Defending Lydia Collier Development Log

Hello everybody!

I hope you all enjoyed the last update!

Just to let you know, I'm currently working on several improvements to Defending Lydia Collier that will make it a much better to interact with, while also make useful tools to integrate these features into future projects.

Coding

I don't have many previews since 99% of my work has been on the code.

I've finally tackled the long-put-off task of fixing the computer head-on, replacing thousands (probably tens of thousands) of lines of code.

I now have two fully functioning news websites, filterable by journalist and date along with the previous tabs. This lets you easily view the day's new stories or, when meeting a journalist, check all her articles to investigate her activities without manual scrolling.

This was tougher than just building a news site, as I had to sift through a dozen updates' worth of layered code, recover old data, and edit pictures to preserve everything.

You might have noticed the new computer I added a few updates back lacked older articles, limiting reading beyond a certain point—now it includes everything, plus I'm adding in all the articles I'd skipped from adding to recent updates due to the computer just being a mess.

There's a lot of story knowledge hidden away there now!

For those unaware, I lack a coding background, so I'd learn a bit, then force-fit it to my needs—like hammering a square peg into a circular hole.

In the past, I'd code one news article with what I know, then copy-paste and tweak for the next. Images were pre-made in Photoshop with text, requiring 3+ per article, which took ages.

It wasn't bad at first, but after years of updates, it has become a horrific mess of technical debt—dozens of articles across thousands of lines, and that all needed fixing.

Now, the sites are properly built. I input a headline, date, journalist name, and article, add the ID to a single list, and it's done—no copying and pasting anything, no having to add variables to a whole series of lists with every article (massively reducing bugs), and I've taken all the old articles, converted them into the new format and got it working.

Templates now handle the layout, so edits require changing just the template or article and actually adding new articles to the game now takes a minute or two (after prepping the images/content) versus 20+ just on adding an article before.

Why bother some will say? It's key to the story, with useful info that was painful to access—now it's easy. When I play games I really enjoy exploring in-game lore like Fallout 3 terminals or Mass Effect's Shadow Broker emails, and wanted something similar in my game. I've always aimed for more "game" elements beyond choice-based VN, and this fits my limits.

For future projects, this code provides a ready-to-use news website with minimal tweaks, so this work will benefit the next project as well as this one.

That's complete now.

Next, I'm fixing "Our Moments" (the game's Instagram), as with so many images I've made for this I want it to actually be properly accessible, and I'm doing that by making it full screen and usable from the PC rather than just the phone.

Again, once done, it'll be reusable for future projects.

The Radio

I've also redone the car radio.

It was a single long audio track—randomized start points, but always the same order, and hard to edit beyond appending tracks.

Now, I've added new adverts and tracks; it functions like a real radio, randomly pulling songs, inserting ad breaks with custom spots, then more music.

I've long wanted a GTA-style radio, especially given the cost of the custom audio—now it's here.

This should enhance the game's long car scenes, and provides a Ren'Py radio system for future projects.

This is really a side note, it didn't take long at all to do this, but listen out for the new tracks and adverts, I think they're pretty cool!

Character Reports

Previously, only some characters gave reports via mission screens; many didn't.

Now, everyone provides a report, adding immersion beyond just button-clicking to advance the story.

These arrive in your emails (which I've also redone); no separate screen or just no feedback mission anymore.

The Mission Screens

I considered removing this but kept it, recoding it properly to eliminate past bugs when selecting characters, so you'll still click them which I think is better than just a textbox choice.

In-Game Walkthrough

It's 99% done; I'm just integrating it with mission selection screen, considering an overlay or icon to highlight the best character if walkthrough is on, plus a separate icon for rescuing Tanya.

So that's what I've been up to - thousands of lines changed, some actually properly coded stuff and seeing it now working makes me feel like a real developer.

I've always wanted a story-heavy game, and fixing the computer was essential to finish Defending Lydia Collier off, especially with the finale near and endings tied to missions.

Sorry if anyone dislikes the time spent on this, but it's necessary for completing the game the way I've envisioned it. I just can't complete the game without fixing the missions, as the missions determine the endings, but that's now sorted.

This will all be in v0.17.1, hopefully done this month depending how much hassle Our Moments and Whistle cause.

Knowing a "coding and story" update might not excite everyone, I'll post a poll this weekend for supporters on a few ideas for scenes I cut from v0.17. I need to beta test all the coding changes, so the scene that wins I'll make whilst the computer is out for testing by anybody interested (or who wants to try and break it).

Thanks for all the new and continued support!

WP