DevLog Update: Finally Some Good News (Patreon)

Aight folks, we're about halfway through the month and I know y'all are getting antsy so here we go with the latest DevLog news for v0.20. I've been pumping out some long days here and finally they're paying off. There's nothing more frustrating than having a list 2 pages long and working 16 hour days on stuff and still not being able to cross things off. Well, today things have started to get crossed off so I feel a little better about where we are and actually have some stuff to report on.

Writing

So I'm pleased to say that I think the writing for v0.20 is finished for the rough draft. I will say that I ended up with some changes to what I had originally forecast. In short, I ended up scrapping the last partial scene that I was going to do and we'll likely see that in the next update instead. I did this for a few different reasons 1.) To get the update out quicker, but mostly it was 2.) I was worried about the cliffhanger in this spot not setting well with people. Now, I've done controversial cliffhangers before (right before strip poker and the shower lie) but those were strategically done. My original outline almost felt purposely like a cliffhanger and it honestly felt that it was more annoying than it was a teaser. So I ended up pushing that next scene into the final update where we'll have a chance to run through all that material in one binge. I also like where this update ends better now because it gives us a chance to process things. While some people may think the cliffhangers are annoying, I really try to place them in spots that force us to pause for a bit and consider or appreciate what's happened. 

Writing length is big on this update and dwarfs any other update we've had. This is the longest (I always say this, though). Last update clocked in at around 3,500 lines of new code, most of which is dialogue. This update looks like 4,300 so it's noticeably longer. I'll also mention that last update had the split routes whereas this one is more singular again. Thus, everyone, regardless of what route you took, is going to get the whole thing. 

I still need to do a full playthrough again as well as writing edits. That usually takes a few days but since other things are getting crossed off the list, I tend to write and edit better when I'm not doing 15 other things at the same time so editing and rereading is going to be the next step. 

Images

Long ago, I said this update was going to be very image heavy and that turned out to be an understatement. I just finished, what I imagine to be the last CG of the update today. Now many of those still need to render. Right now I have my big folder with 675 new images in it that are already rendered and completed. I have two other folders of images totaling 27 more that need to render (they take about 75 minutes per shot). So tentatively speaking, this update is going to clock in at 711 new pics, vastly larger than anything I've done before (last update had around 500).

For those of you who have been taking advantage of the selfies, you've seen increasing amounts of Depth of Field or DOF (blurry backgrounds) to make some of these shots more realistic. While this is sparse in the first part of the update, the entire last scene in the update uses DOF in every shot. I was originally worried that this transition would be somewhat jarring but it doesn't feel too bad and it sorta eases you in a little more than I was expecting. That being said, I'm still learning on it and you're likely going to see a few shots that could have been better while I continue to try and refine the skills it takes on this stuff but overall, that final scene is looking pretty good. This will likely be the future of the game and I think most will agree that it does give some pretty profound realism to the game. I'm still working; I'm still learning; but this is the start so I still have an entire update to practice on before we start the reshoots of the beginning of the game.

After I get all these images rendered out, I'm going to be passing a very large folder of pics over to Jordyn who is going to be very grumpy with me at the amount of work that he gets to do ( I told him it was 600 pics but he doesn't know about the other 100 that I've done this week... Shhhh). However, he's really good at trying to fix a lot of my issues in post production. I'll also mention that I was having some background issues that I'm likely going to have to re-render 15 to 20 shots again so that Jordyn can piece them together manually for me.

Long story short: my goal is to have all the new shots and the required re-renders all done by the end of the weekend (honestly, it should be before that). So hopefully by Sunday my version of the game will have everything that I need to see and read to start working on the edits.

What to Expect

I usually try and include something about what to expect in this update. My version of the game is now bootable and I was able to play through and bug fix this week for the first time. While I haven't gotten a chance to play the final scene yet, I should be able to do that in the next day or two when those images get done. So last update was one of my favorites. We got a lot of resolution to a lot of things that had been planted since the early parts of the game. This update will have a little more payoff and hopefully some of our patience and frustration with a lot of what's happened will pay off. There's also more setup in this one while still giving some resolution. Keep in mind, this is the first half of the last chapter. This is the beginning of the end so we're going to see things start winding up and winding down at the same time. 

This one is a pretty 50/50 mix of action scenes as well as dialogue stuff. It will have it's ups and downs like all of these updates do so expect some rollercoaster action as the norm. 

Release Date

Ok dammit... I really want to put a date out but there's still a few things holding me back. Most of that is related to how long the CGs are going to be in post production before they're finished and I'll be doing the writing edits at the same time. However, I'm going to say my GOAL for this update is going to be next week sometime if things work out well. I don't want to put out an exact date right now but I may put out an official release date maybe by the end of the weekend or early next week depending on where things are. Right now, I just need my buddies to lay eyes on CGs and things need to render. But I'd like to launch next week if I can.

Cross your fingers. It's coming.