art update: Don't go into the toolshed

Hey guys! Just a small update to let you know what we're up to etc. 

As for me, on the art side of things, I've been digging pretty deep to get the art ready for the build AFTER the upcoming one. Yup, I'm frog leaping to the best of my abilities and happy to say by cutting a few small unnoticeable corners I'm on schedule! The corners I cut are 100% background related. It's the one thing I always allow myself a bit of leeway on. 

I'm slightly ashamed of that, but you're not playing this game for the backgrounds, right? It's stuff which can easily be changed/corrected afterwards. 

Anyway, the coder did have a few requests for the upcoming build which I also have been working on at the same time. One scene for example got an alternative choice because of his request.

Whenever the coder wants something unplanned like an addition to existing art, my first reaction is (and will always) be "how high?"  My second reaction can also be a bit like: "damn.. that's going to take at least a few more days and I'm already behind on *misc*" So far the result has always been an improvement so those feelings can be shrugged off pretty quickly.

Now when I say I'm on schedule I have to make clear the last early access build was released on the 7th of this month and you really shouldn't expect the next one to be any earlier than another 7th. Although we have managed to put a build together in less than 30 days in the past, that was more of a freak accident. We usually take at least 30 days and then come to the conclusion things don't work and we need longer.

Fun fact, Whenever the coder starts giving me internal estimates I always add at least three days in my mind as a buffer. For the longest of time that worked out pretty well. I didn't tell hem about that, afraid that if he'd know he'd unconsciously adapt his estimations to it, but I told him about it recently anyway so let's see how that's going to work out.

Things have been going nicely, but I did have one small hindrance. I broke my pen!  More precisely, I broke the pen nib which I made out of pasta. It was stuck in there without a way to get it out. I mentioned using a pasta alternative in one of my earlier updates and it wasn't an april fools post.

Yeahhh, I know pasta isn't officially condoned as a substitute for plastic pen nibs, but I like the friction they give over plastic ones. Feels more like a traditional pen to me that way(pasta-power!!) I knew of the dangers and actually have a spare lying around...somewhere. 

That doesn't mean I was just going to give up on the old one though! Yes, my drawing tablet is old as balls and it wouldn't be a bad idea to start looking for something a bit more advanced by now... But here's the thing... I'm superstitious and have a lifelong habit of repairing things. I'm actually the guy family members go to when their stuff is broken. It's not that I'm good at it, just slightly better than the people who bring me their stuff.

The nib was stuck in there like a motherfucker and no way to get it out. No unscrewable(giggity) parts or anything(that I could see at least.) 

Afterwards I could easily reach the nib and with some glue, very carefully put the plastic casing back together. 

So there you have it. Mini-crisis averted!

I've also been testing out some new super rough and quick walkaround areas for future builds and those turned out to be major timesinks. Even in their highly limited state. I could've and should've known this already, but yeah.... I didn't.   So we're most likely going to keep things as they are now with only the two already present areas and no more. I tested a small thing to make a walk around area more interesting and functional but can't talk about that yet since it won't be included anyway and would probably spoil the shit out future builds.

That's it for this time! Peace!