Ezy

Episode 4, Update #33 - Final

Heya,

Well, I guess that's it... the final devlog. I was hoping to have all the scenes finished by now, but I have two "intimate" ones left to do. Good news is, I've started my christmas holiday, so I don't have to worry about my job for the next couple of weeks and can use my machine freely. I'll need this week at least to finish, and tie it all together. It's cutting it close to christmas😨. Render queue is still backed up. I ended up halving the iteration amount, so they don't tak...

Episode 4, Update #32

Hey all,

Short and concise this time, as I'm racing to the finish line! 🥳

Second sparring match: Complete!
Last big scene: Complete!

I'm guesstimating the work to be done by the next devlog (+- two weeks), give or take a couple of days. The only concern I have is being able to finish rendering in time, as I can only complete a handful overnight each day. The final big scene landed at 350+ renders, and I'm about halfway through rendering the final version. They take a b...

Episode 4, Update #31

Heya,

I'm making good progress through the last story scenes, but as mentioned before, it's big. There's a lot of different things that happen/can happen, depending on your relationship status and how you handled certain things throughout the episode with all the characters which makes them respond differently to you. The start of the scene is about 80 renders, and that's just saying hello to people. Making that, felt like that scene from the Lord of the Rings where the Ents spend an en...

Episode 4, Update #30

Hail!

I was out abroad for work for a week, but I managed to get quite a bit done when I returned. I've build up a hefty qeue to render, so that's the bottleneck as per usual. I shouldn't have called out a potential finish date by the end of October, it was a dumb call-out considering everything that's left to do. I'm making good process through the last few scenes and I'm not compromising. I have been thinking about shortening, cutting down on things, but for the wrong reasons. Before,...

Episode 4, Update #29

Hey all,

I decided to make a small change to submissions. Previously, there were only 2 renders depicting the submissions, but since there are 3 stages, it only made sense to actually have 3 depicting them. On top of that, I also wanted to show tapping out when succesful. So, instead of previously always being just 2 renders, each submission now needs 4 renders. It's not a great deal more, but it looks so much better. I also added some sound effects for failing and succeeding. Some stan...

Special render winner - October

'The battle of two goddesses'

An interesting result on the losers poll! I wasn't expecting for both Alexa and Tamica to come out on top equally! That concludes the special renders for a while, as I put my head down and focus on finishing this episode.

Enjoy,

Ezy

Episode 4, Update #28

Ahoy there,

Last week I made the decision to cut out some (what I believed) useless fight moves. I was looking to lighten the load on the creation of them. The ground game by far has the most renders, so I was evaluating what I could remove from there. I decided to cut the defensive abilities of closing the guard. I couldn't imagine anyone ever using that, and they basically doubled my workload for each ground position. Removing something sounds like an easy thing to do, but in cases li...

Losers render poll - October

 Heya,

As this will be likely the last one before release, I've decided to make a "losers poll". You can only choose out of the ones that never won.

Ezy

Episode 4, Update #27

Heya,

Instead of a preview render, I've set up something different for you for a change... something to hopefully get you in the mood. It's one of the songs I procured for this release, enjoy!

The visual sets the base for the scene I'm about tackle. I looked outside my window the other day, and it looked like that. I knew immediately what the scene was going to be. And that's how some scenes are created, by simply looking outside sometimes...

2024-09-22 16:28:04 +0000 UTC View Post

Special render winner - September

Go on Rosie, show those guns...

Episode 4, Update #26

Salutations,

I know how many of you feel about Alexa, but personally, those lips drive me crazy! 😅

It was nice having had a few days to work in a full time capacity, and I pretty much got done exactly what I thought I 'd get done! Apart from the sparring match and a few bits and bobs to tidy up, the red branch is completed!

The diagram is not an exact...

Episode 4, Update #25

Heya,

This weekend was my wife and I's 5th anniversary, so we spent it with the family. As mentioned in a previous devlog, I've now got some time off work which I intend to use to push this project along. I do have a wedding to attend abroad (coming Friday to Monday), but I should have quite a few days to crack on. Not really what I want to use my limited holidays for, but I really want this episode to finish a.s.a.p.

2024-08-25 18:53:26 +0000 UTC View Post

Special render poll - September

Who's going to be Miss September?

Episode 4, Update #24

Heya,

Preview is random again, because I simply can't show much more or it will ruin your surprises.

A lot has progressed these last two weeks. I finished the previously mentioned environment and character work much sooner than I expected, and the scenes on Ivan's branch are coming together very nicely. I'm using a lot of volumetric lighting for these particular scenes, so the bottleneck currently is rendering them. Having only one machine means I can render no more than 8-10 a n...

Special render winner - August

Who else could've been the winner for August... I'm a little tight on time, as I want to get on with the work for the game, so I cheaped out on a portrait shot without any additional special outfits this time. Incidentally, I'll use it to update some stuff for the UI. 😁

Episode 4, Update #23

Tally ho,

As per the last dev-log, I mentioned I was going to expand some of the earlier scenes. This work is now completed and puts them to a 100% (Green circled area). What I thought was going to be maybe about 25 additional renders, turned into 50, and then 75, finally ending on a 115... 🙄They're currently being rendered out overnight and I feel like my machine is doing overtime. I haven't shut it down at all for well over a month, and I'm not sure how healthy it is to keep it run...

Special render poll - August

It's about time for a reset, so I'm throwing everyone into the mix again. Who's going to be miss August?  

Episode 4, Update #22

Salutations,

I'm about a week late with this dev-log, but that's because I spent the last week and a half abroad for work visiting my office. I thought I'd be able to send it at the usual time, but I didn't. Having to go away from my workstation for longer periods of time, always annoys me, as I it feels like it could do something while I'm away. I wasn't able to work on scenes during that time, but I did get my machine rendering all day every day for 10 straight days. I dialed in remot...

Special render winner - July

Diana was voted the winner for July. Oi, oi, saveloy!

Episode 4, Update #21

Hi everybody!

This devlog, I thought it would be interesting to talk about the band song sequences. If you don't care about the technical aspect of that or don't want to be spoiled, I suggest you skip this and don't watch the video!

As mentioned in the previous devlog, I'm having to slowly start getting rid of unlicensed material. That includes a handful of songs I'm using. I've received the song uniquely composed for the EP04 sequence last week, made by a wonderful chap that offe...

Special render poll - July

The list is growing thin, who's next for July? 

Episode 4, Update #20

Hello everyone,

These last weeks were interesting. I'm currently trying my best to get to the end of the episode, so that at least I can do a full playthrough of one side. I still need to go back and complete the other side. The two band sequences I'm currently working on aren't small... but then again, everything I've done for this episode so far isn't small. It always sounds so easy on paper, and definitely doesnt seem like a massive amount of work initially. On top of that, I care ab...

Special render winner - June

June's winner, Sakura the Judo teacher, gracing you with her presence.

I've taking a slightly different approach with this one, and started using a poster format.

Episode 4, Update #19

Hello people!

I've returned from my birthday shenanigans week and I'm starting to get back into development. Unfortunately I cought a cold on Wednesday, which I'm fighting off at the minute. 😒

I've started preparations for one of the band sequences, it's going to be spicy with these two troublemakers! I also made the decision to delay the stand-alone fighting game, as it would take too long to get re-render the previous fights and add the newly unlocked moves. I'll prob...

Special render poll - June

 There can be only one for the month of June, really! The hint is in the name... but the choice is yours, of course.

Episode 4, Update #18

Greetings,

I only managed to get about halfway through the training sessions, as these last few weeks at work left me exhausted. Now that that period is over, I hope to get on with this project again.
Hopefully, I can finish the grappling sessions this week and get on with the sparring match.

I'll be going on a holiday the week after, since it's that time of the year again where my wife and I celebrate our birthdays. I'll send out another vote for the next girl to be fe...

Special render winner - May

Surprisingly, Evelyn took the lead this time... she's the one character with the least screen time, and hasn't been seen since she got kicked out of the gym in episode 2, until now...😯

I little early as its not May yet, but work has been hectic and I haven't had a lot of time. This'll be the final week of that, so I can soon take a breather again!

Ezy

Episode 4, Update #17

Hey all,

I'm close to finishing the main story beat on Alexa's side. Had to do a little custom environment work, which you can catch a glimpse of in the preview. I'll be working on the training sessions next, followed by a new sparring match to practice the newly unlocked moves on.

Not much else interesting to report on this devlog!

Take care,

Ezy

Special render poll - May

Rosie was the previous winner, so she's been removed from the selection for the next render. Who's next?

Episode 4, Update #16

'ello 'ello!

I'm still carrying on with work on the branch where you decide to stay and its coming together. There's a small hint in the preview of what's going to happen this episode. It took me some time to design a new standardized outfit, and I'm pretty happy with the result. Each side will have their own custom set to make them very distinct.

I've still got about a month left before the busy period and deadlines end at my daytime job, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up the...