Proof of Life #134: Back on the story + small setback

Ahoy, guys and gals, capt'n N_Taii's here to share recent news on HC3, as well as to give a small update on the current development progress.

First of all, I have received the first illustration that will be one out of four to be added to HC3's opening text. 

I have told you guys in another PoL that, during the past few months, I'd been watching videos on YT on how to properly tell a story to help me with HC3. One of the things I learned was that it isn't easy for people to retain informations about the world told in long info dumps, like I have done in HC3's opening text. So, in order to better anchor said info in the players' mind, I went with a few sketch-like drawings to illustrate the text, and I plan to add voice acting for that part as well. It will also give a better impression to first-time players. For the illustrations, I wanted to have them look a bit like the ones in Age of Empire II's campaign, ink sketches on yellow parchment background, to give a more "old book" feeling to it. What do you think?

About the game now: I've progressed the story a bit, and I have also added a few features requested by players. In the next version, you will be able to hide the text window by pressing the right mouse button, dash speed has been sped up a bit, and 2 new freeroam events have been added during the childhood part of the game. I have also made the new map to reward those that have been/are/will possibly be subscribed to the General Tier on my Patreon (screenshot above). I gave it an "eastern zen temple" vibe, and Patrons will be honored inside as "great warriors of old". I have also commissioned a Japanese miko outfit for the NPCs. I have a few other new things I want to add, but I'll probably prioritize the story for now.

I've been in a predicament yesterday, one that had me like "I'm glad I haven't given any proper release date for the next Update". I realized that every single walking NPCs on the main city map would suddenly disappear after completing their route once or twice. Unfortunately, I realized that only after I'd added new walking NPCs on every single timeframe, night and day. I have found where this bug stemmed from, but devising a way around it proved very nerve-wracking. I was so frustrated I spent the whole night looking for a solution. I finally found one earlier today, one that was simpler and better than the one I'd been using so far. It'll probably take me a few more hours to fix everything though. All in all, it's just a 1.5 days delay, so it isn't that bad, albeit frustrating.

Last but not least, HC3's 1st version will be released to 1$ tier around Thursday. Just letting you know : )

That's it for this PoL!

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful week!

N_Taii