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Big'ol Post: I'm sorry I seriously underestimated how much dialogue I actually have...
Ok so I kind of screwed up, this isn't really a negative for the game. But it does mean I had to change things up.
Remember how I've long said dialogue has been a background thing for a while, what's in the game has largely been focused on function. For the past year or so the story has been in the process of writing, and to better optimize my time I hired someone to manage the writing aspect for me. Largely I mostly gave outlines for the dialogue, paid people and checked the dialogue when I could making edits and such.
As a result I don't think I really had a good perspective on how much dialogue there is, and on top of that an error in how that dialogue is prepared.
See for a long time I've been using a document tool I won't name cause I dunno if they even allow adult content. But this tool works like google docs and allowed the multiple writers I've hired to submit their dialogue in a collaborative environment, and one where I wouldn't risk loss of data which has happened before.
Remember how I've long said dialogue has been a background thing for a while, what's in the game has largely been focused on function. For the past year or so the story has been in the process of writing, and to better optimize my time I hired someone to manage the writing aspect for me. Largely I mostly gave outlines for the dialogue, paid people and checked the dialogue when I could making edits and such.
As a result I don't think I really had a good perspective on how much dialogue there is, and on top of that an error in how that dialogue is prepared.
See for a long time I've been using a document tool I won't name cause I dunno if they even allow adult content. But this tool works like google docs and allowed the multiple writers I've hired to submit their dialogue in a collaborative environment, and one where I wouldn't risk loss of data which has happened before.
The Problem
The problem is, there is no direct pathway from those documents to in-game dialogue. What would have to happen based on the previous way we did thing's, is likely one person would have to copy and paste the dialogue line by line to the dialogue system in the game. Now that's not exactly the worst thing, and for a while I didn't think too much of it.
But last month things were put in perspective, that process is extremely slow and painful, also THERE'S A LOT OF DIALOGUE TO BE ADDED.
Think "Make node, set name, select dialogue, copy, paste." 6000 times or so, so far...
Until now only some dialogue for Act 4 had been added, but when we started looking at implementing everything the volume seemed overwhelming especially for one person. So I quickly made the decision the we needed a better dialogue tool and after some research a day later one was chosen (Which I also won't name).
Note this is an external tool, which will export into the game engines tool.
But last month things were put in perspective, that process is extremely slow and painful, also THERE'S A LOT OF DIALOGUE TO BE ADDED.
Think "Make node, set name, select dialogue, copy, paste." 6000 times or so, so far...
Until now only some dialogue for Act 4 had been added, but when we started looking at implementing everything the volume seemed overwhelming especially for one person. So I quickly made the decision the we needed a better dialogue tool and after some research a day later one was chosen (Which I also won't name).
Note this is an external tool, which will export into the game engines tool.
The Work
Since then (about the 15th) I've had around 4 people including me helping copy all this dialogue over, and I'm sure those people would tell you it's the most tedious and boring job ever. But as of today we've only just finished copying almost everything into the new system, which is prepared in a format the game can actually use.
Keep in mind this is dialogue only up to Act 4 which is honestly when the game 'actually' starts. And at the moment the word count it shows is about 60k, Main story making up about 35k of that, the rest is side technically non-mandatory dialogue. But, that's not all that's needed, the main story still lacks Act 0 which has been due for a rewrite for several reasons, improving the pace and adding tutorials for the new stat stuff and other gameplay. That was originally about 10k words on it's own but we'll see. There's also some long-term post Act 5 side-content which has been written but is not needed for inclusion right now, that totals near 20k but not all dialogue...
Keep in mind this is dialogue only up to Act 4 which is honestly when the game 'actually' starts. And at the moment the word count it shows is about 60k, Main story making up about 35k of that, the rest is side technically non-mandatory dialogue. But, that's not all that's needed, the main story still lacks Act 0 which has been due for a rewrite for several reasons, improving the pace and adding tutorials for the new stat stuff and other gameplay. That was originally about 10k words on it's own but we'll see. There's also some long-term post Act 5 side-content which has been written but is not needed for inclusion right now, that totals near 20k but not all dialogue...
About the Release
All that said, again the next release will be huge. Bigger than I thought. And as a result it's taking more time. We've made an improvement to how we implement dialogue, and this problem shouldn't happen again. But now that the data has been (Mostly) copied over it needs to be organized in a way the game can use, stuff like variables and conditions need to be added.
There's still a lot of work to be done. I'm also considering maybe trimming the dialogue a bit? Atleast making sure none of it is wasting time. The next immediate task at the moment is reading through everything and making sure it's what I need. Then there's still some further management needed so the dialogue properly affects the characters in-game (Camera angles, facial expressions, scene changes, other adjustments). But I may do a release before that aspect is complete.
I can't predict the scale of the final game, but hopefully this discovery and improvement allows its continued growth to be manageable!
There's still a lot of work to be done. I'm also considering maybe trimming the dialogue a bit? Atleast making sure none of it is wasting time. The next immediate task at the moment is reading through everything and making sure it's what I need. Then there's still some further management needed so the dialogue properly affects the characters in-game (Camera angles, facial expressions, scene changes, other adjustments). But I may do a release before that aspect is complete.
I can't predict the scale of the final game, but hopefully this discovery and improvement allows its continued growth to be manageable!
Any other news about the state of the game?
Another apology I want to make is I know some people have been waiting for crucial fixes to the game, and they're coming but likely not until this update is out.
There's simply too much work needed and there's a bigger pay off. And most of the issues relate to functions that can't be accessed partly because the dialogue isn't implemented (Player Dialogue Choices, Gropes, Holds, Buffs/Likes/Dislikes). The sex sim dialogue is absolutely crucial to the function of sex sim and trying to work around it just doesn't work. And currently a ton of variables got changed so even a quick build with current additions isn't viable.
Some new content is also still in the works even though I'm focusing on the dialogue stuff. Previews for those will be in a separate post coming soon! New Outfits, and animations for Blow Job Training! I also have concepts for characters in the story but I want to finish their art properly before showing it off. Perhaps I'll make character profile posts when they're done...
There's simply too much work needed and there's a bigger pay off. And most of the issues relate to functions that can't be accessed partly because the dialogue isn't implemented (Player Dialogue Choices, Gropes, Holds, Buffs/Likes/Dislikes). The sex sim dialogue is absolutely crucial to the function of sex sim and trying to work around it just doesn't work. And currently a ton of variables got changed so even a quick build with current additions isn't viable.
Some new content is also still in the works even though I'm focusing on the dialogue stuff. Previews for those will be in a separate post coming soon! New Outfits, and animations for Blow Job Training! I also have concepts for characters in the story but I want to finish their art properly before showing it off. Perhaps I'll make character profile posts when they're done...
Conclusion
Again sorry for failing to deliver the release last month and for my lack of foresight. If I had the dialogue already prepared in a format the game could use, a release last month would have been perfectly viable.
Thanks for your patience and support. The tool we're using for managing dialogue is quite pricey and I wouldn't have been able to afford it without you guys. Plus pay enough to get people to do boring data entry work lol.
Preview post is coming soon after this!
~sacb0y
Thanks for your patience and support. The tool we're using for managing dialogue is quite pricey and I wouldn't have been able to afford it without you guys. Plus pay enough to get people to do boring data entry work lol.
Preview post is coming soon after this!
~sacb0y
Question, were you saying only one person can add the dialogue into the game at once?
Yes, that was a big part of the problem. Cause otherwise it would seriously risk database corruptuon. On top of that having a writer set up a game engine is very troublesome. So the solution we went for was a full external suite that could be directly exported without further need for configuration for the most part.