Chapter Three...released!

Hi hi!

So I have this little chapter I'd like to share... :)

Separate posts for links incoming. I'll deal with June refunds, messages, comments etc over the next day or so.

(Anything below this point is the boring stuff!)

The good stuff

There is a ton to do. No, really. Even with the cuts I've made there are eighteen combinations of paths in total and most scenes (of which there are more than twenty odd) will vary depending on your choices in either this or earlier chapters. So, hopefully, whether you're after plotting, humour or sauciness you should find something to entertain you. Becca, as always, will give you a summary of key story points at the end.

Oh! There is also a pile of easter eggs. Some in the text, some in graphics and some of which aren't even in the code but still lead to additional content. Make of that what you will. But I'd advise against "space barring" through the game. You'll miss a lot, including clues on how to get what you want. Note that what might sometimes seem like a dead end isn't always...although peeking at the code won't help :)

Delays and stuff

First things first, apologies for the delay. Partly due to me taking on as much real world work as possible to make up for my loss of income from when I was ill which has kept me busy (my work earnings dropped to a fifth of what they usually are in those months so I was a bit broke and needed the cash) and also due to a few bugs and whatnot that came up. I should have dropped a post but I kept thinking "I'll have this cracked in a jiffy..." and didn't expect to have to need to.

Firstly, the named save code started playing up, which I suspect is down to some of the new code I've introduce in the past few weeks. I haven't been able to crack exactly why, so I'm going to run through the code stripping out the new stuff line by line until it works again. A brute force approach to resolving the bug but at least it will narrow it down. Once I've tracked it, I'll issue out a separate patch as I consider named saves to be rather key to your ease of enjoyment. But I didn't want to delay this release any longer.

Secondly, Chadwick's end scene was...too good it seems? For those going down her path I'd built a rather fun interactive immersive session with her. The trouble was I'd estimated that a twenty minute session would be about right - I was wrong. My tester spent over an hour with her (and wanted longer!) - at which point poor Chris is repeating herself like a loon. I'm also advised that a left sided interface would be useful to...er...facilitate play. So, I need to build in more code, options and, of course, make graphics. All of which would take about a week a think. Which if I delayed again after all this time I suspect I'd posting to myself at this rate...So, I've pulled it for now, thrown in some different graphics which if nothing else tees me up nicely for Chapter Four. It seemed too good to go off half-cocked if it is as good as I'm told.

Graphics wise I experimented with this chapter quite a lot. The big change was going to a more realistic light set up as opposed to the standard three point rigs. In some cases it worked superbly but in some others, especially interior shots, less so. The problem you can have is that as a character moves around a location, although the lighting is accurate, it can seem dis-jointed. Sometimes, it would seem, fake lights look more real than real ones. On the other hand it worked really well I thought for exteriors, so I'll probably use a combination of both for Chapter Four and look to re-work this chapter at a later date. Don't get me wrong. The graphics aren't bad at all. I just think they could be better.

As always I -think- I've caught all the other bugs and I've tried it with saves and it all seems to work so you should be good ( I don't mean that literally of course! You can be as bad as you like in game!). If I've added any in by accident in last minute fumbling around, I sincerely apologise.

Long term stuff

So how long did this take to make then? 

Well let's see, I was working on it all of March so call that four weeks. April and May, obviously I did zero due to being ill before working on it again in June and some of July. So call that another six weeks even if June was a bit slow as I got back up to speed. Ten weeks in total. Of that I wasted a week in March and a week in June going down the rabbit hole of animations (although I am going to keep adding the odd frame to that when I have the odd moment and release it as a Christmas bonus. Seems pointless doing nothing with it - but no sound effects ;) ) so that brings us back down to eight weeks and -of that time- I spent at least two of those re-working some of the earlier graphics. So, in theory, six weeks. But some of that too was spent on additional content or improving existing content (Sarah's game for example had a complete re-work as did the scene with Chris which I've parked). This Chapter is therefore somewhat larger and different than the one that was ready(ish) in March.

Of course the majority of that time is rendering. I just can't make them any quicker with my set up sadly no matter how many tricks I try. Ball park it's between 40 minutes to an hour per frame. Sometimes less, sometimes more, but an hour is a good rule of thumb. Which, if I'm reading the benchmarks right is some four to six times slower than a top spec. Add in how many renders I use, and I'm on a sticky wicket. Sustainable delivery is, therefore, something I want to discuss with you all next week as my gamble of being able to upgrade my PC rig as the game progresses doesn't look, largely due to being ill and delivering bugger all for an age, as though it will pan out to allow a much quicker delivery. I'm as tired of missing my deadlines as you are!

Last thoughts

Thanks for sticking around :)

I sincerely hope you enjoy what I've made for you despite the delays.

Humbly submitted with love,

Notty.