Size matters....
Added 2019-01-04 10:23:48 +0000 UTC...I mean the game of course. But more specifically I mean the download size. It's huge - even with compressing the images, and I can't expect you to download, say, 600Mb every month.
The good news is it looks like I have a solution in hand. Not only will the chapters be released individually, so you never have to download the whole game every time, but I'm trialling out some more graphical solutions which might well cut down the file size. I won't however, -ever- compromise on graphical quality. I'll keep you informed of how that goes.
So, now things are a bit more settled, what next?
Well, first off I'm going to do a few bug catches as part of my size compression experiments the early part of next week and issue a re-release. The bugs aren't serious and only a few people have encountered them but it vexes me that they are there.
After that, it's down to what will be the usual schedule which looks something like this:
- Week 1: Polish the script for the current chapter
- Week 2: Code, code, code and render like a fury.
- Week 3: Week 2 again no doubt but also produce "Bored Pilot".
- Week 4: Bug test, play test and any minor amendments. This is also the week I'll be working on bonus content if we have all the renders down and done for the chapter.
All very nice but what will you see? After all I am accountable to you, no?
- Week 1: Weekly update on progress
- Week 2: $15 patreons will be polled on content as well as weekly progress note.
- Week 3: $10 and $15 patreons will be polled on the girl for that months magazine, as well as the weekly progress note.
- Week 4: Weekly update on progress and musings from myself on the month, design notes etc.
Now a quick note on the content poll in week 2. The major story arc is fixed of course, but there is a ton of stuff in my notes which has question marks dotted all each chapter in respect of scenes with characters and it is this type of content I'll be asking you to vote on.
For example I just finished the script for the first event with Chris for those who went down the training route and...holy hell. Other than being able to back out (I do like to give the players options, although these always come with consequences of course) the list of things that I have happening there is...um...well it's a lot. And probably far too much if I'm going to be able to produce the rest of the chapter in the month. So what I'll be asking you for is to vote on some of that content. It doesn't change the story line, or your relationship with her of course, but as to the events that actually happen within that scene....I think you deserve some input, no?
Anyhoo, that was a quick update from me. Laters!
Comments
Yup! Jane. She's still on one of the tutorial pages explaining the room scene. Lovely gal.
Nottravisgames
2019-01-05 03:45:48 +0000 UTCHer sister you say.....
Hatchetman
2019-01-05 03:03:23 +0000 UTCI still have it somewhere. Bad jokes, her sister and everything! Maybe one day I should tidy it up and pop it up here :)
Nottravisgames
2019-01-04 23:09:28 +0000 UTCI'm sure there are a lot of people that would have played that expanded tutorial over and over again for more Becca time ;p
Hatchetman
2019-01-04 22:55:20 +0000 UTCInteresting idea. I'll confess I'm a bird of very little brain when it comes to Patreon. I'll see. I do want to give the higher tiers something special and some scene direction seems a decent way of doing it. Of course, this doesn't mean I won't solicit more general views across the tier from time to time, such as the earlier post on clickables.
Nottravisgames
2019-01-04 22:39:01 +0000 UTCAbsolutely. Totally. It is in fact the first thing on my shopping list. I confess Becca was my first series of renders. Long story short, the tutorial was originally much bigger - not for actual release you'll be pleased to know! but purely so I could learn how to do all the coding. So having her explain the PDA actually once involved it being used with messages etc. But she is a bit of a legacy and certainly, as you point out, it's much more noticeable on her than on others.
Nottravisgames
2019-01-04 22:36:58 +0000 UTCThank you. These are both things I'm going to try out. So we shall see! As to mucking around in Daz you have a good six months on me :) So more than happy to listen to your advice.
Nottravisgames
2019-01-04 22:33:46 +0000 UTCI confess I'm running with PNG. Which of course doesn't help!
Nottravisgames
2019-01-04 22:31:10 +0000 UTCOne more nitpicky thing about the renders is you may want to pick up the Daz asset Fit Control (by Zev0) when you get the chance. It basically adds a bunch of morphs to clothing worn by characters. It is mostly designed to get rid of that "shrink wrap" look around the chest, where the clothes cling directly to the skin of the breast of the model but can do a lot more,, especially when simulating various states of undress. The tank tops the girls are wearing seem ok but you can really notice the skrink wrapping of the breasts on Becca in the intro in the intro. I see few people using this asset and once you get the hang of it it can really add to the realism of the renders. If you do buy it, just remember to buy the version for the figure you're using it on, not the generation of the clothing. For example, if you want to use it on a Genesis 8 figure wearing Genesis 3 clothing, you need to buy the Genesis 8 version. It will work on the clothing just fine as long as they are parented to a Genesis 8 figure, or at least it has so far for me.
Hatchetman
2019-01-04 20:47:11 +0000 UTCOut of curiosity, are you using jpgs or pngs for the visuals?
2019-01-04 19:56:37 +0000 UTCJust a quick note on graphical quality, I'm sure you're already doing everything you can to drop the size of the renders, I just wanted to say that dropping the quality just a bit probably won't be noticeable. I challenge people to tell the difference between an 80% render to a 100% render most of the time. Also I see you don't have that graininess in your renders that a lot of people have. I'm not sure if you're doing that by increasing the render quality and minimum samples, but another trick is to double the size of the render, then shrink it down to normal size in post. I'm by no means an expert on rendering, I've just been mucking around with Daz studios for about a year now but those are a few things I've learned along the way.
Hatchetman
2019-01-04 16:12:50 +0000 UTCJust a suggestion to the polls. Maybe poll lower tiers too, especially in the beginning as long as there are not so many patreons overall. That will give you a better overview of your general audience. You could just weigh it differently in the end, when you calculate it. I don't know... maybe one vote per dollar? So people who spend more money have a financially fair influence.^^
Frosty1979
2019-01-04 11:01:53 +0000 UTC
