Dev Update 9/26/22
Hey, friends! Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!
First off, let me say welcome to all the new patrons that joined up this month. I hope you folks decide to stick around for a while, following and shaping the development of Friends in Need.
To that second point, following a poll (available to $5+ patrons) to determine the future of Gabby's hairstyle, I'm happy to announce that she'll be keeping her existing look a while longer. But, with a new color! Check her out up above, and let me know what you think! I think she's just cute as a button, personally. (Just uh, ignore that floating laptop, it's not a final game render. ;P )
Onto general business! I've been busy this week with writing, but the day job remains demanding and sometimes draining. So, I haven't progressed as far as I'd have liked to. Still, I'm moving into writing the middle of this update, featuring the first big erotic event of the chapter. You've asked for it! You've demanded it! Now you'll get to see Brittani-with-an-I in all her dubious glory!
My plan is to finish the script all the way through to the midpoint (right after Brittani's event), and then start rendering it, so I can submit the first half of the game to the $15+ tier for playtesting. While I have big batches of renders processing, I'll be able to use that time to write the second half of the script. Hopefully that'll help me avoid the issue I had with Chapter Three's update, where I wound up with kind of a bottleneck towards the end of the development cycle, doing 90% of the renders in a single month while also chasing down bugs. I've also started making notes in my script, detailing exactly what kind of shot I need, to avoid making redundant renders.
My goal is really to put out smaller (but still full-featured) updates, faster. Primarily by cutting out unnecessary renders. We'll see how it goes!
On the rendering side, I'm currently building the sets I'll need for the first few scenes. Personally, I hate seeing the same settings used over and over again in visual novels, so I always try to change things up a bit. Whether through the use of shaders, rearranging furniture, adding new props from other sets, etc.
As you can see up top, I'm doing some tests for the MC's game room/guest room, which Nicki's been staying in. I've really wanted to highlight MC's dorky side ever since it was talked about so much in the first chapter. And I get to have more of Nicki and MC interacting as buddies, which is always a delight. I think they bring out an interesting side of each other. Of course, this scene will likely play out quite differently, depending on which alignment path you're on..
I still need to make some original posters for this scene, to replace some of the more girly ones in the background. But, it'll get there. I already made a screen for Nicki and MC's favorite fighting game - BEAR KNUCKLE!
And we're going to see MC make a fateful visit to a diner, where he encounters a familiar (or maybe not-so-familiar) face.
Also, I keep playing around with ideas for a full Chapter One do-over. One thing that I'd really like to push is the idea that MC underwent a bit of a physical transformation, after he became wealthy and started exercising. So, in a return to Chapter One, I think I'll highlight that by making him a little heavyset during the intro.
That's all for now! This time next week, I should have some final, in-game renders to share.
Comments (10)
Hey there, am a new patron who joined this month! Just want to say I'm really impressed with the game so far. Especially concerning the more darker routes. While there are a lot of developers who can write romantic, humorous, corruption, and cuckolding stories well, I find that writers who can write darker content well are far and few between. Usually they just focus on the sex scenes, and the narrative and dialogue is an afterthought. With that in mind I have to say that I really enjoy your writing in that regards, especially on the point of having the characters react realistically and believable. I know that Nicki's new look in Chapter 2 & 3 has gotten some criticism here and there, but I just want to say that it feels like a natural state for her character to go after what she's been through, so it fits. Anyway as a massive Gabby fan, and a fan of darker content, I'm hoping that some darker content with her is soon to come! This chapter focussed on the corruption route, which I might say was quite well done, and of course with this many characters and different routes it's natural not every route can be advanced each update, but I'm still eagerly awaiting it! Kind regards, and keep up the good work!
Thanks so much! Happy to have you here, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the game! Chapter Four won’t have too much erotic content with Gabby, unfortunately. What it *will* do is advance both Madison and Gabby’s stories, bringing them further under the player’s influence, and setting up some content in Chapter Five that I think you’ll enjoy. 😁 Thanks again for your support!
mmmm I'm not sure making MC hefty would work the best for the Nikki/MC romance path. Having MC go from ugly/poor -> handsomish/rich makes their romance seem more transactional/superficial. As it stands right now if MC is mostly good then Nikki coming to realize she has feelings for MC is more about her own personal journey/transformation than anything to do with the MC. He is the same guy as before the wealth just makes his generous personality more apparent. But if MC makes so much transformation it makes it seem like he had to change drastically for Nikki to fall for him which doesn't sit as well. That's just me though haha. Maybe have him be pudgy or skinny-fat but I wouldn't make him ugly and fat.
Well, part of it is that I want to show Nicki was still into him even when he was a little heavier and poor. Things may not fully spill over into romance until that pivotal night, but the feelings have been simmering for a while. I do see how it could come of as superficial, though. Hm! Something to think about for sure!
“Bear Knuckle” is honestly a great concept for a fighting game. I’m impressed lol
I keep thinking about teaching myself Game Maker so I can make some ridiculous little indie games. I think Bear Knuckle would be a must. In my mind it's like, a full roster of all the iconic bears. Sun bear, moon bear, polar bear, grizzly bear.. the black and brown bears would just be a palette swap with identical move sets. But there are some blacked-out hidden characters that are more esoteric. Like a koala bear, or a big hairy gay dude.
Like the Idea of the redo chap 1 with him working out but is it really needed don't get me wrong hes not fat or outta shape plus you'd have to redo all the renders after where hes out his clothes which are a lot I think you did a really good job as is on his body and should just go forward but the games not mine though but really we can all tell you put in a lot of work into the game also MOAR Nicki Ro/bro-mance Gabby Madison (not into NTR but gabbys dad sounds like he sux's) Carolina
Nah, I could totally just let it stand as is, but the honest answer is that I just want to update it a bit. I’d like to clean up the code in that first chapter anyways. And I could expand on Nicki, Brent, and the dynamic at the convenience store. And I was even thinking I could show Carolina, when MC moves into his condo. It’d also let me do more interesting things with the sex events, like making the romantic sex different than the route where you offer her money, etc. and so on. Basically, first impressions are everything, and if I want to put the game on a platform like Itchio, it’d be nice to put my best foot forward. And don’t worry, next chapter will have a good deal of Gabby and Madison, setting up a big event for Gabby in chapter five. There’s even going to be a little bit of Carolina in chapter four. :D
I need more Nicki mc romance I love this game they belong together
Glad you feel that way! I think they're pretty cute together. The focus next chapter is more on Gabby, Brittani, and Ashe, but Nicki still has some fun scenes at the beginning of the chapter. :D