What's up, RMers?

[kyonides]

After finishing the final updates of the KToggleButtons family of scripts, I'm left with just a single idea that doesn't motivate me at all.

It's just about adding an icon of sorts to alert the player that one of the heroes will be targeted by 2 or more enemies. Since i only know the Default Battle System very well, I doubt many people would care about that project if I ever publish it online.

So guys, do you have any good, spicy, entertaining ideas for new scripts or features?

[DerVVulfman]

You did fashion Gem Roulette with a spinning wheel. Have you considered using the techniques therein to make "Las Vegas" styled mini games like a Roulette table or Slot Machines? Maybe even the throwing of dice?

[kyonides]

You did fashion Gem Roulette with a spinning wheel.  Have you considered using the techniques therein to make "Las Vegas" styled mini games like a Roulette table or Slot Machines?  Maybe even the throwing of dice?

 Nah, I'm not a gambler so I'm not interested in any other mini games involving luck and deceit.
 Got any other ideas, guys?

[Remi-chan]

 Got any other ideas, guys?

Find a nearby cliff face and HURL YOURSELF OFF OF IT.

Or you know, use the brain I'm beginning to question is in your head to come up with ideas yourself instead of relying on the local peanut gallery.

[kyonides]

 Got any other ideas, guys?

Find a nearby cliff face and HURL YOURSELF OFF OF IT.

Or you know, use the brain I'm beginning to question is in your head to come up with ideas yourself instead of relying on the local peanut gallery.

People also need to be given a chance to see their scripting dreams come true. That's why I keep asking them for ideas. Whether they wanna take it or not, is up to them, but they always got their opportunity. It's something that egocentric people like a few web surfers around can't understand.

[Remi-chan]

Oh fuck oh no guys help i've been called out for the ego-centric websurfer i am lmao

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

Allow me to interrupt this pointless slapfight just to mention that I didn't touch a map in such a long time that I discovered that I had already done most of the heavy lifting (mapping, eventing) leaving only the plot stuff to do.

[Remi-chan]

Allow me to interrupt this pointless slapfight just to mention that I didn't touch a map in such a long time that I discovered that I had already done most of the heavy lifting (mapping, eventing) leaving only the plot stuff to do.

Ayyy nice! Always fun to discover your past self has come in clutch for your present self!

This year has probably been one of the most productive since 2015. The sheer magnitude of work I started with, compared to the pittance that now remains manages to even make me feel good. Between the open beta weekend where I finished 50 or so maps within a few days. To going from 116 optional planetary events to the point where now only 25 remain, and it's taken only 3 months.

39 optional events per month, at a rate of over one per day.

This last 30 days has been immensely productive. With an absolute swathe of planetary events being knocked out of the park, we started with zero progress on anything other than one shots, now we're almost finished. With 2 scenes left for Galaxia and 4 for Tekerlek.

Over the weekend I took a break to stave off some mild though very expected burn out, and to process legal forms to keep the place I'm living in. The forms as of today (monday) have been lodged so now I have but to wait for the hearing to be arranged.

Xiie should be back about any day now, Pjcr has finished submitting the Xeltara and is now onto Lilith.

Xeltara

The final pose and two facial expressions. Tonight i will implement them and see about finishing off the galaxion scene events. Now after a break I'm keyed to get back to work. I intend to change my routine back to my shitty hot topic vampire variety as the Australian summer gorws in intensity.

So... Will we be done in time?

The influx of files Pjcr has been sending is great, but not nearly fast enough. There is still much to submit and Pjcr having reliable net will not magically fix everything. At the current rate we're looking at a march 14th release instead, which is bad and far from schedule, but this is actually good news.

With Xiie back in the game soon, she too will have a hard time catching up to present demand, even with the absolute hoard of files she's worked on, there is much i have not been able to get her to make for lack of context and her internet being too poor to accept image files.

That's nothing to say of my own progress, while yes, if all events left were merely scenes, I could easily make the deadline, but only 6 of the remaining events are scenes, the remaining 19 are boss fights from medium, to hard, to surreal difficulty. This is also the disk where the first of four superbosses becomes available, rated on the INSANE difficulty. While there are exceptions, these difficulties for players also match up relatively well with the effort and difficulty of production for me to develop. There's also a lot of interface upgrades to be implemented, such as rewards. That's not to mention the custom VA these optional bossfights will necessitate, and given the line up of professional VAs i have for many of these characters, and my limited fortnightly budget, it may just be infeasible to release this game on December as originally promised.

So... what will happen?

The December Delta Build

Demo 3 has already had an Alpha, and a beta as was the weekend in Janurary this year, so when did Gamma happen?

Gamma was a closed doors build that nobody actually got to try because it got cancelled for a fairly valid reason. it was scheduled for June 6 but it was one day earlier that my PC bricked.

So I decided to just move on ahead, planning a delta build in november, but this would leave only a month for testers, and my breaker is very thorough and a month is simply not enough time, this game is too massive.

So putting all things in perspective, moving the delta build to december seems like a fair concillation for a failure to release this year, which leaves Demo 3's release a few months to really get things airtight, and ensure all placeholders are more or less a thing of the past.

This would mean Demo 3 would release on 3/14 and our 10th anniversary, the game will also be put on steam, as "early access", the full game should be ready in about a year from then.

Avoiding the Problematic Crunch of Rush
The release of Fantasia Demo 2 didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. The writing felt disconnected and jarring, and a lot of what was going on made less sense than more- that is where Re-Write came in.

Looking forward, no matter how many delays it takes, I refuse to rush the content. I want to create a game that doesn't need a Re-write patch to fix what should have been correct the first time around.

The only knowledge I had plans to release the game in December comes from the trailer, which is a mistake on my part. That said, there will be SOMETHING that happens in December, be it the Delta build, a Simian Scandal 9.5, or whatever else... I don't intend to say there will be something, only to welcome all who anticipated that with nothing.

If a miracle happens and my artists get me all the files I need, then maybe a December release will be possible. But that's seeming less and less likely with every day that passes. For the 12/12/22 release, all bets are pretty much off already, as that leaves us less than a month to finish everything. 12/22/22 is more plausible, but still unlikely. Doing this would also mean no QA from the delta build, as this would leave no time for a Delta Build to exist.

So in closing: It's more likely a Delta Build will release on the 22nd of December, giving delta testers a little under three months to give feedback, which should be enough. Me and my team can then focus on getting all the resources finished and implemented, while I have the budget to pay the voice actors for their contributions.

This would also give us something to celebrate our 10th Anniversary with, not only our first venture onto the steam platform, but a valuable release as well. If this is the path that ends up being taken, I intend to have the game finished completely before march, allowing me time to prep steam direct and get press material ready and some marketing and hype generation done.

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

I'm still in awe that you have worked that much in a mere month and also glad that you're talking some well-deserved breaks to avoid burnout.

On my end, progress is still going at a moderate speed and I find myself wishing for an option to have a single command move a bunch of different events. It would make having half a dozen or so of characters interacting in a cutscene much easier.

[Remi-chan]

I'm still in awe that you have worked that much in a mere month and also glad that you're talking some well-deserved breaks to avoid burnout.

When working on a game of this scale, momentum is the only means of releasing. Thankfully once I get in the mode I don't stop until I pass out or get distracted enough to break form.

The game is my most ambitious yet. Ambitious as Perseverance Full Clearance was, it pales in comparison to the monster I'm creating here. This kinda became open-world before I'd realized it, and unlike a lot of "open world" games, I want there to be some things to do on each world, which is why there's been such a focus on planetary events.

Speaking of those: all but 4 are done scenes wise. Yes: I finished Galaxia.

Tonight I'll be gearing the S.S. Potassium tileset to work at the scale its artist (CoyoteCraft) intended.

He's yet to do the majority of detailing, he claims that should be done after next week.

Nothing new from Pjcr yet, and while Xiie has paid the outstanding balance her old ISP threw on her, it is in the process of being connected still.

As for me, I have some videos for the Postmartia events.


This one is a three in one combo.


Pjcr's portraits for Xeltara have all been implemented and look stunning!



And here's some screenshots showing some of the work I did on Galaxia.





In preparation for Tekerlek I grabbed the old Battleship sprite my artist Apoc made for Menagerie and lightly edited it and added some recolors.

Second to the left from the top right is the S.S. Potassium. Top right is Baron Gadzoo's "Ruby Annihilator", second to the right from top-left is the Nadinean Seadrifter, the entire bottom row are so-far unknown ships, though the bottom right is likely to be a Havenian Judicator, with the black sailed ship with red markings likely belonging to another infamous pirate.

At this point I'm too lazy to add in thrusters, though I might grow the enthusiasm in the future.

For reference, the only one of these ships to have been given a legitimate concept or drawing is the S.S Potassium. featuring in Highwaymen of the Starlit Sea

I should mention that the only reason i left Tekerlek to last in the roadmap was due to the time the assets for this ship took to develop. It's been shown several times that the characters who star in this show have plenty of good chemistry and I find it a joy to write them!


The events demanded a little editing, so here is the updated Roadmap with changes for tekerlek added. The bizarre obstacle course event was scrapped and the Anathema bossfight was added in its place and moved to the finale.

Anathema has been planned to be a boss fight since before work on Disk 2 even began. The fact she has an intense music score / theme...

And entries in the database including a medal for impressing her prove that well enough.


So! Without further ado, here is the

"Updated Roadmap for Planetary Optional Events"

Still dealing with burnout and a bizarre amount of inter-gestational wind that's making me somewhat uncomfortable so how long things will take to really get rolling again is anyone's guess at this point. But knowing me it won't take too long.