Hey everyone, long time no see!

I already talked quite a bit about my upcoming plans in the last post, so I won’t go over all of that again here.

I haven’t posted much lately, but I’ve still been working in the background, and I finally have a few things that are actually ready to show.

So this time, I just want to share some of the progress I’ve actually made recently.

CG Production for Stigma of Corruption Has Resumed

First up, Stigma of Corruption: Nightbound Courier.

Production on the new CGs had been on hold for a while due to the artist’s schedule, but work has now resumed and things are moving normally again.

In the last post, I mentioned that I had nearly 10 new CG sets planned for Version 2.0.

We’ve now officially passed 10 completed sets.

And lately, I’ve been moving away from the idea of using new CGs just to turn one existing scene into two or three slightly different shots.

Instead of simply adding more variations or camera angles to the same scene, I’d rather use the new CGs to show things that the original game never actually showed at all.

For example, what was happening on the other guy’s side, what was happening around Lillian when Caius wasn’t there, or parts of the story where you basically saw the result of something and then immediately jumped to the next scene without ever seeing what happened in between.

That’s the kind of stuff most of the new CGs are being used for now.

One example is the part where you travel from the City of Heroes to the Royal Capital through the teleportation circle.

In the original version, you basically just moved from one location to another.

What actually happened during that trip was never really shown.

This time, I want to fill in those missing parts as well.

So with the new CGs in Version 2.0, I’m not really trying to increase the number just for the sake of saying, “Hey, there are more CGs now.”

I’d rather use them to connect parts of the story that originally felt a little too fragmented.

These additional POV scenes will also be added to the Gallery.

The Crystal Ball Might Get Some New Uses Too

And then there’s this.

This is a rough CG that’s currently being worked on.

Right now, I’m thinking about giving the crystal ball a few more uses.

The game already has a crystal ball that lets you see things happening far away, so if I’m going to add more scenes where Caius isn’t actually present, it feels like a pretty natural way to show those extra perspectives.

For example, something could be happening around Lillian without Caius knowing anything about it.

If the game just suddenly cuts to Lillian’s POV every time, it can feel a little awkward.

But if those scenes are being viewed through the crystal ball, I think it makes a lot more sense within the game itself.

So I’ve already prepared some CGs around that idea.

But...

this feature still isn’t fully decided yet. LOL

Because I did the thing I always do.

I made the CG first, and only afterward started seriously thinking about how the hell I was actually going to put it into the game.

Once I started designing the system properly, all the annoying questions showed up.

When can the player view these scenes?

What happens if they miss one?

How do I keep track of what they’ve already seen?

How does it connect to the existing event triggers?

At first I thought, “It’s just one little feature. How hard could it be?”

And somehow it’s already turning into an entire system again.

I swear I do this all the time. LOL

I’ll make the CGs, UI, or other assets first, and then when it’s finally time to put everything into the actual game, I realize the whole thing is way more complicated than I expected.

Sometimes I even get all the way through making something before realizing it just doesn’t fit, and then it ends up getting cut completely.

A very efficient use of resources, obviously. LOL

So for now, I just wanted to show you this CG.

I can’t promise exactly how far I’ll expand the crystal ball system yet.

The general idea is there. Now I need to actually put it into the game and see how well it works in practice.

A New Type of Presentation I’ve Been Working On

This next one is something I’ve spent quite a bit of time on recently.

https://files.catbox.moe/ma0nrp.mp4

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’d been experimenting with CG animation and different ways of presenting scenes.

What I showed back then was still much closer to a learning exercise or a technical experiment.

This one is a little different.

The video above was made with the intention of showing how something like this would actually look inside the game.

The transition from the menu into the scene, the screen changes, the movement within the scene itself, and the overall pacing were all made with actual in-game presentation in mind.

So far, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and I definitely want to keep experimenting with this kind of presentation.

Her Fall in the Last Days Side Story

Here’s one more recent update.

This is part of the radio system currently being worked on for the side story.

I already talked about the new systems and presentation changes planned for the side story in my previous post, so I won’t explain all of that again here.

The things I talked about back then are now slowly being turned into actual content inside the game.

This is one of those pieces.

Once everything starts coming together, I’ll show you a more complete version.

One More Important Update: Steam

There’s one more thing that was recently confirmed.

I’ve officially reached an agreement with a publisher for the Steam releases.

I’ve been discussing the contract and release details with the publisher for a while now, and we recently finished signing everything.

So the Steam versions I’ve been preparing can finally start moving forward properly.

I’ll share the store pages, release dates, and other details once everything is ready.

This has been in the works for quite a while, so it feels good to finally have it officially moving forward.

Finally

I’m not going to write another huge list of future plans this time.

I already did enough of that in the last post. LOL

Right now, I think it’s more important to actually finish the things I’ve already talked about than to keep telling everyone what I’m planning to do next.

At least lately, quite a few things have finally started moving forward again.

I’ll keep working through them one by one and getting them finished.

Thank you so much for sticking around, waiting, and continuing to support my work!

See you next time!

— LactoQuest