Dev Diary #44

Back to old habits!

It's funny how I was going to take Sunday as a rest day and ended up checking bugs that someone reported to me + checking some dialogues. I did end up resting a bit at night though.

Today I've been checking the last things in the dialogues and correcting things. I know I should have been working on 0.7 by now but... I couldn't leave it like this any longer. Likewise redoing all the Yuna stuff. I thought I wasn't going to have time but sacrificing one day (today) I've been able to finish my list of things to do before I start working on the next version.

I have nothing to show you from the next version, obviously, but I will show you the "before vs now" from when we met Yuna.

Even though I didn't do what I had planned today, I have been thinking about the changes I wanted to make in the next version regarding the interactions with the doors. I've done some tests and I have to discard 90% of the idea but... there will be a visual change in the doors when interacting with them. It will be something simple that will replace the usual white "highlighting".

On the other hand, I'll tell you what I'll be doing this week: Working on the interface. Yes, as always, in every update I work on something of the interface. What do you think needs to be changed or adapted? The achievements. The screen is "outdated" and hasn't been changed since v0.1.0. The only thing that has changed is Lisapi. I have to adapt it to the "definitive" interface in terms of menus. NOTE: I haven't designed it yet so it may not be exactly the same as the girls' interface.

Also, I would like to redo the achievement icons and try to make them follow the same pattern because I stopped using icons some time ago to use a thumbnail (in the girls' ones) and I would like to think of something to follow a "continuity".

I have several ideas in mind about the whole new achievement interface because the current one is a bit of a pain in the ass (code) so I want to see if somehow I can simplify the work and save time every time I add new achievements.

So this week:

• Make the new achievement interface
• Make the new door interaction (visual)
• Make a new feature for the interface

What will this new feature be about? Well, I was going to leave it for 8.0 but the list of things to do for that version is too long so if I can get something out of the way and do it now... all the better.

This new feature will be about the possibility to enable the display of everything you can interact with. This way you won't have to be clicking everywhere or tapping if you play on Android.

I don't know if it will be an option to have it always enabled (on/off) or only last for a few seconds, I'll decide. The purpose is to facilitate the exploration achievements. This is just a QoL and it's up to you if you want to use it or not, it all depends if you are a real chad.

I know the achievements are going to be a lot of work so there's no time to waste!

Oh yes, it will sound ironic after the last sentence but I'm going to spend a few days doing some tests to see how I'm doing mentally: Every 2 days I'll do a total break in the morning until the evening. No LA development, just free time for other things in order to disconnect and not end up mentally exhausted as usual and end up pretty fucked up. I'll see how it goes, if it doesn't work I'll think about other alternatives to rest mentally.

Having said all this... Time to show you a bit of the change I've made with Yuna!

It's been a total of +100 renders, dialogue revision + transitions revision. The result is... a big difference as I use the current style in everything.

I think there is a big difference mainly because of the clipping.

But let's go back to the beginning. Right lighting? It was about time.

Many renders apart from clipping have always dealt with bad lighting.

Honestly, Maria's old pose was sexy but I think the new one fits better.

Honestly, Maria's lighting in the old renders looked weird.

I always found this one funny because Yuna looked like she was floating. Well, no more floating.

At last, the kitchen is well-lit...

This scene always seemed a bit weird to me, not only because of the lighting but also because they didn't seem to fit into the scene. Now you'll see an overview of the first floor, switch to a first-person shot of Mara's door and Yuna will appear to say her dialogue. 

A bit sexier and a better posture, little more to say!

But let's go back a few minutes: You meet Yuna in the morning and in your room it's... night? That's something I never noticed until now. I guess time and experience make you notice more and more details that are not visible to the naked eye (this one is visible to the naked eye, it must be said...).

See you Friday!