Development Update #19

Hello there guys, I'm here to talk more about the development of Just Friends.

A lot of bug fixes were made the past week, and if you're thinking where are these fixes, check the Alpha Release 0.11A(0.11.1A). Up until now, I was updating the Alphas on the same post as the original release, replacing the files and sending you guys an e-mail about the change.

For now on, however, after the 0.12A release, I'll be creating new posts about the PATCH versions of the game. I think this way it'll be easier to find the latest alpha since you won't need to scroll through a huge list to go back to the last post.

Now, about the PATCH thing, I'm here today to explain how this works. Software Versioning (Numberone.Numbertwo.Numberthree) is one of the best ways for us developers to give a software just like the name says: A version. Each number represent a specific thing, and using it we can easily organize older and newer versions with Git for example. It's extremely technical so I won't try to explain it to you guys.

But what I will do now, is to try to explain what these numbers mean to software, not only a game but any software.

The first number represents a MAJOR update.

Major updates happen when software comes to a place so advanced in the project, it becomes incompatible with older versions. The core code and API changes are so big, that if you even try to run a save file from an early stage of the software it would never work. This kind of number only is added when software reaches a new full version with way too many features added. You know, when you get Camtasia Studio, a pretty good and expensive video editing software, and you see that Version 7 is on 7.1.85 and then Version 8 is on 8.5.12? If you note, the differences between version 7 and 8 are so big, it would make a project created on the 8 incompatible with 7 for example. That's a major update, it's not backward compatible and it's one of the reasons why your OLD Save File won't ever work on Final Fantasy XV on the last version of the game.

The second number represents a MINOR change to the software. 

Usually, a Minor Change is backward compatible, but sometimes it's not. For example, Just Friends 0.11 Save File is compatible with version 0.9  and 0.8. But it's not with 0.7 or 0.6. A minor change usually contains some small addition to the game, like a new menu, new dialogs, new content in general. But the contents aren't as big to create a major version yet.

Think about it this way: A Major version is the culmination of all of the minor versions released to that point, where all of these updates become one together to create the final picture to the game itself. When a game comes to this point, it stops being Alpha or Beta and just becomes a full release. It's this type of goal that the Factorio (an amazing game you guys should try anytime) team are trying to accomplish on the last four years. The game is on version 0.17 right now and they thin it'll become 1.0 soon enough. But a Major version is just like that: Major. It's not only a lot of updates cramped together, no. It's the final image we as developers think a full game or the full game should look and feel.

So, while a Major Version is the culmination of all of the Minor versions into something bigger and as perfect as it can be, and stable of course, Minor versions are what contains some small modifications here and there, not bugfixes (sometimes they come with bug fixes though), but things that are adding to the core of the game. They aren't as big to make the game backward-incompatible, but more than two versions can make an older version completely incompatible and obsolete, however.

The last number represents a Patch the game is receiving.

A PATCH version of the game contains essentially Bug-Fixes and Revisions to the text and code alike. So every time a Patch version is released, you guys can expect bug fixes AND corrections on the story text of the game.

These three numbers represent the versioning of the software, Major.Minor.Patch. And if you're more interested you can always come here on this link and read a more in-depth explanation with some differences but the essence of the text are the same: https://semver.org/

Now that you guys can understand why recently I've been speaking about Patch or Minor updates, we can continue with the news about the game.

The Bad news:

First of all: Wagner's route for the third day was completely discarded. The reason was simple: I tried to work real fast to give you guys constant updates but that made the third day to have a drop in quality so big, I had to discard the entire day. The third day is bigger than the second, and it'll be harder to keep up with the quality of the second day. That being said I will work on the third day slowly to make sure I won't make anything hideous but something enjoyable. I want the player to love the characters and to want to know them better. Since Just Friends isn't a game intended for the characters to meet between their routes and I'm not sure if this will happen in the future, I want to each story as an individual thing to be amazing and interesting. Like reading a small book about those characters. That's what Just Friends is to me: A book with three different outcomes, writing from start to end with each character and when you finish one character's storyline you can go back and restart on the next storyline. In the end, you can even mix the days but the result won't be as perfect as it would if you can keep the entire timeline with only one character as the game was intended. 

That being said, since the game has this "flaw" that is the story isn't interconnected, as usual, none of the characters on the game know each other, and I'm almost sure for now at least, none of them will actually start a friendship with each other because they're always in different places, I want to make every route unique and good to read. I want the player to finish the story and gain his sex scene, and only then discover that there's an extra scene to the ending he could not see because he didn't make all the right choices, and when he starts making the right decisions, he will discover he's not only reading different dialogue, he's accessing a deeper part of the character he's playing and the other character he's getting to know.

The original story of Just Friends is like this: Each storyline on its perfect route will tell you more about You as Aiden and as the character you've chosen to pursuit its story. And when you finish and go to the next one, you'll discover that Aiden has more than one side inside him and more than one problem and fears too. Because each "husband" in this game have a distinct personality and different problems. And that will conflict directly with the player's story. All of them make the player a full character when you start crossing the points, and I want to make it in a way you'll guys would enjoy more than reading a book and watch porn at the same time.

That's hard.

So I'm sorry for that but I won't have the third day for a time. I hope you guys can understand.

There's also the problem with the Gallery: Simply put it's way too complicated. I need to spend a lot of time editing the JSON editor to add some new variables and I have to spend a good amount of time thinking about how the system will integrate with the game and the story. 

Just the fact I need to mess with the JSON editor means I will be working on something aside from the game for a while and this means not so many updates for you guys here. Since my time is limited for now, and I need to give you guys updates here, I'll be delaying the gallery even more.  I'll be working on it and updating it here on the Development Update, but the first step I need is to decide what's the variable for the gallery will be on the JSON, where it'll be added and when on the code I will grab the information and save it so you can always access the unlocked images. Not only that, I need to make a system inside the game to always check if an Image was already added to the gallery or the game would crash, and oh god, it's an entire system to add and this usually means instability to the game. So since it's so difficult and depends on so many different aspects of the game outside and inside the system, I need to work on it very carefully.

So yeah I worked for fifteen days (every single free time I had), just to discover the entire day for Wagner should be discarded. Then I just noticed the gallery will be way too much pain to even try to make it as fast as it could and it can break the game so I will have to work on it very carefully.

The Good News:

So what I did that was a success? Well, the alpha 0.11.1A had a lot of fixes, and these took a lot of time to fix, so at least my time wasn't a total loss. I'm also working on the Configurations Menu!

So what's the deal? It's simple really: The Configurations Menu for now have the following features: Volume up and down with a slider, two display features: Full Screen and Windowed and a Text Speed Slide Bar with a preview box. For now, it's just that, but the implications are huge:

First, even if I already have the design done, I need to make it work, and it's done into three parts:

First I need to make sure the options works, so when I set a volume up or down I need to convert a percentage into DB and then apply to the sound of the game. However, the main menu uses a different player than the in-game music so I need to figure out how to apply the changes to any music players on the game it doesn't matter where it is. With the display, it would be just a case to check if there's a way to force in-game a full-screen mode or not. And the text speed it's just to apply the current numbers on the configuration to the dialog box.

After that I need to make the persistence of the information, saving it on a file. This isn't the thing I like most, but I can grab some pieces here and there to save into a simple file this information. I just need to follow the patterns other games use and it's done.

And the third part is to make the game to Load this information every time it starts. So - Edition in Real Time, then Persistency and then Load that data when you restart a game. 

And this is kinda complicated to do, and it'll take some time to work properly. But the next alpha 0.12A will come with more bug-fixes, names on credits, and this new shiny configuration menu for you guys to turn off that annoying music or fasten the text speed of the game! 

It does look like a small addition, but guys these kind of things are incredibly hard to do on your own, sometimes it breaks the game SO HARD that we just want to cry, haha. But for now, I hope you guys can wait for that.

And on an end note: As soon as we have more of Wagner's artwork for the game they will be updated here as always! 

Please have a nice week guys! See you later!

Oh, and before I take my leave, down bellow you can check the current screen-shot of the finalized design for the Configuration Menu:

A little can change here and there like the Title, but for now it's what I can put on the game to give you guys more customization. As soon as it's completelly working, I'll update the next alpha with it inside. It's a big thing to add this on the game and it's a good practice for the Gallery since the creation design will come for the same principle. 

Anyway, see you guys!