Dev Diary, November 4th, 2022
Added 2022-11-04 12:57:08 +0000 UTCHoly crap. Is it November already?
Progress
My normal job demanded a bit extra this week, and that stole a few evenings of development. Luckily it doesn't happen too often - I think this is the third time over two and a half years of making this it has. From 2023 that's guaranteed to never ever be a problem ever again as you might know, I'm going full-time dev from January 1st.
Numbers are at 617 story renders, while animations had a week of a standstill at 1,701 frames.
Free Roams
I also took a deep dive into Ren'Py this week and started working on the free roams. I know there are split opinions about free roams in these games. Sometimes they more or less pause the story while adding some interactivity. I want them to serve a purpose in, and shape, the story. Try looking at it as a more advanced way of giving you a straightforward menu choice saying "1. Go to Jane" and "2. Go to Jill" - which can lead to some interesting experiences along the way to either "Jane" or "Jill" - if you reach any of them at all.
Re-Renders
Without getting all too technical, I talked earlier about changing the skin of everyone to pbr-shader. For some reason, I couldn't quite get one of the girls right, so I decided to switch back to sss-shader and redo all her renders. It matched well with my having to put in extra time at my normal job, as it was rendering while I was doing so.
Below are the two different versions, and I have to admit they are more alike than I thought they were, but still, I would love to hear your comments if you prefer the light lipstick one or the dark. At least I'll know if I did the right thing in re-rendering them. :) - and yeah, it's a gif, so rip quality.
4090 - again...
Also got the third 4090 this week, and what do you know... I just can't get two of them into one cabinet! All the connectors at the bottom of the motherboard are in the way of the lower card. I do suspect that these connectors are not all needed or have alternative ports they can connect to (front USB panel, CPU fan, power/reset button, lights, etc), so I'll give it another more serious try with the motherboard diagram in hand one day.
Anyway, we have another weekend ahead of us. Make it a nice one, and stay safe out there.
// Drifty
Comments
With the darker lips, the render looks a bit more like a real person. The skin shading seems slightly less perfectly artificial, and on the other side the cartoonish-red lipstick is a little "I'm trying too hard" vibe.
jay8008
2022-11-09 16:27:51 +0000 UTCDarker lips, unless she's meant to be a cheap tart.
Nic
2022-11-05 18:37:03 +0000 UTCRed lipstick/nails, the skin looks a little washed out..
AlphaEcho
2022-11-05 01:42:21 +0000 UTCThere have been a handful of cases of 3x 8pin adapters melting too, seemingly all on MSI Gaming X Trio models of 4090, so I don’t know if its something specific to just that model. Most cases seem to be the 4x 8pin though, and one confirmed case of a native 12VHPWR melting today. Not trying to worry you Drifty, I just happened to see a few more posts on reddit today showing melted adapters so I was concerned. Hoping yours work out fine.
Wesley
2022-11-05 01:02:56 +0000 UTCDefinitely a fan of the darker re-render but that's just my opinion.
Twisty Ninja
2022-11-04 23:31:45 +0000 UTCI have to say I prefer the skin tones and shadows more on the render with the red lipstick. It makes her cheekbones look less angular and more feminine. I'm cool with either color of lipstick though.
Zeban
2022-11-04 20:06:46 +0000 UTCDark lipstick render looks good, but I also think whichever is easier for you overall is the best choice.
Shane Ducharme
2022-11-04 18:59:01 +0000 UTCCongrats on full time. I was thinking you already were for some reason. Looking forward to the new game
tonymack21
2022-11-04 17:51:28 +0000 UTCThankfully, my cards are only 3x8pin, drawing 450w, instead of the 4x8pin drawing 600w, which has been reported to melt.
Drifty
2022-11-04 16:58:58 +0000 UTCLooking forward to when you can go full time. I can imagine the uptick in what you could create will be significant.
Ardor
2022-11-04 16:24:25 +0000 UTCthe darker lipstick gets my vote. I feel like the light is a bit much and is a bit of a distraction while the darker is more subtle.
KEAgNOme
2022-11-04 16:23:42 +0000 UTCI like the dark lipstick one better, looks really good. And I don’t know if you’re using the direct 12VHPWR connector for the 4090’s or the 4x8pin to 12VHPWR adapters, but if its the 4x8pin adapter, please be careful, there have been issues with some of those adapters melting and ruining the cards/possibly causing fires. Also I happen to like free roam events, as long as its not just a bunch of filler content. One of your fellow visual novel creators does a fair amount of free roam events in his game and they’re quite good. Keep up the great work Drifty!
Wesley
2022-11-04 14:22:56 +0000 UTCDefinitely think the darker lipstick version looks better (and I thought that before I realized the bright red shade came with bad nail polish ...)
Michael Oppenheimer
2022-11-04 14:18:54 +0000 UTCI like the darker skin and red lipstick, though I disagree with it jumping onto some of her nails like that so it may need to spend some time in lipstick jail.
vladeemer
2022-11-04 14:06:27 +0000 UTCI like the darker shade and the dark lipstick. For me the dark lipstick feels more natural and it doesn’t distract from the rest of her looks.
Jay Masters
2022-11-04 13:49:38 +0000 UTCAgree with the rest. I like the red lipstick with the darker skin tone but the lighter seems better.
Fantom5051
2022-11-04 13:36:36 +0000 UTCYup, the dark one is the re-render. So it wasn't all a waste then. :) Lipstick can easily be changed on either.
Drifty
2022-11-04 13:25:54 +0000 UTCThat is indeed the re-render. :)
Drifty
2022-11-04 13:23:09 +0000 UTCThe darker skin is indeed the re-render, so I'm glad you liked it. Lipstick can be changed easily on both, and I'd say she enjoys any shade of red. And the port to the front panel USB cable is the worst, so I guess I'll have to manage without it if everything is down to that.
Drifty
2022-11-04 13:22:53 +0000 UTCI like the lighter also. f you can't go with the darker skin tone, then lighter it is.
wulftattu
2022-11-04 13:14:45 +0000 UTCI’ll throw my vote in for the dark lipstick render.
2022-11-04 13:10:39 +0000 UTCFor some of the connectors, there may be 3rd party angled ones to help you out... My MoBo has the 2nd full size PCI-E slot a bit higher, which means a 3 slot card wouldn't fit, but with normal 2 slot ones, 2 fit in and the bottom one remains free from the connectors... And I like the lighter lipstick, but the darker skin-tone... A bit of both, I guess! ;)
Ard Rí Sídhhe Dragon
2022-11-04 13:10:02 +0000 UTC
