Update 42

tl;dr - The new computer is working and I've been doing a bunch of image rendering with it; also I'm planning on doing a demo version of the game, although I'm not sure when. Tell me if you object.

Today's image:

I hope you're looking forward to the Rio sex scene! This is obviously a shot from that scene, which will be in the next alpha along with the Ai sex scene. Actually the Rio scene is mostly done now, but I would like to finish a couple more images and also finish up the 'bonus sex' puzzle for the scene.

Has anyone out there actually completed any of the bonus sex puzzles yet? If you don't know what I'm talking about, I set it up so that there's a side puzzle in every sex scene that requires you to discover some non-standard sex acts in the scene. If you find enough you get a card.

The new computer works!

So the biggest news for me this week is that I now feel confident in saying that the replacement PC that I use for rendering images for the game is fully functional and doesn't have the crashing problem that the old one did. Because of that I've been able to get a load of rendering done lately; both redoing older shots that were done in 3Delight and posing and rendering new ones.

Planning a demo version:

I've spoken previously about how I was considering releasing a demo version of PAL just to help generate a little buzz around the game. This won't slow down the game development as it shouldn't actually take me very long, and it also won't be anything like as substantial as the alpha versions that I put out for $10 patrons. Instead I'm planning to include only the first 7 days, with the night service system intact but the sex scenes only a kind of display version, without interactivity or much content. (It'll be made clear at the time that these aren't the full sex scenes.) I'm not doing this right away, but I'll do it when I think the project is ready for it. There's no rush.

If I can explain the reasoning behind this a little, it's partially motivated by the fact that the games that get the most discussion and activity are actually the semi-complete ones. I don't want to be making public releases of alphas and betas (I didn't really expect there to be so much interest in my alphas when I set up the Patreon page, actually!) because I'm very hesitant to release works in progress, and also because I feel that semi-complete games that get full releases tend not to get finished. I want the big release to be actually complete. This decision is somewhat self-defeating, however, as it means that my projects just don't get as much attention as other games that might be far more sketchy, incomplete or perhaps which are never going to be completed.

I am very conscious of the concern that I don't want to be giving out stuff that I've reserved specifically for the $10 patron tier, however, so the demo will be treated only as a teaser, with enough fun to entertain people and hopefully generate some interest. Thankfully Kimochi (the distribution platform) allows demos to be released as well.

If you object to this idea don't keep your peace - let me know and I'll listen to your objection. I am still experimenting with how best to do things so that everyone is treated fairly and well.

Image progress:

Back to the game progress! Basically, I've been rendering images this week, and putting them into the game. This takes a while because rendering in Iray tends to take 15-25 minutes per image (usually), and I can't do anything very taxing with my computer while it's doing that in the background. I tend to set an image to render and then read a news article or watch Youtube on my phone while I wait. Ultimately I don't get more than 4 or 5 images done in a day, although I generally make some other progress too. My quality standards are a lot higher than they used to be as well, so that does slow things down a bit.

Got some voice acting:

Lastly, Sacci sent me Iku's combat lines this week, and I'm hoping to have them in the game for the next alpha version!

Thoughts? Suggestions? Objections? Have you found the bonus sex puzzles? Let me know in the comments below!