Progress Report

Do you know that feeling of smashing your head up against a wall repeatedly? No? Well, I do. It's what I've been doing for the past week. 

You see, I got utterly stuck trying to untangle an unexpected snag in my plans for 0.33. See, this is the reason why I map everything out in such detail. Even if I feel like I have everything under control, it's always the little details that trip me up. This time, it turns out that one of my big plans for this update would completely stop one of the planned paths dead before its intended conclusion. I've been trying to figure out a way to get around it. I'm not sure if there is a way for me to save that path, so I'm currently leaning towards running with the change and abandoning something that, honestly, wasn't that important anyway. Few of you would have ever seen it. Still, it's annoying when I suddenly realize that two things I had very clear in my mind are not compatible with each other at all. Oh well. 

The other thing I've been kind of stuck on has been trying to come up with compelling gameplay. I have a clear path to the end ready, but there are two situations in which I want to involve the player directly. The first one of these, which is vitally important to kick off most of the content in this version, is presenting the most significant problems. The main challenge is that the answer to this challenge is way too easy and would almost come off as insulting to most players. I'm trying to see if I can find an alternate way to approach the problem, that is more interesting. But if I can't, it's no big deal. 

The second player challenge is more compelling and also appears to be quite a lot easier to do, though I haven't fully mapped it out yet. Even if I end up discarding the player choice in the first challenge, the second one is the peak of the game's climax and is here to stay. Of all things to get right, this is the big one. 

I know it can be frustrating to read multiple progress reports in a row from me, where I have primarily been planning content instead of actually making it. It's frustrating for me too. I want to get going and see the results of all this work, but I need to iron out all the kinks (except the sexual ones) first. It has to take the amount of time that it takes.

I'm looking forward to getting past this hurdle because, for me, this is some of the most exhausting work I do. I'd much rather put on a YouTube video in the background as I pose characters in Daz Studio, but all good things require foreplay.

Anyway, I have also finished all the 52 images for the remade Primrose scene mentioned in earlier reports. It's looking good. Direct comparisons between the old and new images are quite eye-opening, to be honest. The old images were really grainy while the new ones are crisp and clear, and they render quicker. Primrose is going to benefit a lot from these upgrades over time. 

Now then, it's back to work for me. These challenges won't solve themselves. 

Until next time!