Haldane

Progress report (v0.15)

Added 2025-08-11 15:26:58 +0000 UTC

Secret Dawn update v0.15 is coming along well.

Mechanically, I've made improvements to many systems, such as Link and Live Save (i.e. mid-cutscene saving). These are rewarding to work on since they're built from scratch, but that also means fixing or improving them can be a little more challenging. The Link updates were straightforward UI improvements. Live Save took more work, but it was worth it to fix saving during choices, and have visuals, events, and everything else come back as they should. I suspect having the ability to save in this way will only become more convenient/needed as the story progresses. I've also been working on performance, adding more advanced diagnostics to help trace issues on certain maps or lower-end systems.

For the story, I'm still a little behind schedule after last month's issues. It turned out to be mostly a space and storage problem (hundreds of gigabytes of 3D scenes) combined with overheating. After cleaning and resetting a lot of my systems, things are running much smoother. The majority of the visuals are already done, including new busts for several characters, so now it's mainly a matter of getting the scenes in place. This is an important stretch of the story that I want to get right, and that means a lot of rewriting.

What's done so far is mostly on Jon's side, and without revealing too much I can say he gets some very interesting developments. His story partly involves a new map I made a couple months ago. I improved it, added events, and rewrote a pathing algorithm for better player detection. I'll continue using that algorithm for enemies and other entities from now on. This is a new kind of situation for Jon, and he gets to use an ability on this map that we haven't seen before. The ability works seamlessly by building on NPC interaction logic I added to the City last update.

I'm aiming to finish by the end of the month, but as usual it might end up being a week or two later. And as always, thanks for your support.

Best,
Haldane