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It is me. I've returned for another progress update!
Last progress update, I mentioned that I didn't really know what to write here, and a lot of suggestions and questions were given, so I'll do my best to answer some of them here. Treat this as a one off special
This post might be ultra yappy. We'll see how it goes.
TLDR (It was extremely yappy)
Q: Do you keep in mind the "lewd" versus the "plot" ration in mind? How do you decide how much of each there will be for any given update?
A: It's always on the mind. Starting and continuing; I've always wanted a 50/50 split in terms of story and lewd scenes. However, sometimes that's just not possible. So some segments will be more story than lewd and vice versa, but the general idea is to try and keep a happy medium.
Q: What's the hardest and most time consuming part of each chapter cycle in your mind?
A: Rendering & Animation. Making the art for the game is extremely time consuming, especially since when I started, I didn't research anything, I didn't learn anything beforehand. I learnt all I know as I was making it. Now I'm at a point where I feel my art is pretty good, but at the expense of time. Making scenes, posing characters, lighting, animations... It's a lot. One Animation could take days, depending on the complexity. It's a lot to get right. Imposter syndrome is a bitch. "Is this good enough" "Does this look as good as it could"; It's a never ending battle, but I get there in the end, and I think it looks and is presented pretty well.
Q: How often do you find it necessary to create your own props?
A: Honestly, quite a lot. But I don't necessarily make things myself. I have no idea how that works, but I commission the work from various modders / porters for the platform. Let me give you an example: If many of you play games like That New Teacher, or especially know about the engine I use to make the art, a lot of games don't do doorway scenes, or show doorway transitions. This is because the environments are pre-defined environments that I edit to fit my needs. But beyond a door? That's just the endless void. So, I commission a lot of things to get doorways and doors going to places, like Bill & Sadie's house. That corridor leading to their apartment I commissioned to make that possible. The boutique where Roxanne work's at, that's commissioned, the train in 0.6 where two trains are connected, that's a commissioned piece of tech, etc etc. You get the idea.
Q: Do this ABC Cameo from XYZ Game?
Cameos are something I very much enjoy. I feel It brings the community closer, bringing other developers up at the same time. It's my way of giving back, I guess. But, I'm not asking these developers at gunpoint haha. A cameo will only happen if the other developer agrees. That's all there really is to it, two way street. But, It's always fun. So we'll see what the future holds.
There were some other recommendations about who's going to be featured in an update, and render / word / animation counts for each progress update. But I won't be doing that. I feel like it sets an expectation if that were posted. "You did 10000 renders last update, but only 500 this time? Slacker!" I don't think it's a healthy thing to do, for all of us. Who's going to be featured sounds cool, but I also like it all to be a surprise, I think that's fun. The supporting patrons get their sneak peeks, and you might be able to infer what's going to happen with who, but I don't want to explicitly go out and say it. Since you've read this far, I will be nice. I mean, like always; I'm super nice. So I can say where I'm currently at with 0.7. So far there is 21,000 words, 800 renders and 20 animations. There are 3 scenes left to render out, but these scenes are quite long. Sometimes life, work and more life gets in the way of these things, but progress is progress. Thank you to everyone for your continued support, it means so much, but I think I've said that numerous times before. And it for sure doesn't mean I won't say it more in the future.
-Stay curious
RogueOne.
