Straight!? Revamp v18 DevLog: Attack Plan Part 1 (Patreon)

Hey all,

I've actually been wanting to type this up for awhile-- right after dropping v17 at the donation tier, but because I always post Dev Logs for all the supporters, I was worried how I'd actually talk about the plan here without giving obvious spoilers about the previous update.

So now that v17 is out FREE, I wanted to bring everybody up to speed.

So WARNING: THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS ABOUT THE MOST RECENT FREE v17 UPDATE!

The Road to v18

So the real discussion about this next update is sort of a broad attack plan about all of Chapter 8. For those that have played the original, it's no secret that Chapter 8 is big as it seems each chapter is just bigger than the previous one all the way to the end. Naturally, as I have with previous updates, I've found it helpful to break down a plan for each chapter and how many updates I would potentially take to complete it. Given the scope of Chapter 8, I was originally thinking three or four.

I've been open recently about how hard v17 was. It's also obvious that v17 took longer than I wanted and while it was warranted, I'll admit I wasn't exactly happy about that. Since starting Chapter 7, I knew the next few updates were going to be pretty involved. Things like the shopping trip and outfit changes increases the workload and didn't allow for me to rely on reusing previous CGs for subsequent scenes. However, upgrading the quality of things like the dressing room set a new precedent for what to expect in the future and that standard carried into Chapter 8 and the design for the gymnasium and the locker room details. Those details combined with my continued attempts at wet skins (FFS, I swear one of these days I'm going to make the driest update ever just to avoid wet textures), really slowed down that last update way more than I anticipated. I'm happy with it. It was just a lot I underestimated.

Chapter 8 Tentative Attack Plan

So given how much I've complicated and added to the last few updates, I personally needed something different this time so I'm going to narrow the focus of v18 to just the beach and it's introduction and in the spirit of transparency, I want to explain why. Normally, this project is known for dropping fat updates; taking several months of development and dropping it into a fairly lengthy read that should simulate an "episode" of a show or something. I do try to cut the end of updates at decent time periods for those experiencing it as a serial novel because that's my favorite way to read it. So normally, I go big but this time I'm gonna go smaller. 1) I need a break and I need to feel like I'm pushing content out faster-- even if it's just one update that way. Now whether that happens or not-- who knows. I promise I'm alright and not burned out. It's more of a personal desire to make up for feeling behind schedule whether the community realizes that or not. 2) This allows me to focus on an important part of the story, new environments, and potentially expand it if I feel like it's warranted. 3) This means the update after, v19, would finish out Chapter 8 and for those who know where Chapter 8 is going, you know damn well the pace of things goes off the fucking rails. Allowing for a shorter beach-only update allows for me to shove all of that momentum after into one big update that should hit like it needs to with no break what-so-ever. Subsequently, going easier this time allows me to catch my breath before that ending. I know myself and I think this is the right move to make for the story and for those of you that are playing as it comes out.

Thus, the tentative plan now is to basically break Chapter 8 into 3 parts: v17 we already saw which was fairly big, v 18 which will be a bit smaller to give me a breather, and then v19 will go back to being big again and probably feel like someone driving an emotional race car up your ass.

What's Needed?

The majority of v18 and the beach event will take place off campus and require updating environments for the Revamp edition. This includes three new environments for sure plus outfit changes that I've already started working on. However, because of the length of this post, I'm not going to include information on those today. Today, I just wanted to share that things are moving forward and I have a plan and I'm already into it. Right now, I'm almost finished with the first scene. I have initial outfit changes already mapped out and tested and I have 3 new environments that are already completely revamped and relit and redesigned.

To make up for limited information on those environments, I'm going to do a separate post about them in the very near future and give you details with screenshots of what I'm working on. The beach is important to me because it was originally designed by Lazy Jayke who is no longer helping with the project. For those that missed it before, he also created the Chapter 8 intro movie we saw last update where the camera panned across campus and through the dorm window. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to his original files so I'm stuck only with what I did have and I wanted to preserve as much of his stuff into the project as I can. Therefore, I'll be doing a separate post just on that content, the changes I'm making, why I'm making those changes, and how I'm hoping they still honor his role in helping me with this project. So stay tuned for tons of behind-the-scenes details on that.

So for today, that's all. I just wanted to touch base and give people an idea of where thing are and what the plan has been and the why. Next post I'll show the receipts. I just wanted to get through this first scene then I'll drop some fresh eyes on those environments again.

All the best and thank you as always for backing this thing

-Aaryn