A week of slow adjustments, fixes, and expansions - plus a more serious word...

This past week has been one of those where I spent far too much time waiting for Unity to "do it's thing."  I believe about 15% of a given day was spent waiting for a progress bar to fill.  This was all in pursuit of ensuring that the new reactive foliage was fully implemented.  

Clear storage - Edit foliage - Bake storage - Play - Find error - Repeat

In the end, it's worth it: the revised foliage is now 100% reactive to colliders, and you maintain a better view of where the cats are, even in the most dense of foliage.  In this screenshot, the cat is standing in the midst of a thicket of bushes - but excess foliage between the cat and the camera is now automatically faded out.

I was informed just this morning that a second sector has been reviewed, and all colliders put in place.  As these were the sectors with the most architecture overall, there's a good chance we can get most of the remainder taken care of with time to spare.  This means there will no longer be areas where you can walk/clip through foundations of buildings or other props.

More Beta interiors are entering their first iteration.  Laura has been putting together offices, jail cells, market storerooms, study alcoves, play areas - and a heck of a lot more.

Right now, the interiors look a bit "flat" due to the uniform lighting and relative simplicity of detail - that will be improved over coming iterations.  As I type, we're more interested in just making sure everything is blocked out & scaled more or less properly,  clues & items are put in the right places, and the cats don't get stuck anywhere.

I admit that over the past month, I've fallen behind in assigning in-game name mentions for patrons who have contributed $100 or more to the project.  I will be clearing those out, over the next 48 hours.

NOW- THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT I WANTED TO ADDRESS AS A GAME DEVELOPER HERE IN THE USA:

Over the past weeks, we have suffered an unprecedented wave of mass shootings in this country.  The fact that we're experiencing a "wave" of something that should never happen says more in itself, than I could ever put into words.

First and foremost, our sympathies lie with the families and friends of those who fell victim to these grotesque outbursts of violence.   We sincerely hope that in time, they can heal from this incalculable loss.

Personally, having worked in politics in years past, I am unfortunately aware of why certain politicians - despite knowing better - are compelled to do anything they can to obfuscate issues when things like this happen.  

You can always count on these same politicians to blame videogames - as regular as clockwork.  I'm not even going to bother addressing that obtuse claim, because a ten-second web search would disprove it faster than I ever could. 

 I am STILL just absolutely appalled at the utter craven laziness of these individuals - even after all of these decades.  

When these politicians point their bloody fingers at game developers - whether they be Rockstar Games, Annapurna Interactive, or an indie startup like Peace Island LLC - they HAVE to be called out, because they are betraying the public they claim to represent, and people are dying as a result of their inaction - particularly CHILDREN.

I wish I had a good way to end this update, but some weeks just are not as good as others.  

See ya'll next Monday.