Month end progress report (Patreon)

It took a lot of time, too much time, but finally the Chapter 9 Part 2 was finished. Almost. The gallery and some animations are still being made, but the alpha version is available and can be played. And, what is still missing will be added soon. At the time of writing, three new animations have been completed, and a fourth is being made today. I render these at night because they take several hours.

The gallery is also coming along nicely. At the beginning of the year, a series of images from the Prologue to Chapter 9 Part 1 was completed. That's 96 pictures, although I remake a few last week because I've learned a few things in the last year that have improved the quality a bit. And this week I'll finish the remaining 14 pictures for Chapter 9 Part 2. If all goes well, the final v0.11 should be released next week.

And this week I will try to release the walkhrough.

As for the future. I'd like to spend a few days, or two weeks at the most, away from Rise of the Crime Lord. Most of my last ten months have revolved around this game. Except for a period when I became depressed about unpleasant phases in my life. And then I buried myself in this job so I wouldn't think about that period. So I've spent a lot of time with Rick and Cora, so now I need a break to recharge. Altrough, knowing myself, I come back to them even during the rest, because last night, for example, I wrote six pages full of one of the story lines from Chapter 10.

What is for sure is that no new pictures will appear here for a while, because I won't start rendering until a story thread is properly programed. I decided to do this because Chapter 10 will be very big and complex. Chapter 9 Part 2 is more than twice the size of Part 1, and Chapter 10 is likely to be larger than the two parts of Chapter 9 combined. I have to make six story threads, these:

Rick and Cora travel together.

Cora is travelling alone.

Cora is travelling with Miranda.

Cora is travelling with Beth.

Cora is travelling with Daniel.

And, if Rick stays home. What happens here depends on his relationship with Miri (if she stays at home too), Ash, Judit, Jess, Rachel and Kendra.

Of course, there will be overlaps, images that I can use on several threads, but it will still be a big job. For this reason, it is possible that the release will be made in several instalments, as in the case of Chapter 9. But I'm still deciding.

What is certain, however, is that I will start a second, side project. I mean, I've already started. Not at the expense of Rise of the Crime Lord, which remains the main project. At the same time, there are a lot of idle times when the development of Rise is going on, but I can do other things. For example, if I render Rise, I can write the other one. If I write Rise, I can render the side project.

I used to fit my main job into these periods. Since I have been out of work since September (only a few articles as a freelancer), these periods have been freed up.  This way I can deal with this side project. Which I need, because I've been telling the Rise story for years, and I'm getting a bit bored. So I do it partly for myself, for variety. Of course, from the outside it might look like, well, the guy can't move fast with one, and then he stupidly throws himself into another. Maybe a little bit, but believe me, I thought about this decision for more than a year. And for ten months, I've been testing how much this project would hinder Rise. So far, none, all the delays I've suffered have been either due to something outside my control or due to something stupid I did because of Rise.

What's worth knowing about this project for now is that it will be a sci-fi, to be precise, space opera, but on a much smaller scale than Rise. Decisions will be important here too. The name of the protagonist and the NTR road can be decided at the beginning, and there will be only one protagonist, not two. There will also be more first person views. 

And you'll almost certainly be able to play with the side project before you play Chapter 10. But again, not because I will neglect Rise. Simply because I've already written several chapters of the science fiction story and the render will be faster because of smaller scale. By the time the rendering of Chapter 10 starts, 2-3 chapters of the side project could be completed.

Then, of course, there's the plan, which usually doesn't survive implementation. One thing is for sure: Rise is a priority. Now I'll finish what I need for chapter 9, finalize v0.11. Then I write a story from the outline of chapter 10. Which I then start programming. In the meantime I will render the side project. And, as a bonus, I will try to create a working android version of Rise.

I will say that hopefully it will not take another ten months to complete a chapter. Fortunately, there is not another gallery that takes a month to complete. Hopefully I won't make another stupid decision and then stick with it for 2-3 months even though I know for sure it was a stupid decision. And I very much hope that the series of tragedies that started last May is now over. These were the obstacles, two of which were due to me. I try not to do that anymore, because I don't want to release only one chapter a year. Because then I'll be a grandfather by the time I finish. :)