Posted August 16, 2024 by Pud's Café
Today is the 16th of August 2024. 8 days ago, FuzzBoob's DE 1.2.0 should have released.
I want to talk about the timeline of what happened, what is going on, and what will happen going forwards.
For the TL;DR, please look at the bottom of this blogpost.
((ALSO for those who don't know, Part 2 has been split up and is called "Remixed"))
Why am I making this?
I'm getting disgusting messages & DMs, such as "I'm going to r*pe you if it doesn't come out tomorrow".
I'm going to get personal with the explanations. If you want to know where the update is, i'll explain.
Internet Trouble.
Coding isn't that hard for me, so doing it without internet was pretty fine.
If i wasn't going to have any internet, surely I can reach the second deadline of the 11th of August.
...right?
They came and went over the next few days. The issue had to be with an update that was pushed, which broke my modem.
"wait a minute this is actually really complex"
Let's separate this into pieces:
When FuzzBoob's Definitive Edition was being made, I was still using Unity Engine. Right until Unity decided to fuck over developers with their awful pricing scheme.
(Baka Mitai joke that was added into Unity Definitive Edition, before that version was ditched. It has never been released.)
I need it be a class, that can be inherited from.
What this means is that if there is a bug in the main AI system, I would only need to change the one class and the bug will be fixed for every AI.
I want to be able to easy add new characters efficiently and without breaking the game.
Also, I would need the system to dynamically load characters in and out of the game.
It is very necessary. With each new character on the old system, the more difficult it would be to maintain, update or reuse.
The old system can't dynamically load characters in.
Currently, for most people, the game runs very well on web, pc, and android.
Adding new AIs to the night shift with the old system would mean additional ram would be used, even if the new characters are not selected or in. This could stop people from being able to load into the night shift.
Dynamically loading them in would then lower ram usage, and keep the game working for everyone.
Loading time into the nightshift may increase, but its either slightly longer load times or not being able to play the game.
The new system will:
- Keep the AIs centralised, allowing for scalability -
- Reduce Ram Usage compared to other AIs -
- Ideally keep less powerful systems to play the game -
- Easier maintainability for me -
well.
fuck.
It's only one aspect right? Can't take longer than a day, right?
Reality check
I have made a lot of progress.
Bonnie is 100% working.
Chica is 100% working.
Freddy is 90% finished, but 100% working.
Foxy is 20% finished.
I make good progress, and people would ask me "Where is it."
I want to be optimistic, it feels so close. So I would give a day in which I believe it will be released. Wednesday! Thursday!
No matter how close it feels, something always comes up.
like...
Changed the jumpscare logic? Well, its referenced in all these other scripts that you now need to update.
3AM? Time manager needs to have updated AI references and code to accurately amend the time.
Blackout? Oh, the code needs to be amended so that the correct jumpscare plays depending on the character.
Something isn't working? Quick, play the game for half an hour trying to replicate the issue, spend the next hour diagnosing the issue, and try again to make sure it doesn't appear.
You want to dynamically load new characters to each room? Ah yes, first you need to create a room class, then add features to each room that can load selected assets into it if or when necessary. But you also need to now rework the character interactions and the easter egg manager, and everything else that was room-based.
More and more and more. It isn't just about quickly reimplementing a new AI system, it is about reworking how the game fundamentally functions, so the additional content can be added. It took me a month to do that when making this game in godot.
I am to blame for this, it is my fault. Everything seems so simple on the surface.
I am not releasing an unfinished mess.
My patrons have been forgiving, but I need to also give them the art that they are paying for. I have been focusing as much time as I can into this one game.
I have been updating this in my Pudding's Bakery Discord server.
This has been getting too much for me, and the boiling point has been the awful messages and DMs.
The Remixed update will therefore not have a release day until the code is finished.
(The update may still release either this month or early next month, but I can't promise an exact day).
This is so I don't give your hopes up. If I finish it, I can then promise the release day.
I'm going to work on creating a healthy work schedule. One where I can meet the needs of my games and my patreon, rather than waking up and working all day, only taking breaks to meet daily needs.
I will also try to be more professional and not promise days that I cannot meet. I'm new to this, and it's been a difficult learning curve.
I will add additional gameplay remixes to the game too, to try make up for this.
had internet problems, so worked on the AI
the animatronic's AI system being changed sounded easy, but is very difficult with explanations why.
people are sending me horrible messages / DMS.
I need to stop working most waking hours, and adopt a healthy routine.
no promised release day but I think it will release this month or early next month.
and I will add extra gameplay remixes as an apology.