Straight!? Revamp v0.09 Teasers 2 (Patreon)

Hey all.

So today we're taking a walkthrough of the newest teasers that I did the recent video log on. If you would like the audio log of that as well as an extended look at these pics and additional stories, teasers, and background information not covered here; you can find that post here. That video clocks in around an hour so it's a pretty in-depth look.

Otherwise, let's jump into the newest teasers for the upcoming v0.09 of the revamp.

Pic 1: This first pic was recently featured on my Twitter account as a way to sorta showcase where I was with the current update. It's an easy intro shot that should give you a decent idea of the visual look of the poker game in the Revamp. But for the sake of this post, you can just look at it as a cover shot. I just wanted to share it over here for those of you that avoid that medium for obvious reasons.

Pic 2: Ok, so here's our first pic from the older version of the game. This is a fun shot to feature in this discussions because it's one of the few times we're going to be looking at an actual Before/After clone shot from the original to the Revamp. This early shot is just generally empty and void of any life in Zack's eyes-- a pretty consistent issue with the early version of the game. However, this was a pretty interesting camera angle that I wanted to preserve in the Revamp.

Pic 3: This is the direct replacement for that image. So not only do we have the Depth of Field (DoF) features here to make things look better, we have completely redone lighting in the shower room. We'll also see the actual mop bucket (which somehow magically disappeared in the original). The original shot also had the shower wall magically reappear which I never even noticed until I was going through these shots again (oops).  This shot is also a quick opportunity to say that we'll see a slight change in the script in this scene based on how Zack actually sees the cards-- which makes a little more sense than the original game had in it.  I'm honestly proud of this shot tho because this really shows the visual growth of this project from where it started and it's a good opportunity for me to say thanks for sticking with me on this thing.

Pic 4: So this pic, for the old-timers around here, will probably trigger some of you. Originally, this pic was the end of an actual game update and is the last thing that we see before the camera fades to black. Some of you went nuts on this cliffhanger but logistically I really was forced to stop here because the poker game was so much work (it was actually a huge amount of work in the Revamp, too). I'm pleased to say that the revamp will continue past this point . This original shot, which was also supposed to depict a more devious shot of Braden, looks somewhat creepier than I remembered it. So rather than trying to salvage this, I reshot this scene and kept the similarities. 

Pic 5: Here's our reshot replacement. Further camera shots and this also shows that the poker game is going to take place at night rather than the room being super bright. I like the intimacy of the darker room. You may recognize this shot from a similar shot in the original where the deck of cards was featured in the corner. I really like this angle so I wanted to keep it. We also have an outfit change for Braden at the beginning here. I think the toweled Braden just adds to the awkward sexual tension of the moment and it really baited me when I mixed it with the darkness of the scene  and conversations about strip poker.  The smile shown in the pervious image will now be animated in the Revamp at 60fps-- sorta like the facial expression change when Braden got the singlet. Animating such an iconic frame from the original game was an easy way to upgrade a pivotal moment that drove some of you fucking crazy :p 

Pic 6: Here we have an example of the stripping section of the room. When each character loses a round, they have to go to the "spot" and lose their clothing just like in the original. This original spot lighting was weird and we have a lot of shots of them slowly stripping but the more I looked at these shots, they were either awkwardly positioned or there were a lot of extra shots that weren't as sexy looking as i thought they should be.

Pic 7: So here's an example of the revamp approach to the stripping spot.  While some of you may be worried about the darker room during poker and how that would impact your ability to see the characters lose, hopefully this shot will ease that concern. Don't worry-- you'll be seeing everything in this update even with the room being dark.  We also have some fun new moments in this and poses that I think are waaaaay more interesting and feel like two dudes stuck stripping in the corner of the room. It's way less mechanical than the original game was. It's also worth noting that the choices for the poker game will remain just like the original. You will get to choose the ultimate outcome of the game from 3 major choices: Braden wins flawlessly, Zack wins flawlessly, or it's evenly matched until the last round where you still get to pick the winner. No changes in the trajectory of the poker game from the original. 

Pic 8: This shot is an opposite to the previous teaser. So in the original we had some really awkward shots of the winning character still on the bed. This Zack pose is a good example -- but Braden's pose was waaaay worse (I'm just showing Zack here because there's already a lot of Braden teasers). But whoever is left on the bed originally looked pretty dumb while they watched the other person strip.

Pic 9: Replacement example. So in the revamp, we're going to see some "transitional" images of the characters as they walk to the stripping spot. This opens up the conversation for more banter and these replacement shots just look way more comfortable. Hopefully, this will fill in the original transition holes that almost felt like the characters were teleporting from their spot on the bed to the stripping spot by the TV. Small change but major effects on the immersion. 

Hope you enjoyed this look at the next upcoming update. 

Quick Update on Progress:

Right now, v0.09 boots and all my initial images are coded in. I've ran through it once today and it looks pretty good but needs some polish. While we have Christmas and stuff this month and a couple of my days will get impacted by the holiday, I'm still fairly optimistic I can get it out this month so cross your fingers. I'm working hard on this one but it's also a lot. This is the most image intense update we've seen in the Revamp. I still have to polish and do all the music coding and may have to do a few more images. Plus, all the CGs need Jordyn's post-work touch. There's still a lot to do but it officially works and I just saw it today for the first time.

Stay tuned!