Progress 29.08.2022

 

And let there be... electricity. Yay? 13 hours and 43 minutes to fix the power grid, and I'm back in business!

 

Anyway, the release was yesterday, and as you may know, the weather was crap yesterday, so, unfortunately, I didn't get much done outside of some writing. But! At least I'm well rested. Anyway, update 17 is being written, and I got a few new ideas on how to do things in it.

 

And that being said. Rendering of update 14 has begun, and you get to see the first render of it even! There are several sets I need to build and many people to pose, so some parts of it will be annoying to make, but in the end, it will be worth it.

  

So update 14, the first render... At times I really love what I do. This render, in all its simplicity, is interesting. Granted, I've always been partial to nighttime shots; lights are good tools to create interesting visuals. Unfortunately, there are things that I would want to do, but I'm unable, for now anyway. Either there are no suitable props, or I don't have the skill. Yet.

Then... something else. I wanted to give out something in the release post, but it was on the wrong computer. Well, two of them, 3840x2160 versions, should open to the original size when you click them, if not they are attached to the post on patreon, it's public. They scale down nicely.

 

 This is something I do during the downtime between updates, you know, during those times when I do backups of the final versions of the files and things like that. Of course I do daily "motivational renders" as well, just to get the brain working in he morning, which has been those character renders that I've shown recently. And since a few people were asking for wallpapers, I did a few of them and will do more if wanted. Although, for one, I need to install a couple of programs so I can do things to it before I release it. 

 

These one off renders are something I enjoy doing, it helps keeping my focused when render sequence is 60 or more renders, it's just fun to do something else between sessions.

Public Release: TRS2 Update 12

Tested and played through a few times, 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 (https://discord.gg/GJK5kfKypg).

Enjoy!

Note! The build number is "wrong" on android (it says 0.13.0 or 1300) it's correct version, it's just a typo on my end. 

NOTE 2! If it moans about "xxx not defined" try an older save, that has fixed things for people. If it doesn't work pop into discord and I'll fix whatever it is bitching about this time.

Uncompressed:

• PC (2.58 GB): https://mega.nz/file/2qoQQaLK#RMdxC1fP_enyppdC305Ru-xz0KO97Uw_uOXiyGL5O6s
• PC Alternative: https://www.mediafire.com/file/fnq6788fbnjpqkj/TRS2-pc-Update12.zip/file
• MAC (2.56 GB): https://mega.nz/file/j7YGTZxA#YktOX492xU4AlOONzueFx8CL4Gu4PFrmecCxxbS26D8

Uncompressed update only:

• From Update 11 to Update 12 (215.8 MB): https://mega.nz/file/yvIkzYJZ#EuEQ_nUKqbhsxDLKoY8H8huXVEK5y58akXqJDuGF9RE

Compressed:

• PC (1.13  GB): https://mega.nz/file/375wAJAD#iR-BW1x4EHxllXbt1haOwi8QpSG0AR15mux0ooBcv_g
• MAC (1.12 GB): https://mega.nz/file/ujhC0JRY#JhyCjU1pecL_wahZQHIEFiuI4nAuqlCpanAy-gTseeM

Compressed update only:

• From Update 11 to Update 12 (105.4 MB): https://mega.nz/file/LuRWiDqA#lV9oIwV5nLsdqE1d9RkI8gVSchzCHJpEZyJPjI3FAh0

Android:

• Android (472.0 MB): https://mega.nz/file/2iRWCAwR#VubAxTbSk1XS4QKDJXixXDHJgKzhQxWlewz9WmAywJc

Progress 26.08.2022

 

Hello, it's Friday, and it is time for a progress post.

 

Let's start with writing. It's going, and there isn't much to say about it, in all honesty. The most significant issues come from needing to decide what happens and when. Do these scenes make sense here or later, or should I push them earlier to improve the flow? Unfortunately, the answer to that comes too late, usually. Fortunately, I have a buffer that allows me to change things easily when needed. And I'm writing update 17, just as a side note.

 

As for rendering? One and a half scenes, at best. I'm hoping to do the proofreading build tomorrow. I'm not entirely happy about the timing, but then again, time is never in favor.

And again, something you expect to happen. If you chose to do so. And now I would want to give a spoiler about it and what happens in the future... no, not what you are thinking, but alas, I won't. Still, I like the render.

And as for this? I have no idea. I just wanted to make a redhead. I have no plans for the character in any project, not in TRS or the next one. As of yet, anyway. Just something I wanted to make for the fun of it. Although, not necessarily the hair I end up using if she becomes a character. There is a hair I want to use, but I need to wait for a sale... or maybe not. I kind of like that hair on her, so I have to see when the time comes.

Progress 22.08.2022

 

Hello good people. I'm early today, at least I hope so.

So I did some things over the weekend. Still, annoyingly I'm behind writing because I got a headache most of Sunday. Hence, a portion of it went being eyes closed and sleeping. Annoying, but it's just 2 hours of writing I'm behind, which I can catch up on. It's just writing in the end.

As for rendering? I'm past the halfway point, doing a more extended scene, which slows the speed down. Granted, if I want to speed it up, I could use both of my GPUs since it easily fits in 12 GB of VRAM. Something to consider, at least after I do some stuff.

The continued adventures of Sage and Taraia. There are a few segments during this update and the next one. Frankly, it's one of the things I didn't plan for initially. But it works in my favor.

It's just not people and hair that need to fit and be tested. It's also clothes, environments, animals, and other creatures. Why I'm doing it? VRAM is limited, mostly, so trying things beforehand gives me an idea of how to build the scenes. Also, it allows me to spin specific ideas to see how they could work. It's honestly one of the more enjoyable aspects of this process.

Progress 19.08.2022

 

So Friday is here once again.

And straight to business this time. Rendering, it will be shocking to know that I'm about halfway through the script. There are a couple more complex scenes, so that might slow things down. And now that I've said that, the rendering will take 25 seconds... There is some set building as well, but nothing that should take hours to do.

As for writing, I should have update 16 done by Monday. That, of course, depends on how many interruptions happen between now and then, but I'm hopeful.

So, what is this? It would be a mild spoiler since if you chose it on day 11 (I think it was 11), you knew it was coming. Just what does it mean? Well, you have to wait for that. ;)

And at times, it isn't the character that gives the problems, but the hair. Although I'm not entirely happy with her either, she misses that... something. I have about 500 hair items (give or take) that I can use, and sometimes you can't find the one you like from the ones you have. It's the same reason why Chiel doesn't have hair. Nothing fits her character, some hairstyles look good on her, but it isn't her with hair. It's a similar thing with this one. It took me 4 hours to find the hair. The character was created in 5 minutes. Eh I get it right by the time I need her.

Changelog: Update 12

 

Changelog: Update 12

• Day 12 implemented

• 372 renders

• Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry Lemon, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread_, To Begin With, OBE, Psykotik, DavidCF, and rsnation)

Interestingly enough, I'm a week early from my initial schedule with this, I fully expected this to take 3 weeks to make simply due the amount of text it has.. Granted, I didn't have much problems with rendering it so...

And now the release schedule.

Release schedule:

• $15 Tier: 16th of August (aka as soon as links are verified)

• $10 Tier: 18th of August

• $5 Tier: 19th of August

• $3 Tier 20th of August

• Public: 27th of August 2022

Progress 15.08.2022

 

Hello... Time for a progress report, I reckon...

 

First, Update 12 is done, and I'm doing the final steps before I can publish it. And then there is the uploading, my net has been a bit odd in the last week or so, and the speed in both uploading and downloading hasn't been good occasionally. But it will be there eventually.

 

That being said, I wrote an extra scene for update 13 that I forgot to initially write on Sunday. Then I started rendering update 13 already. So regardless of how long the uploading takes, the update speed isn't slowed down as is. It just means that time between updates isn't that long. Not that it is, to begin with...

 

As for writing, hopefully, I get update 16 written by the following Monday. But that depends on whether doing something that I usually do in an hour takes three hours because the person I'm helping has different ideas on how to work efficiently...

 

Anyway. This isn't exactly a spoiler. I mean, the MC talking to the Fleet Admiral... shocking! But this part at the start of update 13 tells you how you did during the event on the previous day. Although you also get direct feedback right after the event, this encompasses all you chose during the event.

 

And then, something for fun...

 

Progress 12.08.2022

 

So it's Friday. And I should be doing a progress post, no? Well, you are in luck cause I'm doing one now.

 

I recall vaguely saying that this update would take longer than usual. Well, it kind of will, but not as long as I thought it would. I have about 30 renders left, give or take. At least when I started writing this. Granted, I estimated the time before I updated my hardware in mid-July. Go figure.

 

As for writing? It's going. I'm not entirely confident that I'll reach halfway before I finish the update cause been abysmal to write this week. But still, I got caught up with the buffer. I need to write some more, and that fixes it.

I will be glad when this update is done. Then I can start putting up some actual previews in these posts. So, maybe on Monday, you'll see a preview screen that isn't concept stuff for the future or something.

Although, the good thing about not being able to show previews is that I can try different things to make some images that I can show to you. I could show some characters I've made for TRS2. However, too many spoilers for my liking with some of them. Granted, some of the characters could appear in TRS2, just dressed them in fantasy clothing to test stuff I buy.

Behind the Scenes: The Past, the present, the future.

Oh boy, did I just dig myself into a nice hole? Probably yes. And a catchy title.

2019, I got fed up with the things that were out there, the same thing over, and over again. And then there were the infamous words "if you think you can do it better, why don't you?" followed by "hold my beer." Well not exactly, but not that far off.

Chiel was the first character to get visuals, I've said that before, and I'll say it probably 100 times in the future, she is probably the dearest character to me because of that. But Terminus Reach: Sentinel wasn't the first one I wanted to do, but practicalities dictated that it was. I can't draw, so I had (or have) very limited choices for visuals.

 

I did consider Honey Select, TK17 or whatever it was called, and some others. All had problems. So it was DAZ Studio in the end, which meant it was going to get expensive. Original Terminus Reach: Sentinel was confined in a space station intentionally, which meant that I didn't need multiple and complex environments which were a perfect solution for someone who was:

1. Learning.
2. Not sure if it would work the way I wanted.
3. Unsure would people like what I do.

So, I invested some money in environmental assets and things and gathered a pile of freebies to learn. And got to work on July 8th, 2019. And in June 2020 TRS1 was completed, I forgot the exact date for it, but still. And being fair and honest, I hesitated. Originally, I wasn't it wasn't going to be published, it was a project I did to learn things. But... in the end, I thought. Why not?

 

It took me three weeks to make enough posts on a certain site to be able to publish TRS there and gain an audience. And people liked it, of course, some hated it. That encouraged me to continue what I was already doing, Sorcerer, the funny thing is, I started rendering Sorcerer on July 8th, 2020.

Enter Alexander and Miyuki. In July I published the first version. You can say that Sorcerer was the introduction to my work for many people. Sorcerer first, then followed by Terminus Reach: Sentinel. And Sorcerer ended up being special for a lot of people. Fast updates on more or less regular basis, during tough times. For 20 months, roughly every two weeks an update came out, well 19 months since it took one month to make the epilogue if I nitpick. Some of the messages I've received due to it has made me humble. But onward.

 

While doing Sorcerer, I was already contemplating the next one. It is how my mind works. Before starting this endeavor, I used to work on three or four stories parallel to each other, write something for that, and then write something for this. This was mostly for my own leisure, to keep my mind occupied. But at the same time, I'm a person who wants to get things done in a timely fashion, so doing things the old way wouldn't work now.

 

I became focused, I want to do the story as fast as possible with the best ability I have. I'm not the greatest in making renders. I'm the first one to admit that there is room to improve, and I try to. But even when I focus on rendering, and writing the story I'm doing, my mind doesn't stop working on other things.

This is a duplicate image of Monday's progress post, I could have chosen the Orc as well here as they are related. And as said, while working on Sorcerer I was contemplating the next one. It wasn't Terminus Reach 2 in my mind, but I had made a promise, that after Sorcerer I will continue the story of Garrett and Chiel.

 

TRS2... it's progressing smoothly, the speed at which things are going has surprised me. It might be because I have better hardware, or it might be because I now know how to do things. I'm not complaining, I enjoy what I do.

Enter you guys and gals, the patrons, and the fans. No, the orc isn't related to this section, I just wanted to post her again. I enjoy the interaction with you guys and gals because random things spark ideas. The problem with ideas is that they aren't always usable in what you do. Enter the Mage, aka the previous image... She is something I've been trying to visualize for two weeks, until last night it wasn't happening. This is my gift and my curse.

 

At times, something just forms in my mind, it can be from a random discussion with you guys, a random comment that I read somewhere, or it can be triggered by a bird flying past my window. But end result is the same, I have to get it out of my head sooner rather than later. Before DAZ was a thing for me, I wrote stories with the characters, and now I can put them into visual form. Luckily, I've been investing the money I get into hardware and software so I can keep doing this, and try to get the things out of my head without interrupting "the work."

 

So where does this long rambling lead?

Enter the Naga... hah! For sometime I've been saying that I want to do fantasy, it's something that has been growing in my mind since I started Sorcerer. Some might say that Sorcerer is fantasy, that is true, it is a Urban Fantasy. But I never can put an orc in Shattered Seals, simply because orcs as we know don't exist in mythology. The root word for it is "Orcus", which means evil being, specter, evil spirit, demon... roughly saying, then Tolkien took it and some stuff from Beowulf and ran with it (and some other story). Granted, not a lot of things from Shattered Seals are 100% accurate with the mythology, but they are close enough to be plausible. Could I change it? Yes, but at the same time I would break the essence of Shattered Seals' setting which is sort of "plausible with existing mythology".

 

So where does it lead us in the future? I've always been vague about what happens after the current project is done. This isn't to keep you guys and gals guessing, or dangling some carrot in front of you in hopes to keep you as a patron. I appreciate every single patron more than I put into words, I appreciate every single fan of my work. I show my appreciation to you guys by not taking 10 years to complete a singular story.

On October 1st, 2021, almost a year ago, I made my discord server banner... that image above. It has 5 figures in it, Miyuki, Alexander, Garrett, and Chiel. In the middle is one that you can barely see... Enter Tomas.

 

Tomas is the fifth figure in that banner, he was created a year and a half ago. He is the protagonist of the third setting I want to do. And how does this relate to the Mage, the Orc, and the Naga? They are characters in that setting. So why three? Isn't Shattered Seals and Terminus Reach enough? Yes and no. As an author, you don't want to be trapped into one thing, as no matter how much you love one of your settings or characters it will be a trap for creativity. There are things I can't do in Shattered Seals, and while Terminus Reach can house almost everything, it will also have limits that I don't want to go over. And if I overstay my welcome in one of those settings? There are settings that I've created and loved that I haven't touched since shortly after their creation, and honestly, I most likely never touch again. 

 

So once again, where does it lead us in the future? What do I want to do? Fantasy, followed by urban fantasy. Will it happen like that? I don't know. If my estimate holds there are still about 12 months of Terminus Reach left. And life has shown that a year is a long time and a lot of things can happen and change in one year.

 

And I know I took a risk by not continuing Sorcerer, but in all fairness, after 20 months on single project and a lot of more hours than I want to admit, I was ready to Sorcerer to be the last of Shattered Seals ever. However by doing TRS2 and doodling around with the fantasy stuff has given me clarity on where I want the potential Sorcerer 2 to go, and interest to make something with it. Yes I keep saying potential until the first word of the script is written and the first render has been made.

 

Well not exactly the behind the scene I wanted to do, but probably what was needed to do. If you got this far. Thank you for reading. Hopefully this gives you some clarity what I would want to do in the long run. And yes, the Urban Fantasy is what you think it is... So it is far sooner than 9 years. :)

Progress 08.08.2022

 

Well, well, well... It is Monday once again. And I've been doing stuff!

 

Okay, so let me get this out of my system. The biggest reason I'm not showing preview renders is that there is, not saying a lot, but some see-through clothing involved. And that's kind of a no-no in public posts. However! There is an "in middle of building" render that I use to check does it fit into VRAM without the three of the "main cast" members.

 

So, rendering... It's actually going well, despite all things. There haven't been big problems, the biggest issue is dForce being a pain, but that's nothing new. And if I'm not entirely wrong, I have about 2 and a half scenes left to do.

 

Thus we get to writing. There is a section I need to rewrite in update 15's because I got a better idea for it, but that shouldn't take longer than an hour. So update 16 is underway, and hopefully, I get closer to halfway before I'm pulled away to do some stuff with update 12 (aka checking the code, doing first round of spell checking etc).

So this is one of the areas where you see people, generally speaking, the rooms will have about 10 to 15 characters in them... and not much else. 15 characters are my upper limit with 16 GB of VRAM, at least without squashing the textures more heavily, but that depends on the viewing distance. They are grouped so that I can move them around depending which room I do. Of course I change the shapes and textures of them so there shouldn't be identical figures in any of the rooms.

And then in the category stuff for the future... I rarely talk about future plans. At least until I'm certain that they can be done. But that doesn't mean I don't prepare for future projects in the background. Really should do a "Behind the Scenes" post about this stuff... hmm... Actually, not a bad idea.

Progress 05.08.2022

 

Progress 05.08.2022

Hmmm... Well, this is going to be interesting. So let's start with the obvious. 

Rendering is in a weird place if I'm honest. It's going smoothly. The largest slowdown is setting the scenes as I can't use the same characters in every room. So I have to change skins, hairs, clothing (or textures) around, and different poses maybe. That and hiding a pile of characters so I can run dForce on one or two characters.

But that being said, render amount wise? I have four-ish scenes left. Although that isn't saying much since those four scenes are about half of the text. But never the less, I'm a bit surprised how far I am in, but at the same time, I don't want to jinx it either better not say much more.

And then the writing. Assuming I get to write the next three days without interruptions, I'm done writing update 15 around Monday.

Anyway. Usually, I would do a preview, but I'm at the moment avoiding spoilers. Well, you know it is about the Kread event, so there isn't technically that much to spoil but still... thus...

At times, I have to remake characters. Sometimes because I've lost the original files, or they just aren't what I originally wanted to make but didn't have the materials to make them. Meet remade Edna, the grandmother of Andi and Niles.

And then, I need to make new unique characters. Of course, when it comes to science fiction, you need a ton of aliens, and there aren't that many available that haven't been used thousand times by now. And at times, there isn't simply a character I need for a specific role. Now there is. I forgot her name, but she appears in the coming update.

And then sometimes, just talking with people, image forms in my head that I need to make a character out of. She isn't related to Terminus Reach or Shattered Seals (Sorcerer), but... yeah. Who knows what the future brings?

Public Release: TRS2 Update 11

 

Tested and played through a few times, 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 (https://discord.gg/GJK5kfKypg).

Custom name fix and image loop fix, extract to the /game folder and let it overwrite the scripts.rpa: https://mega.nz/file/XiIgmAAY#8YuUSlzwjv2OhkNSNJJIRutaaZ6YoGjJ4jrIXBLaS48 

Uncompressed:

• PC (2.37 GB): https://mega.nz/file/DzwmQBRA#1eOJF794QBuzXKb9qihqkLwYTfQqX24o2diIRlqCezk 
• PC Alternative: https://www.mediafire.com/file/uvnqys3sk7pa5xw/TRS2-pc-Update11.zip/file 
• MAC (2.36 GB): https://mega.nz/file/KipVxLAJ#KM1RMXxdQ_6-m-dfu2MQp1gbsWtR1-dNLvze3ktDQYo 

Uncompressed update only:

• From Update 10 to Update 11 (176.8 MB): https://mega.nz/file/bnBiDagS#wPhKN1J1MOj9ewbgIrr0Fpb27EN3zAb339r8LrUT2aw 

Compressed:

• PC (1.03  GB): https://mega.nz/file/y7QiSbDJ#cPd1ssM924g7K0wxYqLciYvBz9AwO4l_pHqTebLKK8k 
• MAC (1.02 GB): https://mega.nz/file/uy42RKDL#KWPnvSWRaXx3ObC_HKUPghN5IkizEvyb9LcdpnfpsD4 

Compressed update only:

• From Update 10 to Update 11 (86.4 MB): https://mega.nz/file/KrBkjLZR#iCOophyjPUJ9dsODMkTlmIaH1XxixEj7rKDy2nABEQI 

Android:

• Android (439.3 MB): https://mega.nz/file/GnYg1QBJ#rYy1DcKWXiq711G_hJHjYsChWVYDnOB-4f9Xroyy2xA
  

Progress 01.08.2022

 

Bleh... So... damn it, I just saw an error in a render *sigh* Ah well. Anyway, the rendering of update 12 is going. Although it's a bit slow since, well, at the moment, there are 15 figures on the screen, and thanks to the "lovely" invention of dForce, I have to run it for three figures every time they move. Well, not really, as only two have sleeves in their outfits. Luckily the background people don't need to move at all.

So, writing. I'm happy with it. I'm about where I want to be, and hopefully, I can get to the point in rendering today where I can write continuously and do little movements that don't require many changes in the scene. Here's hoping.

As I said some time ago, I'm going to show what happens elsewhere. This particular scene set is just a glimpse as what happens next isn't that interesting, But it will continue on the following updates when there is more interesting things to show than building stuff.