until the last dialogue line and render.
- Jul 12, 2020
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I've always loved this, far more than LH, but it was your choice to start a second VN a couple years after this. Your choice to split the dev time. I'm not wanting to offend you there, just stating the facts as they are. This is suffering ridiculous update times because you chose to do something else.
That is entirely on you.
Of course, I also understand that is your right to do so.
- Dec 28, 2019
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Man, I must have read your post like 10 times, debating on replying because it comes off as "it's your fault you're in this mess". A knee-jerk reaction would be to reply back pissed off but I am not built that way, and I try to avoid too much confrontation in here (or anywhere for that matter). I've been overly open and honest from the start about all of my bad decisions. And a post like yours seems to indicate I should sit here and pain myself over whether I chose to turn left rather than go straight or turn right. It sounds like you think I didn't know that it is my fault I am in this situation. Believe me, my friend... I am well aware. But I don't pain myself over the bad choices because that is how we learn. It's done and I am moving forward the best way I can.
Honestly, I chose to do 2 games because it keeps me from getting burned out doing one story. If the consequences are that you have to wait a bit longer for updates, well I'm sorry but my sanity is more important to me. And let's be fair here... there are plenty of other games out there taking as long as, or longer than I am. But I try to keep in touch and keep you guys updated, give you previews and new ideas and what I am up to... weekly. I even post my devlogs here on a pirate site of all places because for the most part, f95 has been good to me.
FWIW, this reply isn't said in anger. And I don't think you intended your post to be an attack or offensive. But I definitely will defend my decisions, even if they weren't the best ones. And I won't stress over what is done - I face forward and learn from what is behind me. You don't need to reply to this, we don't need to stretch this out into something it isn't. I just felt I needed to address your comment. So, peace
- Dec 28, 2019
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Next tier released...
Release Schedule: (Due to the long wait from the last update to Serenity, I am drastically shortening the time here between releases and combining the top 3 tiers for the first release).
Today: Fade Goddess ($10), Fade Angel ($5):
You must be registered to see the links
Sunday, 17 March: Fade Visitor ($2)
Tuesday, 19 March: Public (Free)
- Dec 28, 2019
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Next tier released...
Release Schedule: (Due to the long wait from the last update to Serenity, I am drastically shortening the time here between releases and combining the top 3 tiers for the first release).
Friday, 15 March: Fade Goddess ($10), Fade Angel ($5)
Sunday, 17 March: Fade Visitor ($2):
You must be registered to see the links
Tuesday, 19 March: Public (Free)
- Dec 28, 2019
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Here it is guys, now public. Have fun with it
Release Notes: 1272 images added, plus 9 animations. 3200 lines of code. 14 new music tracks (a couple of previous tracks were also reused). Development time: 5 months
Installation: Extract to a new location (do NOT extract over the previous version of your game).
Android users: I do not support android. I cannot help you if it doesn't work for you. I can only build it using the automated tool in renpy. If you have issues, please seek advice from fellow android users. Make sure you have available storage space; you might need to use a VPN to download. These are the common things I hear about. If your android is outdated, this may not work for you at all.
Download Links (MEGA):
Release Notes: 1272 images added, plus 9 animations. 3200 lines of code. 14 new music tracks (a couple of previous tracks were also reused). Development time: 5 months
Installation: Extract to a new location (do NOT extract over the previous version of your game).
Android users: I do not support android. I cannot help you if it doesn't work for you. I can only build it using the automated tool in renpy. If you have issues, please seek advice from fellow android users. Make sure you have available storage space; you might need to use a VPN to download. These are the common things I hear about. If your android is outdated, this may not work for you at all.
Download Links (MEGA):
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(1.78gb)
You must be registered to see the links
(1.76gb)
You must be registered to see the links
(1.78gb)