Anniversary!!!

Two years of the project! Congratulations to all involved! And even to those who just touched it!

It is a joyful date, but the year turned out to be quite difficult to me, from the very beginning. I have accumulated a lot of different thoughts about it, negative mostly. If you don't want to get chucked into the melancholy deep end, it's better to just be happy for us and raise a glass of red wine for the anniversary. As for all others who still want to read what's written next, I encourage you to get yourself a large mug of warm cocoa (not hotter than 42 degrees) and wrap yourself in a soft blanket. There will be a lot of text. 

The year began with the fact that my first translator left the project. But since you have the most negativity specifically for his translation, well,  ̶и̶ ̶х̶*̶*̶ ̶с̶ ̶н̶и̶м̶  there is not much trouble... I could say. But the truth is that this is a person I've been in contact with for over ten years. This is an important part of my socialization. I would like to call him a friend in this text, but he didn't match my understanding of the word "friend" and I didn't match his.

At the same time the game with its teeth bared began to require much more time to develop.

After Episode Two I’ve written this:

“I decided to split Episode Three into 5 parts: an intro that will raise some questions and 4 parts with additional quests (two of them are mutually exclusive depending on your choice in Episode Two) and with a few events. As I see it, each part of Episode Three will be comparable in size with Episode Two.”

But it was a big misconception. I formed my plan based on the speed with which I made Episode Two. It seemed to me that the volumes of work would be comparable to what I had done before, but they had grown several times. 

Where previously any event simply ended, in Episode 3 it remains where it is. The simple two stages of the event (launch and shutdown version) have grown to four or seven involving other events, as can be seen in the event with Mamti or Jacques. Even in small events, you need to constantly check the switches and variables, which actions have ended, which dialogues have been played through. Everything has to be properly shut down and locked in memory. Even within the event stages, there are stages. The code is now much more complex and longer.

During this year, I realized one thing for sure: it is easier to make two linear moments than one branched event. It was much easier to make the Road of Shame in two variants than all the variations in the event with Jacques.

In the first two episodes I had more control over the player. The only way forward, one dress, no items, no skills, no raised switches and no changed variables. Now I constantly refer to the previous in the events for the player's actions to have consequences. And now the player has much more freedom, to which the game should react normally and adjust to such actions, taking into account different details. The player was bitten on the bottom? The game is ready. The player is having a daisy with? The game is ready. The player is not standing in front, but sideways? The game is ready.

The game often doesn't try to ridiculously teleport the player to the place where the event is triggered and then shows a scene, but acts on the basis of the player's location. It's all quite routine, but it looks more natural to me.

Because of the increased volume of work, I began feeling frustrated. "I am slow, I don't have time, I don't do very much". I was constantly thinking that I should make small events more. And I even followed these thoughts, which in my opinion was a mistake. 

Gradually, as the work increased... I started to load myself with more work. I started compiling versions for Linux and Android. I am not saying that it was a waste of time and energy, but there were enough problems. Problems with optimization and with the log display for example. As for the Android version, it can't be compiled in one click. I had to install many strange packs, the purpose of which I still don’t know. In addition to this, the Android version requires conversion of all game sound files to mpeg-4 format. Unfortunately, sometimes I forget to do it and you get bug reports.

In October I decided to order an image for the main menu. I wanted to ennoble it with a beautiful drawing of a good artist, whose art I like (of course the price of his commission attracted me as well). 

I have chosen the artist gao-lukchup, you may know him. In the end, he didn't draw anything, didn't reply to me and didn't return the money. Ignoring, that's all. Because of this, I don’t want to mess with anyone else now.

When you're cheated, it's cool. Lawrence from “Spice and Wolf” would have learned a useful lesson from this situation. But you know what's even cooler? Load yourself with more work. So I created a page on itch.io. It brought in new people, that's a fact. So did the page on newgrounds.com. There are a lot more of you.

The number of sites that I need to watch has increased, the number of messages in the discord has increased, I had to create more topics and watch you there so that you don’t play pranks. In general, I have become much more frequent in communication with you.

We also changed the project name in the same days. Do you remember that? I remember that) It's great to be able to rely on you in such an important matter.

And then Hime in the discord pointed to the bug in the game in a very cute way. I immediately wanted to creatively eliminate this bug and arrange a small contest for you. This is how SparkyNymph was created, for which Ayу came up with a name. 

“A small piece of fast content that can make you happy. A small event, which the project needs so much.” So it seemed to me.

I don't think it was a bad idea, but not with such working capacity. There is nothing wrong with interacting with the community, but not at the expense of the core task. It is better to do something like this when you have a good united team.

And then I lost my job and cut all ties with my contacts.

The mood was terrible. The beginning of 2020 was terrible. Drawings didn't work out. I got confused by the event. I had to translate the text into English, not knowing the English language, the good thing that cancerdancer[1337] helped me with the translation back then. I tried to keep it going and lead it to the release, reading the constant accusations on various sites that I do nothing and steal from people... providing a free game which anyone can play.

Then I got back to compiling the Mac Os X version, which MarcoMolt helped to test, the first Mac user that offered some help.

Despite the help of people and your kind words of encouragement, the mood was awful and continued to get worse. I was releasing indistinct updates, jumping from one idea to another. I wanted the game to have something to do, not just to play it through for 2 minutes. I tried to imitate other games, tried to create repetitive events, tried to reuse CG-s, tried to involve you somehow, tried to do less, but more often. And in the end, my primary plans with four parts of Episode 3 were not realized at all. 

I got confused. 

So I organized the “Important poll”.

It really was an important poll. You helped me to set my brain and bring me to senses. This is how my return to the original path began.

Coronavirus had been spreading in the world at full speed. I got something shitty... maybe even coronavirus. At that time in Russia, we didn’t make such diagnoses yet.

After that I once again had problems with a translator. I started to look for new ones and found an arrogant weak translator who confused articles and tenses, but declared that he was a pro. He said that a translator is a creative profession, so he can change the meaning of my text. We didn’t get along.

Summer started and E3 was cancelled. I used to like spending a couple of nights watching video game conferences (in Russia they are shown at night). But this year everything was chaotic and not so joyful.

The summer was hot, and at the end of it I barely finished a new update. I have already written about it. I bought myself a gamer's chair. Now I can definitely call myself a gamer.

Only at the end of the summer my mood got better, and I finally moved away from the beginning of the year. I put up with it, you might say. I am melancholic by temperament. So, negative strongly affects me for a long time. This negative doesn't remain outside, it becomes part of my thoughts and grows like a snowball.

Fortunately, last year's snowball is finally broken and melted. 

“Snowball, heh-heh, I wish I could add something like that to the game, if you know what I mean”.

This year I have more ready-made solutions and developed methods that simplify the work, but, as I wrote above, they don't speed the work much. 

I learned new awesome things that make the project more interesting (different expectations, tracking regions, timers). 

I hope to devote more time to drawing in the future. It would be nice to find a cool artist, but I also need to improve myself.

Now I'm thinking about completing Episode 3 as soon as possible, even in such an unfilled shape. It is always possible to fill it. Especially when there are more ready good events in the main plot. 

The size of the village was a big mistake. I admit it. I am a big fan of wide open locations, but a bad developer for that. On the other hand, I figured out why TES games have such small towns and why it's better that way. It was not necessary to try to prove the opposite, especially alone.

I don't promise that the locations will become smaller, but I will pay more attention to the plot.

So, I think that’s it. Have you finished your cocoa? You didn’t even get it, right?! Well, whatever. It's about time you get a glass of red wine.

Thank you all who support me in my dream of making a video game. Thank you all who help me financially and morally. Thank you all who write nice comments. Thank you all who report about problems and bugs, all who ask questions, all who offer ideas (you can already see some of the proposed ideas in the game). Many thanks to Ayy Lmao for writing the game walkthrough in the discord. Thanks to Cancerdancer[1337] for the help in translation. Thanks to Vladi15 and Overtaker40 for correcting the translation. Thanks to MarcoMolt for the help in testing the Mac OS X version. And many thanks to Kenneth for the first fan art in my life (I can hardly describe how pleased I am). Thanks to SANDWHICHGOD, Negus Cyrus, Sauv, Avatargowoosh, Quintin Carroll, Frosty Kae, Soul, EcchiZero, ItsShinigami, OkiJerry, Tosado, Ignazzio, Jochem, Nekuro, Neppy, CyberDragon2600. And, of course, thanks to every player who spent even two minutes in the game.

“Hah, but there is no content for more than two minutes there.”

Without players there will be no game. Thank you. Thanks for playing.

Many thanks to you all for your support, your warm words and your patience.

Kanpai?