Progress 28.04.2025 and Changelog for ToaM 0.39.0

Hello all!

It is Monday and a release day... I hope, soon. Anyway.

Rendering of 0.40.0 has started. Luckily, I wasn't as ambitious writing this one as I was with the 0.39.0. Still a lot of text, things that can be missed, but less hectic. Which reminds me, there is a scene I need to fix for 0.39.0, didn't notice it until too late. But I'll try to fix it for 0.40.0. Annoying, but happens.

Writing in other hand is still on 0.43.0. Why? Well, my body and mind decided it was time to sleep. So I slept a lot of extra hours instead of writing, but that's just a good thing. Insomnia is good for productivity but it sucks for creativity, but it isn't that much missing, so it won't be a long delay. Especially since I'm altering my work routine again. Some things just aren't that good while efficient. Anyway...

A preview! Mostly because it is a mild spoiler. A bit more foxes today. I try to incorporate them into the tower, so they get scenes. These past few updates have been more focused on the people tied to the tower. Orcs, the foxes, a bit of ogres and Rhea. The next section has Maryn, Eshe, and the Nagas. Then the follow-ups... well, plans are plans, have to see how things go with them.

Inspiration is a curious thing, at times it take very little to spark, at times it's like pulling teeth. Today, it was an easy day for it, granted the extra hours of sleep helped tremendously. Anyway, a bit more rendering then writing, and compiling the remaining release post...

Changelog: ToaM 0.39.0

• 677 renders

• Implemented the next part of the story

• 1 hidden image

• Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread, Oaiki, Horny Toad, Orion, OBE, Elhemeer, ratonbox)

Codex update is planned for 0.42.0 to the latest since that should be the when the final characters sans one or two are introduced.

Release schedule:

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

• $10 Tier: 30th of April

• $5 Tier: 1st of May

• $3 Tier: 2nd of May

• Public: 12th of May

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Public Release: Tribulations of a Mage 0.38.0

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

Tribulations of a Mage 0.38.0

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Progress 25.04.2025

Hello all!

Bleh... at the moment of writing I'm still rendering. Luckily it's the last scene... Could have cut it, but again, it would just be ahead of me anyway. Just wish Daz wouldn't crash randomly. Anyway so yeah, rendering is still going, not much left. Coding is mostly done, just need images to be in the right place to be able to test properly. Other than that, I'll do some post work while waiting for the renders. I can't be 100% certain, but I should be done rendering no later than tomorrow, hopefully. Depends are there posing issues that take hours to sort. But getting closer. And I'm sitting at 700ish renders (minus fixes) so about three and half weeks renders in two weeks... whee...

Writing... Writing is in a good spot, all things considered. Going to be interesting to see can I finish it by Monday. But not that big of a deal, just need to write a bit more and I have the buffer so. Not overly concerned.

And since Monday had the last preview I could show in public... some musings of the future. People have asked about Terminus Reach, both public and in privately. I get it, it is one of my favourite settings to write things. But unfortunately, the answer is that I don't know yet when there is the next one. I like to focus to one thing at a time so I can complete them in reasonably quickly. And with Sorcerer 2 next? It's going to be several years until I know what is going to be next after Sorcerer 2, it could be more Terminus, more Tribulations or it could be something completely different, depending on the mood and do I want to do something different (and bribes... that's a joke). And I suppose from the eyes you could guess who he is... Yes, it is Cade and the Kziiri lady is Xella. Anyway, time for a shortish break and then finish up the rendering. And double check the coding. You all have a great weekend!

Progress 21.04.2025

Hello all!

I'm... tired. Haven't slept well recently. Eh, it will be fine. So how are things going?

Rendering... it's in a weird place. I've done 420ish renders (including fixes) by now, which is the amount I usually do in two weeks. Right now, it looks like I will be a day or two late from the schedule that I have set for myself; I have at least 210 renders left to do. With luck, if yesterday is anything to go by, it's just three days, reality? Yeah, that tends to differ from plans drastically. Still, could be worse. Meanwhile, I'll try to do most of the coding stuff so things aren't waiting for that.

Writing, it's in a meh state. I'm where I'm supposed to be, just a lot of jumping back and forth so the line of thought is interrupted. But it will be done on time, somehow.

And most likely final preview I can give out publicly, this update is... quite different in certain ways. Anyway, some more of the eager students. I think they show up in every update before the next adventure, and a quite a lot after that as well. It's a bit mundane topics with them, but at the same time those simple things do help to balance the things. The dialogue isn't as anxiety building as it is with some other scenes. Well, have to see how the future goes for them. Assuming they didn't get killed in transit...

Then it is our lovely titaness' time to get small make over. What has changed? I swapped one body morph to other, and few tweaks here and there, then changed the hair. Why? The body morphs are for single reason, hopefully to expand slightly what she could wear. That is an issue with some of the more "extreme" body morphs, such as muscularity and height, it can break things badly. That's also the reason why her hair changed from the ponytail to this. Back then, I didn't have that many options and frankly didn't know better. But now that I reopened the file I saw everything that was broken. Little bit here, little bit there, nothing major but things that I couldn't ignore when I saw them. And I tried 186 hairs on her, before I settled something that was "okay"... and it stayed like that until 5 minutes before I made the render and tried this one... and it just... fits. And now I'm happy with her... now just to find the hair for Miyuki. Ah well, still time I need it. And no, long hair breaks on her, so does ponytails. I tried, wasn't pretty. Anyway, short break and then return to rendering.

Progress 18.04.2024

Hello all!

Greetings on this... cloudy Friday. So what's up?

Rendering, well... render count wise I'm way ahead, I just did 220 renders in four days, which is ten more than I usually do in a week. In relation to the script? It's also in the right spot, but there are two rather long scenes ahead, so... have to wait and see. I had hoped that I would be able do done two of the scenes today, but doesn't look like it. Slightly annoying, but happens.

Writing. It's in... eh... in okay state? Been distracted in the last couple of days with things. I shouldn't read anything when I do things, but occasionally I get caught with something interesting. Still, it's just half a page about from the goal I had so far, so it isn't like it is an issue as is. That and there is a reason why I have the writing buffer.

So a preview, there are a lot of renders, which none of them I can't show in public posts. This is a scene you don't really want to see. This means that something has gone wrong. It isn't a disaster in a large scheme of things, just not good. But I'm fairly certain that as long as a certain variable hasn't been deleted, because why not, most won't see it.

And then something else. This is a new area I wanted to test. Unfortunately, there is no need for it in ToaM in the foreseeable future, since the direction our hero is heading next isn't lush for most parts. Just sand, lots of sand, in fact. So what else would be better to test things than Alexander and Susan inspecting an interesting artifact...

And then... bunny girl time! Happy Easter. And you all have a great weekend!

Progress 14.04.2025 and Changelog for ToaM 0.38.0

 Hello all!

And as you can see from the title, it is release day. Hooray for that. And just going forward, we are heading towards summer and my net is starting to act up, so the usual tolerance for it being pain in the backside when it comes to future estimates of uploads.

Rendering of 0.39.0 has started... and I didn't realise how many long scenes I needed to do... whops. Ah well. Just need to fit the writing thing somewhere and all will be good. And I'll keep posted on how it goes...

I'm... annoyed with writing. 0.42.0 turned out to be again one of those that has either one choice, or none at all. Partially because the flow and the scenes didn't make sense to have a choice. That and there is... something revealed that has been actively chosen since the very start of the game. So there are potentially 10+ choices affecting it already. And even a failure option wouldn't have made sense here. As I said, annoying.

And then... as you can see, a "motivational" render. Can't really show what I'm currently rendering... for fairly obvious reasons once you get the update in your hands. Not happy with the shiny snow, but then again, it can be shiny if there is even a small layer of ice on top of it. Truthfully, I wasn't supposed to do this kind of render, but everything I test for ToaM is such a huge spoiler right now. But that is a kind of natural when we are moving closer to the end of things. No, it isn't near, but I am working much more ahead than you actually realise. I do preliminary set building for 0.42.0 and onward already. There are some being made that are meant for the last update before epilogue. But luckily, I do have other things to test. And other characters to be used in those tests. Anyway, the important stuff...

Changelog: ToaM 0.38.0

• 420 renders

• Implemented the next part of the story

• 1 hidden image

• Grammar, spelling, and other fixes (Thanks to Adry, Shaddy, BryonSmothers3DX, Bread, Oaiki, Horny Toad, DocWhoJ, Orion, OBE, Bernie64GER, TelecomTrzn)

• Release schedule:

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

• $10 Tier: 16th of April

• $5 Tier: 17th of April

• $3 Tier: 18th of April

• Public: 28th of April

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Public Release: Tribulations of a Mage 0.37.0

 

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

Tribulations of a Mage 0.37,0

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Progress 11.04.2025

Hello all!

Rendering is done, almost, just need to redo a few renders because glaring error in them. Nothing too bad. So the update is being tested and I'll fix the renders while waiting things to come back. And this is a moment I'll give a heads up. Right now I'll assume I have similar posing issues during it as I did during the last scene of this update. Update 0.39.0 most likely will take a few days longer. I'll work as fast as I can, but expect the worst and all that.

So this as usual means that I mostly write over the weekend, had hoped I could have started last night, but alas it wasn't to be. Still, not concerned about it and it's just mostly writing down the things I have in my head. And speaking of writing... the update 0.38.0 does contain invented language, or constructed language. The lines aren't translated at the moment like they were with Maevra. Not entirely sure how it will work with the current system. So I might add them to the codex. But that's more for testing things.

And no spoilers today so... Well kinda no spoilers.

So this is just a concept for my pondering of things, mage hunters. I referenced them already with the ogres, but I never really followed up on them. But now, where the story leads us next, I think they might be more than suitable to be used as an opponent. Now, to my irritation, there aren't things I would like to use. The third eye is passable. It was made for a specific character, so it isn't working that well outside of that particular character. But it is a sort of the only one that I can use, there is another, but last time I checked the licensing prevented its usage. Still going to use the one that is on the character though, just need to find more suitable armour and other effects.

And then a bonus. Yeah... things I hate: Finding the right hair to replace the old one because it breaks and was never meant to use on Genesis 8 characters and wardrobe design. Males are easy. Short hair, maybe facial hair and a suit. Done. Ladies? Well, let me put it this way... My usage of different body types and sizes leads to problems. But I suppose there is a lot of trial and error again ahead of me... for various reasons. But the render turned out great, "forgot" DoF but wasn't really in a mood to get a headache from the blur.

Anyway, I'll take a short break tonight as it was late last night when I got the test build out and mostly write, and continue to deal with code stuff tomorrow. You all have a great weekend!

Progress 07.04.2025

Hello all!

So what's up? Starting to render the final scene, well started rendering it earlier. It has been somewhat smooth process, but it helps that I didn't really need to build sets right now. But it's just calm before the storm. 0.39.0 will be more complex to render as fairly certain that one scene in there will take three or four days due to the complexity of it. Meh... I'll deal with it when I get there.

As for writing, unsurprisingly I'm where I should be had plenty of time to write over the weekend, despite the mood not being there until 5 in the morning... Still I'm happy with it.

And talking to the two refugees from the Empire, well sorting out their lesson plans so to speak. During the updates at the tower there are a couple of scenes with them, and then after we return from the next trip some more. Well, that was it for today, I'll take a short break and continue rendering...

Progress 04.04.2025

Hello all!

Rendering is going decently, and I noticed that there is a chance that 0.38.0 can be really short if you messed up things with Malgrin and the Empire. In hindsight should have swapped a couple of events to a different day, but that wouldn't really have helped things since it would have just pushed things forward. Eh. Happens. Just creates an interesting thing for the hidden image location. Anyway, a few large scenes left to render, but I know more on Monday how things are. I know one scene will take at least two days to render, but I should be on the schedule I set for myself.

Writing, it could be worse, but in other hand it could be better, it's a just lack of time at the moment as there have been some interruptions. But luckily, I know what I need to write... that and there shouldn't be any set building left in this update as is so I should be able to write between renders at least some. And weekend so less people wandering to the door, or if there is any, it's people I can afford to ignore. But as always, writing isn't something I'm concerned about.

And a preview... of two people talking. And this was the least spoilerish render of this current set I've been doing this week. That and something that is suitable for public posts... But it has been interesting so far, some things being slower than expected and some much faster.

Alright... just to curb some expectations. Yes, she is a potential character, and no I don't know when (and if) she appears because I'm not writing Sorcerer 2 (or any other VN's outside of ToaM that is). Plans are plans until the writing starts and incorporates those plans. But that being said, model was made, and I like it thus would be a shame not to make a proper render out of it, or a few renders. Anyway, you all have a great weekend!