Dev Update #2

Writing is nearly wrapped up for Chapter 5. It's so close to being done that I'm going ahead and pressing forward with game renders now. There will be a bit more writing in my future for Chapter 5, but I plan to do that when I need a break from renders. The scenes that are left are nothing that will change the rest of the story.

Coding is going well. Nothing major to report on that end. I'm sure I'll be fixing bugs, but my initial tests haven't brought back anything major at this stage, even with some large code changes. There were many issues I found when I first did my code overhaul, so it isn't like I've found nothing so far. There will be a bit more coding work needed to have the release ready for beta, but worst case probably 2-3 days there.

Good news is that the code is locked in for its structure and big additions. In order to avoid breaking saves for future releases, I won't be making any big changes to it. One bit of sad news. Saves will definitely be broken for Chapter 5. I've made far too many changes to the code, and you'll understand why when I make the full announcement of what has changed before release, for previous saves to function. It sucks, but this should be the only time. I am going to make a very substantial effort to ensure I don't become one of those games that chucks your saves out the window with each release. It's one reason I did the entire big overhaul now, and added some code for potential future additions also. Thank goodness you can CTRL through to get you quickly to new content.

I did go through and make sure my variables were all setup, and I'm keeping track of the cumulative values and also where you acquire your points. I'm hoping that helps with me having certain events happen based on points as the game progresses. Oh, and one note. For anyone that decides to unren my code, enjoy yourself. There are variables in there that may never even be used. But if I thought I might need it at this stage, I put it into my variables list.

I created some new environments this past week that I realized I needed, and I finished the character model updates. As far as an estimated render count for this release, I'm doing something a bit different. I used to go in and put where my renders would be for each scene. The problem with that is if I add or remove a render for a scene, especially early in a scene, that was a lot of image labels to update in the code. So, for at least Chapter 5's release, I'll just insert the image calls in the code as I create the renders. I'll judge my relative progress based on script length and scenes remaining.

So, where does that leave us? A few smaller scenes left to write, game renders, and testing once all that is done. I'll be my own alpha tester, and I already know of some things that will need to be tested heavily. Beta testers will have their work cut out for them with this next release.

One last minute addition to this dev update. Yesterday afternoon I decided to mess around with a new Daz skin shader. Well, turns out, it was incredibly easy to dial everything in, and all To Be A King main character models are now converted. Up close, it really looks nice, and it also eliminates some significant render issues I had with a couple of characters. I've got a video up on my YouTube channel for those who do 3D art and are interested.

Oh, one last thing. I don't want to spoil many of the surprises for Chapter 5, at least until we are very close to a release. But here's one thing that is planned for Chapter 5. Unless something goes terribly wrong, I plan to have animations for Chapter 5. I'm not loving Daz's animation system, but I do want to include them. Expect a bit of extra time this go around as I work to get more comfortable with Daz's animation system. Everyone I've asked for advice on Daz's animations just says you have to work through it and get comfortable.

That's all from me. This release is already massive in terms of word count. Previously, I'd be around 12,000-13,000 words for a To Be A King release. This one looks like we will be somewhere around 30,000+ words. So yeah, it's a big release, but we will get there. If you feel like there isn't much progress as you wait for the release, know that I have to go back to my completed tasks for this release to remember how much I've done. It never seems like you're making much progress until you finally hit that beta readiness state for a release. I'll soon have some previews to share.