Weekly Update: Chapter 5

I have been working my BUTT off this week on this chapter and I’m really happy with how it’s going and super excited to talk to you all about it. Let’s take a look and see where we’re at so far.

Chapter 5 Tasks

• Write Scenes – 14/19 (74%) – I’ve added one new scene since the Roadmap and I only have a few left to write.
• Write Conversations – 21/26 (81%) – I’ve added three since the Roadmap. These are fun for me to write because I really get to explore the character’s personalities, which is my most favorite thing.
• Write Dates – 4/4 (100%) – Finished with all the dates. I also changed a lot of stuff behind the scenes with how dates work. This should make things easier for me to write going forward. More on that later.
• Render Images – 58/241 (24%) – On my roadmap, I planned for about 200 images, so I’m already way over that. 241 is not the final number either – sometimes I add more or use less when I write the scenes out. Either way, I’m moving through this as fast as my computer allows me to. Once I start making a little more money doing this, a new rendering computer is the first thing I’m investing in.
• Render Animations – 4/9 (44%) – Same situation here. Just rendering as quick as I’m able. Almost halfway done already though!
• New Functions – 2/6 (33%) – I’ve implemented the option to watch Brandi’s livestream and I’ve added Kendra to the phone. Still have to add Izzy and Brandi to the phone and update all the help menus. I’m also going to add videochat to the phone, so you’ll be able to see the person your talking to when you’re having conversations with them. This is where a lot of the new images are coming from.

Total Completion: 57%

Release Date

We’re still on track for a release date of November 13th. It’s possible that I could even finish earlier than anticipated. 57% done at one week in is pretty nuts.

Final Thoughts

I’m a little shocked at how fast I’ve been moving through this chapter. I’ve gotten better at a lot of it, from the programming, to posing scenes, to managing my renders. That is definitely speeding things up, since I kind of know what I’m doing now, compared to the first couple of chapters where I was having to learn something new nearly every day.

I did learn one new thing this chapter though – I learned how to interpolate keywords in images. This means that I can write a conversation that is able to take place in a variety of locations, which is what I’ve been working on with this chapter. Since you can have the same conversation on a date at the park, the bar, Jackson Burger, or just have the conversation on the phone, I needed a way for different images to show up depending on where you are and what clothes you’re wearing. Interpolating keywords does exactly that and is making writing so much easier and quicker.

Overall, I’m super happy with how smooth this chapter is going so far. I’ve really been enjoying creating it and I can’t wait to share more with all of you.

Love you and thank you all for the support.