Right, another short update this week. I’ve spent most of the past week working on other projects (I happen to be the lead coder for two other projects in addition to Pandemonium) but that’s all finished up now and it’s back to work.
Next week I’ll be showing off some of the new gameplay features of Chapter 5. Each chapter is going to have gameplay mechanics introduced, and Chapter 5 has a lighting engine and electricity puzzles (the puzzles may get their own post at some point).
Not much to say this week. As you might expect, starting out a new chapter means you’re short on things to show off.
Urimas has completed the initial spritework for Chris and Christine, as well as getting me a lot of tiles I’ll be needing for the Cryogenics Facility. Chicken has got us a concept out for one of the enemies and Hund is inking stuff. I’ve mapped out most of the first part of Chapter 5 but haven’t put it together or started all the scripting work.
That’s right, the time has come to select the next chapter to undergo development. If you’re a 5$ patron or higher, go here and fill out the survey. The poll closes next week, at which point I will release the results and the team will begin working on whichever chapter won.
The bug reports from Chapter 1 have largely slowed down, so I’ll be doing some promotion work this week. If you have any bug reports in v1.03, please let me know on the forums.
Chicken, Urimas, and I also have a secret bit of bonus content, but it’s still under development. Expect more on that as it comes closer to fruition.
Today, we have a bugfix release. Click here to get it, or check out the downloads page.
There may or may not be another round of bugfixes next week, depending on if there are any bugs remaining in 1.03. Otherwise, it’s straight onto development of the next chapter.
Speaking of, Chickenwhite is currently finishing up the character redesign work. I will be releasing that as soon as it’s done. We will be doing a Patron Poll next Monday to vote on the next chapter. 5/10 dollar patrons get to vote, so if you’re considering it, this is your last chance as Patreon will begin charging on November 1st.
Huge thanks to all the forumcreatures who posted bug reports and suggestions. A full changelog is below the break.
We’re almost done over here. I’ve made a number of changes from Prototype 3f, including getting the LOS raytracer in. Now enemies won’t be able to see you through walls!
I’ve updated the screenshot page to show people who didn’t get to play Prototype 3 just what the game looks like.
I expect that Chapter 1 should be completed by next week. If not, then definitely the week after. We pretty much have to color several more images and it’s ready to go.
I did just receive some suggestions from a forumgoer (you know who you are) and will have them implemented by the time Chapter 1 comes out.
Get psyched!
So, this week the artists are still closing in on completing the remaining work, and I’ve been adding some useful features as requested by playtesters. Prototype 3f will be going out to Patrons sometime this week depending on how long it takes me to get the features in as well as the bug-fixes that were pointed out to me.
We will also be getting a bit of bonus content from some guest artists. You’ll have to wait until Chapter 1 comes out to see it, of course.
I’ll have more to say about the upcoming changes in a Design with a Grain of Salt post later on.
Small update this week. Prototype 3e will be going out to patrons probably tomorrow. It contains some balance fixes and art updates, as well as a new area since someone asked for more slime content.
Chicken needs to finish the Ghost TF sketches, and also update the Skullcrawler combat pose. After that, we just need to ink and color everything and Chapter 1 is ready to ship.
I added a new feature: Tourist Mode. In this mode, your party never misses attacks and deals triple damage. It can be toggled on and off from the options menu at any time.
I added this mode because, let’s face it, this is an ecchi game. Some people don’t care about the JRPG component at all and just want to do dirty things to our protagonists. Tourist mode should make that a lot easier without robbing anyone else of the challenge of a finely crafted RPG experience. It also won’t rob of them of whatever garbage I happen to put in front of them, either.
There’s also a few bug fixes that Chicken noticed and a few script logic changes concerning the Claudia scene.
Today, we have a development update, the results of the Patron Pal Poll, and also the bi-monthly budget report. Continue reading “Development Update: September 18th, 2017”
First off, to all Patrons, there is a poll this week! Head over the Patreon and fill that sucker out so I know what you thought of the survey in a less-than-scientific-but-more-than-chaotic manner.
Since I don’t have time for it right this week, a Prototype 3 Poll will be issued next week. This is to find out what you, the adoring public, thought of the various parts of Prototype 3. It will be sent out to Patrons since they, obviously, are the ones who actually played the damn thing.
After a fairly well-received prototype release to Patrons, I’m whipping the artists to get back to work on completing all the missing art. We’ve already got a few new shadings and dialogue poses done, and Hund has redone his shading style for the dialogue portraits to unify the style among all the different portraits (as well as speeding up the normally fairly slow process of shading). We’ve also got a much better pose for Blythe’s dialogue, since Chicken wasn’t really happy with the first two passes.
Sprites continue to be done. Urimas has nothing to do for a month. Maybe I’ll get him to work on super secret stuff?
I’ve received a number of bug reports and have basically cleared them all up, at least to my knowledge. If you’re a patron, the bug-fix patches and releases should be in your message inbox. If you’re not a patron, then congratulations: You won’t get stuck or deal with bugs when you get to play Chapter 1.
I’ve also taken a few suggestions on improving the overall gameplay. I’ve fixed up some of the debug menu stuff, changed a bit of the timings, and have a few features I want to add to make the game just that much smoother. For example, I want to add a Skillbook Library to the campfires. Any skillbook you’ve found but couldn’t understand is added to a list and you can re-read them at campfires instead of having to backtrack.
I have an associate writer/editor/pornographer working on going through the dialogue and narration to deal with spelling errors and pacing problems. This individual has done editing work with me before and should help to smooth out the problems that are attendant with having written some scenes months ago but still having them in the game.
Editing work should easily be done before Prototype 4 goes live.
Some bonus content is also in the pipeline. I am currently cleaning it up and finishing off the edge cases before it goes for testing. This extra content concerns werecats and features a quasi-timed event (where the timing is based on battles and not seconds).
We may be getting extra artistic help to add the new content, but that’s not finalized yet so I won’t say any more. There will likely be an update next week.
Prototype 4 will probably become Chapter 1’s full release unless a major bug is discovered. The only thing preventing it from coming out right now is that the art isn’t completed and there are a small number of bugs/improvements I want to deal with.
I do not have a date set for Prototype 4, as it depends far more on the artists than on me.
Pandemonium Development 