Good evening!
Today's update focuses on the lead-up to the public release of the Itch and Steam storefronts, as well as preparing the demo of Lola's route.
It's done.
Lola's route is back in the news, and not without good reason!
As we approach the release of the Itch and Steam storepages, one tool will be absolutely vital in drawing attention towards the game: a public demo.
Obviously that demo will contain a certain portion of the game, and that portion will be Lola's route.
Now that Sonja and Rosie's route is done, it's important to look back at the first route and make sure everything is up to an equal level of quality. I've been spending some time re-writing bits and pieces of Lola's route to make sure not just that it can stand alongside the other routes, but that it'll make for an enticing introduction to the game.
If I had the time, I'm sure I would want to go back through Lola's route and completely re-write it from the top down, but that's hardly practical. Plus, it probably doesn't even need that sort of treatment.
What's this?! It's a STEAM STORE PAGE?!?!
Well, the answer is yes and no.
Most things are set up for an eventual public release. There are some obviously incorrect details (like the entirely bullshit release date), but this is at least a reflection of how things are looking currently. The two main missing parts are the trailer and the demo. I can't make the trailer without footage from an updated Lola's route, so that's the current holdup.
The Steam page being public is obviously absolutely vital for the release cycle because it means people can start wishlisting. I can do whatever I want to promote the game right now, but there's very little to hold onto that can retain that sort of audience through to release day.
So, no, while you can't find this page up on Steam just yet, that's only to ensure that the moment you can it'll actually be worth the buildup.
Steam comes equipped with a suite of very useful features for its developers. Two features caught my eye earlier, and while I have no plans to actually begin doing anything about them until much later in the game's development, I thought they might be interesting to discuss regardless.
Cloud Saving is a feature that I believe is so integral it's barely worth discussing. The process of setting it up is also considerably simpler than I expected.
Interestingly, I found that a certain quirk of Ren'Py (The engine that DTF is being developed in) means that by default, it cannot work with Steam's Cloud Saves sytem. This can be very easily remedied, but it would eliminate an important feature of Ren'Py; its ability to save and load from the system.
Unlike what you'd expect from most games, Ren'Py games do not store game saves and preferences in the directory containing the game itself, but in a seperate directory deep inside the program files of the computer's OS. This effectively means that if you were to download DTF, save a file, delete it, and redownload it, you would find your saves exactly where you left them. At the same time, this means that if I were to release a DTF demo, then the saves from that demo would show up in the full release product; allowing for easy demo to full game save transfers.
This is really cool! And in order to get Cloud Saves working, I would have to remove it.
I mean, you can still transfer saves from the demo to the full release, but you'd have to do it manually.
Frustrating, but Cloud Saves take precedence in a situation like this. Maybe I'll figure out some technicality that allows me to have my cake and eat it too, but if I get to eat cake at all, then I can't say I'm complaining.
Gesundheit.
Achievements are also a pretty simple implementation, but there's a small issue with this, which is that DTF is an incredibly easy game.
It wouldn't be hard, or anything, but I would have to get awfully clever in order to figure out how to implement achievements here. What, would I award an achievement for getting a golden banana breadal during Minnie's route? Probably, yes!
Either way, that's something I'll have to start giving a shit about at some point.
Well, that about wraps up eveything worth mentioning. There's some pretty cool stuff on the horizon, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled!
I'm hoping that, at the very latest, all of this comes to fruition next month. No promises though, I know I can be a bit slow sometimes...
Catch you later!
-Marina