itch.io

Android install isn't working, says package is invalid. I tried doing a straight update first and it said there was a conflict.

Instead of going by a fixed schedule for side stories, go by inspiration. Sometimes forced but focus on doing sub arcs to flesh out and explore the characters as something catches your attention in other things, unless you have concrete stuff you want to address at the time. 

I hit stuff like that where I just see something and it fits with one of my stories or gets me to ask a question about one of them that I didn't think of previously

Same recommendation i give usually though is kind of amusing in this context

Have a patreon edition to the game and patch the kids in.  Or else have the patreon disassociate officially from the game; is to support you or your studio but not the game. 

It might work, though patreon has a history of punishing people for off site behavior  sadly so who knows. Might be worth a try, but still need to get people away from patreon

I'm not familiar with godot but if it's possible to create an archive, you can bypass apk limits by.... when you get around the 2gb apk limit, pull old content out into an archive that has to be installed seperate. That way the apk is still used as a simple update mechanic and you don't have to mess with the archives constantly. 

Good luck with the legal end

in context of merging versions,  in theory you could do it for the android version as well. Convert the first half into an rpa archive that needs to be manually installed into the folder. Makes things slightly more complicated on the user end but everything becomes accessible from a single program

Any chance for the android version that you could package the completed prologue (and other chapters when relevant)  as an rpa to drop into the up to date game?  Then people in theory have access to both instead of the old content just getting overwritten

On the android front you can cheat the downloads by making each chapter its own archive (rpa). I don't know explicitly how it works since i haven't made a ren'py game, but i know it can be done. Then they just have to download the core android launcher, and the RPA file for each section you do.  If it's going to be around ⁷ gb total without compression that would be up to 3 rpa and a one gig core file. Or since there's no reason to limit the rpa to 2gb (as it's not an apk) then a 6 gig rpa for the full game and a 1 gig "demo" launcher/core.

Most of the Android porters on f95 use RPA for really big games now, so it should be easier to find out how than before. 

But for consistent update purposes I would suggest keeping the currently coded content as the core apk file and finished chapters as rpa. Makes it simple (and small)  to update on android still, and both you and us would only have to deal with a RPA after each chapter so should be simpler too.

I don't know how to do it so i can't be specific, there are a few porters on f95 that are starting to do this regularly ("wills747" and "blackeye." Offhand)

It's possible to use an rpa file to archive and dump content into the Android version post install. With it being a single file it's fairly easy to do as well. 

Towards which end, you should be able to create an rpa of the entire prologue (not the shell or new chapter) and have it as a once off download for people if they need to start from scratch. That way the part that's updated by the apk file is always the newest content and it should remain simple on your end too, so you only have to make another archive after each chapter. 

Just a suggestion, game looks good so far, enjoying it. Good luck

i dont even like sharing information with the government frankly.

Suggestion - on the book when there are no new events available for a person, monochrome the icon or mark it in some other way

Another alternative is breaking it into multiple components, bundle so much content in and have people manually put them back together afterwards

Any luck with the rpa / archiving thing to bypass the Android limits?

account integration is not drm, the most common drm used tend to include stuff like keyloggers, root access or constantly sending your data to a server (hence the internet connection) also I was being general not specific to this circumstance or to any single DRM, just the common ones. 

It's cancerous to almost every game that includes it, not "those that try to bypass" because the common bypass methods are either to spoof it so it is sending the data nowhere, collecting false data or just straight remove it. And most drm gets cracked within the first week. much difficulty "only for those who try to bypass it" when the only one that actually end up dealing with it are those that paid for it. 

As to your comment on cd keys either that or an algorithmic verification system which can be cracked easy too.  Didn't say it was "good" I said it's about as useful as the rest and far less invasive. Right now we don't have a solution to idiots doing bad things,  the best we can hope for is balancing "make it harder to do bad things" and "don't punish people doing right things"

DRM by and large is a cancerous technology. There's other forms of protection that work as well with less penalties for the consumer. The primary and oldest one being cd keys, or some other version of encrypted verification. Having people dedicated to hunting down locations where the piracy occurs and trying to stop it there is also effective. 

For reference the penalties on drm are...

 increased game size 

increased resource use during operation

Potential conflicts with game code

Requires an internet connection or it literally does not work

And depending on which you go for,  some are literal Spyware, the only distinction being how invasive is it?

sorry, wills747 not will747, I keep forgetting the s

A hopefully useful comment

 you don't have to split the project, someone figured out how to get archives to work on apk files. I believe it was user "will747" on f95.

 Was going to ask a question but outlining the information I had to frame the question gave me at least one answer that fit all the criteria. So I'll keep my theory to myself, wait and see. I'm hoping though that there is an actual arc closure to act 1, there was one or two spots where it would have been possible already but where it sits right now isn't one in my opinion...

Anyway fun game, enjoying it so far so can't wait to see the progress. Really glad the project didn't die out as too many do

Tracking on itch now since i can curate the feed to stuff i actually like.

Always glad to see updates cause it's at least one project that hasn't poofed like smoke in the wind. Doubly glad when it's something I really like,  like your two. 

thanks for sticking with it and good luck with the irl stuff. Life is a kick in the teeth sometimes. 

Considering how much it has expanded, it might also be a worthwhile point to enlist minions to handle some of the nitty gritty detailing. A coder to implement/ expand some of the systems you've been working on,  or an artist for example to take the load off scene work or asset creation. Assuming you are getting enough money to expand the team in that way anyhow. 

Anyway long term fan, glad to see it still going and always enjoy the updates. Hopefully I'll be contributing again soon (ish).

Zimon, that is one route to get it to work. Another is there are a couple porters on f95 who have gotten the games to work with external archives. So basically install the game, then manually add an archive with a bunch of the resources that are making it too large.  One is will747. I can't remember who else, but I know I ran into another one that did a port the same way. 

The vocal frankly will always be a minority of any discrete group. Adding my two cents (value as you will) .

I don't actually see a problem provided it's not taking resources away from something core to the game. With big studios it's more about allocation of resources. But these projects? 

I doubt you have multiple coders building parallel systems that have to be carefully interlocked to cause minimal issues (which costs even more as programmers run they crap down, usually through somebody else's code) 

I doubt you have teams of artists and musicians constantly adding content to the game. 

In which case what's the harm of throwing a artist who has free time some extra money for bonus content from those supplying it?

It's the internet. Retards are everywhere. My personal philosophy is to only consider what they say if it's potentially useful, positive or negative. "I like your work" is great and feels good but not really useful.  "It's crap" "your a shill" "git gud scrub" are not only useless but also annoying. In the former case the correct response is 'great I'm glad you like it's, but in the latter it's 'okay bye then.' 

Some people will always cry about stupid stuff.  Screw em. Don't chase the "wider audience", that's a myth that has killed many many projects.  just make it good.