An update in which work was done on the issues of the previous release, preparing new mechanics and improving existing ones. As in 0.2.0, the emphasis is on introducing new locations and characters.

Download [0.2.1]:
Google Drive: Win/Linux | Mac | Android | DLC-4K
MediaFire: Win/Linux | Mac | Android
pixeldrain: Win/Linux | Mac | Android | DLC-4K

DLC-4K-0.2.1.rpa - 4K images DLC, put into the "../game" folder .

Thanks to everyone who supports this project! Work on the next update is already underway, I will give an approximate date in 3 weeks in the next progress report.

Hello everyone. I'm back from the village, broke up with my gf, renovated the room, so I'm changing everything in my life and continuing to work.


Open World
Prepared code for the open world, weather effects, location sounds, rain sounds, everything is ready. Caching has also been added to avoid delays during transitions.

On phones, a reduced size of panoramic images is used to reduce the load on video memory. Rain now has direction. When the camera rotates, the angle of inclination changes. Depending on the weather (e.g., a storm), the filter changes to a more grey-blue one.


Shaders
A new rounded-edge shader (squircle) with a glass effect. Gives shape to the game UI.

The glow follows the cursor. When music is playing, it shines in different colors.


Translation of Inscriptions
Since the game has many inscriptions that are unclear to some players, the ability for translators to localize them has been added.

Fixes and Small Details
The music player no longer stops at random moments. 
The quality of most audio has been noticeably improved by changing export settings. 
Support for old saves has been improved, new variables are now added more safely.


Thank you for your attention and thank you so much for supporting me ❤️

🎄Report #17 🧣 The Pioneer’s Hard Road ❄️

Merry Christmas and happy upcoming New Year holidays, everyone!

This game has always been something special to me, which is why I spend most of my time working on it, even though I seldom talk about it. In this report I won’t go into technical details like in previous posts, but will focus more on the tangible progress.


Flight Debrief // first pancake is always lumpy

The previous release after switching to the new pipeline was rough - there was a lot of criticism and many real issues that had to be fixed first. In the last report I mentioned the terrible facial emotions on the characters that were nothing like what we had in 0.1.3. That turned out to be a huge stumbling block for me.

Adding FACS (Facial Acting Coding System) for the characters improved the situation and removed the tense look from their faces. But it wasn’t enough, so I moved on to updating shaders.

The main task was to fix the issue that made the skin look too dark and dirty. I made a huge leap from primitive presets to advanced node networks and procedural details, which also significantly reduced GPU memory usage and increased the number of maximum characters that can be used in a single scene.


Stumbling Blocks // that keep momentum from building

Every day is planned in advance: yesterday I wrote dialogues, and today I do whatever the plot required yesterday, whether that’s a crowd of background characters, a new important protagonist, or an entire location… And so it goes day after day: one thing on the first day, another on the next, a third on the third. This pace governed development not only of 0.2.0 but also 0.2.1, which forced many pauses.

Unfortunately, I can’t just load all the assets into a scene out of nowhere. Characters must be created following the rules, locations built from scratch according to the environment artists’ pipeline, and each prop needs its own directory so it can be reused later… Fortunately, most of the required assets are already ready: 59 characters (one third of them are background characters), 13 locations built from scratch, and a bunch of other smaller items, including animals, cars, phones, etc.

Phew, I finally managed to get it off my chest and I feel better now. As developers say, half of a finished game is asset preparation.


The Heart of the ProjectkRigger -> Fresco

I had to go to the village for almost a month, so I bought a cheap laptop and kept working, but shifted focus to scripts. While there I completed an extensive rigging course to up my character skills, and simultaneously finished my proprietary Blender addon to full readiness. Diving into the progress achieved, that included a new character rig with finger IK, the same FACS-based facial setup, unified naming required for pose saving, a proprietary file system, and preparations for the final release.

By the time I returned home I already had a working version of the tool and even renamed it to Fresco (named after one of my favorite coffee brands or by analogy with Pixar’s Presto). It became the true heart of the project, and now everything you see in the game - characters, movements, clothing, locations - exists thanks to Fresco.


Artificial Intelligence // lack of soul

Right now, AI is screwing with everyone’s heads - including mine. Even though I mostly stay locked in my room, I do check the internet sometimes, and I don’t like the current trend of generating content with AI: animating from still frames, adding details to finished renders, generated music and songs that all sound the same…

So if you are an artist who would like to have your songs in OBD, please contact me.


The Next Update // what is ready for the release

The following four story-important locations are ready for release - Shambala club (club entrance and interior) and Arbat restaurant (restaurant entrance and interior).

Shambala is a youth rave hub on a small peninsula by the Maysk’s beach. Metal walls, neon signs, cheap alcohol, and the most conflict-prone visitors. People there do not seek anything lofty, they live for the day, drink anything that burns, burning tires racing on the streets, and destroy the once pristine environment that the town’s founder built up over the years.

Arbat is a Venetian restaurant existing in contrast to the rebellious Shambala club. Wealthy old men feast there, they have been in town when it was transformed into a youth capital. The oligarchs who frequent it believe the town belongs to them and only them, since all the town’s establishments were built with their money.

But the story is not limited to these locations. Outside Maysk, in small villages, other people live who see the town as a zone of maximum freedom and personal gain.

Speaking of renders for the next update, 600 frames are completed so far. The main work on them only began a month ago.


Plans for the Future

Although the next update will not be that large, it conceals a huge amount of work correcting past mistakes. The project had to go through a lot to become coherent. I already feel that I am close to stopping chasing new ideas and starting to simply produce content.

I will spend the next two weeks in the village, working on the necessary mechanics for the open world, which I will add in 0.2.2.


Thank you for continuing to follow the development, and a huge thanks to those who support this project with a coin. Without you the game simply would not exist!

Pretend it's only been a few months since the last update 🥲

What has changed?
*nervous laughter* Better ask what was left untouched.

Download [0.2.0] (Win/Linux/Mac/Android):
MEGA: https://mega.nz/folder/7JsEFaaA#JSK_FmkUVnjzoHGtycVJQQ
MediaFire: https://mediafire.com/folder/19g6wmpgcika7/0.2.0

DLC-4K-0.2.0.rpa - 4K images DLC, put into the "../game" folder .

Thanks to all those who were and who are still with me! I've put a lot of work into this project, trying to do something that few people try to do. And I will continue to work on it, because thanks to your patience and new changes, working on the game has become less painful and more fun!

I would also like to express special thanks to my friend, Gallant Trombe, for his support, advice, financial assistance and editing of the English translation. I really appreciate it ❤

A few months have passed since the last report, which means it’s time to sit down and write a new one ;)

My arm has already healed, the cast has been removed, now I wear an orthosis and do exercises. Yes, it still hurts, it’s hard to lean on it or lift weights, but I can already hold the mouse and stylus as before.

To be honest, after that fracture it turned out that there were also problems with my left arm. I pulled some tendons and muscles, so I couldn’t lift my arm above shoulder level. So basically, I injured both my hands🥲 But I went to physical therapy, did exercises, and now I can move it more or less normally. Soon I’ll need to return to the gym and start working out my muscles with a trainer.

And now about the main thing // what about the progress?
Due to problems with my hand, it was difficult for me to hold the mouse and make scenes during the first weeks, so I decided not to waste time and work on the code, since my left hand could work with the keyboard... And to some extent I’m glad that I did, because the progress is simply incredible.

In-game phone // and all related mechanics
How do you remember the old phone from OBD? And from other games?
Something like this probably comes to your mind:

Like a carbon copy, right? What if I say that the updated phone in OBD is something that you’ve never seen before on Ren’Py? Will you believe me?

Okay, I won’t delay, because I recorded a whole presentation for you:
https://youtu.be/UW1I0FTH_AE

I'll pretend that you watched the video 😅. And I’ll continue with standard questions that you might have.

Why does the game need a phone at all?
Initially, when I first started making the game, I followed other developers. I copied their mechanics, took ideas and tweaked the code. At some point I decided to add a phone, although there was no need for it. Now this mechanic no longer feels unnecessary, and on the contrary, it is necessary and, in my opinion, adds more variety to the game.

Why did you decide to rework your old phone?
In short, not long ago I decided to play BaDIK for the first time (I played very few AVNs), and I was confused that the phone interface in all games was somehow the same, bland and inconvenient.

What did the old versions of the phones look like?
Differently. I’ll start with the very first version, when I didn’t have any skills yet... Yeah, I make backups and store all the old versions of the game on hard drives. As a keepsake.

I was just getting used to the engine, trying to look for ready-made code on the Internet, racking my brains over why everything wasn’t working...

From time to time, I took a break from rendering and occupied myself with the phone, doing something in it, experimenting...

It even seemed to me that I was succeeding: the music player was playing, the buttons were working... At some point there was an idea to add an investment mechanic to the game.

Here I already began to think about stickers and the beauty of the interface. Now I can’t actually call it beauty, but then I wasn’t capable of more. By the way, this version appeared in OBD.

Aaand, I think this is how you remember this phone now. Even like this it looks quite nice... But the time has come to bury it.
For those who for some reason didn't watch my video 😤, I'm posting screenshots of the final version of the phone! 

Well, that's it. This version will remain in the game until the end. I’m very pleased with the result, and I almost don’t regret the time spent.

The experience gained from older versions was very useful to me. All the skills I learned and a broken arm allowed me to make a very complex, but at the same time structured and stable system. Each application is a separate module, each account is part of the social network, and each device in the game is independent. Technically, the game has the ability to open absolutely any phone and show what’s in it! But I'm unlikely to reveal the secret of how to do this >:)


How was all this done?
Now, it’s time to tell you how this phone was designed, and what problems and limitations I encountered.

Well... I started by designing it in Photoshop, and it only took two days. At first, I just wanted to remove everything unnecessary from the game interface so that there were no stupid, inconvenient buttons, and when I started working on the phone itself, my friend Gallant Trombe came to my aid. He suggested one idea: remove all the frames and leave only the working screen... Damn, why not?

From that moment on, absolutely everything changed! If earlier the procedure was clear: you make a phone frame and fit pictures in it, as it’s done in all the other games, but now there is enormous freedom for improvisation.

I wrote the shaders that create rounded edges a long time ago, and if I didn’t know how to write them, I would never have achieved such a result.

During my work, I encountered a huge number of problems. How to open and close apps? What to do with screens that overlap each other? How to remove these stupid pages and make news feeds and messages endless? AND HOW THE DAMN SHOULD I OPTIMIZE ALL OF THIS SO AS NOT TO BURN YOUR DEVICES?

Ren’Py can’t render a huge number of objects at once, and it doesn’t have optimization tools, so I had to write them myself.

And now, here are a lot of boring text...

When an application opens, the screen behind it automatically disappears and appears back when needed. Separate optimizers were written for the news feed and messages. They calculate the size of the panels, the position of the current window, and based on this they give the Ren’Py command to hide or render the object. This made it possible to get rid of the "pages" and make the FPS as stable as possible. Yes, there will be drawdowns on weak phones, but for this there is a “Graphics” item in the game settings.

The next problem was how Ren’Py renders. Many things affect how an object is rendered, which can cause text to appear blurry. I had to experiment and find out experimentally which tricks would lead to the result I wanted. Well, I also had to switch from WebP images to SVG icons so that they would be displayed clearly on all monitors.

After solving these problems, I encountered another one - animated pictures. This is the biggest problem of the engine, since it is generally designed for static images, so animation for it is like a side quest. I had to create my own classes of audio channels that would simplify working with audio (this is directly related to animation playback), and also create a class that would store the animation itself, prepare the necessary audio channels for playing, or simply return a static picture, if there was one necessity. This way it turned out that any objects from the gallery can become wallpaper on your phone.

There was also a need to create a database of all social network content. Information about songwriters, tracks, pictures, stickers, emojis and accounts is now obtained by ID, rather than written down directly. Thanks to this, it will be much more difficult for me to break something on my phone in future updates.

End of boring text.


Small but very important bugfix

While working on the phone, I accidentally discovered the reason why the game was not resetting variables when starting a new game and when loading saves, necessitating a full restart. The nature of this was not known to me from the very release... I had to abandon the way I worked with variables before and switch to more “advanced” code. Well, now everything works perfectly :3

iOS support // let’s play on all platforms!

No, this is not an AppStore release. But it will be possible to play the game on an iPhone with a fairly stable FPS! Instructions for launching, setting up and everything else will be available at release and in the game itself :)

I tried very hard to optimize the mechanics for weaker devices and tried to take into account the features of playing on touch screens to make the design more convenient and universal. And if something slows down, you can always lower the game’s "graphics" level in the settings. This will reduce the detail of some animations, but make the game smoother.


So, what now?
Now that I'm done with the phone, I can go back to my regular life as a content creator. Yes, I planned to release it at the end of summer, but, as you can see, force majeure happened and I had to visit many doctors... I would even say that it was not a very pleasant incident, but it prompted very pleasant changes.

As usual, I’m not on radio silence and I’m always here or on Discord. The release is just a stone's throw away.


And many thanks to those who believe in this project and support it! Without your help the game would not be what it is now ❤️