It's the "bonus pack and news" update...

Hello!

A few things to cover in this update, of which the headline is the most interesting I suspect :), but here we go.

The bonus pack

I've finished the initial bonus pack. Two bonus games, two sets of galleries and all the Bored Pilots are now stripped out of the main game and put in their own download. The rationale for this I've touched on before but to summarise; it keeps the main game download size smaller; ensures that patreons moving between tiers don't lose any content; allows me to throw a few additional extra's in and I can update this pack fairly constantly so there's always something new going on giving the time the main game takes at the moment. It also has the advantage for me of simplifying the main game builds so win-wins all round.

There are a couple of animations in the most recent bonus game which are a tad grainy to my eye (although the testers thought they were fine so it might just be me) and which I'm happy I can correct in time once my adobe skills are a bit higher but rather than sit on it whilst I learn a whole new skill set I might as well set it free now. There's certainly a couple of hours entertainment here at least.

The only thing I haven't yet included is the naughty animations from the main game as I'm pondering on how best to present them in the pack. Not all scenes are to all tastes after all. But I'll decide on that next month and update it then.

I hope you find something to enjoy in it. Links for the higher tier access attached. 

The GUI refresh

This is looking lovely and, far more importantly, looks like it's going to be a great help when you play. 

The problem with H5 from a players perspective is that the choices really do matter. Decisions made or actions taken, even items found, can open or close whole path lines. 

Now, there's nothing wrong with that in a "choices matter" game at least not in theory. But the pre refresh set up made the paths so opaque it was hard to know what paths actually existed. It's one thing for the player to be faced with choices, quite another if those choices are blind. Now, on one hand it could be argued (well I know I did at the start) that this reflects real life but one other this is a game after all, and I've been quite taken aback at the amount of content that people just don't know exist, or if they are aware have no idea how to get there. 

H5 is a much bigger game than a lot of people realise. So, this is the primary aim of the refresh (as well as making things look a bit more professional). It doesn't go so far as to hold your hand or lose the element of surprise in the game but you will at least know what you've missed and have a better idea of how to get there if you so want to.

Things I'm thinking about...

Two other changes I'm considering is some of the Channel 7 content and Becca. One of the things I noticed from going through everything again as part of the GUI refresh (I needed to, to add/change hints etc) is that Channel 7 is a bit jarring tonally. It's too silly in places and I can only suspect I was on a Jaffa Cake high when writing some of it. The silliness in H5 should come from those areas of the game where it would be natural for it to be silly. So when people are drunk or VR or Sarah (who let's face it is largely silliness on legs). Some aspects of Channel 7 just feel forced and, if you're playing it as a more straight laced game (which you can), just come out of nowhere in a clown suit, honk a horn and vanish again. Some editing will be going on at some point...

Becca. Becca, Becca, Becca. What to do about Becca? The face of the game with her own little "Beccaverse" and someone who has been so useful as the game went through it's early development in terms of communicating and explaining things. And yet she does breaks immersion and the flow of the game now there is a lot of it out there (even more so with Five). I adore her but I'm starting to think she might have served her purpose. One option would be to have her at the start, perhaps even in a different guise as an NPC to deal with the naming and the tutorial aspects and then...that's it.

Maybe?

Pros are that the game as a whole would run a lot more smoothly and give complete immersion. Cons...well some of you like her a lot. This is a decision I won't make my myself but we'll discuss this one later. Any change won't be until Six at the very least.

Chapter Five

It's coming along nicely to be honest, more than nicely in fact. It's certainly the best looking chapter I've ever made that is for sure and the writing is, again, some of the best I've ever done. 

Given that it's me saying that you might be forgiven for going "Well, you would say that, Notty" but those who have been with me for a while know I'm my own worst critic so, make of that what you will. 

I'm at that stage where completed scenes are being looked at again to ensure they stack up with the rest of the game and scenes I consider weak are being tweaked and shoved under peoples noses for quality checking and yet these "weak" scenes are considered to be fine if not good, so...well, I'll leave you to make your own mind up in due course.

Things not yet done are Caverns, the domme module, letting the testers have at it and running the larger lewd animations. On the latter I'm not terribly concerned. They're set up and ready to go and just depend on the 3090 graphics card now really. I can run them without but what would take me at least three months of running with the existing set up will only take a month with a 3090 machine so it's just a case of me hunting down one that will do everything I want at a sensible price. I'm hoping to have some more news on this hunt shortly.

I still need to iron out the tactical combat and the strip poker but that's just gameplay tweaks. I'm going to pick one of them off this week, faff with it a bit and then let the testers run with it and see what they think. They both look good (the games not the testers...although they might do, who knows?), but do they play well enough is my concern. Sucky game playplay is sucky and no one wants that.

Housekeeping

Well I must be starting to get on top of things as commissions have been sneaking out but I'm still way behind on messages etc. The good news on this is I've a weeks leave next week so once and for all I'll slay this dragon. It'll also give me a bit of time to tidy up the patreon page, update links etc.

 In bigger news I'm also pondering moving to a four day week in due course leaving more time for H5. Risky, I know. But you chaps put your money where your mouth is, it seems only fair that I do too. It would give me more time to work on the game but equally allow me to be more communicative than I currently am. I used to be shockingly good at this aspect of things but, for a variety of reasons, I've let this slip I know. Partly it's due to the sheer amount of time that juggling all the above has been taking up but explanations don't actually solve the problem.

Finally...

Penny Poll up in a separate post.

Stay (or be) lucky, guys.

Notty