You must be registered to see the links
WhEn'S tHe NeXt UpDaTe?
Sorry! It's only been two months since Ep3 was completed, so it'll still be a bit before the next release. But here's some news on what I've been doing behind the scenes and how it relates to Ep4.
Programming Upgrades:
There are a couple of main features I've wanted to implement for a long time now, and since it's hard for me to set aside enough time to work on them, someone has approached me to offer help.
The most complicated project is the Phone GUI to be used for things like text messages in-game, plus a couple extra things. I prefer that the primary use of the phone is progressing the story, and not something you have to waste time playing with and navigating through. This means keeping the "phone apps" to a minimum.
Secondly, I want to get a gallery/replay system created. The main purpose is to unlock bonus images and allow you to look back at moments you've played. An extension of this would help you see if there's content you may have missed in your playthroughs.
Ideally I'd like to have these implemented with the next release, but I need to see how development progresses.
Visual Upgrades:
With each new episode I've had a primary goal to achieve that involves improving the renders in some fashion. For Ep3 it was textures for characters (primarily their skin). For Ep4 it is lighting.
While I made some strides in this area with the previous episode, it still wasn't my main focus. Now I've taken time to alter some of the commonly used environments and set up cleaner light sources that I can use consistently between scenes. A side benefit to this is that it usually helps with my rendering times, too.
In addition to lighting, some environments have props or textures I've always been unhappy with but felt stuck using them as-is. So I'm finally taking the time to correct the most troublesome ones. The idea, as usual, is for any fixes to be hardly noticeable unless you are comparing new and old images side by side.
(In fact, I shared a couple comparison renders on Discord this week to show how the beginning of the game would look if I made it today.)
Personal Business:
I'll be out of town a bit over the next couple of weeks (it's graduation season). And it seems increasingly likely I need to contact my dentist again-- I think something went wrong with the root canal I had a couple months ago. I've been hoping it would get better, but I'm worse off now than I was before having the procedure.
And if you've followed me for some time, you may remember I've dealt with some bouts of carpal tunnel in my right wrist. During the summer months this seems to flair up, and it's already begun.
While none of this is imposing any immediate concerns, these and other things in life sure have me feeling a bit like Bilbo lately.
The Future:
Much of my spare time for the foreseeable future will be doing standard development, so there won't be much of anything special to report on. Depending on how crowded scheduling gets this summer will determine if I need to skip a month of Featured Girl promos in order to post some teaser images or other promotional content. We'll see how things look when July comes around.
In the meantime, may fortune gaze upon you much like Ashley does.
Oh! And one final thing.
Adult Game Reviews just put out a video today on
Trouble at Home. It was totally unexpected from my end (Tom even claims he just stumbled upon it and gave it a chance), so go ahead and give it a watch (and like, comment, follow or whatever other niceties you'd like to share his way for the awesome work he does)!
You must be registered to see the links
