Monday, April 29, 2024

Progress 29.04.2024

Hello all!

A bit snafu with the 0.12.0 public, compressed is the older version for some reason on gofile. Slightly annoying, but happens. Can be fixed relatively easily by getting the "normal" update only, and extracting the gui.rpa from it to the /game folder. Anyway. Doing this while the big scene loads up...

So what's up? Obviously, rendering the 0.14.0 got some of it done over the weekend, which was a good, gives me an idea how long it potentially takes to render the scene. Answer is, long. Outside of eating resources, it isn't that "heavy" to render as is, just the posing will be annoying. Nothing new there. But otherwise it's going okay.

Otherwise, writing of 0.18.0 is underway, not sure how much I can do with that in the next couple of days, but I'm not concerned too much.


Originally, it was supposed to jump straight to the "main event" in the next update. But at some point during the writing of the scene and now the idea of "instead of week's time skip do a montage"... not sure how it will work out. Although I do need to retcon the time a day or two shorter. But that doesn't change much relatively or readjust the images a bit. But I'll see that when I test it. So yeah, this is one of the images from the montage. Anyhow... back to rendering with me!

P.S. To give context, the scene is titled "internally" as "morning practice".

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Public Release: Tribulations of a Mage 0.12.0

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

EDIT: Fix for compressed missing images: https://gofile.io/d/DusHrz drop the gui.rpa into the /game folder and overwrite the old one.

PC:

PC Compressed:

MAC:

MAC Compressed:

Update only:

Compressed Update only:

Android:

Android WT:

Changelog: Tribulations of a Mage 0.13.0

Changelog:

  • 199 renders (+24 auxiliary renders)

  • Implemented the next part of the story

  • Added things to the codex, bit more work on the secrets screen.

  • Added debug screen

  • 2 hidden image

  • Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread, Orion, ElectroKnight22, Draco)

Ehhh... got to hate my net at times. It works most of the times then randomly switches to crawl. Meh, anyway, stuff got done in a more or less timely fashion. A bit earlier than normal.

Release schedule:

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

  • Public: 13th of May

Friday, April 26, 2024

Progress 26.04.2024

Good morning everyone!

Update 0.13.0 is uploading, and hopefully I get it upload ASAP, but that depends on my net. So how about otherwise?

Well... I'll start rendering 0.14.0 tomorrow, most likely. Maybe today depends on how things are going since I need to do a couple of things. That and you know ahead of time, but I think I'm going to need that considering some complexity in the next update.

As for writing, it's on update 18. I've been productive this week. However. I'm not happy about one choice in 0.13.0, it might as well not be there. Irritating, but creating a branch at that location would have a fairly large cascading effect. I initially thought about it, I even plotted the routes, but further I went the other branch started to make less and less sense. So I need to figure something else out for that, and leave the annoying choice in still. However, that doesn't mean you can't intentionally screw things over if you chose so. Those options are there... and I think just accidentally created a branch after all and a way to handle it. Damn it.

Anyway, before we go into a fancy render some "new feature" things. Ren'py can be a bit of a pain at times, and some of you have had variables deleted for no good reason (most of those x not defined errors that don't have _name suffix, for those ren'py is just being a... pain). Now there is a "failsafe" that prevents from errors happening for most parts. But that failsafe has a problematic side effect, it can only restore a default value which can cause problems. And to that, there is no easy solution. Well, there probably is, but I'm not that good of a coder... So as an alternative, a "debug" window.

Located in Preferences => Extras tab and right below the scene speed slider.

And you get this window:

As you can see in this window, you can edit all the variables that are used in the game. Reveal those pesky hidden images you might have missed, set relationship things and alter the choices you've made. And force (hopefully) some settings to work like they should. I don't recommend editing any of them as is, and mostly the variables section will be the most use as there are the things that matter. I've tried to be as descriptive as possible with them, and there is the "canon" choice told. So if something seems off, you can check them. Now, it is intentional that opening this window is convoluted. It's to ensure you don't edit things accidentally. And naturally the warning goes: You can mess things, especially on the relationship tab. So don't go maxing things and setting things true/false in there just for the sake of it... And outside of the hidden images, you need to in the game for things to work.

And now for the render.



A bit more testing. Hopefully, by Monday I can start posting actual previews again. So... yeah, the figures are "new" both I've made as there is no model for either as is. Mean the Ogre and Goblin. The Varg is a default figure, just different textures cause I don't like dforce fur. I mostly wanted to know would the clothes work. Yeah it works, but I'm not a fan of the overreliance on dForce with more new items. It's fine if you are doing one of render if the simulation takes thirty minutes to complete. But it isn't fine when you need dozens of renders with pose changes. But that being said. I am happy how the clothes look. They are converted genesis 9 clothes so they can be hit or a miss at times. As long as there are no extreme movements like with the female ogre, they should work for what I want them to work for. Granted, the clothes aren't exactly made for an ogre's body so. That and I need to do some hand waving with magic as something has to give. Either that or lots of fire...

Anyway, have a great weekend you all!

Monday, April 22, 2024

Progress 22.04.2024

Hello all!

Monday and progress post. Rendering is going... really fine. So fine that I'm done with it. I expected the update to be longer, but it's about the same size as the previous one, so, but unless I make fifty renders about walking, it will not change things about that. Yeah. So I'll be doing some coding, post-work and a few other things and send it to testing and proofreading.

As for writing, it's where it should be. And once I've sent the update to be proofread, I'll write what remains of the update 0.17.0 and we'll go from there.

This... this was actually a slightly facepalming moment for me. I literally did a scene with twenty characters in it, so I didn't really need to test could I could render this as is. Granted. There is a huge difference between this scene and the one I just rendered. But I learned something from this, that I need to build the cave I need. Which is fine, did it a couple times for TRS2 so nothing new. Although I like this cave, but I don't think it is for the scene I want to make. An amusing thing, for a changes male figures have something over female ones. Medievalish winter clothing, at least practical ones. I know it is fantasy, and I already established there are enchanted "heat stones", but I still want a bit more practical than a fur bikini. Ah well, probably need to sort that while writing.

Friday, April 19, 2024

Progres 19.04.2024

Hello everyone!

So what's up? Rendering is going smoothly, nothing too complex in this. Granted, four/five scenes are basically in the same environment, just the furniture gets rearranged somewhat to make it looks it belongs to someone else. But well, it is difficult to alter interiors of a specific style structure. Without magic, that is.

Writing is in okay shape, honestly I do feel like writing a lot at the moment so just might write for a bit after few renders and a bit means somewhere 6 in the morning apparently, nothing new. When the mood hits it hits. And there probably won't be preview renders of the next update. Considering where 0.12.0 ended everything would be a gigantic spoiler and thus...


 This is an environment I've wanted to use for a long time. The problem with it is that it is heavy. Really heavy. But it is useable if I choose to do so. Just can't have twenty figures in it. Maybe. Fully armoured soldiers? Instances work if they don't need to move. The origin of this is that I've been thinking about Mal and how I should put together his arc. There is already one choice regarding it made. I know what I want to happen in the end, but what steps he would need to take. Although, I think I might tie it to something else as well... NOTEBOOK! Anyway... Have a great weekend, you all!


Monday, April 15, 2024

Changelog: Tribulations of a Mage 0.12.0

 Changelog:

  • 205 renders

  • Implemented the next part of the story

  • Added things to the codex, bit more work on the secrets screen, hopefully the issues are sorted.

  • 1 hidden image

  • Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread, Orion, Jaimy)

Not a lot of renders in this one, but there are as many as the story needs. Granted, there are around 50, probably a bit less, renders related to the codex. Anyway, enough rambling.

Release schedule:

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

  • $10 (Magician) Tier: 17th of April

  • $5 (Journeyman) Tier: 18th of April

  • $3 (Apprentice) Tier: 19th of April

  • Public: 29th of April

Progress 15.04.2024

And I'm running late! Panic time... Oh wait...

Hello all!

So once I've done the progress post, I'll start pushing the 0.12.0 out. Fun times...

And rendering of 0.13.0 has started as you would suspect and so has writing of 0.17.0. Man this progress post is short.

This is something I tested for 0.17.0, I took four or so hours to build, but that's four hours I saved when I need it. Lot's of messing with textures. Some figures are just placeholders since that's all they needed to be for this particular test. That and I need more primitive winter clothes for both genders. Not so easy task. Anyway, back to work! Stuff will be out soonish...

Friday, April 12, 2024

Progress 12.04.2024

Hello all!

So what's up? Lots of things. I'll be doing final checks and additions tonight, then make the builds and start uploading. Render wise, as I said, it isn't much. Just over 200 but text wise its length is about there with the others.

And as usual, I'll finish up writing the update 16 over the weekend and start rendering the update 0.13.0 on Monday. And yes, as I've said on Monday, I've taken some extra sleep this week when I've could. Although if everything goes as planned, I'll start writing the update 17 by tomorrow. Which is fine for me, really. And as a time-honoured tradition. No spoilers!

This is, I'd say, a pure test render. I did some hardware maintenance today and needed to see how things work out after that. It's quite a heavy scene but nothing bad overall. I'm happy about how things turned out with it.

And then there is this... Man and his panther again, just relaxing on top of some cliff or something. Not entirely sure. The set is bit strange. Might not be usable out of the box, but very few things are. Some components are easily usable though. Anyway, back doing those few more things... Have a great weekend you all!

Monday, April 8, 2024

Progress 08.04.2024

Hello all!

I'm not sure where to start, actually. Didn't sleep that well, so mind is foggy. But rendering is going well. Render count wise, this isn't a huge update. Overall, there aren't that many moving sequences without dialogue.

Writing is in good shape, that shouldn't come to surprise to anyone. I like to write.

And a character concept. Grand Chancellor Uden and his familiar. Don't worry, he doesn't care for the title either. I considered the dire wolf as a familiar to Tomas. But it has issues. First it's heavy thanks to the fur it has. It isn't as bad as it used to be, but I wouldn't have been able to use him as often as I've been with Nisha. Second, posing. I haven't tracked it down, but posing gets distorted if you move the figure. But he is fine for most static scenes. So why did I do this? I think I've said it before, but visualising characters helps to write them, it gives them... it's part of who they are, what they look like, how they move. And little things like that. I help to build the right presence for them.

P.S. And for those who worries about my sleeping. It's normal, I do suffer from insomnia on top of few other myriad annoyances that occasionally hinders my sleep. And once the update is handed testing I'll take some extra time to sleep and just relax... and write, I know myself, I'll write regardless as it is one my ways to relax.

Friday, April 5, 2024

Progress 05.04.2024

Hello all!

Somewhat early today. So what's up?

Rendering is in okay place, had to rewrite a portion of the script simply because I wasn't able to render it the way the script intended. But those happens.

Writing is no where near I would like it to be at the moment, but that's why I have the buffer and luckily, the renders take somewhat long time at the moment so I have some time to write. Hopefully.

So few renders today- This is just the preview of things as usual, nothing spoilerish in this really. Just Tomas, Nisha and Mal walking in a rain... again. Then a behind the scenes type of render.

This was still work in progress when I made this, it looks slightly different in the final version, but this will explain the lightning you are about to see in the scene. The city so to say is in a cavern filled in lava. Some of things you won't see on the ground level. The struggle with ToaM is finding assets for different civilizations. I originally wanted to use Aztec style buildings, but unfortunately even larger script revisions would have been needed as the set doesn't have all the pieces I would want. Thus, Egyptian style buildings fit my need better. Now the interiors will be a challenge but I'll figure something out.

And this is what the light will look like in the "final" renders, yes, I know some of them are floating. The fix is made but I haven't applied it to the render yet. And hopefully I won't forget it. Anyway, have a great weekend you all. I'll head back to rendering and writing!

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Changelog: Tribulations of a Mage 0.10.0

 Changelog:

  • 361 renders

  • Implemented the next part of the story

  • Some codex work (more below)

  • 1 hidden image

  • Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread, Orion, DavidCF, MurderHobo, OBE, Thron)

And there is that... so about the codex thing. Some information is missing as apparently I copied the wrong file. That will be fixed in 0.12.0. Now there are some additions. Added hover images to a couple of characters, and "alternative set" if you click the image. Don't recommend going on clicking frenzy though... This "feature" will be expanded upon time. Don't take them as anything else than just me doing them for fun. Anyway, enough rambling.

Release schedule:

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

  • $10 (Magician) Tier: 4th of April

  • $5 (Journeyman) Tier: 5th of April

  • $3 (Apprentice) Tier: 6th of April

  • Public: 15th of April

Monday, April 1, 2024

Progress 01.04.2024

Hello everyone!

I'm doing the final things for the update 0.11.0 mostly found few things that caused a thing or two to fall apart and one or two graphical glitches. But that being said, it will be sorted soon and I'll start uploading it soon.

So while I sort the couple malfunctioning things out, I'll be doing renders for 0.12.0. And once all of that is done, I'll add writing 0.16.0 to it. 0.15.0 ended up being a bit longer than I thought though but that is in good shape as well. Also did some codex work and some work on the secrets screen. Added some extra images to some characters in the codex will add more when I get there as priority is the actual content renders. Also, I do recommend being careful where you click in the codex... Luckily another click can fix things.

So this one isn't a spoiler as is. It's the following morning after events of update 0.11.0. It starts a bit slow and couple, let's say, supporting scenes before we get to the bigger stuff. Although I might need to edit the script out of a bit, as I'm not completely certain I can build the scene like I want. Although... I might have stumbled upon the answer to that particular problem randomly. Anyway, back to doing stuff for me!

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Progress 29.04.2024

Hello all! A bit snafu with the 0.12.0 public, compressed is the older version for some reason on gofile. Slightly annoying, but happens. Ca...