Chapter 5 weekly dev log

Hey guys, time for another dev log. I've been quite spotty with these in the past, but I'm going to start doing them every week from now on.

So the chapter four release was really successful and most people really enjoyed it based on the messages I have received. I had a lot of fun making that chapter as it let me delve a bit into the darker side of story telling and I really enjoyed that. That aspect of the game was never really meant to be explored too much, and it just sort of organically veered in that direction. There will be other scenes similar to what we saw in chapter four, but the lighter side of Luke and Kathryn's story will take center stage for the majority of the scenes going forward.

And speaking of going forward, I am working hard on chapter five and really excited about the scenes you guys will see next. One of the feature scenes will be a flashback to four years earlier where Luke and Kathryn have their first date. You get to choose how the date goes as they reminisce about it while entertaining a family member who will be making their first appearance. Three other major scenes and two smaller ones will round out this chapter which should be a bit longer than chapter four.

As far as progress goes, things are progressing nicely and I got close to 100 renders done in the past week and completed the coding for one scene so far. Later this week I'll be doing a few polls for the paid members where you'll get to provide some input and help me make the game better. I'll also be steadily giving teasers to the scenes as I complete them to give you guys a glimpse into what lies ahead. I have also been working on animations, but I'm still struggling with optimizations with regards to file size. Currently, if I replaced all the transition animations with full motion video, the game would be more than double the size. I need to find a way to make better compressed videos that are still compatible with Renpy and of course look good as well. I'll continue working on this and eventually the animations will be properly implemented. I'm also going to be adding short, mini visual novels that will be available to the higher tiers starting next month. The first one will feature Kathryn and will be released shortly after chapter five. I'm going to let you guys vote on the star of future shorts after that.

Anyway, I want to once again thank everyone who supports me on Patreon. It really keeps me motivated to know that people care and are as excited about this project as I am. And I want to give an extra special thanks to the members that reach out, offer advice, encouragement and their time and services to help me make the game better. I appreciate all of you very much.

I have attached another teaser image from chapter five. This one features a new character. What do you think? Is he a good guy or bad guy? Hehe.

Bobbyboy