Computer Upgrades 3.0

Hey all,

So this is a public post and it's long overdue. Essentially, I wanted to do a big post about the upgrade as soon as it happened. For those who saw, I did do a few posts on the Patreon "lens" feature as I was unwrapping boxes n stuff and setting this bitch up like a giddy schoolboy. However, once I got it running, catching up from weeks of lost productivity became my primary concern. Thus, I chose the actual update over a formal "thank you" post. 

So first off: I'm making this public because at the time of the post, some people may simply follow and not currently subscribe anymore for their own personal reasons. Some of you may follow and have never subscribed. Either way--that's cool. I want to take the opportunity to show that there's some legit shit that happens behind the scenes over here with the Patreon cash and ensure everyone is thanked for their past or current support of this project.

So in the past year, I've begun to upgrade my equipment. A new rig to replace my 10-year-old P.O.S was the final (and obviously most expensive) step in that process. Patreon only lets me load one pic here but I'll drop a few more on the Tumblr blog for those following. But here's the new rig that I bought. It's not top of the line but it's definitely been a huge upgrade from where I was. Once set up, I went from 2 hour rendering times down to about 30 minutes. My 12 hour "park" scenes included in v0.12.1 went from 12 hours down to about 40 minutes or so. It's crazy and I get an emotional boner just thinking about it. 

This also (NO SPOILERS FOR V012.1 PLEASE)  allowed me to do an animation sequence for v0.12.1 in 3 days rather than the previously estimated  7 to 10 days of solid rendering. So things really sped up over here. That being said, I expect this process to be fun again--the last update wasn't. It was a chore and the entire process was rough. But once I got the new rig--I felt things lighten up again. Hoping this allows me to 1) render things faster, and 2) also have somewhat of a life outside of work and this game to actually clear my head--which will benefit the game even better. Up to this point, I had no breaks because I had to constantly have images in the queue or it was lost time.

I also want to anonymously thank a buddy of mine for running through the process with me and giving me feedback on the rig and upgrades I selected. I was annoying AF and I appreciated his time and patience. Trusting someone's feedback on a few thousand dollars is intimidating but I'm glad he had my back. You know who you are--so thanks, bruh.

So here we are, a little past the one year anniversary of this project and things are looking good. Thank you all for your support. For the financial contributions monthly, intermittently, or just one time donations. But it's not just about money! Thank you for recommending the game to friends; for posting on other sites and sharing your experience in playing it. Thanks for hitting me up on the forums here, in private messages, or the other sites to give me active feedback and share your own stories that mirror many of the game experiences. There's a million little things you all have done over the past year to motivate, challenge, and promote me and this silly little idea I had.

While just saying "thanks" seems inadequate, I'll try to continue to pump my all into this project and hopefully when it's all done, it'll be something we sorta did together. 

Sincerely,

-Aaryn