Checking In 0.18.2, Round 1

Hey all, this is just a quick update on my (CaptainCaption's) IRL stuff as it relates to making re:Dreamer. I have a lot more I could say and could say it more eloquently with more time, but this is going to be brief as I am honestly tired of yapping about myself so much when it comes at the cost of me working.

The move out of my parent's house I mentioned at the end of May actually happened, even if that move out was stressful and the move-in is still a work in progress. I thought about architecturally drafting the 700 sq ft apartment's layout for you all to show the space, but I'm liable to get doxed via reverse image search if I'm too accurate so y'all will just have to wait for photos once I'm more settled. I'm probably going to do it as part of Friday update about a day in the life of a writer to show my workflow and how much effort I put into minor optimizations of tasks, but I don't want to think that much ahead about that quite yet.

My friend visiting was good. We didn't quite get to everything we wanted due to me getting sick right as they came over and being on half a tank for most of the week, but we had fun just enjoying each other's company. That being said, I got into a car crash during the visit that totaled my car. Totally wasn't my fault as a piece of road debris shredded my rear tire, but my passenger and I miraculously survived what started as a 75 MPH fishtail in the HOV lane and then across at least 3 lanes with only minor whiplash. I want to claim credit for avoiding a roll situation and not hitting anyone as the vehicle lost traction by smartly not hard braking but slowly , but it was largely luck that we were able to go to a Japanese dinner after instead of the hospital or morgue.

I had to borrow my mom's van for a car and need to buy a new one since Atlanta almost requires you to own a vehicle to live in it, so that's another huge expensive made slightly less scary from my car insurance paying out $16,000 (which doesn't feel like much when the average used car in America as of June 2024 sells for $24k). It'll be a bit of an investment I can sell for later since I take good care of my cars and all my accidents have been from road conditions, but it's just more shit on my plate.

Living on my own since my friend flew back has been stressful and a bit scary since I'm afraid of a repeat of my return semester to college after that brush with death and a reminder of my fragile mortality, but my adorable cats have proven to be a stabilizing influence. If I can't get my shit together and be a responsible dad/mom, my boys suffer. That responsibility urges me to get out of the bed in the morning (as does them chewing on my hair or kneading my chest).

With all this (and more!) going on, the next update won't be the ambitious Keisuke swimming pool scene like I planned. I know I need money for rent and the new car, and big scenes like that pull in the patrons, but I need to keep things light and get on track with consistent releases by finding my grove in a new environment with a new routine, and that starts with additions to the mom route (as voted on).

I fixed all of pose bc's eyebrows and added some expression parts I/Zach's mom was missing (like a relatively large open smile in bc and a flatter eyebrows option in a). The parts are currently scaling in waifu2x and I am due for new writing this morning (I only woke back up to make sure the conversion was going smoothly).

I spent the past few days cleaning up some sprite issues (redundant facial parts) and and re-reading the route and 4th anniversary content to better re-orient myself with Samantha's character in preparation for being more nuanced with her character. We might share sprites and a name, but she's the hardest character in the visual novel to write and I need to put myself in the right frame of mind to make her "work" instead of feeling contrived.

Until next time, folks.