timoteoxo
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Patch is here.
🕑 Added 2023-09-05 19:28:26 +0000 UTCSo there are a lot of things to discuss: As of this writing, It's currently still uploading the Mac version of the zip file- 2GB file. The PC version is already there. I'm uploading on the google drive folder for Gold. (I'll repost the link to that later but the previous post of the links should still work. Let me know if it doesn't.) I will upload on Mega next and share the link here once that's done. In 5 days, I'll upload it on the other folders for the rest of you guys. My ISP has very slow uploads though........
Patch version will be v1.2 but I’m keeping that less visible and will instead refer to this is Chapter 2. There was some confusion with the version number implying it’s a finished game.
This release is in a sort of beta stage. As previously discussed, you are able to play from start to finish of the chapter depending on your choice in the very last scene in chapter 1 – One of those choices will lead to a route that abruptly ends at a certain point about 30% of the way through in this patch. There will be a message at the end explaining this. The other route will be the one that’s complete story-wise. And I encourage you to load and pick the other route when you reach the end of one.
Also, the other route and upcoming patch, should not take as long as this to release, there are scenes already in here that will be shared by both paths.
Things I need to discuss:
MAPS See above: Maps for your Cell, the Hall at your block building and a map somewhere up in the Clouds. These are places where you point and click on stuff to get you to other places, talk to people, move the story forward etc. I should state here that the last 2 images above are especially large - larger than your screen and would have to be panned around to see the other areas - edgescroll or click and drag both work. I did cut out the largest Map - the prison map. More details on that below. It's an important map that unlocks a lot of exploration at the middle of the chapter but I had to cut it out because all the stuff it includes aren't done yet. Because it's cut, the middle part of the chapter will involve you being shoehorned from scene to scene of the main story instead of having to go to the places on your own and possibly making a lot of detours. In effect, this release will be very straightforward in terms of playthrough whereas the intention is to move away from that and start introducing a lot of detours. That will be in the next patch.
Things that I am working on and will be patched in ASAP:
- 1. Music – I recall telling you guys I’m composing music for this. I’ve stopped for a bit because it’s time consuming and distracting from working on the visuals. I did buy a music pack from Paramount music that’s completely royalty free and very lax with licensing – mostly ambient music, but very high quality. I’ll add those in as soon as I finish the following content below.
- 2. Threads Screen – You’ll see it ingame, but it will be empty, and the quests/threads in it are also empty with placeholder images. It’s still there because I was testing functionality. I removed the text after reading it today and thought it sucked ass. I will rewrite them, then add it back in. It’s nothing major. The game will be playable without. It’s like a built-in guide for what to do next, and some recap on what happened in each particular quest/thread. I didn’t like my writing in the descriptions, specifically, and I’m rewriting these now.
- 3. Inventory – Similar case, needs flavor text on the important items you’ll get in the story. A couple items you get in the last part of the game, haven’t been completed. Your MC will also start to collect people’s underwear(an homage to Robin Morningwood) if you choose, and will be able to collect 2 this time. But, as with the rest of the items in the inventory, this is still a WIP. You’ll get the items in your inventory but interacting with them will still show a “WIP” sign. The underwear, though, will be like in Robin Morningwood: you sniff them, you get a sexy cutscene. That’s the plan anyway.
- 4. The character screen –In the first scene of the chapter, you will wake up in your cell which is the first map in the patch. HINT: You won’t be able to get out if you don’t look into the mirror and then j*ck off. When you look into the mirror, you’ll have to answer 3 questions. These don’t affect the gameplay for now, but it will record some variables that will matter later on. Upon finishing this, you’ll unlock the character screen - still empty for now but it should contain some overview of your character based on those 3 questions, as well as a lot of flavor text and art about other characters. For now, it’s empty. I’m just about finished with painting over character icons which I teased a few months ago. They will go here.
- 5. Fixes to bugs or other gamebreaking issues you'll report.
AS you can see most of the WIP stuff are about the game elements I’ve added. I was warned a while ago not to add too much. But I’m pushing through. Most of these are really far along their journey to completion so it would be a waste to stop. They add a ton of flavor to the whole presentation of the game from a straightforward VN to something else.
Things I am working on that will be bundled into the next (still in chapter 2) patch:
- 1. A very important interactive SEX scene in the middle of this chapter that I teased will be all video – well, this time it’s not because they took ages to render. Only about 1/3 was rendered as video and the rest are still images. I’m still going to finish this as I believe it’s incredibly fun to have and experience.
- 2. The Prison map – which unlocks your ability to do the things below in the middle of the chapter.
- 3. Hangouts – Similar to the previous chapter. You’ll be able to improve relationships with the dateable characters. This time, it’s going to be via – Prison map instead of picking out a from list. You’ll be exploring where these guys are in the map, and will likely end up finding other stuff as well.
- 4. Classes – Almost similar to hangouts, it is kinda like hangouts except some characters will only be available to meet as a classmate, or teacher instead of finding them in the map. I believe I teased an image of Lance in a different uniform – he’s one of the instructors in a particular class.
- 5. The rest of the story for the other route-
- 6. Side quests – I teased one side quest for this release. You’ll like encounter hints about it but as the Threads screen is still wip, it’s also paused for now. But you’ll still read about it in passing.
- 7. Other locations related to side quests – The library and the library aide I mentioned earlier falls into this category. I cut them for now, to be added in the next patch.
Do tell me stuff about the patch.
- 1. Speech bubble mishaps. I was still replaying chapter 1 for this while already building the distributable. It’s highly possible that I missed a specific dialogue/narration and they will end up within a speechbubble that’s offscreen. Please let me know of any that you find. The new chapter(2) will be less likely to have unplaced bubbles because I’ve been working on it back and forth between rendering and scripting. If you do encounter a speech bubble that you cannot read, you can view the history to read what it says(click on “History” at the bottom of the screen.) and let me know so I could fix it asap.
- 2. Bugs, things that feel awkward and malfunctioning.
- 3. Grammar/language related stuff that you feel is bad or could be improved.
- 4. Art stuff – model clipping. Character facial expressions that you didn’t like, didn’t feel effective, or maybe too much.
If you have other suggestions and comments don’t be afraid to reach out. I am thinking of starting a discord server just so there will be a more direct way of contacting me. I’ll get back to you guys on that when it’s ready.
BTW, if anyone needs an Android version, let me know. I did not make one preemptively because Android apps have a hard limit of 2GB. Final size for this release is a few MB over 2GB so it’s not going to work. I would need a separate build for that and compress the images further. Let me know if anyone wants one. No worries. But it will have to wait till tomorrow. I’m kinda sleepy now.
Let me know your thoughts…
As always, I appreciate your support. This one was a very late one. I’ll do my best to change that for the next patches.
Thanks.
Comments
mta
I'll look into that. Is there a way to do it on itch, with early access for patrons? Because if there is, it would be easier, they'll actually handle the downloads better. I'll research more on that. For now, the plan is for the early access only on patreon, with 3rd party hosting sites for the downloads, the itch/public version will be much later.
mta
You're very kind, Wlad. I appreciate your message. There's still a lot of stuff to be done and I'm fired up now. Most of the stuff related to the rpg elements (thread, inventory, etc.) I've already managed to make them work, I just need to actually put content into them :)...(Had to relearn python classes for that which I think could also be used elsewhere. The code for the gallery, for example, is a huge mess. :)..
I have, I believe "milked" it (pun intended) quite a lot. I only went through Evan's scenario, but it said already a lot. It is a really nice surprise, I was only expecting new content but no, you rehauled the whole game. The main menu is really great looking, the paralax effect, even if a bit out of fashion, is working great. The new bubble effects are nice, but the style feels somehow out of place for some reason. It quirks here and there, I believe there is some fine-tuning to do in the system, but the basic works very well in term of story telling. The story expands greatly, I like the realistic approach, Coraline style, of the MC. I really loved the way that you branched out the story, even if I think it will become quite a complex thread to maintain, but I see you started implementing inventory and a quest system. In term of content, the animations are incredible, very smooth and believable. In overall, this release is great. It took a lot of time but it proved worth it. Congratulations on the great work !
Alex
Are you gonna update itch or create a separate patreon itch page?
