v0.06.0 Progress Update (June)

Okay, this progress report needs some context. You might rightly notice that the percentage has dropped since the last progress report. In last month's summary, I stated that the final render count would be 550-600 images. Well, I'm at 619 images currently, and my actual fairly-accurate estimate now is that I'll need ~790 images for this chapter. By that previous summary I would have been past 100%. But right now it's safe to say Chapter 2 is a good bit longer than Chapter 1.

To explain the discrepancy between these estimates, I have to describe my writing process:

- Everything starts with the master outline. Each chapter has approximately ten  major bullet-points which depict the major plot-points of the chapter. So for Chapter 1, for example, those plot-points were: (1) Heart to heart conversation with Alexis, (2) Classroom, quiz, introduce Dr. Vale and Ashley, (3) Go shopping, (4) Paige finds out about Jenny in the dressing rooms, sex scene, (5) Go to beach, (6) Claire arrives, (7) Hot tub conversation with Claire, (8) Jet ski scene with Paige, (9) Ashley rides out to them, accident occurs, (10) Cut to white-haired women who feel the effect of the previous scene, (11) Cut to Trina introduction.

- Besides those bullet-points, I also have notes about additional details to include in the chapter, themes that I want the chapter to convey, etc.

- At the start of each chapter, I storyboard the scenes. I write out a few hundred bullet-points which actually flesh out the content and beats of each scene. With each of these I estimate the number of renders needed to finish each bullet-point. That's where the initial estimate of 500 renders came from.

- Then I write the dialogue and exact descriptions of every single render that accompanies the dialogue. Rendering and dialogue-writing occur in parallel; I'll write 20-30 renders worth of dialogue, and then pose and render those images. This allows me to have good synchrony between the writing and visuals and to adjust based on how the scene is progressing.

- I'm currently working on the last sequence, and as I've written the dialogue, I've realized that the initial storyboard was too rushed. I needed to expand what happens in order to actually sell the theme of the chapter. So I took the time to write detailed render descriptions for the rest of the chapter and this puts me at about 790 images.

- Now, there's good news too! The actual hard parts of the chapter are basically done. The most time-intensive part of development is environment/prop creation and arrangement. A lot of detail goes into the settings and scenarios, and I often hit road-blocks in rendering when I get to a sequence that needs 40+ hours of environment creation. All of that is nearly done. I have one last environment I need to finish (which I'm going to try to complete by Sunday), and all the weird custom props and simulated items are already done. Quite a lot of those in this chapter. With the last environment done, it's generally smooth sailing to the finish line.

So what's left?

1. Approximately 175 renders (out of ~790), about 10-15 renders per day, and one day to post-process
2. 3 animations (about 4 or 5 days of work)
3. 2X 3D images (an hour)
4. About 100 renders-worth of dialogue (a few days of writing)
5. Audio and music (most of the music is selected, will need 2 or 3 days to pick and implement some soundscapes and sound effects)
6. Journal entries (1 or 2 days)
7. UI completion, updating patch notes and patron list, final adjustments to puzzle backgrounds (2 days or so)
8. Final polish

I'm in full crunch mode at this point and hope to be able to share a concrete release window soon. I really want it to be by the end of July, and that's what I'm aiming for. But I won't know for sure until rendering is finished.

As always, thank you for your support! It's what makes this VN possible! :)

<3

TessaXYZ