Mid-February Update
Graphics Maintenance
For those who haven’t been following along on Discord, I took a little time to do some “graphics maintenance.” Essentially, I wanted to take a little time to make sure my tools were in good order and my files were organized.
In more detail, this included…
Software updates – With some help from people on the related Discord, I made sure my studio plug-ins and other tools were up-to-date (hopefully solving some of the issues I was encountering). I’ve added a few new plug-ins as well, which look like they’ll be helpful.
Organizing character files – This one was long overdue. Even though I’d made a directory of the models for the 40+ characters I’ve used in the game, they get regular tweaks and costume changes, and before long, I end up with folders filled with files that just have random number/character strings for names.
I worked backward through everything chronologically and named and organized the files so that I knew which files were the most recent ones for each of the characters.
Organizing maps and props – In my attempt to get better educated on my tools, I found some functionality that I’d previously overlooked; namely that I can organize studio items into folders.
Whenever I’d download new props or locations, I’d been at the mercy of wherever the creators categorized the items, meaning I’d often have a hard time tracking things down, or might’ve completely forgotten about things I hadn’t come across since installing.
I’ve been able to clean that up a bit, making folders for things like rooms, beach props, drink models, etc. This will make me much more likely to use these things in renders, since trying to track down an item won’t break my workflow and take large amounts of time.
Character update prep – Thanks to an assortment of new tools, I now have the ability to make real-time adjustments to characters under studio lighting conditions, rather than having to port back and forth between the studio and character maker. This presents a good opportunity to not only fine-tune how characters look in renders, but I can actually work on them while they’re positioned next to other cast members to see how they all fit together.
This is something that I’ll likely work on a little bit at a time, but I wanted to do some of the basic setup work. Part of this included building a studio file with a height guide so that I can see how tall everyone is. The results were…different than I expected.
I figured that while I was doing that, I could reevaluate the lighting setup I’ve been using for the sprites as well.
I’ve already shared some samples on Discord, but for backers, I’ve got more of what I’ve been playing around with in my latest behind-the-scenes post.
Up Next
Previously, I had to put my work on the willpower check system on hold so that I could focus on working stuff that would actually make it into the game in time for an update. My plan now is to go back to that, with the hopes that I can have it working in time for the next big release.
Things were looking pretty promising and I got some great code suggestions that I’m interested in implementing, so fingers crossed that v0.330 will -finally- have this long-overdue gameplay
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