Development update! - The Road So Far

What's up everyone? I figured it was about time (way past to be honest) for a development update on how The Inn's rework is comming along.

Today I want to showcase you guys some of the features and improvements I have been doing  and give an in-depth (kinda) explanation to some of them (mostly the phone system). So, let's get this show on the road!

Right now I'm working on porting the old content over to the new format and improving the visual aspects of the game. The coding for the phone system is pretty much done (just some minor tweaks left, which will be done as I port the old content).

GRAPHICAL IMPROVEMENTS

As I was porting the old content I felt like the old scenes didn't really match with the newer ones, especially the ones in the intro (days 1 to 5), so I went ahead and remade them using what I learned in HS since I started this project.

Here's some examples of what I'm talking about:

This is one of the old scenes:

Flat lighting, overly saturated colors and overall uninteresting composition, right? I know, I couldn't stand it either...

So here's the reworked version of that scene:

This one uses a more dynamic camera angle, soft lights, more depth and colors that blend nicely with each other.

Another good example is the following:

Again, flat lighting, uninteresting composition and kind of wonky posing, you can barelly understand what it is about.

This is the reworked version for this scene:

Way better lighting, more depth to it and improved posing. To be honest with you all, this is one of my favorite reworked scenes.

And, for a final example, an outdoor scene, this is the old version of it:

Bland scene composition, overly saturated colors, exagerated bloom and overal "meh" scene. That one gave me some cringe indulcing memories...

Here's the reworked version of it:

Better lighting overall, again more depth to the scene, the world seems livelier with background characters and an overal improvement to image quality.

You may have noticed that the bike is different. Yes, I'm changing the bike model for an updated, higher resolution/quality than the other one. Since I started working with HS I also learned how to port 3D models into it, this new bike is one of those.

This pretty much shows hoe much I improved since I started developing The Inn, I got better at posing, lighting and scene composition.

Luckily I won't need to redo every scene in the game, as the newer ones are pretty good already.

That sums up most of the graphical improvements on this rework, now lets move into more technical stuff, the phone system.

As most of you may know by now, the next update will feature a fully working phone system that will be basically a HUB for all the other systems in the game, after unlocking it in game, you will be able to use it at any time (granted you're not doing a story sequence or event). If you played the old version you'll know when the phone is unlocked.

Alright, let me begin by showing you the screen you'll be presented when activating the phone in-game...

PHONE'S MAIN SCREEN:

Alright, a quick explanation one what each button does:

1 - Profiles Screen

The name says it all, this is the profile screen with info regarding all the girls in the game, it looks like this:

1.1 - Shortcuts:

This can be used so you directly from the profile screen to the Gift, Wardrobe, Gallery and SMS screen for the girl who's profile you're currently seeing.

1.2 - Girl Info:

This is where you can see all the info about the girl, it contains extensive data regarding said girl's "experience". The items on it are pretty much self explanatory.

2 - Inventory Screen

As you'll now be able to spend money buying various items, you'll also need somewhere to hold all those items, right? This is how the inventory screen looks like:

2.1 - Items List:

This is where all the items you found or bought will show up, it features the icon for that item, its name and the currently amount of said item in your possession.

2.2 - Item Description:

Once you select an item, this screen will pop up with info regarding that item and some flavor text about it.

2.3 - Gift Button:

If the item is flagged as a gift, this button will show up and you can use it to give said item to any of the girls. The gift system will be mostly used to either start girl specific events or raise their stats (only a small amount of selected items will raise stats though).

3 - Gallery Screen

This is where all the pictures you receive through the SMS system will be stored.

I don't have any image to show for this screen as, so far, I didn't really created any content for it, just the barebones to see if it works, but visually it'll look a lot like the wallpaper selection screen, with icons unlocking once you receive an image through the SMS sytem.

4 - Special Episodes Screen

Another pretty simple and straight-forward screen. Here you'll be able to select and play any special episode (like the Halloween one) at any time you want.

5 - Wallpaper Selection Screen

I did mentioned that this is a phone, right? So yeah, any phone has a wallpaper that can be changed to whatever the user wants. This is how this screen will look:

It's a pretty straight-forward screen. Open it, select the wallpaper you want and that's it.

"But Lykanz... What if I don't like any of those wallpapers???"

Well, I got you covered buddy! You will also be able to have any pic you want as the phone wallpaper. You'll basically need to put whatever image you want inside the game's main folder and an icon will show up at the Walpaper Selection screen so you can use that image as a custom wallpaper.

More detailed info and a "how-to" guid will be provided within the game's files, don't worry.

One more thing, you'll also be able to use some of the images in the Image Gallery from the Extras menu as wallpapers for your phone, meaning that if you like a pin-up I released, you may be able to use it as your phone's wallpaper.

6 - SMS System Screen

Throughout the game, the girls will often text you to either start events related to them or you'll be able to text them to talk about random stuff. This is how the SMS system looks like:

When you activate the SMS system, the phone will switch to protrait orientation during the SMS conversation and go back to landscape mode afterwards.

6.1 - This is the frame for the SMS conversation, the messages will pop up as they are sent/received and the text will scroll when the phone screen is filled up, just like a real SMS conversation.

6.2 - Sometimes the girls will send you pics for your appreciation. You can open those pics to view them in full screen by just clicking on the image on the SMS screen, it'll open-up like this:

When you're done gawk-... I mean, admiring the image you can click the return button and continue chatting with the girl.

Once they send you a pic, it'll be saved in the phone's gallery so you can see it anytime you want.

7 - Wardrobe Screen

One of the main features that made me do this rework and also one of the main spotlights of this update, this is how it'll look like:

7.1 - Clothing Preview:

This will show up how the character will look with the selected clothing equiped. You can change between a Front and Back view at will.

7.2 - Clothing Category Tabs:

Here you can select wich category of clothing you want to have the girl wearing.

7.3 - Clothing List

This will show all the clothing pieces you have unlocked/bought for the girl. Some clothing sets will require the girl to have a certain amount of either Affection or Lust points, so you won't be able to have the girls wandering around only in the smallest lingerie from the get go... Sorry. Once you finish an event that can unlock a clothing set, it'll show up here. If you buy a clothing set from the clothing shop it'll show up here once it's delivered to you.

8 - Online Shopping Screen

One of the nicest things on this phone system is, without a doubt, the online shopping. The front screen for it will look like this:

8.1 - Friends' Projects Ads

As with any online environment, this one has ads showing up. These ones are from other fellow developers and are randomly generated, so you won't be seeing the same ad all the time. By clicking on them you'll be redirected to their respective patreon pages.

8.2 - Random Ads

Those are more like flavour stuff and vanity than anything else. They'll be randomly generate too and are just a jab at memes and those annoying, outlandish porn ads you see around the internet. You don't like those? Don't worry, you can block them on the phone's config screen.

8.3 - Stores List

Those are the online stores available for you to buy stuff from, they are from top to bottom: Clothing Store, General Goods Store, Adult Store, Nerdy Store. Each of them will have different items for different tastes. Some will be used for upcoming game content, others to buy gifts for the girls, etc, etc. Once you click on one of the buttons you'll be redirected to this screen:

8.3.1 - Category Tabs:

Those are the item categories that each store have for sale, each store has distinct tabs, clicking them will switch through item lists.

8.3.2 - Item List:

This is where the items from the selected tab will show up, by clicking them will open up the section on the right.

8.3.3 - Selected Item's Name and Description:

This is pretty much self explanatory, all the info regarding the selected item will be displayed here.

8.3.4 - Selected Item's Price:

Again, self explanatory.

8.3.5 - Selected Item's Preview:

An image showing what the item looks like.

8.3.6 - Buy Button:

Once you checked the item and is sure that you want to buy it, just click this button and you'll buy said item.

Once you buy an item it won't be automatically delivered to your inventory. Any item will take a set amount of time to be delivered to you. Cudomundópolis is literally on the ass end of the world, after all...

9 - Phone Config Screen

Last but not least, we have the Phone Config Screen, it looks like this:

In here you can change some aspects of the phone, it's pretty much self explanatory and mostly aesthetic stuff.

That's it for the whole phone system.

EXTRAS GALLERIES IMPROVEMENT

As you can see on the promo video for this post, the galleries got updated and improved a lot. I managed to make them more streamlined and added a lot of QoL stuff in them.

The Image Gallery is now a scrollig list instead of a system of pages.

The Music Gallery is basically a fully functional Jukebox now, you can advance the music currently playing, see information about the music's creator and a lot of other neat stuff.

The replay gallery now is also a scrolling list and I aded a neat little feature to it. It will look like this by default:

If you are struggling to unlock a scene or don't know what to do to unlock it, you can click on the "SPOIL ME ROTTEN" button up there and, once you hover over a locked scene, a small window will show up with info on how to unlock that scene, it'll look like this:

If you don't want to see any other tip, just click the "STOP SPOILING ME" button up there and they'll stop showing when you hover a locked scene.

So yep... That's pretty much it! Wow... That turned out to be a HUGE post... Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the news!

Have fun!