Dev Log #44 - Moment of clarity

Hi all, with August already half over, there has been great progress over this last week and I can't wait to go into more details, so let's get to it!

Structure and purpose
For the longest time, and despite having a good outline of the type of scenes that will be present in Episode 2, I was having a gnawing feeling that I have yet to discover a thread of commonality that links all events and scenes together; until this week!

Now, of course, that raises many questions: such as "What have you been doing this whole time?" or "How did it take you that long?". The answer to that is that I have always been fickle about the overall story in that I always feel I can write a better story if I just kept pondering and/or thinking about it. The only reason I do this is because I always manage to poke holes into my own logic (in this case, the premise), which leads me to feel wholly unsatisfied.

Keep in mind that what I'm referring to isn't the "story" as in events or scenes, but it's more of the "story" as in setting the overall tone and mood of Episode 2, which I feel should be consistent and prevalent throughout the experience, instead of clamoring onto whatever crazy scene Cara has just experienced and deliver a "scene-by-scene" playthrough. I want it to feel varied, and a strong backstory will really help to make every scene presented feel that much more impactful and unique in their own ways, instead of "Let's vore this guy/girl" or "Let's just write this person off" or "Here's a sex scene, enjoy it" kind of vibe.

As of earlier this week, I have managed to solidify the entire premise of Episode 2 and the story it will tell using all the existing scenes that are currently in place. What I mean by "solidify" is that I will stand behind this version of the premise and overall tone, and will use this as the means to create every render and every line of dialogue; two of these elements almost always require a strong backstory to feel that the story being told has that extra "oomph"!

Finally, it also means I can rest my brain in terms of story-writing and go fully into renders (which I said I would do at the start of August, but my mind was stuck on the premise and I apologize). This goes doubly so for the dialogue.

So... progress?
In terms of render work, there are currently about 300 renders in total. It's slow-going, I know, but I think with this renewed motivation where I have finalized the premise, I will be going in guns blazing. I fully expect this number to increase very quickly as I will start to accelerate the posing/rendering process.

The first free-roam itself is completed but will be adjusted slightly to match the overall tone and mood that was decided on. The opening scenes (i.e. the scenes before the first free roam) are now render-complete, which is 3 different scenes and the dialogues for these opening scenes are about 50% done (i.e. 1.5 scenes worth of dialogue) and will be continually worked on as we head into the weekend.

------------------------------------------- PROGRESS BREAKDOWN -------------------------------
Story: 95% done. No change, scenes are as-is. Premise is decided which will be a common thread piecing every scene together. No change from last week.

Renders: 15% done. Opening scenes, which are 3 scenes leading up to the first free roam have been rendered. Up 2.5% from last week.

Dialogue: 10% done. Free-roam completed but requires adjustment, opening scenes have had their dialogue written. Up 5% from last week.

Gameplay: 10% done. Free-roam completed, will mainly follow with Dialogue percentages but will increase more rapidly when the gameplay code is reached and implemented. Up 5% from last week.
------------------------------------------- END OF BREAKDOWN ----------------------------------

That's all for this week. It has been a productive week and I'm extremely satisfied with what I have worked on as well as come up with, albeit it is slower than what I anticipated in terms of development. No use harping on it, I'll be getting back to work!

Thank you and stay safe!