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Game Update #11
🕑 Added 2022-07-01 20:57:05 +0000 UTCJuly is here, which means it's time for the latest status update!
I rounded out last month by releasing into early access the 2nd part of Day Two. If you're at Sophomore level or above, I hope you've had a chance to play!
This last game release took far longer than I would have preferred but also helped clarify what is reasonable for me to accomplish without going into total burnout. I'm entering into July with renewed confidence, energy, and creativity, and I'm very excited to put that into the game.
Let's see where we're at:
Script
The writing for the long-teased Day Two evening hangout with Matt & Leo is underway! This is a sequence I've had in mind since the very beginning, although it's been reshaped by the story written since then.
This portion is also one of the first real tests of implementing the "choices matter" gameplay element. The permutations needed to account for earlier choices will only increase as the game develops.
For example, for this sequence I need to write 9 different openings to account for where Connor spent his afternoon, and then 2 different introductions for Leo to account for whether or not you've met him before.
A big help for planning all of this is, as always, the flow charts. This is the final chart for this section of the game:
This sequence is mostly linear, but things get complicated when I throw in choices and reactivity to those choices. This doesn't affect just writing, of course. The art and especially the coding are heavily impacted every time I choose to make a new variation.
Art
I'd say that this next update is 1/2 narrative and 1/2 art, perhaps even closer to a 1/3 for story and 2/3 for CGs. This is in sharp contrast to the most recent updates, which had far more writing work needed than art creation. This is due to player choice not just affecting the way the story plays out, but also which CGs appear for each choice made.
You can see this clearer in the third and fourth rows of the flowchart above.
The shape of each row is identical, and in fact much of the writing is the exact same. However, there needs to be entirely different art for each sequence to account for a choice that the player makes. There are also some CGs that have multiple versions based on even more choices!
As you can imagine, creating/rendering/editing a single CG takes longer than writing and will essentially set the limit for how quickly I can complete this update. But I've made the very ambitious vow to make sure choices matter as you play, so I'm happy to do it. Especially since all these variations just means more art of more hot guys that I get to make ;)
Coding
As above, the coding is also tricky when it comes to displaying choices like this. There is a lot of "if this flag was triggered, this scene appears," which is basic enough. But actually organizing that in the code itself can lead to errors.
An example of this is the part on Day Two that involves whether you promised to hang out with Matt. I figured out only recently that some scenes based on that aren't triggering properly, which is something I need to fix as part of this next release.
This Matt & Leo scene is relatively linear and will be a good time to refine some of the organization needed to keep things triggering properly. It will also serve as the first time I need to display different versions of the same image that don't all unlock at the same time. I think I've figured out how to present this in the gallery, but we'll see how it turns out!
Looking Ahead
With Matt & Leo's scene under creation, I'm thinking ahead to the following sequence, the Frat Party. With six main characters included in that sequence, the choice reactivity really starts to spiral outward.
How I plan this out will help shape the plan for each subsequent week spent in game. The guiding idea has always been that you can choose where to go, but you can't be in two places at once and events are happening simultaneously.
But how do I keep structure to all of this? My solution (for now!) is using anchor points, scenes that are always set to happen that the various other sequences can link to. The flowchart for the Frat Party isn't really created yet, but you can see the beginnings of this here:
The top part represents the follow-up to how Connor enters the party; did he come with Marco, stay after hanging out with Owen, come on his own...? There are then some choices on what Connor can do upon entering.
The second section with no outline yet is when the anchoring comes into play. You can see headings for each of the 6 characters, and then floating out in space are two boxes. Once filled in, each of those characters will have their own flowchart of events for that portion of the night, and then all characters will link to one of those two anchors. This means that the party itself remains manageably structured, but each smaller subsection of the evening plays out differently.
I'll have more to say on this in future updates, so just know I've got all of this in mind! The ultimate goal is to provide reactivity but not in such a way that it's untenable to create. How I do this is subject to revision as I go.
I think that's all I have to say this go around :) Thank you for your continuing support. I think this will be a very exciting month for the game, and I can't wait to share more of it with you!
Comments
Danny Nym
Haha, yeah, it can get very confusing to follow an in-progress game with this much branching. It's ultimately designed to be played through following whatever story path you choose rather than look at every single possible story in one playthrough. But of course as updates are released during development you'll probably want to look at it all. I'll make sure to note with each release where the new content is and where to save to easily access the next release's content :)
Danny Nym
An interesting idea for sure, but I wouldn't want to narrow the focus to just a few characters for a few reasons, one being I don't want to leave someone's fave with no new story for a long time. I do have measures in place to keep things contained; this won't be a big sandbox or anything. After Day Two we progress into weeks instead of going day by day, with 8 weeks total. Each week is divided up into subsections between anchor points, and only certain characters are available during those subsections. I'll discuss this more in future updates once we get to the point where I start implementing this :) I'm so glad you're enjoying the characters & story. And I will say, there will be an opportunity for sex very, very soon ;)
Fernando Ruiz
Besides the storyline, I am glad you have mapped out the development, because it would drive anyone nuts to figure out what is linked to what otherwise. 😅
Drex Coalson
Wow that's alot of info...it's exciting... and also nerve wrecking for your sake... You might absolutely hate this idea, but do you think it might be better after a certain point. To have the branches locked to certain characters? After, say day 3 or later from Conner's previous experiences you choose one group/character to follow. It would certainly save you the headache of all these different outcomes, and make your branches not get too hectic later on... Just an idea... Still, this is such a great story, really am enjoying all the characters... Even though the story hasn't gotten to actual physical sex yet.
