28/09/2024 Patreon Devlog (Patreon)

Helloo everyone! Time for this week's update! 👀 Let's jump in!

Summary

• Sent out beta to the Black Tea tier members

• Lots of error fixes

• Preliminary work on Episode 2

• Bonus story planning

Writing

In terms of writing, this week I spent some time planning out future bonus scenes in more detail.

I don't know that I'm going to have bonus scenes in every chapter (probably not) and I will probably have them less frequently later on in the game because there won't be as much room for them in the story when events are occurring more quickly.

But early on there is some room for them so I'm trying to plan out various moments I can explore outside the main storyline.（￢з￢）

Art 

No actual art this week but I did go through Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 to mark down possible CG moments.

Though this doesn't necessarily seem like an important/major accomplishment, it's important to know that balancing out CGs isn't always as easy as it might seem.

While trying to keep the artwork balanced across the LIs and considering what is going to make interesting moments - plus ensuring that I'm not simply drawing the same scene 6 times in slightly different poses - a lot of times I find myself unsure where to possibly put CGs.

Especially in early chapters where the LIs and Wil aren't necessarily doing interesting things together beyond walking around talking or sitting together talking, it can be tricky to decide what makes a good CG.

And combine that with the fact that I have to limit Wil's appearance in CGs. I want them to appear sometimes but because of the customisation and re-drawing necessary, I'm trying to somewhat limit how often I have to draw a 2-person CG.

Anyway, the point is that I took a day to go through and mark down possibilities then rule out some and make a list of where I'll be aiming to put the illustrations for the next episode.

Coding 

Most 'preliminary' work for Episode 2. This mostly includes things like adding Wil's expressions to the menus or setting up the BG changes and music cues.

This is stuff that doesn't rely on additional art assets like more sprites or or anything. 

It's all the stuff I tend to do before I get into the more tedious or time consuming part of coding future routes (like the flowcharts or sprite expressions, which will take weeks to get fully coded.)

Testing

With a slightly larger group now having access to the game there have been quite a few typos and other problems found.

All pretty minor stuff like flowchart nodes being misnamed or standard typos.

I've been making those corrections as they get posted.

Upcoming Week

As I wait for beta testers to completely make their way through the available content, there isn't much for me to do but work on Episode 2.

For the time being I will continue to work on the preliminary coding elements like adding in the SFX and sprite staging for Episode 2. (By sprite staging I mean that I will be coding in the entry and exit points of the characters, but not coding in their sprite expressions yet.)

I will probably also be working on the next set of bonus scenes. Or the bonus scene. I think the next one is actually a single group scene rather than a set of scenes.

And finally I will be doing more CG planning in terms of settling on exact compositions - though I am not sure I will start sketching just yet.

With luck, this week will wrap up the beta testing and we'll move into Patreon early access for the yellow tea tier and above.

I am looking forward to finally being able to do that first episode release. It's been a long time in coming. ╰(*°▽°*)╯