Progress Update - Episode 15

Alright... A few things to talk about.

A lot of progress has been made in the last few weeks. Especially since I had the week off last week and had a lot of time to work on the game.
First of all. All scenes for episode 15 and the remake of episode 4 have been rendered! In total there are almost 11000! renders. Bad news. That means there is a lot of post-render work to do, and it will take some time. Of course, the total render count will go down once the single frame to movie file conversion happens. I already started with the post-render work, and there's more 'bad' news. A lot of renders (+/-1500) are very bright. I think I forgot to dial down the sunlight in those renders. Normally, I would rerender them. But since there are so many, it will take so long, and honestly, I'm not in the mood to redo them at the moment. It will be put on my never ending things-to-fix-list. Renders are still fine, but not to the quality I normally want them to be. Sorry about that. Other renders are fine!
So... What other things are left to do:

- Post-render work
- Recoding of all episodes + possible script changes
- Coding of episode 15
- Frame to movie conversion
- Music
- Other minor stuff
- Testing everything

I already talked about the post-render work. Let's move on to the recoding. I started a few days ago, and it goes smoother than I thought. Made already very good progress and will probably finish within this week. I fixed the 2 major bugs in the game. One at the Monroe house, where Adriana invites you to dinner. That was just a whole mess. The other where you meet Mike on the plane. It should all work now. But I only know once everything is recoded and I can finally start testing. Fixed some other minor bugs I didn't know where in the game. Added a bunch of variables to make coding easier for now and in the future. Changed some conditions for the love interests. I increased the point requirements for Layla and Erynn. That makes it easier to stay on their friend path because it was just too easy to get on their "love" path. Just a minor increase though. Now during choices, you can also lose points, not only gain. Again makes it easier to manage if you want a friend or love path with someone. There are also a few choices with variables that immediately put you in the friendzone, no matter how many points you have. Watch out for those! You can't date Layla and Erynn together no more. You will have to make a choice between them right before Training camp. There is a choice where Layla asks what Erynn is to you. Friend or more. That decides which path you go on from there. I didn't create a new scene for that just yet. That happens when I do the remake of that particular episode, but the variables are already there.
There are some other combinations that won't work anymore. I'll let you figure those out yourself. But there are some new ones too.
Another new thing I added is when Nikki and Cara visit you after the wedding and you are on the Erynn route. Now you have the option to tell Erynn you're with either of them, which on the Nikki path, closes Erynn's path, but on Cara's path, it stays open because she doesn't see Cara as competition. You can now also lie to Erynn to date both. And there's a third option too. Again, you'll see once you get there.
Another fix is when Cara and Nikki visit and you aren't dating anyone else, you just automatically continue their relationship, else you will get the option to break up, tell them about the other girl or say nothing.
One thing that isn't in the game yet is when after the visit, Nikki and Cara ask you to end the relationship with the other girl(if you have another one). It needs several new scenes for that and I will create those when I do the remake of that episode. But everything is set up for it.
There are lots of other changes too I made. But those were the biggest ones, I think. If you know other bugs or things that needed changing, let me know.
While doing the recode, I wanted to go through the whole script and make changes and update it. But once I started, it realised that it will take way too long. So, I decided to only change the necessary stuff, keep the rest of the script the same. I'll just continue as I'm doing now, go episode by episode with the remake. Next up will be episode 5 with new renders and script changes. I don't know if there will be new scenes yet. I have some written down, I'll see if they will be included in the future or not.

Next. The conversion of the single frames to movie files. I haven't started that yet. I start once all the coding is done and the post-render work is done. So, I have no idea yet how long that will take.

Music... I think this will take the most time. Again, I haven't started it yet. I want to finish the whole coding first and then start again from episode 1 to see what music or background sounds I want to use where. I will need to find the right music or background sound for each scene or create them myself. But everything that will be put in the game will be a work in progress and can change at any time when I find something better to replace it with. Licencing is expensive!

Other minor stuff like upgrading the gallery, maybe some button fixes, checking the new save screen, checking grammar and spelling, and so on...

Testing everything. That will also take longer than usual since now I have to test the whole game instead of just 1 episode. Need to test all solo paths, all combinations (new and old)... Does everything work as intended and so on... I'm debating releasing a sort of a Beta for people who want to help out with the testing because it's a lot.

There's probably much more to talk about, but that's all I remember for now. I will do weekly progress updates from now on so you will see the progression. Also if there are any setbacks.
No release date just yet. Don't guess either! Once I know, I will tell you.

Again. If there are other things that need changing, upgrading, ideas, now is the time. Write them in the comments or message me here or on discord. Or come chat with me on discord.

Edit: Stop asking about Elena! That will NEVER change!