Chapter 6, done!

Alright! Time for a little post mortem on Chapter 6. No spoilers for those of you waiting to play.

It’s  no secret that I struggled at times with this chapter. The dinner scene was brutal to render, for a couple of reasons: It’s long and nobody moves much, so finding interesting angles became problematic. I’m a big fan of exploring the location to get the most out of it…but there is only so much you can do when looking at hundreds of renders in the same spot. It is also the last chunk of the chapter, and development taking as long as it did really made me feel some pressure (none from you, just on myself). Now, a little pressure can be good. It forces you to push on, but when you see no measurable progress, it becomes a yoke.

Then I finish renders and face coding, which technically speaking is not as daunting anymore. Mainly because I’m not making any big changes. However, I get to the dinner scene and because of my simple image naming system, I have to sift through the same hundreds of images until I find the one corresponding with the correct dialogue. Mind numbing.

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. I love creativity! Neither of the above offered any of that. So where do we go from here? Upward! Regardless of the torture that I once felt during the process of chapter 6, I now feel the weight off of my shoulders. The potential for the unknown of chapter 7. I am excited. Do I feel some changes in my routine need to be made? Absolutely. Will I shy away from big scenes like the dinner at the Bellarosa's? Absolutely not. I know. I am a fool. And there is power in accepting that…as I write that, I wonder if that is just the fool in me speaking? Who cares:-) I will start looking at the scene structure of chapter 7 today. I’ve done most of it, but need to tweak a few things to fit two scenes into the already planned ones. The additional scenes will feature Danielle and Lily per the poll.

For the future Case Logs, I will post chapter progress for all, but I will only post chapter preview renders to tier members. This isn’t because I want everyone to pay for a membership, but so that the tier members (most of whom have been with me for much longer than I could ask of anyone) reap some benefit for their monthly contribution. I don’t think there is any world where I start to make special renders on a consistent basis. I will always spend the time I have on chapter progress, because that time is limited. So I apologize to the members who will see less renders, but I think it’s the right thing to do.

It feels so good having finished chapter 6. I imagine it’s like getting out of a toxic relationship and seeing a world of possibilities ahead. Let’s see what kind of partner chapter 7 will be. I bet she’s a gentle lover…the fool cannot be chained!

Cheers!