DevLog Update: Watching TV and Ernie (Patreon)

Hey all,

So I've been kinda quiet and that's mostly because I've been trying to organize the script a bit and pumping out images. The beginning of the game has all those repetitious parts that I'm not a fan of. I'm trying to streamline those while still keeping the essence of the original writing. It's proven... challenging.

However.  I'm making progress. Bad news is, and I warned about this before, these first few updates are going to be a bit slow. Mostly because I have to reposition and reshoot every scene in the early game. I'm scrapping all the early shots because they're awful. So all those nights of watching tv,  and studying are needing reshot to allow for more dynamic conversation shots and better lighting. However, once I get most of those shots done for the first few updates, it should be easier in later updates because most of the time, I can just pull up the old image and change the outfit. 

That's the plan anyway. So bear with me...

Today's Before and After shots will focus on two different interactions: Meeting Ernie for the first time and Watching TV. 

Slideshow.... go!

Image 1: This shot is from the original game and is literally like one of three pictures of Ernie for the beginning interactions. Let's just be honest... it's boring and awful so let's stop looking at it.

Image 2: Alright, image 2 shows our ole pal Ernie in the revamp. Lot to talk about here. First up, the new version is going to change where we meet Ernie at. Rather than bumping into him in the classroom, we'll literally bump into him out in the hallway. This hallways set was meshed together by Jordyn. Part of the original problem with the old game was no transitions between scenes. In this revamp, I'm gearing for more world-building and transitions. So now when you enter school, Zack will walk through a short hallway just to expand the world a bit. Obviously, we'll see other students in there as well. But all the Ernie conversations will take place in the hallway. The other thing this shot shows is the changes with the original screwdriver. The old game had a stock image of a fucking screwdriver from some place. It was a popup and it worked good enough for the time. However, the game has become more cinematic so I didn't want popups because they kinda pull you out of the world. So small change but those popups will go away and just be normal shots now.

Image 3: Here's a great example of how I don't plan things out in advance. Legit talked myself into showing you the hallway as I typed out all that shit for Image 2 and I'm totally not going back to fix it. But yep, here's the hallway. So we'll see more angles of this hallway as the game progresses but this will be our transition into class now. Again, thanks to Jordyn for helping set this scene up for me and saving me a few days. 

Image 4: Back to the original game. Here's the original shot of Zack setting up the TV in the dorm room. The best part about all these TV shots is that the TV is backwards. Fucking thing has been backwards since the beginning cause I'm an idiot.

Image 5: In the revamp, Zack will go through a few extra shots including setting up the TV and the table separately so we get a few more angles of this. The TV won't change. Yes, it looks like it's from 2004 but that thing was iconic from the original game and I'm not changing it. But also, look... there's a button on the TV cause I turned it around, lol.

Image 6: Ok, this is probably the most staggering change coming up here. Image 6 is the original shot of Braden watching TV with Zack in their separate beds during those early game scenes.

Image 7: This shot shows the changes coming for the TV night shots. The idea in these updated shots was to bathe the room in a blue hint to make it look like the TV was on. We'll only be showing the TV screen briefly and it'll be pretty uneventful because the focus will always be on the characters and dialogue, but expect a lot different evening feel to the dorm room nights than you saw in the original game with shots like this. We'll also see a lot of facial expression differences, Braden tends to roll around a lot in bed. Just little things like that.

Ok. That's all for today. If you don't follow me over on Twitter, you may wanna keep an eye out over there. I may post another screenshot randomly and all retweets and exposure from y'all helps me out a ton. 

No ETA on v0.2 yet. Like I said, it's taking awhile to get these first events down but should hopefully speed up more after that. Right now, I'm at the part in the script where Zack is getting ready to fix the heat.

Thank you all for the continued support and hope you enjoy the teasers.