Progress Report - 04/18/2022

Hey Supporters, 

I have a lot to say so I'm going to try to condense some of this down as best I can. Let's start with the progress report. 

I've put together what I want for this next release which is only half the Chapter coming in around 7 scenes if you don't include the new intro. I'll go over why I'm redoing the into in a bit. Most of these scenes are going to be especially meaty so this isn't going to be a small update. I'm going to try my absolute best to get it out by June, but the scenes in my head are so large that I might have to push it back. 

Xianne looks much different now that I've fixed my models. I might have to redo her entirely to get her to look the way I want her to look. I'm going to switch the intro over to Myrabelle because I've already got an intro setup for her that is much more lively. I'm going to pull what I made from Penny's game and put it into AMoB because I worked super hard on that intro and it got applied to a game that never quite took off.

As you can see, Xianne's face shape and eyes are significantly different. Myrabelle is similarly different. I know it's not as noticeable to most people, but I work intimately with these characters for hours a day. Every little change is ten times more dramatic to me. 

Suzi looks so different, and so much better. I'm excited to bring the updated version of her to you guys. She definitely stole the show in Chapter One. She's had some negative responses, but almost entirely from those not playing the game for the story. Most of her dialogue is skippable, so if you don't like her then just ignore her. You're robbing yourself of a magical experience if you do though. She's a gem.

Rose had the most significant change. She looks so much better, it's unbelievable. We won't be seeing much of her until Chapter 3. Certainly something to look forward to.

The changes to the face also threw off the expressions. I can't just load up these old scenes, apply the changes, and re-render. I need to go back and essentially redo the scenes. It's kind of a nightmare. We're going to get through this though, I promise!

Bliss and Petal don't look much different. You won't notice any change with them. 

I have decided that I'm going to redo the entire Chapter 1 with the new models. GPU prices finally came down to MSRP, so I purchased two additional 3090's. This means that I'll be able to work much faster, and I'll use my second computer to load up scenes, fix them, and render them. My time to pose and make scenes should be cut in half, and I shouldn't lose much time to redoing Chapter 1.

I wanted to say that if there's anything that didn't make sense in Chapter 1, or that you found a slight bit confusing, please tell me. I can't know what needs improvement if nobody tells me. Some people apparently had trouble understanding how Petal was able to see Suzi after she put on the ARGs after Suzi specifically said that nobody else could know about her. Of course, she's talking about the sentient version of herself, not the common day-to-day Suzi that everyone else knows. If that scene, or any others, threw anybody off, let me know so I can go back and clarify things.

All of you that are supporting me, it means so much that out of all the developers out there, you've chosen to back me. I'm always going to do my absolute best to bring you quality content at a reasonable update speed. I'm finally making enough that I can start spending on outside help and additional hardware. The issue with the models is a setback, but it's such a wonderful step forward. The future of Keys to My Lockheart is bright. I'm excited for the future. 

Thank you for your support. Sincerely.