Progress 27.11.2023

Monday... I don't have anything positive to say about this day at the moment...

Okay, rendering? I have threeish scenes left to render. Problem? It decided to take it's sweet time for no good reason to render things despite it not even that heavy scene. Luckily they are relatively simple scenes, so they won't test my nerves too badly. Just need to find out what eats the unholy amount of VRAM.

Anyway, how about writing? On that side, I'm happy. I "need" one and half pages at best, maybe two, so I was able to do the update 7's script. Almost, sleeping was more important than the last minute push, but it's easy enough to write. So I'll be starting update 8 Tuesday most likely. And that's it, short and sweet. Over all, despite the rendering being slightly pain in the backside, it's good.

Teaching moments. Daz isn't really made for what I do here, and I'm kind of pushing it's limits. Nor it helps much that sometimes there isn't assets. On positives, there is a tool being made that might help with some of the issues I have. But estimate is February or March next year so it is still some time off. But it isn't the first nor it will be the last time I improvise things. Anyway, tea and back to rendering.

Progress 24.11.2023

Hello you all!

So the release came and went, and reactions were positive. So what next?

0.3.0 is being rendered as you would suspect. I'm more or less on "schedule" with it, around halfway of the script. There is some set building as always which slows my pace down, but that's goign to be the story for whole game for most parts. It isn't bad when there is only handful of characters to pose, but some scenes requires... a lot of people.

Writing? It's in a good state, if I can get a few hours of free time I should be able to finish the update 7. Heh... funny thought. Still I'm mostly happy of that progress.

And then a quick preview. Shani getting bright ideas... This is one of those scenes where I needed a lot of people to make it look "realistic". And it was quite heavy to render. But overall, it came out nicely. And the small preview makes it look darker than it is. But that is "natural" light for you.

Progress 20.11.2023

I said to myself that last Friday is the last time I'll make a progress post about the initial release. And that's about right, I'll sort few things out and start depolying it. With accelerated release schedule (aka 24 hours intervals, I think...)

So to other stuff... Now. Update 3 is being rendered. And apparently it ended up being 26 pages, not entirly sure why right now but okay... I'll still maintain the stance the the updates come when they are done. I can't promise I can keep up with the schedule I had with Sorcerer and TRS2 simply due complexity of some of the scenes but I'll try to be as fast as possible with it.

And as for writing? It's is in surpisingly good shape considering that I spent all Saturday and big portion of Sunday sorting out the Android build and couple other things. I happy, and if I can start that "write an hour a day" that I had with TRS2 I will be in a good place with it.

I've been recently doing a lot of renders with snow. Partially it is to test certain tool I have that can turn any environment into a snowy environment, and partially? It seems the the direction I'm taking right now leads to north of the world, at least for a while. Anyway, might as well do the changelog while I'm here. Although it is amusing, this is my fourth VN... I'm still having a slight panic attack about the release. And in all honesty? I do hope I never stop feeling the anxiety over it. The day it stops, I'm not enjoying what I do anymore. Anyway...

Tribulations of a Mage 0.2.0

Changelog: 

• 856 renders, including utility renders and other similar images. Story renders around 800.
• Added hidden images (3 locations)
• Initial release of the Codex, it isn't complete. There is a lot more information that needs to be added when the time comes to it.
• Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, and Bread)

Release schedule?

• $15-Tier (VIP) As soon as I've compiled the release post and tested the links.
• $10-Tier (Magician) 24 hours after the initial release (give or take few minutes)
• $5-Tier (Journeyman) 48 hours after the initial release (give or take few minutes)
• $3-Tier (Apprentice) 72 hours after the initial release (give or take few minutes)
• Public: 3rd of December or there abouts.

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Changelog

Progress report

Progress 17.11.2023

Hello all on this nice wintery Friday!

Rendering of the initial release is done and so is coding. And thus it has been handed over to proofreading and testing. So as far as the initial release goes, it's in really good shape.

So what shall I do over the weekend? Write, I'll be honest, coding various things has taken a lot of time. I like it, I've gotten better at it, but with how my mind works it isn't necessarily a good thing since when I start something and hit a roadblock I try to solve it before I do anything. And starting coding at 4 in the morning isn't a good idea with that mindset. Then I shall prototype a feature that I thought of last night. It's something that I'll add in the future if I get it to work as I want. If not? Eh, happens. Aaaand I need to add help screen for the icons I use... dang it. And prep the Android and the compressed builds as well. 

And speaking of the icons. While they are there to guide (they can be toggled off) they aren't a walkthrough as is. That's a job for Shaddy, whom I might have given a grey hair or fifty with this thing. While they generally can guide you to a positive direction for that particular choice, that isn't always the right choice to make. So, as always, read, and follow your gut (and save often). And yes, the save indicator is also available for choices that can get you killed. None so far, though.

This is something I've tried for update 6. I don't do that many of these nowadays, gran'ted I was focused on getting the initial build out. Although probably going to be a night render this one when it comes to it... Mostly happy how it came, environment needs some work though. Also there is lack of winter clothing that isn't modern. I suppose not revealing enough.

Progress 13.11.2023

 Monday... One of those days.

Three scenes left to render. So I'm more or less where I want to be with it. Writing is going, slowly, but that's not surprising since I still have coding to do. The first releases are funny, especially when one gets ideas while coding things. Anyway. All is good. I got writing buffer, it still goes on positive way. And once the release is done, I can return to a similar routine that I had with TRS2, with the exception that I'm not one update ahead... And that reminds me. There is one scene that is dark, lightning wise. You are meant to barely see the renders. Granted, on my screen it is just what it needs to be, but that being said. I'll do my best to make them visible with the "enhanced visibility" option for those that want to use that.

What to show, what to show...

Ah yes, this. This is... fairly safe one to show. Have to get creative with the sets. Being in a similiar room isn't a problem, just need to decorate them differently. Although at times my creativity is stretched with how little things there are in more "ancient asian" style. Don't worry, we don't spend that much time in these rooms after the first few updates. We will spread our wings relatively soon... with more forests, swamps and other random things... ;) Although, I admit, interesting reflections and light bending from all the glass around.

Also as a side note, there are things in the VN that I haven't done before, there might be times where moving the mouse around the screen might give result, some might even raise few questions... Although, not in that image.

Progress 10.11.2023

Hello all on this rainy Friday. I wish it would snow... anyway...

Rendering, it's in an okay state. Technically, with one scene taking three times as long to render than normal and set building, I'm a day behind render count wise. But script wise I'm around the halfway point and that's where I'm supposed to be at this moment. So that's good.

I'd say about 95% of the background coding tasks are done. The biggest hurdle of the tasks left is the music, but for that I need my headset which ear pads are broken. Meh, I have new pads coming so it's just last the last task I do. So what is left other than renders? About 5 million icons and other little images. They don't take long to do but there are many of them. And some Codex writing, got the page about the gods working... almost like I want. One annoying "visual bug" but nothing major.

And then on the writing front. Writing update 7, as I should nothing shocking there. Update 6 feels a mess, but that's always kind of how things seems to be at start with seemingly two or three separate plot threads running paraller to each other, that with the travelling that I need to sort out within next few updates to make things more accessible.

I think I've mentioned before that at least the first part of the new game has more eastern flare in building style, for most parts. The empire where things starts is a large place and closer to the edges of it styles can vary greatly. Although the chosen style for the first part is a challenge, there are things, but still lot of set building. And repurposing things... "realistic" ´lightning is a challenge, but at times you need to set the realism to side so you can see things. Yes, the fairy's leg is in more natural position in the final render, just haven't applied the fix to this particular image.

Progress 06.11.2023

 

Hello everyone.

Monday is upon us, unsurprisingly. And things got done over the weekend. Most of the technical side aspects are dealt with, there is some tweaking left as always but that is relatively easy. That and I have a pile of music that I need to listen to. Anyway, the first half is done, tested and proofread. Just need to merge it to the script and couple other things. Rendering of the second half started as scheduled, and I'll start writing update 7 on Wednesday. And that's the important bits now to other things...

Tribulations of the Mage... catchy title, no? I'm not going to lie, naming things is my least favourite thing to do mostly cause I suck at it, but alas, it works and fits. Maybe it should be "of a mage"? Eh, details! I'm happy though with it. Generally the colour scheme is something I like, things might need some tweaking, but that's comes down to feedback. Now to the more technical aspects.

The font. That font is used only for the menus and character names. The actual font that is used for the dialogue and other "important" things will be the default ren'py one. Just to keep it easily readable. 

You've might have noticed that there is a "codex" instead of characters in the main menu. This is one of the changes I wanted to implement in this game.

And behind that button is this. Characters split into the main and side characters. Main characters are the people who the story revolves around, mostly. They are the ones in the middle of the action. And side characters are the supporting cast, however that is just made like that so it is slightly easier to go through the people.

Character information is a bit bare bones, but I'll come to that in a moment.

And because it is a codex not a character list, there will be other additional information. God's tab is fairly self explanatory. It has information about the gods in this setting, currently it only has the gods that get mentioned within the first five updates. Although, I might change something about the layout on this screen if I can get it to function properly.

And then we move to the in game changes. Dialogue wheel instead of the usual menu. However, while I designed the game with the dialogue wheel in mind, I will add an option to the preferences to switch it back to the standard ren'py menu. But I can't guarantee that it looks normal in every situation.

Then the portraits. This is the style I've chosen for the character portraits in the game. The large images on the side just irritate me, which is why I haven't used them before. This? This is I can live with personally. And as I said before, not everyone gets a side portrait. Most are those unimportant no-name types who you don't need to even remember. They most likely won't even get an entry on the side characters page... I know it looks a bit small in these previews but it's large enough in game.

Which brings me to the last item. The information. One of the issues I have is that I know everything regarding this setting (and others), so as the time goes by, it becomes increasingly difficult for me to "fill out" relevant information. Partially because to me, everything is more or less relevant information. And now some of you are thinking, how can I help? That's easy, ask questions. If there is an information that you would like to see in the codex (or generally even) ask in a private message, in comment or on Discord. If the information is something I can give without spoiling the story (at that point) it gets added to the codex relatively quickly. If it spoils things now, but doesn't later it might go up later. There probably won't be massive articles as I still need to work on the game as well ;)

There are a couple other features I'm still thinking. One of them is implemented but I'm uncertain should I put it in, at least in the way it is now. And then the obvious question. When it releases? Best I can give right now is this month. I have a target goal in my mind but it all depends on rendering. Which goes decently. A bit slower than I would like, but the scenes are more complex than before. And while there are no preview render cause no spoiler policy. Have an environmental test...

 

Public Release: TRS2 Update 40

 

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 (https://discord.gg/GJK5kfKypg). 

It has been a long road to get here. Not much to say here truth to be told, there are no choices in this update since it is just the aftermath of what has been chosen. And I'm fairly certain I've forgotten to address some things but c'est la vie.

Uncompressed:

• PC (9.05 GB): https://mega.nz/file/i3xRgaDS#1vMzxXGXNXNMyNqK_tK2GZ_WmgUK0ANMovBciWEpoFI

• PC Mirror: https://gofile.io/d/cAL4P1

• MAC (9.03 GB): https://mega.nz/file/3qgGSDwT#HIBfHB58PHCucDZjmtmCtbFMP36tfJJWydK_7K2gXq0

• MAC Mirror: https://gofile.io/d/8yEYW8 

Uncompressed update only:

• From Update 39 to Update 40 (942.0 MB): https://mega.nz/file/TqRQyaqA#_JtmtCWF67heQ8Rykl0mgDLI9FcSZ-v6VsHw-mdfi4c

• Mirror: https://gofile.io/d/aN2pJt

Compressed:

• PC (4.14 GB): https://mega.nz/file/uiwnmSYD#6cn4Q6iQEj6XCq1uNtkzSzjCSODHXimh6xUs67TsOXs

• PC Mirror: https://gofile.io/d/pBE8SY

• MAC (4.12 GB): https://mega.nz/file/z3pzGYwS#9A8fxZJ04w8zsrWW0gst-3MZWZjmPHuAQDdQNjR9L_U

• MAC Mirror: https://gofile.io/d/L5fCBw

Compressed update only:

• From Update 39 to Update 40 (436.8 MB): https://mega.nz/file/PqQXzQIA#AY2F3fwKV4yhYIURIswXkjjU7LRqZ6J1iUqBziHbsLU

• Mirror: https://gofile.io/d/hzgQTO

Android:

• Android (1.38 GB): https://mega.nz/file/u3hEQRaB#ENw-6OT_HRZYHXgbs37ONNFUJbsjJunMwp-V0ukYKVs

• Mirror: https://gofile.io/d/iy66AI

Progress 03.11.2023

What's up? The story part of the first half of the initial release has been rendered. Now I'm just doing some auxiliary renders and coding things... I hate UI design... so I can push the proofreading/test build out. And... that's about it?

Writing for update 6 is close being done as well so, over all I'm happy with things. So what will I do during the weekend? Rest a bit extra. Hammer down the features that aren't needed for the testing build as is, such as music and few additional renders. Then I'll start the rendering the second half of the initial release no later than Monday.

And here we have it. The official main title screen image. At least one of them, this is at least what you see up to update 10, until that I don't think there is enough choices been made to affect things. Assuming I can get the dynamic screen work as I want. Anyway, that's it for today, things are looking good. I should be able to show some of the updated features on Monday, so until then! Have a nice weekend.

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