Devlog (Black Rooks, FMO DEMO file has an extra scene in it, check it out, Blues, Beta too)

Britney Spears’s voice: This effing heat, is killing meeee and I– I will stop right there.

Progress:

I just finished cleaning up FMO’s GUI I had to delete the option to change the font as there was an issue with the in-game customization buttons popping out of their place. I tried to fix it for WEEKS, it almost made me genuinely cry out of frustration, so, fun times. 🥴

I changed the default to Atkinson Hyperlegible, increased the size for readability, had to go back and reset ALL the choice buttons and the passage setups everywhere. 🤮 Other than that, I changed the ‘official’ chapter 2 ending - shifted it a few scenes later, but it doesn’t change in the official demo, only in the full game (minor change really, just where the ‘chapter 3’ screen pops up. Moreover, there were some weird bugs with the locked choices (meeting Rez, I swear to fck I had it playing correctly in my WIP file, then I unziped the packed the .exe just to make sure, and the bug was still there??? Jesus take the keyboard I can’t even, I took a screen of it working so if you catch the bug again I’ll do a flip) and a few variable issues. I think I caught them all, but checking across the locked routes isn’t the easiest/fastest (I say as if I didn’t set the choices my own dumb self, aha 🤡 clown music on cue).

Other than that, Saltire’s POV is up (Fae stuff, be still my heart), another FMO BETA update is here + I have about 10 more pages already written, just in need of cleaning and rearranging. And the Early Access file has been updated with the reunion scene that was in Beta earlier. It won’t be included in the itch release because I liked the cliffie haha, but I wanted to share it. Enjoy!

Another thing, Patreon said the creators have to update the images and such on-site, I am looking into that right now, so if the page looks a bit messy for a sec don’t be alarmed.

Now, my animation ✨journey✨ update:

Pro version of PaintToolSai only allows 25 “scenes” which is about enough to make Reed blink a bunch. I tested OpenToonz, set it up and made it work, only to learn you can’t export your “scene” as .gif or .mp4 🤪 so don’t be like me and check the features before you dedicate a full day to an app ahahaha. Onwards, I did my research (this time) and downloaded Tahoma 2D. The app/interface/etc is basically the same as OpenToonz, but more user-friendly (but with all the necessary features), so as it turned out I didn’t spend the time using OpenToonz for nothing. I had a bit of an issue with the exported .gif as the clip was playing way too fast despite me changing the frames to 8. Looking for a straight tutorial on that lead me basically nowhere, but after digging it I figured out I needed to change output settings manually aha (basically ctrl+O or check render). I am so glad I figured it out, otherwise I’d be testing Krita as my last ditch effort, and it has an entire different UI to learn. Anyway, how’s that for my first attempt?

Just blinking and a head turn, it seemed fairly doable (and it was!). Next, I’ll be trying a wider range of movements, but nothing too crazy (yet). I am SUPER eager to make some fancier CGs/BGs ! 🤩

That’s all from me for now. Take care, drink water, stay safe! ❤️

📌 A repeated note for the new patrons:

- if you're looking for extra scenes and spice, and haven't checked the extended version of the Perfumare demo [VN] yet, please do so,

- some extras (interactive) are bundled up and can be accessed from the same file. Some, though, are posted separately, so please make sure to browse through all the posts,

- partial updates of routes are often replaced, so you only need to download the newest file to have all the previous updates (i.e. when route 3 of 3 is posted, all previous updates/routes are included).

📌The Guide is updated chapter-by-chapter. You only need to download the latest file.

📌I am periodically deleting old/obsolete partial builds/versions of games that have the full version out. I will leave the posts here since they have some info and comments included, but just so you know to not be surprised by a deleted file.