Dev Log #39 - Big Updates

Hi all! The last week has been a big rollercoaster of mainly ups and a few downs. I'll be sure to get into those details and right after, I will be sharing more about what's coming up in E2 as a result of the planning that was done concurrently to the big changes happening around me.

A big boost to the mind...
One of the big changes is that I have finally moved my workstation into my own room, instead of being in an area with human traffic. Now that I'm away from prying eyes, I can be sure of the fact that I don't have any wandering eyes on me who chance upon uhh...  a pair of massive boobs or penis on my screen.

This is definitely a small change but with a huge impact, as previously, I found it hard to find development time as I had to be wary of my surroundings on top of trying to be productive which was, in hindsight, very difficult to do and had me up in the wee hours of the night where I could be absolutely sure no one was awake.

... and production!
With that said, there is more exciting news to pile on! As mentioned last week in one of my posts, I mentioned that I would be getting a dedicated rendering rig and that it was on its way sometime around mid-July. Thankfully, even before mid-July's arrival, the rendering rig is set up and already raring to go.

There were definitely a few hiccups that I had to resolve in the last 2-3 days, such as realizing the size of my combined assets was to the tune of ~220GB. This, combined with my initially slow internet speed inside my room was quite the headache. Fortunately, I have resolved all these issues, and all my data is now on my new rendering rig, along with all custom characters and settings!

Testing, testing...
Right now, I have been doing a few sample renders and benchmarks with the new rendering rig (and finding out how to push the limits of the 7950X and RTX4090), pushing the image size to 4K and amping quality just a tinge. I will be looking to fine-tune these settings to achieve a reasonable 'time-to-render' to quality ratio (most probably tuning it down to 2K) but as of now, the posing part of the equation is much, much smoother, and I am able to churn out a scene in about half the time it takes for me to do on my slightly older rig.

There are definitely many big things planned for this new rig, and it feels like the culmination of everyone's support has enabled me to continue doing what I do on a stronger, much more suitable, platform, and I'm always thankful to everyone for that!!

Now... about E2...
Ah yes! E2! As of now, there is a base framework that I have for the entire flow of the scenes that will occur, where almost every scene has been written in clear detail in terms of what each of their goal and/or objective is, with each of them also having an overview of their individual chain of events.

I'm currently still thinking to add a few more scenes that are aimed to bridge the gap for a few storylines, which may also rearrange a few of the currently fixed scenes. Progress-wise, I can definitely say I am about 70-80% done with the planning and sequencing of each scene, with the remaining work being the additional scenes to tie everything up and then setting up the story and mystery elements that will have a bigger presence in E2.

My overall plan is to include ALL existing characters in E2, each with a proportionate amount of screen time unlike in E1P2, where a few characters had little to no involvement.

In summary...
Here's a quick list of what will be planned for E2:

• 3 free-roam sections, each with varying degrees of complexity. Will also include the Journal and Phone mechanics during Cara's free-roam.
• 3 new characters.
• Much more intermingling and crossover of various characters, instead of a few/several of them just talking to Cara and being in their own 'circle'.
• New, optional mini-game for Cara when she teaches the class.
• Journal improvements for better interaction with free-roam sections.

All points listed above are subject to change but will be something I will set as a goal (i.e. it's an "I will get it done" mindset and not an "if I can get it done" mindset). I hope there are a few things on the list that everyone is excited about!

Lastly...
To close off, I will be heading back to finish planning during the weekend and also to catch up on all the queued render requests for this month as well as those brought forward from last month! With the new rig in tow, I'm definitely looking forward to the new things that I can do and show everyone!

I will leave you guys with one of the first few renders from the new rig, where I was thinking of a "wallpaper" concept of Cara's transformation over the Prologue up till E1P2, and well... you can see the results for yourself!

Thank you and stay safe!