2021-10-30

Time to do this again, so let’s get to it.

Progress

Production is going good and things are still moving forward. The new production cycle is working very well but has been stalled by code refactoring.

On the downside, the new code caused a number of problems that seemed like they were going to require some ugly work arounds. But in the eleventh hour a single discovery was made that seemed to solve multiple issues at once!

You can read my rantings at the time of discovery here on the discord where I was bitching and having a eureka moment simultaneously.

Now that the string interpolation issue with my nested objects is solved I can now give players access to an unprecedented number of variables in the game. Names, nicknames, relationships, etc. And not just with the MC between non-MC characters as well.

This of course meant I needed to do a quick two day redesign of the planner feature so that players can easily access all of these variables, but all the hard stuff is now done.I have a little clean up to do on the back end and the new code and script converter are up to date and ready to work.

Improvements

Some invisible improvements were also made on the back end to simplify things. The number of custom classes used to manage the different aspects of the game were cut from 14 down to 4.

I consolidated a lot of functions and the new data structure used to manage all these player changeable variables is actually much simpler than what I built before and doesn’t require as much overhead to maintain.

We can now add characters and variables on the fly with out any need to recode or rebase. It’s honestly as simply as me opening a text file, adding a line with the variable name and the value and saving. When renpy starts it does the rest.

And if I need to change something about a character, I can just modify the file without having to push out any kind of corrective code. There is also a layer of protection built in where if I change a variable in the game, but a player has already modified the variable themselves, then my change will be ignored and player customization is prioritized. This way no matter what changes I make to the game, your personal changes will always be kept.

To Do

So to give you greater visibility into the production process I’m including a link to the Trello board I recently started using to track the production tasks.

This will open up the production process and allow you to see what is on the slate, what is done, what needs to be done. Etc. Feel free to check it out here:https://trello.com/b/WABLmsaI/doctor-amana-production-board

Once the tasks on the ‘Current Update’ list is complete, I can push out the first update and immediately start on the ‘Next Update’. Once the current list is done, the next update list should hopefully take less than 2 weeks to compete! So let’s make November awesome!

That’s it for now.

We’ll talk soon and as always, thanks for hanging in there!

Salute,

Roman

2021-10-05

Alright, I know this is long overdue and even now I'm trying to scramble it out so I can get back to work.

There has been a lot happening this last month and I'm feeling very optimistic. A lot of things have changed, so let's just dive right in.

What's Changed?

Demand at the real job has been on the rise and they are throwing more salary at me than I can say no to. This of course further drives a divide into the idea of ever making the Doctor Amana game full time because it'll take years for Patronage to ever surpass what my job is paying me. But that doesn't mean I'm done making the game. Far from it. It's just required an adjusted mindset which I've spent last month developing and will spend this month testing.

The Headspace

My mentality up until this point has been all about how to make this game alone. Where can I automate, what can I optimize and how much can I just get done! So far it's worked and we've implemented a number of time saving processes in terms of coding and image processing. Unfortunately moving forward this isn't going to be enough. I'm already severely delayed on the next release and as each week sees less and less time devoted working on the game, the delays have become untenable. Right now I'm only averaging about eight to ten hours a week on the game and this just simply isn't going to do.

The original question was, "What can I automate and trim to make development faster?" It was a good start. But now I've reframed the issue and the new question is, "How can I produce a single completed chapter in 25 to 30 hours?"

If going forward I am able to put in one to two hours a day on the game with possibly three or four on the weekend, with a 20 to 30 hour turn around I would be producing a single chapter every two weeks.

[(1.5 hours x 5 days) + 3.5 hours] = average of 11 hours a week, 22 every two.

That needs to be the new goal!

The Task

With this new target in mind I started tearing apart my development process. I continued to produce but at this point I began timing how long specific tasks are taking. What is my overall average development speed and where can additional time be ruthlessly cut?

As I began mining the processes I began to identify places where additional efficiencies could be obtained. (I may do a separate series of posts going into some of the more clever places I was able to shore up time but I'm trying to keep this post on point.) Now, for what it's worth, I think I'm close and I'm ready to spin up the machine and see if we're close to the mark.

October?!

My goal for the month of October is to test this new process and see how fast new content can be spun out. To determine the viability of it, I need to start two chapters from scratch and see how long they take to produce. Since I already have several chapters queued up for reworking, I want to start with those. This will give me a good baseline to determine if any additional changes or cuts need to be made.

The goal is to produce faster, with no deterioration in quality (perhaps even some improvement).

The Truth

My real job may be sucking up all of my time these days, but that doesn't mean I'm any less interested in this game. Fact is, I've spent too much to time learning Reny, Daz, Blender, Substance and a whole slew of other skills to produce this story. I'm not going to let all that training go to waste.

Plus, I'm in love with these characters and I want to continue working with them.

After struggling to keep this game going for so long, giving up would be such a devastating blow that I don't want to bear. Besides, I'm not sure I could. If I told you today that I was canning the game and it was abandoned, it would simply haunt me. Because these characters are always in the back of my mind. They're stuck in my head demanding a place on the screen. So yeah, I couldn't stop now even if I wanted to.

But rather than say, 'I'll work when I can and it'll be done when it's done.' I want to build a plan of production that works within my other commitments and allows me to kick out better and faster than ever.

It's a struggle finding that balance. But now that I'm looking at this production problem from a different angle, I've put together some things that I think will help.

Let's take October to find out!

I'll use the new process, make a couple of chapters and then you can decide if it's on par with what you've come to expect of the game so far.

Here's to hoping I can do you proud.

Salute!

2021-09-03

Good morning everyone. I know it’s been awhile since we had a chat and for that I apologize. I’ve only got a few things to run over with you and then we’ll get back to work immediately. I promise.

For starters, I want to apologize for ghosting you for part of July and all of August. Those who’ve followed the game for a while know it is highly uncharacteristic of my chatty ass to go so long without a peep. For reasons of personal privacy I won’t go into all of the specifics, but I can give you the broad details.

The company that I work for had a data breach at the beginning of July and this launched me head first into overtime and travel pay as I had the inglorious job of visiting our data centers. It’s shit work. And I’ve spent more time in airport terminals and hotels than any person should have to. Between laptops, shitty hotel wifi, company networks and being run ragged from sunrise to sunset, I unceremoniously put all my PR work on hold and doubled down.

I guess after several months of me stealing time from the real job to work on the game meant sooner or later karma would come full circle and they’d want that time back. Well they took it and now I’d say we’re even.

Anyway, while on the road, working on the art for the game was simply not possible. But I did get many hours of writing in while mid-flight and waiting around airport coffee shops. So while the month wasn’t a total loss (I got about three chapters written!), the part of the job that needs to get done to get a release ready was on hold. But I’m back now and it’s time to fix that. With so much content ready in the wings, I can focus solely on art production.

I’ve spent this week putting everything back in order, catching up on emails and sorting things out around the house. But come Monday I’ll be ready to jump right back into this thing and start hammering away in Daz. Right now my goal is snap off three live streams a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 3 to 4 hours each. That should get us a solid 12 to 15 hours of art a week for the next couple of weeks if we can maintain. Naturally I want to do more, but I have to wait and see how the scheduling with the real job works out. But 3 days a week, 3 to 4 hours a day is the bare minimum I’m aiming for. Hopefully we’ll get in more.

So for those that hung in there with me despite my unacceptable lack of communication, I thank you tremendously. The game is not “aboned” and I’m as passionate as ever. I was obviously unable to work on the art (which is the part that desperately needs completed), but I did have the game on my mind the whole time and put down just over 30,000 fresh words into the script. At this point I have to take whatever wins I can.

I guess that’s all I got for now. We’ll talk soon and I’ll see you Monday for a fresh art live stream! After all, we have Emily and Jane both waiting for chapter completion! I dare not keep them waiting any longer.

Again, thank you for your continued support and I look forward to working with you again soon!

2021-07-20 Been a hot minute and a busy month, so I figure it's time to catch everyone up.

What's there to say. Working, working, and then working some more.

Time spent on the game slowed down a bit for the last week and a half. The real job blues hit hard and I career demands stole a bunch of that time. Summer is a busy month and I'd been putting it off for as long as I could. But it was finally time to produce some real results or I was going to be up against the wall.

Render machines are up a running, images are being kicked out, and I need to get on some post production so I can get some play test material rolling through the doors.

I'm not going to get as much released this month as I'd hoped cause the real job back doored me. But I'm going to do my best to get at least one of these chapters buttoned up real quick with others to follow close behind.

We're half way done with Emily, Lupita and have an early start on Jane. And there is a the Nanami rework happening. So there's a lot going on. Little by little we'll get it jammed out.

In the meantime, I've got Sarah to help coach me and cool me down. Deep breathes right. We'll get it all done. Looking to stream 5 days this week and next to try and jam out as much as we can at the end of the month.

Oh, and another upside, I got to start working on Sarah's first scene today. With that we'll have two new love interests introduced in Emily's chapter. Should be fun times. Salute!