Update #57 Big chillin'

Hallowed hellos, me hearties!

Episode 5 was released this week, in case you missed it. I pinned it right now, so it should be easy to find if you did. I assume there are some among you that haven't had the time to play it quite yet, so I'll keep this update spoiler free. Next update, however, I'll want to talk a little bit about the update.

As per usual there aren't any new fancy renders for a bit while I'm working on the script, so in the interest of having something to look at, I'm thinking of just posting some renders from earlier episodes and talk a little about them.

Since dropping the release I've been having a few slow days, I did some long hours in the week leading up to Wednesday, so I need to rest the old noggin'. That said, I don't really take full breaks, because once I drop a routine it's hell to bring it back, so I've been working a little bit everyday still.

For now, it's mostly brainstorming ideas for the new episode. Someone suggested an arena arc, which is an idea I quite like. There was a period of time where I read a lot of Xianxia/Wuxia novels, and let me tell you, the only ones that don't have a tournament arc are the ones that have several. So that might be fun to parody, maybe have some Young Master chasing after Jade-skinned Beauties.

Let me talk a little about the render up top. So this is all the way back from episode 2, this scene in particular I wanted to work on my ability to write subtext. This is not something that comes easy to me, but I really liked what I came up with in this scene. The Empress is kind of my vessel for this, sometimes it works, sometimes it's not as great.

This one's from episode 3:

I remember making this scene and thinking 'Hey, I should get a render from Tanathil's POV'. So I tilt my camera up and see Ruru's face like this. It was terrifying, quickly followed by me getting excited. I knew I had to make this part of the scene. I think that's the main reason this scene became even better than it was in my head, I had just accidentally found the perfect lighting. Or lack of lighting, I suppose. I will pat myself on the back for my ability to recognize that it was fantastic instead of going 'Hm, that's not what I had in mind.'

And finally one from episode 4:

Some scenes are just a delight to make. This is obviously a parody of the bridge scene in Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Is it a parody if the original is already comedy? Let's call it an homage instead. The idea of adding a screeching tires sound effect here had me giggling hard while making this. It wasn't part of the script, but once an idea makes me laugh it's probably getting added in.

This entire scene popped into my head while I was trying to sleep, and I immediately had to get out of bed to write it down. There was probably a cleverer joke instead of a minotaur's cumshot velocity, but I'm a firm believer in not overthinking things, so once that made me laugh I just rolled with it.

Come to think of it, I feel like I've mentioned minotaurs quite a few times in the game. I should probably have one show up at some point. Maybe one that competes in the tournament, assuming that's what I go for next episode? Yeah.

Most of my brainstorming so far has been to figure out where the characters are going and their arcs and such. I've been kind of winging it so far, but I feel like I have a much stronger understanding of the characters now, so really figuring out where their arcs are going is my main goal right now. I guess I'm more of what GRRM would call a 'Gardener'. I need to write things out rather than plan. My brain does thrive in chaos, so it makes sense.

Well, this turned into quite a few paragraphs, huh? I think that's enough for today, next week I think I'll talk a little about my favorite renders from last episode, and the making of them.

Thank you so much for your support, it really means a lot to me. I hope you have a great week! A week bereft of any minotaur cumshots! Unless you're into that.

PS. I'm seeing a notice about this post maybe being outside of community guidelines, which I assume has to do with the minotaur cumshots. To clarify to any member of the Trust & Safety team that is unfortunate enough to have to read this, there are no minotaur cumshots in the game. It's just a joke where I substituted 'A swallow's airspeed velocity' for 'A minotaur's cumshot velocity'. I repeat, there are no actual minotaur cumshots. Minotaur cumshot. Okay, okay, I'm going to stop saying minotaur cumshot now.