Progress Report

Got a few nice things done tonight, most notably, I've implemented support for Ren'Py 8.1's "Ren'Py Sync" feature which allows you to upload your recent manual save files to the cloud and receive a Sync ID which can then be used to download those saves to Sileo on another platform! For example, you could upload on your computer and then download to Sileo on your phone!

You access the feature with the new Upload/Download buttons on the Save/Load screens.

Nifty, eh? Combined with the chapter select screen and the ability to bypass the unlock requirements, it's never been easier to keep your progress, especially across different devices!

Aside from that, there's a few new pieces of artwork that I've implemented tonight. 

The above background replaces the stock photo used in Summervale. This means Day 15 of Tai's Route no longer has a single stock photo! Yay!

We've also done an updated version of Logan's fight illustration for Day 15 of Diego's Route that reflects his updated design, as well as how much CurryCatz' artwork has improved in the time since the original! 

Anyway, that's where I'm calling it for the night. I was intending to begin writing tonight, but I decided to warm up by implementing Ren'Py Sync... it wasn't supposed to take as long as it did, and for a change, it's not my fault this time! For some ungodly reason, Ren'Py Sync has almost zero documentation whatsoever and offers no method through which a developer can adjust the interface or redesign it to their liking. It even crashes out of the box due to requiring a stock asset many projects outright won't use... and worse yet, it's literally just a black PNG! Literally removing the line of code that calls the PNG achieves an identical result as the screen defaults to black anyway! 

I haven't found a way to make it transition from the save screen smoothly just yet, the way it's built it may not be possible, but in extracting the code for this system from the engine and overriding it within Sileo, I was able to at least get it all looking nice and sileo-like. It would have been much faster if they'd just provided simple functions I could have built my own interface around, but hey, what can you do.

Either way, with that done, nothing stands in the way of writing. Time to get a chapter done so we can release this flashy new build once and for all!