nlt

Weekly Report

Added 2020-04-27 03:21:18 +0000 UTC

Coming this Friday (CST) is the next chapter of Treasure of Nadia! The new chapter features several new fun scenes including a couple of interesting things that happens involving a certain green plant. Be on the lookout later this week!

Not long ago the most commonly asked question I received was about when the next update would be coming. Even though I always try and release on the 1st or 15th, it's not always a simple answer, because everyone is in a different time zone. But now, thanks to the countdown clock you no longer have to guess.

Some of you might wonder what it takes to get a new chapter done for Treasure of Nadia. Well I'd like to take a moment to share what the current process looks like.

TLDR: It's a crazy tight schedule and a lot of work!

It all starts with storyboarding all the main events of the chapter determining which relationships should move forward and what story will be told, along with what type of scenes should take place to serve the story.

It's during this meeting of the minds (thanks to the story group on Discord) that the chapter takes shape.

After knowing what to expect in the update it's time to start sourcing animation and other 3d assets that will be needed in the update. Currently I tackle most of the animation work, but not always. The modeling and design work is typically a mixture of outsources products and my own creative work.

But before animation and creative design work can be complete, first we need a script. This is usually done in a single day but sometimes is not fully completed until the day before launch. There's always room for tweaks all the up until the last moment.

We're now 2 days into development and the next 4 days will be spent organizing animations and doing a lot of animation by hand. These 4 days are usually long and very busy. There's not a moment to spare to make sure the update is on time, and these are the most important visuals in the update.

As the animations complete they are put into render computers and will spend the next 6 days or so rendering.

After animation is complete the game's new locations are built and events in these locations are partially scripted and tested. This will either take a full day, but sometimes the update's "pinup" shot is done on this day as well.

This is a special shot (Ash's photo) that is given extra detail and rendered between 4k and 8k in quality and then downsampled to add as a "photo" in the game.

Speaking of which, don't forget to download the new pinups...

Download links...

Pinup Gallery (Casual & Hardcore HD)
Pinup Gallery (Master HD)
Pinup Gallery (Master+ & Grand Master 4k)

But we're not done yet. Not even close.

All the rendered video frames, of which there are now thousands, all need to be composited together with that special signature ToN flair. This editing process takes 2 days and is a very involved post processing step that is responsible for all the color grading, depth of field effects, volumetric effects, and any other special visuals that are not rendered in the 3d software.

Now that we finally have all the major visuals done the next 4 days are spent programming all the sequences into the game and creating all the one-off visuals and sprite work as well as any new character renders, such as new outfit poses.

The next step in the process is beta testing leaving enough time left to make changes based on tester feedback.

Once the update is 100% ready it is then published and uploaded with versions for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Laucher, and web versions.

After publishing, the process starts all over again!

I hope that wasn't too boring to read. But I thought it might be nice to know what happens in order to deliver around 45 minutes of content two times a month. It's very hard work, but also a lot of fun and I'm very glad you all support these efforts!

Thank you for making all this possible! In a couple short months NLT Media will begin to make some big moves to prepare for the followup title to Treasure of Nadia. Thanks to all your support I have very high expectations for things to come!