Sylvia’s development - January 2024 “Bug smashing report”

Dear Patronettes and Patrons,

As this month comes to an end, we want to share some good news with you. We have identified most of the causes of the issues we have been experiencing recently.

However, it will take some weeks to correct all the sequences and assets that have been impacted.

To give you some insight, we want to share some of the significant problems we have encountered along with their fixes.

Automation scripts propagating glitches

We might have many of the same operations for images, like cropping, merging, and resizing. To speed up the process, we are using automation scripts.

While time-saving, those scripts can quickly propagate issues.

In this case, transparent images carried graphic glitches at the edge of transparent areas.

Python 3 and Ren’Py 8 are too good :)

Both have improved a lot; unfortunately, the improvements came with new syntax or paradigms, making a straight “Copy-Paste” of the old code a risky gamble.

The best example of a lost gamble is the boat run sequence running so fast that the graphics are all over the place.

BoatRun_Glitches.mp4

Thankfully, we decided to rework the boat run entirely!

However, we wanted to keep the “old” pseudo-3D engine for the nightmare sequence. The pseudo 3D brings an “abstract and psychedelic” mood that fits a nightmare.

And it’s no surprise our retro gaming aficionado, Sylvia, dreams in 16 bits :)

Here is the fixed nightmare sequence (featuring Pixie Willow’s awesome performance)

Nightmare.mp4

Animations ignoring speed-up/slow-down commands.

It took us a good week to figure out what was happening here. And there is no Python 3 or Ren’Py 8 to blame. We found that a confusing combination of overlapping variables was the main culprit of the issues.

As mentioned in a recent post, “fixing one issue unearths several new ones or grants us the opportunity to add new, unplanned content.”

Here's a video comparing an example of the issue before and after it was fixed.

Comparing_Animation_Glitches.mp4
Please keep a close eye on our protagonists’ movements; you will notice that he is always thrusting at the same speed, which causes Sylvia's legs to be out of sync in the bad version.

We are incredibly grateful for your continued support, and we are working tirelessly to deliver the promised update. Stay tuned for further updates!

With love,

- Manor