The Dev has returned
Did you miss me? I doubt it....
Sorry for the lack of energy lately, I had a lot of paperwork on my plate the last month, but that's (mostly) behind me now....at least to the degree of interrupting my flow on the game.
So with that being the hot topic I start off on, I'm going to go full spoiler alert this time around on a public post.
I doubt I'll make it on time for this release, but we have a brand new gallery planned for the next update which will include character bios that will update either as information is unlocked or at the end of each update so you can keep fresh on what you've experienced with each of them previously...added per request of one of our players--I already had a new gallery in mind, so why not.
I'm also 'hoping' to have achievements ready to go in that version...I'm still debating the technical factors of how to add them to both versions but give our subs a bit of a perk. We shall see there.
Another idea I'm playing around with (the new gallery with be the start) is Upscaling the renders and remaking the interface in 4k for the entire game, then scaling down the UI from that version for the base interface aligning everything to screen size, the 4k version will be a Subscriber only version (possibly replacing my idea of achievements being that way) and will be updated every release if I decide to do it, but that also means a nice cleaner UI (hopefully) for both versions if it works out how I have planned.
Personally I run a 4k setup and just the difference in the UI at 4k is enough to make me want to do it...but it throws the entire thing out of wack since it was based on 1080p and I added so many options that I ended up using exact positions for some of the controls instead of lining them up all as portions of the visible area....its going to take me a bit of time (probably alot of time lol)...to straighten all that mess out--but for all the people following along its something to look forward too in the future.
Last but not least, your probably wondering wtf with the random video after reading the rest of the post with no mention of it....well, I wasn't just learning ffmpeg while I was drowning in paperwork, and I couldnt devote myself fully to complicated code either since I was in a totally different mind-set...so instead I decided I'd learn to use DAZ too and hopefully be able to help Lov out down the road--that was the result of my efforts between DAZ and ffmpeg, I made the Animation in DAZ as png files, converted it to video and added music to it using ffmpeg in DOS....unfortunately youtube copyright checked my audio so I had to post the version without it, which killed this for me lol.
Damn, that even sounds impressive to me reading it back in my head for a month of learning while doing complicated paperwork lol.
*Test renders, scenes, characters, and killer dance moves are not part of, or planned to be in The Shadow Over Willowtown. (well maybe the dance moves, never know lmao)
I'm learning so I can help Lov render down the road, but I don't intend to stick my nose or my concepts into his story plans now any more than I did at the start of this project. I'm just playing around with motion and lining up props and clothing and such so I know how to do it if theres ever a need while helping him push out renders...this way I dont need to have him fix minor details I could likely do myself if I notice one mid-render or animation.
As a final note, I was able to add Team Members magically on Patreon, so now Lov has access to do whatever they want here if I'm not around for some reason, although I'll still be on social media detail for the most part...so I'm sorry to say you're stuck with me ;p
This way, though, if I can't handle something during release or even just a story log, Lov can post it in my absence.
I know I say this alot--but it takes alot of mutual respect and in my case (its a programmer thing), an extreme level of trust to coordinate with anyone else on a project. We have both, if it was possible I would have gave them unrestricted access to everything like we have on some of our other sites that do allow it.
The code is mine, the story is his...but VNCraft belongs to both of us, and we're here to stay.
By the way, the next update should be really soon if everything goes as planned, but the additions i'm working on wont be here until the next version--I've been slammed all month and then some with a war against a slumlord...I just refuse to sit idle even when I only take a few minutes to myself here and there, so I did something else productive.
This has been another annoying broadcast by The Dev.
Over and out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NkKxIT4tCI