Progress 20.01.2023

 Friday and today, we have a more unusual progress post.

Update 23 will begin its release cycle this weekend. I'm not sure if it is tomorrow or Sunday yet since it depends on the upload speed, and it's being a pain in the backside at the moment.

As for rendering update 24, I'll start it on Monday, and I'll write the weekend. And speaking of it, update 27 will be a bit larger than the regular updates, simply because there are some variations due to the choices presented. Some good, some bad. Nothing too drastic, yet.

And then, to technical matters, in this update, there are a couple darker environments, and while they are fine for me, they might not be fine for everyone. Thus, I've added a toggle to the Extras section in Preferences:

In those scenes (and going forward from this update), this toggle will use different images, well, not different, but differently, tone mapped. Example below.

Sample set 1:
Original:

 

Tone mapped:

Sample set 2:

Original:

Tone mapped:

In the first sample set, the difference isn't huge. That's because the lights you see would turn unnaturally bright, so I couldn't increase it more. The second set is more clear on what I mean. This change will always vary between scenes. Some might have a noticeable difference, some not so much.

So there is the technical side of things. Now for more fun stuff! Technically, you have two different previews of the update up there, so time for something different.

After I mentioned and showed the few renders of the next MC's youth, I thought about it a bit longer. Obviously, most information should be given through the VN somehow. But at the same time, some information, like people who were his friends before the VN starts, could be beneficial. Or how people in certain locations know him.

Of course, this can be extended to show how he has specific skills, granted this isn't exactly how it will go. His origin story isn't that he got combat training under some master. Well, not like this, anyway.