Progress Report

Hey all. Just a quick check in so you know where we're at with the upcoming update.

So far, things are moving along at a good pace. We're still a little way off, but I'm expecting to have my stuff done within the next week or so. All going well, everything will continue smoothly and we'll have some new juicy content for you.

Now then, I hinted at this previously, but I think it's time to to reveal the surprise. 

Say hello to Rusty! His name has come up a few times in the plot already and we had intended for him to first appear in Lukas' route, but the scene we're working on for the upcoming release had the perfect opportunity for him to briefly appear at the very end of Tai's route, so you'll be getting to meet our big rottie a little sooner than expected. Note that this sprite isn't finalized yet, there are a few adjustments still to be made to his face, but otherwise he's good to go.

That aside, I've knocked out many of my other tasks planned for this build including the redesign for the backgrounds and illustrations gallery. This was an enlightening lesson in programming discipline. One of the main reasons it took so long to get to was me wanting to replace the underlying systems with something more elegant. In the end, I've opted to keep the existing system more or less intact and I think we're better off for it. After all, putting time into more elegant code would have been time and effort for little more than my own satisfaction. It likely wouldn't have even been noticeable on the user end, and while such a thing makes sense if the old code is particularly high maintenance, it's... really not. So it stays. The general interface and functionality of the gallery screens in question will be getting an overhaul in the process, but I'm not reinventing the wheel.

There's a little bit of work left to get the updated gallery finalized, but for the most part everything is in place. The Character Sprites screen and the Special Scenes screen at this stage remain as is, I'll likely tackle those next update. 

That aside, I've not started on the implementation of the chapter selection system we have planned for this update yet, however it has never been far from my mind and I've honed in on a theoretical design for the screen which should look quite striking and intuitive. It's purely in my head at this stage, but it shouldn't take long at all to whip everything up when I do get stuck in. 

After that, all that remains is the remaining work on 20x2. As it stands, it's approximately half way done, but won't take more than a couple of sessions to lock in. 

Anyway, I think that's about it for now. I'll check in again in a few days time when we're hopefully nearing the finish line!