- Feb 25, 2018
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I really don’t like that it’s going to take 9 months for the 2nd chapter to come out.
Yeah, I completely agree with this. I can understand it taking 9 months considering what the dev is trying to achieve and the mechanics being implemented, but the first episode didn't really sell the game well. It didn't provide much and while there are several interesting aspects, the way it ended felt abrupt and it didn't feel like I really learned a lot as a player. Unless someone is a fan of the dev due to their previous work, would not be surprised if many people jumped off after episode 1 since it does feel underwhelming as an introduction to this story.I really don’t like that it’s going to take 9 months for the 2nd chapter to come out.
Chapter 1 didn’t establish a strong narrative hook, so I was hoping the Chapter 2 would come out soon to really sell the story to players and drum up more interest on this site.
Each to their own, I guess.Yeah, I completely agree with this. I can understand it taking 9 months considering what the dev is trying to achieve and the mechanics being implemented, but the first episode didn't really sell the game well. It didn't provide much and while there are several interesting aspects, the way it ended felt abrupt and it didn't feel like I really learned a lot as a player. Unless someone is a fan of the dev due to their previous work, would not be surprised if many people jumped off after episode 1 since it does feel underwhelming as an introduction to this story.
-u4ia- - 1st Release:Changelog:
Leap of Faith - Chapter 1
I'm glad to be able to present you with the first chapter of Leap of Faith. It's been great fun developing, consisting of almost 500 still renders and 250 animated ones, along with 5000 lines of source-code and dialogue.
Changelog:
Ep1.01c
- 1,907 story renders
- 16,764 animated frames
- 18,770 lines of script/dialogue
- 33 songs (1 exclusive)
- More than 400 UI elements
- u4ia is running on Ren'Py 8.1.0 - Prerelease (which should fix lagging animations and CPU spikes issues on mid to low end computers)
I played the first release of Leap of Faith the day the thread appeared on F95. I actually have a bunch of nagging issues with the overall plot structure of Leap of Faith. But much like Leap of Faith, my issues with -ufia- are the kind of thing that probably won't matter as much when the full game is released in comparison to following its development like this as episodes release. Drifty is a strong writer even if I don't like certain things, it's always about the actual structure and never the quality itself. I find it a bit strange to put focus on the amount of renders and animations in these initial releases though. You can have an initial release with not many renders but still find a way to intrigue the players while also setting up things in a way to provide enough information about what is ahead. My issue isn't about the amount of content, just how everything was utilized. It's the first episode, nothing needs to be answered but there should be solid setup. Not saying Drifty didn't setup anything, but that there is no real idea where anything is going and kind of just dumps a bunch of mysteries and questions with not much depth to them yet or even the illusion of a potential path to the next step when even looking towards episode 2. As I said, Drifty is going for a more ambitious game here which is why development time makes sense. The sandbox sections, the skill tree, etc. It's a lot more involved and their second major project like this, so scaling up makes sense.Each to their own, I guess.
I, on the other hand, though it was a solid opening for a first release - lots of content, sexy times, and an intriguing plot (where everything obviously isn't answered in Ch 1). I reserve judgement on the traits system, since it's only Chapter 1.
Funny you should mention the Dev's "previous game". Did you ever play it from the start? I presume not, considering it's very modest opening chapter relative to it's later popularity and the size of the -u4ia- first release:
Leap of Faith - 1st Release:
-u4ia- - 1st Release:
Exactly. At this point:I played the first release of Leap of Faith the day the thread appeared on F95. I actually have a bunch of nagging issues with the overall plot structure of Leap of Faith. But much like Leap of Faith, my issues with -ufia- are the kind of thing that probably won't matter as much when the full game is released in comparison to following its development like this as episodes release. Drifty is a strong writer even if I don't like certain things, it's always about the actual structure and never the quality itself. I find it a bit strange to put focus on the amount of renders and animations in these initial releases though. You can have an initial release with not many renders but still find a way to intrigue the players while also setting up things in a way to provide enough information about what is ahead. My issue isn't about the amount of content, just how everything was utilized. It's the first episode, nothing needs to be answered but there should be solid setup. Not saying Drifty didn't setup anything, but that there is no real idea where anything is going and kind of just dumps a bunch of mysteries and questions with not much depth to them yet or even the illusion of a potential path to the next step when even looking towards episode 2. As I said, Drifty is going for a more ambitious game here which is why development time makes sense. The sandbox sections, the skill tree, etc. It's a lot more involved and their second major project like this, so scaling up makes sense.
I only mentioned the amount of renders because I also played the first LOF release, and when I read your post, my first thought was that -u4ia- had much more content (and a more complicated plot) on its first release than LoF. The unstated point I was trying to make is that LoF had a modest although solid start and developed well from there (both in content and followers/players), so I'm awaiting further releases of -u4ia- to pass judgement.I played the first release of Leap of Faith the day the thread appeared on F95. I actually have a bunch of nagging issues with the overall plot structure of Leap of Faith. But much like Leap of Faith, my issues with -ufia- are the kind of thing that probably won't matter as much when the full game is released in comparison to following its development like this as episodes release. Drifty is a strong writer even if I don't like certain things, it's always about the actual structure and never the quality itself. I find it a bit strange to put focus on the amount of renders and animations in these initial releases though. You can have an initial release with not many renders but still find a way to intrigue the players while also setting up things in a way to provide enough information about what is ahead. My issue isn't about the amount of content, just how everything was utilized. It's the first episode, nothing needs to be answered but there should be solid setup. Not saying Drifty didn't setup anything, but that there is no real idea where anything is going and kind of just dumps a bunch of mysteries and questions with not much depth to them yet or even the illusion of a potential path to the next step when even looking towards episode 2. As I said, Drifty is going for a more ambitious game here which is why development time makes sense. The sandbox sections, the skill tree, etc. It's a lot more involved and their second major project like this, so scaling up makes sense.
LoF was it's own kind of story - almost like the Hallmark of AVNs Yes, it had some fantastical plot elements (a la the Joe Nobody hooks up with Pop Superstar angle), but the characterizations of the LIs weren't as one-dimensional as many AVNs and Drifty based the Cece storyline on his own personal experience (albeit with the happy ending he was denied IRL).Exactly. At this point:
1) we don’t really know what “it’s about” with the current content in the game. It feels vague. Compared to Being A DIK or Artemis, these other games establish clearly what it’s going to be about. There’s a strong sense for the narrative.
2) Obviously u4ia is an AVN, and the trailers keep teasing that there’s some mystery, but the game itself hasn’t yet established the premise of the mystery. Secret treasure? A murder? Revenge plot?…
A lot of recent games like Summer Heat,Dreamland, A Shot in the Dark and Vinovella have intrigue/mystery as the core plot line. I think the Vinovella mystery plot starts off strongest.
3) the most intriguing thing about this game was the MC skills mechanic. The game seems to be designed around branching alot, so I hope it’s designed well.
I thought LoF was ok at best (writing feels sloppy, contrived and too convenient), but appreciate how well put together u4ia is. The dev has improved a lot technically and this game should’ve got more fanfare considering the number of LoF players.
I hope the dev’s writing improves too because this is a whole different genre.
same it's way too long. Anything that takes more than 7 months is far too long for in-development games cuz then it would take 5 years to finish.I really don’t like that it’s going to take 9 months for the 2nd chapter to come out.
Chapter 1 didn’t establish a strong narrative hook, so I was hoping the Chapter 2 would come out soon to really sell the story to players and drum up more interest on this site.
This week I spent most of the time in Ren'Py and adding renders where I felt they were needed.
I decided to finally re-do the old perks system from episode 1 of u4ia, and I'm very happy about the result. In the new revised version, you choose a perk at the start of every episode, and you also have a choice later on in the episode that will affect your stats.
The perks will automatically help you as you play, and the stats will affect how you handle certain situations later on. These are mostly meant to boost your character for what will happen in season 2, but they will also come into play to a lesser degree for episodes 3 and 4.
I have also been working on one of two big free-roams, and I had a lot of fun doing so. It's nice not to have the December deadline hanging over me, as it was exhausting, and as a result, I'm enjoying myself much more working now.
Next week I'll continue working in Ren'Py work with scripting and dialogue. The positive is that this isn't complicated work, so there's good progress for every hour I put in. The only downside is that there's still a lot of Ren'Py work remaining.
As always, if you have questions or thoughts, feel free to drop them in the comments. And as we enter December, once again thank you for the support. I'll do my best to give you as much content as possible for the release.
Have a nice weekend, and stay safe out there.
// Drifty
and what is pulling me in are those yearly (for now) updatesI am not a big fan of the girl models this time. Look kinda generic. But the story, songs and mechanics are top-notch. This is pulling me in. Good work.
A very belated welcome to F95 and planet Earth.and what is pulling me in are those yearly (for now) updates
Dev Diary, December 15th, 2023
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I finally finished the 'hotel free-roam' this week, and I'm extremely happy with how it turned out.
One of the reasons it took so much work and time, is that I will re-use it in episode 4, and thus save some time when I get to that part. Because of this, I had to think ahead on most I did, so that later on I can start or end the free-roam on any floor, fill in navigation info for future events, and introduce more random events.
I've made quite a few random events already, and when I get to chapter 4, I will introduce more. So at a later point when you replay the full season (all 4 episodes), you can run into a newly introduced random event already in episode 2.
Another reason it took so much time, was that it consists of more than 20 unique scenes with variations (by the way, by scenes, I don't mean 20 lewd scenes, but yes, some of those too). So there should be plenty enough for everyone to explore. And with the new navigation panel, you can easily see where people are, and go spend time with who you want. It also introduces a lot of new people that you might want to meet.
So, when the free-roam was done, I sped ahead with normal scenes, finishing up three major ones. I also finished a tiny free-roam that helps you build your character. If you don't like free-roams, you can skip that one.
For this week, I'll probably finish everything except the last beach scene, which I suspect is about 1/3 of the chapter, and also needs a lot of rendering. But unless I'm introducing new lewd scenes (could be), I'm done with the animations.
Even though I'm throwing around 'free-roams' a lot, u4ia is still a story-based visual novel, and every episode will lead toward the event which is the season finale. So I'm building towards that, so that it will feel like a proper season finale, and not some added images.
Finally, I want to thank you for the response to my last update's promotion for RenpyTom. It seems a lot of you went and gave your support to him which shows on this graph when it starts going up abruptly. It's fully deserved, and thank you.
It's almost Christmas now, and I hope life treats you well. I'll be back next week with a bit more festive update from the girls.
Enjoy yourself, and stay safe out there.
// Drifty