Revamp v0.10 Teasers 1 (Patreon)

Yo,

Just wanted to check-in and do  a short recap of the video teasers I dropped a few days ago here.  Today, we'll be looking at 4 sets of teasers for the upcoming Revamp v0.10 that I'm currently working on now. 

This next update will focus on the first half of Chapter 5 so let's jump in and take a look at some of the comparisons.

Pic 1:  So this pic from the original game is focusing on the Tai Chi practice scenes between Zack and Braden that start out as a choice for the reader. The thing I want to focus in on these shots is the interaction between the characters. In this original scene, the characters are both really static and while they're talking, there's not a lot of visual chemistry between them. 

Pic 2: This replacement pic from the Revamp should give you more of an idea on where things are going. In the Revamp, we'll see Braden taking on more of a coaching role here, moving his body around and sorta orbiting Zack to evaluate his positioning and stuff. This also opens us up to see some kinda humorous interactions on the way that Braden corrects him. It's fun to capture some of these behavioral nuances-- particularly when it comes to Braden who we're very dependent on the narrator to describe.

Pic 3: This pic is just another example that I recently posted on Twitter just to be goofy. I asked people to come up with a caption for it and was only accepting wrong answers. Naturally, it was a chance to be stupid on social media and we got some fun responses. Since many of you aren't on Twitter because of many of it's changes, I wanted to also share this shot here.

Pic 4: This next shot highlights some problems that I go into detail on in the video post. Essentially expressions that depict joy are hard to do without making the characters look like maniacs. This original shot looks pretty crazy but it's also something that just challenging for me personally. This shot is when Zack gets the text saying he made the swim team. While it looks crazy, I really wanted to try and preserve that energy in the Revamp.

Pic 5: Here's the new replacement shot we're looking at. I'm still trying to improve on joy expressions like laughing or shouting but I think I got about as close as I can get with my current skill level. I also changed up the camera angle here to try and show off Zack's aerial fist pump-- another hard position to really capture-- while still maintaining Braden holding his perfect composure. Some of these aren't perfect but I do think it's a means to an end. I feel like I'm branching out even more and trying new things constantly and I think that will benefit the game in the long run.

Pic 6: This next set of pics is a really big deal to me personally. This first shot shows a shirtless Mikhail in the locker room for the first time. Noted before are problems with his hair (which is actually just painted on which is why it reflects so aggressively) and of course the notorious tattoo right over his poor nipple. Mikhail is a really important character to me and honestly my personal fav when it comes to being attractive so I really wanted to spend some time and give him a makeover for the revamp.

Pic 7: This is the first look at shirtless Mikhail in the Revamp. We have an entirely new skin texture on him that  really drinks in the light better. Also noted are that Jordyn shaved off some of the original tattoo that we had and we recentered some stuff to line the tat up better. The outcome was less lines but enough that it got the point across. This design feels more sleek to me and really adds more to Mikhail without distracting from him. We also have the greatly improved hair texture on him that cuts down on the reflections and looks waaaaay more realistic. Last, I completely redesigned his swimsuit. Mikhail had a blue color-scheme before, which I will more than likely keep but I just really found that I wanted Mikhail to rock a black swimsuit. In his dialogue, when he hands the yellow suit to Zack, he specifically calls it his "least favorite." This line really resonated with me and I found myself repeatedly wanting something more from Mikhail's swimsuit-- if the yellow one was his least favorite, which one is his favorite? So naturally I went with a very dark color instead. Massive improvement with him and I think it really helps pull his model together. Mikhail is sexy af and this black swimsuit just makes all of his pop. I love it.

Pic 8: This last set starts with a look at the original swim practice scene. I wanted to show this off because of the previous inconsistent lighting in here and just overall emptiness. Zack and Mikhail also look horrible with no feeling or expression to their characters. This original pool practice scene--visually-- just looks very hollow to me. 

Pic 9: Enter the direct replacement. This shot I was suuuuper happy how it turned out for a lot of reasons. First, I wanted to capture both characters doing some friendly warm-ups before they jump in. There's still an early chemistry to them and some eye contact that's fun to play with. These two just really like each other from the beginning and I wanted to show their body language reacting to that. This shot also depicts something that I wanted to introduce in that they have different swimming styles. So naturally I wanted to have them in different warm-up positions as well as different stances on the diving platforms. Mikhail really tugged me in this stylized direction so I hope you enjoy his diving sequence when the update hits. Just new excuses to try out more action stuff and continue to expand things here. But I think the differences in them in this direct replacement shot is, so far, one of my favorite sequences in this update.

Also, if you want to see one more preview, you can check out that video I posted. I dropped an additional shot in showing off my early pics of Zack and Mikhail talking by the side of the pool. I'm not 100% on using those shots yet so I'm not sharing them here yet in case I scrap them, but if you're really curious you can see them in the video. I was struggling with wet skins in those shots but they're slowly growing on me so we'll see if they survive.

That's all for today. Hope you enjoyed this first teaser look and stay tuned. I'm still pumping out stuff for this update. 

Seriously love and appreciate y'all. Stay safe and as always, thank you for sticking with me on this. It means the world to me

-Aaryn