Friday, May 30, 2025

Progress 30.05.2025

Hello all!

Friday and progress post. So what's up?

Rendering... I'm not sure I am happy or annoyed with it. Daz has been weird this week. Crashing? Yeah, that's normal, and most of the time it's even my fault. Randomly increasing and decreasing the render times because one hair moved to a different position? And loading time of characters, just need to be thankful that most environments are simple. Butrender count is in a good place though, script? Eh...

Writing in other hand is in a good state overall. It's been one of those weird weeks where writing is just flowing. Sit down, open up Scrivener and before you know it the fingers are just typing text. So I'm happy with it.


And then a preview. If anyone wonders why I chose to exclude most of the main cast for various adventures this should give an idea why. There are two camels, two horses, 16 humans and one panther. It is a simple scene, needed one unfortunately, but it took over two hours to set up, rendering all the renders maybe thirty minutes. But, even though this is less complex scene than the fight with the orc chieftain, it is as resource intensive since there are more textures in this one. It's not inspiring render, it's not technically difficult but it is there to... well, something. For those interested, it took 32 GB of VRAM and 96 GB of RAM to render. And this was one of the few times I could show the extra people all at once...

Then something else. Let's talk about mythology. Yes, the scene is unloading from memory so I have time to write stuff... And a disclaimer, some of the following images are concepts. I don't know will they will appear or even be used in any future VN.


Mythology overall has been a great source of inspiration, but at the same time it has been one of the biggest frustrations. I think I've talked about it before. My frustration stems from not being able to make everything I want. Simply because there are no parts to make one. But at the same time the mythology can be a bit strange. From one end you have all kinds of monsters and the other end you have humans with their feet backwards. There are surprisingly a lot of those. It's part of being human. We mirror ourselves, our wishes, needs and fears to mythology. So at times there is a creature with their feet turned backwards. All of you who played Sorcerer have had an encounter with her at one point, or maybe not. She is the Spirit of the Glade; she doesn't have any other name, in a sense she doesn't need one. Her inspiration came from the North American native mythology, the Deer Lady. She... isn't exactly what I wanted her originally to be, parts to make her like I wanted weren't there. Now they are, but I'm not changing her as she is perfect as she is. Truthfully, the only thing I would change is the hair, and only because it lacks morphs. But... I live with it. She is something I would call a success when it comes to design. Of course, compared to the skill and complexity of some of the characters I make nowadays, she is simple. But complex isn't always better.

And there is always the "problem." What's next? A lot of mythological creatures are just humans, maybe exotic skin colour, strange coloured hair, some extra body part (duck feet), or outright a monster as said above, or hybrid of some kind, so I have to find something that I can do or is something that hasn't seen before. Ophiogenis, The Serpent Born, Greek mythology, a tribe of men who could heal poisonous snake bites with their touch. Which is why she is in a nurse uniform... There is only two references to them as far as I know so everything is a guess work. But wanted to try to make one. But, I'm not limiting myself to just Greek mythology, although it is the most prominent one along with Norse. Some mythologies that I've found initially sounded good, but when looking into them more deeply they went in to the "nope, not touching that with a ten feet pole"-category. But I'll keep digging and see what I can find and create. Have a great weekend you all!

Monday, May 26, 2025

Progress 26.05.2025 and Changelog for ToaM 0.41.0

Hello all!

Release day, as expected really. So that will start soon.

Rendering of 0.42.0 started, not entirely happy at the moment, but that's due to me nit picky over certain things and trying to provide more "natural" light so render time is more than I anticipated. But nothing new there, I'll keep you all informed on how it goes as usual.

I'll start writing 0.46.0 either later today or tomorrow, so that's in good shape.

So, no preview. What I render for the next two or three days, depending does the render speed fall into something sensible... is let's say it's going to be interesting. Thus, let's call this one as a background render.

I put a lot of works into my characters. Even to the side characters. You are already familiar with the detectives Cross and Graves, the have a story or two written from the time when I wanted to write "procedural police drama." The third one, the one with the notepad and a pen is Shannon, you might have seen her from random renders on discord mostly. Might have had her in some of the renders in here as well. Well the dice made here a police, in this case a detective. So that is something I need to weave in. And she might have a short story written for my own background material. Yes, in case it wasn't apparent already, I like to write. A lot. And at times, especially now that I can, it is good to give visual on certain things. This is one of those moments. And it helps to fill out the times when I can't show a actual in game render. Usually when I'm starting to render a new update or on the last Friday before the next one, maybe. Also I hate the lighting in this one, it's accurate for the environment, but damn it does make the textures clear...

Anyway to the important stuff.

Changelog: ToaM 0.41.0

  • 365 renders

  • Implemented the next part of the story

  • 1 hidden image

  • Codex updated

  • Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread, Oaiki, Horny Toad, Michael Hamill, Orion, Thron, Fey, Evsej)

Release schedule:

  • $15 Tier: As soon as the post has had its final touches and links been verified.

  • $10 Tier: 28th of May

  • $5 Tier: 29th of May

  • $3 Tier: 30th of May

  • Public: 9th of June

Checksums SHA256:

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Sunday, May 25, 2025

Public Release: Tribulations of a Mage 0.40.0

 

Tested and played through it a few times, and all the saves worked. But that doesn't mean things didn't slip by. So, as always, if there are any issues, please report them on Discord if possible. That way, I notice them quicker.

https://discord.gg/GJK5kfKypg

Update 0.400

PC
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    https://gofile.io/d/3FYa2F
PC Compressed
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    https://gofile.io/d/mZ24ht
MAC
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    https://gofile.io/d/jrLQhz
MAC Compressed
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Update
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    https://gofile.io/d/M5rp2c
Update Compressed
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    https://mega.nz/file/fuwD0KCb#plYb0X_ED34SV2nX15FrPdoXlWP2F9xLQPnf08c-YoY
    https://gofile.io/d/stKtPL
Android
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    https://gofile.io/d/2FZ37o
Android WT
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    https://gofile.io/d/vEf2Rp



Friday, May 23, 2025

Progress 23.05.2025

Hello all!

It is Friday and the update is done. And by done I mean done, it has been tested, the builds made, codex has been updated update early... and then there is the uploading left, which will take a while, but yeah, it's coming. And as usual I'll write the weekend and start 0.42.0 on Monday. Writing is in good state, there isn't that many pages left to write of 0.45.0. There is one twist I'm not entirely sure how I will handle it, but it will sort itself out while writing. And then... let's call it a story concept render.

 

This is something that popped in my head around 6 in the morning, while I was sleeping... Had to make a note about it. ToaM isn't anymore in the stage where I think of new plotlines or anything like that, it is just writing and rendering now until the last update is done. I still get ideas, ideas never stop even while writing this I've had three our four different story ideas, some aren't good, some are put into notebooks and some are made into renders. We all know what's comes next, so a lot of those ideas are for Sorcerer 2, or something else... How do introduce character X so it makes sense, what does the character do, does the character know Y character, and if so then why/how? Then how they will end up interacting the main characters, and so on. This basic stuff, although I'm fairly certain that saying that there are people who will look at me annoyed. And once you add all the characters in, all those seemingly insignificant pieces starts to form things. That little piece over there fits with this piece over here, and then those fit to that third one... and there is a story-line there. Now it's just writing those three things together and weave a story. So what is the tale of the twin tailed catgirl and a dragon? And how it relates to our Sorcerer? Well... now that would be spoiling things ahead now wouldn't it? Anyway, I'll keep uploading and writing. You all have a great weekend!

Monday, May 19, 2025

Progress 19.05.2025

Hello all!

So things have been relatively good over the weekend. I have one and a half scenes left to render, no set building luckily since I did that last week while waiting things to render. I'd like to argue I had a lazy weekend but I don't think I'll find anyone that agrees with me. Anyway, rendering is in a good state overall. The next updates have again a lot of set building so, well, need to see how things go with it then.

Then I wrote a bit more than I needed over the weekend, mostly yesterday. It's in a good place and I'm happy with it, so things are good overall.

And so it begins our desert adventure... and with a visit of unknown person? Friend or foe? Well, she has appeared in a few hidden renders so far so she isn't completely unknown... Right, time for my break and, technically I'm done the renders for today, but I might do a few more after the break. Well, we'll see how it goes. Maybe some writing as well.

Friday, May 16, 2025

Progress 16.05.2025

Hello all!

Ugh... this week. Well, mostly yesterday, one of those days that happens occasionally, granted it is a bit going on still today but not as bad... Those days when you feel that everything is going straight to hell... or something. Anyway... rendering is going to count wise. I'm in okay place overall. Script wise? Ehhh... far from where I should be, but it will be okay on Monday.

Writing is in okay shape, should be able to write what I need over the weekend, so all is okay on that front.

Then a bit of catching up of sorts with Gweyr and Iraea. Been a while, sort of for both, but on the canon path both need to help their people to survive the winter. Problems with large casts is finding the time for everyone. People are there, but the others will also require screen time. But I'll try my best to give time for everyone.

And then something else. As anyone who has played AVN's for a while has probably seen familiar enviroments in various games. This happens unfortunately when there is limited resources, while I try create unique environments at times that isn't feasible simply due to the limited assets. But there are small ways to make things unique, such as magical flowers, need to tinker with a few settings so make couple more brighter but they work nicely for what I need. Anyway, you all have a great weekend!

Monday, May 12, 2025

Progress 12.05.2025 and Changelog for ToaM 0.40.0

Hello all!

So yeah, release day. Yay. A bit later than I wanted it to be posted but I've been pulled in different directions today so not too surprised by that. But it's out soonish.

Anyway, started rendering 0.41.0 as scheduled, been a bit slower side but I'm mostly happy with it. Luckily there is no set building, I think.

And as for writing, starting 0.45.0 either later today or tomorrow, depending a bit on the mood, and does my headache require me to be in a dark room again or not. Anyway all is good, and since we are in a spoiler category (and so not suitable for work) have a hmm... It is motivational render, but... it's also theoretical things about the future, sort of?

There is an alternate version that has more light attached. I personally like the darker version, as it is slightly more dramatic in a sense. Right, a bit expanding on the "future" part, I'm not planning a sequel to ToaM, not exactly. The mind always keeps working on "what could happen next", at times some of the musings ends up in a render format simply because why not? Hypothetically, I could return to the world someday, there are always room for more stories to tell. Anyway, to the important stuff.

P.S. The image is after the SHA's since ant attach files to these posts

Changelog: ToaM 0.40.0

  • 365 renders

  • Implemented the next part of the story

  • 1 hidden image

  • Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread, Oaiki, mat_cauthon, MG, Orion, OBE, Elhemeer)

Release schedule:

  • $15 Tier: As soon as the post has had its final touches and links been verified.

  • $10 Tier: 14th of May

  • $5 Tier: 15th of May

  • $3 Tier: 16th of May

  • Public: 26th of May

Checksums SHA256:

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    com.talothral.toam-release.apk

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    com.talothral.toam-release.apk (WT)

     

    And now the extra image:


     

     


Progress 30.05.2025

Hello all! Friday and progress post. So what's up? Rendering... I'm not sure I am happy or annoyed with it. Daz has been weird this ...