Jimjim3dx
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v0.08 Dev Blog #5
🕑 Added 2020-02-01 01:19:25 +0000 UTC^Cropped image to avoid spoilers.
Hello Everyone,
Time for another long awaited Development Blog for Terminal Desires v0.08: "Vaporware Edition"...
Depressing jokes aside, I once again apologize that the best I could do to end this month is one of these posts. Lots of progress was made this month, but not enough. I'll go over it all here though and try to give you a good idea of what's been done, where I'm at, and what's left before the initial release of v0.08 i.e, the "Alpha Release".
Just a quick note before we dive in: if you've been following my frequent posts on the Discord Server, then a lot of what I am going to show off and discuss here is stuff I've already been posting there. There are some new tidbits from some progress I made since my posts last night, but nothing crazy new on the preview side I'm afraid. Unfortunately I have not been making heaps of "secret progress" behind everyone's backs. I've openly discussed most of what I've been working on this month over on Discord and only refrained from talking and sharing progress when I was spending time on the spoiler scenes that I will still be trying not to give too much away for.
^ Players will be able to make a choice if Tiffany feels positively or negatively about her new proportions.
"Last month you were preparing a "BETA". Why is it now an "ALPHA"?"
This is just me changing the name of it. The content I had planned for this initial release remains the same. Well, since last month it has grown in scope slightly since I added some new elements to certain scenes while finishing the writing process. But what's going to be in this "Alpha" is still the same as what I've been working towards this whole time.
To actually answer the question. I'd like to reserve the term "Beta" for when I put out an early release for testing purposes that is essentially "feature complete". Maybe it's lacking a scene or two, but it's still the entire next section of the game with all of it's main gameplay and story elements in place. These are the sorts of releases I intend to put out for $10 Patrons to help test very close to a full release to see if there are any bugs or issues I've missed.
This initial release that I'm working on for v0.08 on the other hand, will be missing some gameplay features along with the final chunks of the story content. And as such, any saves made in the Alpha will not be compatible with the full release of the game. Unlike my beta versions which usually are compatible, since they are feature/code complete.
The main purpose of this Alpha is to draw the line in the sand somewhere and let you guys actually play something because otherwise you'd have to wait even longer.
However, I will still have a Beta for v0.08. This will be a release about 1 week to a few days before v0.08's Full Release (For Special Forces Patrons) and will be basically complete. Probably only missing an epilogue section or something. It's main purpose will be for finding bugs and crashes, to make sure the Full Release goes smoothly.
"Why not just use the lettering system like you've used in the past?"
I still will be. But I plan on using lettered versions to show that it's a patch for a completed version and not a content update, if that makes sense? There might be a v0.08a for example, but that would only be the case if I were to release the full version, only to discover some major issues or something that will take me a while to fix. Basically just a way to let people know at a glance that the full release has been patched. Where as the Alpha/Beta terminology immediately communicates that the content is still a work in progress.
I get it though, it seems like a trivial distinction to be making when I'm only on "v0.08". Obviously anything with a version number like that is going to be heavily WIP. But this is just how I've chosen to distinguish releases. I really don't want to be doing an Alpha release at all to be honest. I'd rather complete this section of the game entirely before pushing it out there than effectively giving you a glorified "sneak peek". But at the end of the day. I need to have a release to work towards and give to you guys, otherwise development could drag on a whole lot longer without a proper end in sight.
"Couldn't I break it up and call this v0.08 and then the full release v0.09?"
Well, it wouldn't change the fact that I'd have to finish adding some necessary features before I'd be happy referring to it as a "Full Release". But I also feel strongly about making sure the next proper "Full Release" wraps up the rest of the Casino Story mini-arc and sets us up for more classic "TD" town exploration & quests in the following versions.
Though that being said, things might be changing for v0.09 due to recent development breakthroughs/discoveries made in the past week. More on that later in the post though.
^ Of course, getting all the way up to the 5th floor won't be as easy as taking the central stairwell...
"So, what's going to be in the ALPHA Release vs the Full Release?"
The v0.08 Alpha will contain the following primary content:
- 3/5 of the Day 3 Casino Story scenes.
- Gameplay segments from Basement 3 - Floor 5.
- Tiffany's 3 new body types. (Depending on choices made up till now) (Naked)
- New Sex Scene involving either Andre or Kiana. (Depends on who is alive)
- Combat Sex Scene for Regular Male Zombie.
- Combat Sex Scene for Sewer Zombie.
- Combat Sex Scene for Bestial Zombie.
- New Frag Grenade item. (Throw in combat)
- Other minor additions, adjustments & fixes.
The Full Release of v0.08 will contain the additional primary content:
- The 2 remaining Day 3 Casino Story scenes.
- Final Gameplay segment.
- Stealth Mechanic Feature. (Cover in "Zombie Cum" to sneak past infected enemies)
- Stumble Mechanic. (Tiffany will take some falls as she gets used to her new proportions)
- Gameplay Side Effects for Pregnancy. (Still TBD, $5+ patrons can post ideas here)
- New Zombie Boss with unique Sex Scene (Team up with Lara to Fight it or Submit to it)
- Combat Sex Scene for Female Zombie.
- Combat Sex Scene for Alpha Zombie.
- Other minor additions, adjustments & fixes.
"What is the current progress on the ALPHA Release?"
These are my current estimates:
- Writing: 99%
- Rendering: 70%
- Render Editing: 65%
- Level Design: 45%
- Feature Implementation: 45%
- Story/Quest Implementation: 15%
- Sex Scene Implementation: 5%
- Testing: 10%
I will probably start up the usual "Progress Report" post soon so you can more actively track the percentages as I update them.
As of the time of writing, my current goal is to get the "Level Design", "Feature Implementation", and "Story/Quest Implementation" to 100% completion. At that point, the release would be 100% playable minus the sex scenes. I had planned on not doing another Dev Blog until after I had reached that point in development. Though I decided that since it was the end of the month, I had better release a more official post cataloguing my progress here on Patreon rather than small almost-daily updates over on Discord.
Even though these numbers are seemingly still quite low for how long I've been working on this version. I suspect that I will be able to complete my current goal of getting the alpha 100% playable within the next 3-4 days (leaving only the sex scenes). The numbers are low because of the quantity of things left to tackle. However, I have been working on the hardest and most time consuming things first. It is mostly relatively easy tasks, by comparison, that remain in those categories.
How long will the rest of the sex scenes take then? There's probably about 10-12 days left on that front. Around a week to get all the remaining renders done. Then some days after that to edit them together and put them in the game.
"So, what's the current ETA for this ALPHA Release?"
Well, if we add up my estimates from the above section, we get a total ETA of about 13 - 16 days. So sometime around Mid February...
"That sounds like a long time still for something that was supposed to come out on or before the 25th of December!" >:(
And I get it. I underestimated far too many things once again while working on this version. Attempting too many new things at once. Writing a heck of a lot more words than I expected. Making the scenes bigger then planned. Planning for new gameplay features/mechanics. Underestimating some of the back end work needed to smoothly implement the new body types, and recently running into several issues implementing new plugins or scripts that were supposed to help speed development up, but in the end forced me to work around them for the time being... But again, more on that later in the post.
All I can do is apologize and keep working. As with last month, anyone who pledged in December or January at a $5+ tier will get the link to the v0.08 Alpha when it eventually releases. I truly appreciate all the support I get. Without enough of it, I couldn't spend as much time on it and releases would take even longer. But I certainly understand any frustrations people may have with the speed of development and those who wish to wait until releases return to a monthly basis before renewing their pledges. I try my best to be as open as I can with you on how I'm spending my time and share as many previews, polls and discussions as I can to make the wait less painful, but I agree it's not always enough and that my woefully inaccurate ETA's don't help either.
I know I keep saying it every blog, and that it seems hard to believe the longer things drag out like this, but monthly releases will be a thing again. I desperately want to go back there for a good while. It's no good for morale, for both me and you guys, to have months and months pass by between versions. This should only happen every now and then, not constantly. I will make changes to my plans in order to cut down on where some content goes in order to deliver faster updates after v0.08. This is very probable given how my new plans for v0.09 are shaping up due to those recent revelations...
But before I shift the conversation too far into the future, I need to finish discussing all things "v0.08".
"Then how long after the ALPHA until the Full Release?"
Again, we really shouldn't be trusting my godawful estimates at this point. Take everything I say related to time anywhere with a grain of salt. The only thing I seem to have a handle on is Terminal Juggs comic page weekly releases. That might be the one thing I've ever done in my entire 3DX career that has, for the most part, always been out on time. (More on that later too)
But probably about 3-4 weeks later. Some time in March if I had to guess. Since my Birthday is at the end of the first week in March, getting in done before the 7th would be great so that I could have a break at a convenient time. But well see. I wanted to take a proper Christmas break this year and that didn't exactly pan out either... I imagine I'll be pretty much done with working on v0.08 by that point, so hopefully I can find a way to push it out early for once. Damn it, I can dream at least!
"What's all this talk about future plans changing then?"
Well, I'm glad you asked, "Tired-As-Fuck-5am-Jim". :'D
Well, if you remember back to Dev Blog #4, I ended up spending the first half of it whingeing like a baby and complaining about how unnecessarily complex it was to deal with Tiffany's multiple appearances in the game's code from outfits to body types. Well, earlier this week I took an afternoon to do some research for a bunch of other backend features I wanted to implement this week and accidentally stumbled across one damn line of javascript that I should have found and started using well over a year ago. It means that most of what I talked about last time isn't much of a problem any more. Which is great, right?
Okay, "wrong" isn't the right word, I just felt like watching that clip real quick. The new system works, and it's what I'm using for now to handle Tiffany's new body swapping in v0.08. The problem is the old system, and how I want to replace it with the new system. I want to do this, because the old system takes up a heap of variables, switches, events and actors. It's incredibly inefficient pages of conditional branches and variable manipulation/data storage. All unnecessary now that I have this new simple method.
Now I can finally deprecate and clean out some of these old bits of the game's backend and put it to use elsewhere. This is useful because RPGM has hardcoded limits for these things such as a maximum of 5000 variables. As you may be aware. I track a heap of data in this game using variables for each of the girls individual stats. This includes things related to their times having sex, pregnancy tracking stats, who knocked them up, their corruption levels, various fetishes/interests, armor pieces, etc. I also use them to track quest stages and keep track of various progress made throughout the game. As of now, I'm about 220 Variables deep into my 5000 limit. I don't suspect I will run into that limit in the next few years. Though I am extremely cautious of it being there, especially with how large the scope of this game is, and how many quests and girls and things I want to add in over time. It's very possible that one day in the future, I may be tracking so much data across so many characters that we might run into problems with the hard coded limit down the line. Or even potentially performance issues with some systems.
This means that I try to not waste any of these limited data types without a good reason, especially the variables since they are so useful. Now, that I have this new system, I can probably clear out a large chunk of these wasted variables, actor slots, switches and re-purpose them for storing new data instead.
Here's where the first problem comes in. Since the whole game up until v0.07 relies on this old actor-swapping system still. I would need to spend a decent amount of time to go back and overhaul the rest of the game to work with the new system. And secondly, this is going to break saves, since the variables and switches will all be swapped around and the code will be rewritten causing issues or even crashes in existing save files.
"Why do this any time soon if you can just ignore it for now and worry about it when you actually need the variables in the future?"
Well, that's the thing. Right now, I'm actually having to waste a lot of time putting in additional checks and balances in the code to not break the old system and the pre-v0.08 portion of the game. It's manageable right now, which is why I'm not going to be breaking any saves until v0.08 is over. But the longer this goes on, the more I'm going to have to keep looking over my shoulder and making sure the start of the game doesn't break. Not only that. But if I just blindly trust that I won't run into the hard coded limits one day, but actually do so in like 2-3 years from now, well. It's going to be a whole lot harder to have to go back and optimize the game at that point and free up variable space than it is to do it right now. Better to bite the bullet sooner, rather than later. A whole lot less work, though it is still going to be a big undertaking.
There are also more reasons pushing me towards that decision than that, however. As I alluded to earlier, there were several plugins I attempted to implement this week to help with some of the backend features I needed to add. For example, one of them was a plugin that would assist me in managing Tiffany's inventory so that I could take it away from her, have her collect new items throughout v0.08, and then give her old items back when she retrieves them as part of the quest.
There was a simple plugin that would let me do all that in two lines. But it doesn't work on existing saves, only new games. I had to code my own method for it instead as a work around for v0.08. To do so, I had to eat up 21 variable slots to track all of the items Tiffany could collect during this Casino Section. As we discussed before, I don't want to waste so many variables on something that could be done in just two lines of code with the help of this plugin. Sure, this workaround method works fine for now. But coming up, there's going to be a segment where you play as Ali in a flashback, who's going to need her own inventory. There will also be future sections of the game where you will potentially play as other characters, or have Tiffany's inventory removed from her in other circumstances down the line when even more items get added to the database.
This is going to be another example of where using my simple yet inefficient work around of storing data in individual variables is going to not only waste me development time, but waste a heap of those variable slots as well the longer I go without biting the bullet and forcing people to start fresh save files so I can take advantage of these new development options allowed by some of these plugins.
There are a couple more examples I ran into like this, this week. Though, I'm sure you get the idea. I want to optimize the game sooner rather than later to speed things up and save space in the long run. Which means (unless I decide to hold off for one more version) players will need to start fresh saves in v0.09.
Not only that, but I will need to spend at least a good 1-2 weeks going back and optimizing a lot of the pre-v0.08 code to take advantage of these new plugins and scripts. Now, this, combined with my previous plans for v0.09 would end up quickly over bloating it and turning it into another massive 3-4 month update. I don't want that. So what I'm probably going to do, is split the next version 3 ways into separate monthly releases.
v0.09 would become:
- Code optimization & overhaul.
- Spruce up the game's intro with improvements & 1-2 additional scenes.
- Add "Sex Scene Gallery" feature.
- Add first voiced lines for Tiffany.
- Fixes and adjustments to Day1-2 quests/maps (eg, add Female Zombies & new items)
- Maybe some additional features if time (eg. Separate page for pregnancy stats)
v0.10 would become:
- Venture into the north side of town & explore.
- Tiffany's new main outfit (Blue Bikini with badge & skirt)
- New Zombie hound enemy + combat sex scene.
- New Sleeper Zombie enemy + combat sex scene.
- New glory hole scenes with Regular Male Zombie.
- Combat sex scenes re-rendered for Futa & Double Dick Zombies.
- More if time.
v0.11 would become:
- Continue the story, meet 4 new characters including Ali.
- Zombie Gangbang Scene. (Tiffany + 5 male zombies)
- Sex Scene with Tiffany + one of the new male characters.
- Sex Scene where a new female character can be infected or saved.
- A fun sequence with Tiffany & Ali... ;)
- New weapon: SMG (10mm rounds).
Then v0.12 would become the "Ali Flashback" version and so on as per the existing roadmap plans, just numbered differently.
^ Please Note that the above is all subject to change, and subject to potential polling and feedback. These are just my initial thoughts from the past few days. Right now my main focus is on v0.08 so I will give more thought to these plans later. I just wanted to give you guys some context and heads up that the plans are likely to change from what is currently proposed in the roadmap. Just so we're on the same page here.
"What's else have you been working on?"
- Adjusted "Pause Menu" GUI layout to make use of extra space.
- Added Endurance Bar to the character box.
- Updated Tiffany's menu images for new bodies (This one is Base:1, Preg:1)
- You can now view the changelog in game from this menu or the "title screen". This is handy for when you're in the middle of trying out a new version and want to double check what's been added.
- Could also add a ".txt based" walkthrough this way... But someone would have to type it!
- Adjusted sorting weights in the inventory to help categorize similar items together.
- Useful Items-> Drinks-> Foods-> Drugs-> Ammo-> Utility Items(Crowbar, Rope, etc)-> Trade/Crafting Items.
- Same for Key Items:
- Configuration Items-> Quest Items-> Keys.
- Also for Skills:
- Firearms Attacks -> Special Melee Attacks-> Reloading-> Submit.
- This should help prevent "accidental submissions" during combat :)
- First, I realized I've been a huge idiot and not been using the top line of the dialogue box because of a misunderstanding I had with how the code for one of the plugin's I'm using works...
- This is great because I have more space for text per box, but bad because I will need to update every old dialogue box at some point...
- This adjustment for pre-v0.08 dialogue boxes will be something I do when I go back to optimize the game's code in the newly proposed v0.09.
- Secondly, I added the ability to toggle the dialogue box with the "CTRL" key.
- This should come in handy if you want to temporarily hide the dialogue box to look at the art during sex scenes for example.
- Finally, I redesigned the 5th Floor's Security Checkpoint area to make it better match the 3D space I created for the confrontation with Noah. (You can see a bit of it here)
- Tiffany's confrontation with Noah can be solved through words or with violence.
- There will be branching dialogue choices here. Above is what will happen if you can't convince Noah to stand down.
- It will be a tough fight where Tiffany can die if she loses... Though perhaps not quite as hard as it seems here...
- As mentioned, you can also see the 3D space I set up for this scene as the background.
^ Outcome if you defeat Noah in combat. Like with Andre & Kiana, Tiffany may get to choose his fate & affect future game events...
I also fixed some other bugs and typos along the way that aren't really worth mentioning specifically in this absolute novel of a Dev Blog (8am now... fml). So you can check the changelog for those when the release drops.
Remember, to follow the Discord channel where I will continue to post regular updates so long as it's not too "spoilery". Though I'll be real, I probably have given far too much away at this point... Hopefully not the big one though >:)
Time to start winding things down now...
Poll Results:
Aside from the results I already linked to in this post where relevant, here are a few more results from some polls that have recently ended:
A poll to see if I should try something stupid and give the unique v0.08 zombie boss a big, dumb penis arm:
... Looks like we're givin' that a whirl... Wish me luck! :)
A poll about two upcoming Futa characters to see what "equipment" they should have:
Despite the poll's winner having 43%, technically 57% of voters want to see at least one of them have a vagina so I will go with the "Middle" option where one has balls, and one has a vagina to keep it fair. :)
Finally, a poll about which pubic hair options people preferred for the female characters:
Seems pretty clear that a large majority here prefer no pubic hair or if any, just a tiny amount. This is good to know because it clearly lines up with what I usually go for when designing characters (obviously).
Now, there are some other ongoing polls which I'll leave open for a while longer. There's also currently an ongoing series of polls for Special Forces patrons to help me finalize a design for a upcoming female Lab Assistant character who works for Dr. Slater. Once her design has been finalized, I will share it here with you all in the next Dev Blog.
New polls will be put out sometime soon. I am just very focused on v0.08 right now, and things have gotten a little complicated since my plans for v0.09 are now quite different than they were last week. There are sure to be some upcoming polls and discussions surrounding that, however.
2D Commissions:
Here are two new completed commission pieces that I've received since the last Dev Blog. Make sure to visit the following posts for the full HD image download + additional variations:
Tiffany (By Flowerxl):
Tiffany & Terry (By BarretXIII):
I love both of these pieces :) But I love the next piece by GrownUpJizz even more...
Terminal Juggs:
I figured I'd let everyone see at least the default variant of this cover page now that it's finally here. And also, to help shed some more light on what the Terminal Juggs comic actually is. $1 & $5 patrons can finally check out these original three posts here:
If you were feeling in the dark before, now you might at least have a better idea about what's been going on there. Pages come out on a weekly basis. There are 17 pages out so far for $10 patrons, and some K9 action is just about to kick off ;)
To those wondering, yes, the Terminal Juggs will get a public release at some point in the future, since it will include important information relating to characters for Terminal Desires Act 2. I am not sure at what point in time this will be though, as right now it is bonus content for Special Forces patrons. Maybe at some point after Issue 1 has concluded...
DNA Valkyrie:
Just a quick update on the situation with Volume 2 of DNA Valkyrie since I've received a few messages about it. Volume 2 (Chapters 26-50) has been fully drafted by Camille for some time and is stuck in the editing phase until I can get around to it. As I've previously stated, I will not be working on finalizing edits for Volume 2 until I have at least the alpha release out for v0.08. Though once I do, I will be trying my best to get chapters out to you guys in the $5+ tiers at an accelerated pace.
It has been a short while since Volume 1 ended now, so if you're reading this from the $5+ tier and don't know what I'm talking about, you can get access to the web novel's first 25 chapters here. Also, don't forget to vote, or update your votes in these polls here:
- https://www.patreon.com/posts/dna-valkyrie-1-32169149
- https://www.patreon.com/posts/dna-valkyrie-2-32169747
There will be a third poll up in the coming days to help vote on a short storyline/case you'd like to read about Cynthia tackling in Volume 3 (which is now in the early drafting stages).
I have also created a new DNA Valkyrie channel on the Discord Server, and invited Camille to join. So visit that if you want to ask any DNA questions or give your feedback on the story thus far!
Oh and if you're a $1 patron, you can check out the first 7 chapters here:
Voice Actress Update:
Just a quick note about the search for Tiffany's VA since last time. As I mentioned on Discord, I received the first audition and it was really good. However, I'm still waiting on the audition from the second VA before I make my final decision.
I will share samples once I've picked a voice. Which I will do as soon as I hear back from the second VA which I believe will happen in the next few days hopefully... As stated earlier, I hope to include voiced lines for Tiffany in v0.09, perhaps even adding some in time for v0.08's Full Release depending on how schedules work out.
Final Words:
Bruh, it's 11:15am. Send help! So much for "winding things down"... In all seriousness though. I apologize for not even getting this Dev Blog out in time... I've been writing it all night & morning now. I hope people manage to find something interesting in here even if it wasn't what they were hoping for. I also hope there's not too many typos in here, but I really can't bear to look at this thing a moment longer!
There may be one more Dev Blog out before the Alpha release, but I don't know yet. I'm not even sure if there's a single thing left to share with you as a preview at this point!
That being said, there will be a sneak peak up after this for Special Forces patrons. Though it's probably too much in the way of spoilers, I don't really have much else I can share... So I guess avoid that if you don't want to see too much more!
Thanks so much for all the support this month and every month. As always I couldn't do it without you guys or your interactions here or on the discord. You're the best and the reason that the game even made it this far in the first place. And I'm sorry to always keep taking so long, and to be constantly apologizing for it to the point of annoyance! Until next time... "Too-da-loo!"
~ Jim
