Good evening!
This update focuses on the progress being made with Mel's route, as well as more work being done for the game on the side.
The next route of DATING OF THE FUTURE is called "With Benefits"!
Vee and Minnie are invited to one of Mel's infamous parties, where Mel and Vee finally get to know each other better.
Can Mel work through her past in order to make their budding relationship work? That's the question on Vee's mind, at least.
This time, however, it seems that some of Vee's baggage is rising to the surface...
Get excited for a route that will absolutely break your expectations. Now that the first three are complete, it's time to start fucking with the status quo in some major ways, and Mel's route is only the beginning!
So far, the entire plot has been outlined. I'm currently in the process of completing the bulk of the environmental art, but with what I have planned, there's a lot more work cut out for me than just painting some backgrounds.
As usual between routes, I've been doing some touch-ups here and there. I try and make sure that the palettes I have for characters are ones that I'm absolutely 100% happy with before I commit to making even more art based on them, so I've been paying extra special attention to Mel. At this stage, I can still edit things like her face and other minor design elements.
So far my edits have focused on making her colour palette more readable and dynamic, as well as making her a little cuter. The first sprites I make of a character are never the best ones.
(By the way, the Midean text on her sports bra says "TWO SEATER". It is also a spectacularly useless sports bra.)
I've also been adding some features that I've wanted to get done for a while now. The game has a fully-featured replay gallery for its sex scenes, which is basically a requirement for a game like this.
A little surprised I didn't get around to this one earlier.
I've also been hard at work perfecting the game's save system.
Don't tell Ren'Py this, but I absolutely despise the massive complexity of its save system, in the face of almost total silence on how it works; at least in terms of what you find in the documentation. For that matter, I can say pretty similar things about a LOT of Ren'Py's features. Integrating Steam Cloud support has been much more frustrating than it needed to be, and I can't blame Steam Cloud for that because it really is dead simple.
We can discuss that more in the next section, though.
Back to Mel?
Here's the process of how I created one of the new locations in the game.
This process usually takes between two to three days, and for backgrounds like this, it's super important that I get it right since the player will be spending so much time in this location.
3D-modeling out the environment has been an absolute must for creating a consistent and reliable space. Most of the details I can paint without issue, but the fundamentals need to feel consistent in a way that only 3D modeling or a lot of measuring work can create.
There are far too many backgrounds in the game for me to reasonably measure them out in detail, so the most logical thing to do is model them out.
Also digital rulers SUUUUUCKKKK!!!!!! They just suck, okay? None of the speed or utility of a real ruler.
Another advantage of modelling is that I get to create and use proprietary assets.
Um. I mean, it's a little shitty looking... but it totally gets the job done!
What is this mysterious vessel, you ask?
Pfft. Wouldn't you like to know?
Here are two more environments I've made for the next route. Pretty exciting, huh?
Anyway Mel's route will blow your socks off.
Ahead of the upcoming October Steam Next Fest, I'm putting together a free demo version of Lola's route.
I've been discussing this for a while, but I'm finally in the position where I can say that I'm RIGHT on the cusp of finally getting it done.
The game build is, for the most part, totally complete. Now it's mostly a matter of getting the demo into a polished, professional-looking position
Right, that and fixing the godawful mess that is Ren'py's save system. What in the bloody fuck is going on here?
You wouldn't believe the hell I've been going through. This has actually been an ongoing struggle for the past few months, really. Autosaves vanishing, saves duplicating themselves at random without any warning, persistent save data and config data totally vanishing without any apparent reason... It's just such a nightmare.
Worst part is that I can't even tell if it's just a problem on my machine. I'm starting to guess that that's the case, but the documentation on the way the system works is so unclear and so completely lacking that it's leaving me with naught else to do but cross my fingers and hope.
If this demo releases and works entirely as intended, it will be one of the lord's greatest miracles. The miracle of life is a distant second.
Things are going relatively smoothly! Wow! I'm almost a little disturbed by that. No massive roadblocks in sight. Really? Huh.
Well, I'll try and keep up the pace with the environmental art for Mel's route. thankfully, there's actually not a huge amount of work to do, compared to the routes that came before it. After all, a lot of important locations have already been established.
The environmental art should all be wrapped up within the month, really. Then it's writing, then it's more art, then it's editing, then it's finalising, then it's out.
Sounds pretty quick when I put it like that.
We're well over halfway to the finish now. Let's keep it up!
Keep on space truckin'!
-Marina