FreshmenVN
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Status Update #72
🕑 Added 2025-01-22 16:23:27 +0000 UTCIt's a little past mid-January, which means I'm overdue for a game status update!
Today's cover image is the first look at Trevor's Grind'm scenario. Why wait to arrive at the hotel to get started when some road head could happen on the way?
In case you missed it, the public release of the Morning After Update was on the 7th. There ultimately weren't a lot of additions, but one of the CGs I did add will be of interest to all you Evan lovers...
I'll briefly touch on a few work items in particular, then we'll move on to the big checklist of what's done and what remains before Trevor's Grind'm scenario is ready to release.
Writing
Most of the Trevor Grind'm scenario is scheduled to be written after the art is completed, so I'm looking fine on that front. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get Isaiah's scene into the Morning After Update or some of the other reactivity I wanted.
Frankly, external events have made it difficult to focus on writing in particular. But I will absolutely make sure Isaiah's scene plus a few other additions are added to the game in the next release.
Coding
Galleries for the Grind'm scenarios have been a player request for a while, and now they finally exist!
The main galleries were made using a template I found a couple years back, and all told it's pretty basic. I wanted a more specific layout for these galleries, so I had to figure out how to get each element located in the correct place on-screen, and I also needed to make sure we can move between gallery pages without errors as well as back to the correct profile when you close the gallery.
This did take some time—as did making all the art for these screens—but turns out I now know enough about programming in Ren'py that it took me far less time to put together than it would have even just a year ago. Hurray for learning as you go!
I began by rearranging the main Grind'm page so that when you're looking at an unlocked profile, you see the full profile picture with the icons below instead of overlain. I also added a button to view a guy's "album":
You will need to replay Jordi's scenario to unlock all his gallery images since I only just added the code to unlock the CGs. The first time you open the gallery it will look like this:
Eventually it'll look like this, giving you easy access to the CGs you want to see again:
Art
Since I was working on additions to Jordi's scenario anyway, I went back and re-rendered all of his sprites and Connor's non-shirtless sprites to match the updated sprites in the main game. There weren't many, but I wanted Connor's smile, for instance, to match all of his other smile sprites.
Also completed were Connor & Trevor's clothed sprites from the upcoming scenario. This wasn't really as easy as it sounds because I made the decision to use actual cloth simulation via Marvelous Designer for both outfits. I think it looks better and I wanted to show off Trevor's VPL, but I mostly did this because I knew I needed them partially-undressed in some CGs. Trying to do that with conforming Daz clothing assets mostly leads to subpar results.
Trevor's full outfit is three different pieces that I needed to make sure layered correctly when simulating. I also needed to make sure the 3D meshes were subdivided enough that it was smoother and more realistic in the renders. Without doing that, Trevor's sprites looked like this after I applied custom shaders:
This mostly looks okay and I doubt anyone would have noticed if I used this, but the jagged folds and wrinkles, especially on his right side, made it looks unpolished to me. After subdividing the outfit mesh further and adding some thickness to the cloth, it came out like this:
Which to me looks much nicer and smoother.
The big problem with doing all this, though, is how incredibly long it takes my computer to actually make these changes and do the simulation. Just selecting all the garment pieces and changing the subdivision took my poor CPU an hour or so to complete. Simulating beyond that was maybe another hour.
And keep in mind I have to do this for every CG he's clothed in as well. I could have veered course to something simpler, but me being me, I had my mind set on using this outfit and wasn't gonna compromise.
Good news is I can use all that simulation time to finish things like the gallery screens. Plus, these boys won't be wearing clothes for very long, so it's a temporary hassle!
Among other things, I created/updated a few non-Grind'm CGs as well as created a new character that'll be in the next story update. In particular, I've picked away at Alex's stuff when I have time since the difference between his new sprites and his old CGs is jarring. Here's one before (top CG) and after (bottom CG):
To "memorialize" the original Alex model, I snuck in a little Easter egg that'll end up really obscure by the time the game is completely done! The female character model from which I took Alex's original textures has become a hotel employee in a background image. Just a fun fact you can break out at parties:
And last thing of note, I've been continuing to gather all the assets I need for the scenario, like street & hotel environments, Trevor's car, and items for a minor character.
Okay, let's look at the to-do list. Newly completed tasks and new additions are marked with an asterisk.
(Since I'm now primarily working on Trevor's Grind'm scenario, I removed all the Morning After Update tasks except those that have been completed since the last status update. Items like Isaiah's scene will be added back to the to-do list later.)
Completed Components
🟢 GENERAL 🟢
Revised Models
Alex, full revision
NC17, tweaks
Trevor, tweaks
New Model
Henri (Matt's former roommate)
* Patrick (music teacher)
Revised Sprites
* Connor's Grind'm clothes for Jordi's scenario (8 of 8 completed)
* Jordi's Grind'm clothes (5 of 5 completed)
* Jordi naked erect (5 of 5 completed)
Coding
* Jordi's Grind'm scenario CG unlocks
🟢 MORNING AFTER UPDATE 🟢
New CG
* Evan Tease 6, which can be found near the end of the update
Coding
Code review (ongoing)
Unused/unnecessary variable removal (ongoing)
Bug fixes (ongoing)
🟢 TREVOR GRIND'M UPDATE 🟢
Art - Menu
Revised Grind'm menu screen
* Trevor profile pics (4 of 4 completed)
Trevor profile text (2 of 2 completed)
* Grind'm gallery screens (3 of 4 completed)
* Jordi's Grind'm gallery thumbnails (39 of 39 completed)
* Trevor's Grind'm gallery thumbnails (2 of 74 completed)
Art - Sprites
* Cell phone (10 of 10 completed)
* Connor Grind'm clothes (24 of 24 completed)
* Trevor Grind'm clothes (5 of 5 completed)
* Trevor naked erect (3 of ? completed)
Unlock pop-up notification sprite
Art - CGs
* Scenario intro CGs (1 of 2 completed)
* Scenario foreplay CGs (1 of 28 completed)
Art - Backgrounds
* City (1 of 1 completed)
* Hotel (5 of 7 completed)
Art - Character Model
* Hotel Clerk
Writing
Trevor profile text (2 of 2 variations completed)
Scenario introduction
Scenario foreplay
Coding
* Trevor scenario unlocks
* Revised Grind'm menu screen
* Grind'm gallery screens (2 of 2 completed)
* Scenario introduction
* Scenario foreplay (2 of 5 segments completed)
Needed Components
🟡 TREVOR GRIND'M UPDATE 🟡
Art - Menu
* Grind'm gallery screen (1 of 4 needed)
* Trevor's Grind'm gallery thumbnails (72 of 74 needed)
Art - Sprites
Trevor naked (total unknown)
Additional character(s) (total unknown)
Art - CGs
* Scenario intro CGs (1 of 2 needed)
* Scenario foreplay CGs (27 of 28 needed)
Scenario side CGs (28 of 28 needed)
Scenario bottom CGs (29 of 29 needed)
Scenario top CGs (27 of 27 needed)
Scenario versatile CGs (3 of 3 needed)
Scenario cumming CGs (69 of 69 needed)
Scenario afterglow CGs (4 of 4 needed)
Scenario ending CGs (2 of 2 needed)
Scenario end screen CGs (3 of 3 needed)
Art - Background
* Hotel (2 of 7 needed)
Art - Character Model
Valet
Writing
Scenario side/oral, part 1
Scenario side/oral, part 2 (3 variations)
Scenario bottom, part 1
Scenario bottom, part 2 (3 variations)
Scenario top, part 1
Scenario top, part 2 (3 variations)
Scenario versatile
Scenario cumming (10 variations)
Scenario afterglow (2 variations)
Scenario ending (2 variations)
Scenario end screen (3 variations)
Coding
* Scenario foreplay (3 of 5 segments needed)
Scenario side/oral & cumming (4 segments)
Scenario bottom & cumming (4 segments)
Scenario top & cumming (4 segments)
Scenario versatile
Scenario afterglow
Scenario ending
Scenario end screens
The Next Few Weeks
What's scheduled is art, art, and more art. I already have some CGs set up that just need clothing simulation, which is an annoying hurdle, but I'll very quickly be past that.
I noted above that external events do make it hard to concentrate on some days, but making this game is a good distraction, and I did manage to complete a decent number of the more involved tasks like making new menus. The next update should show a whole lot more CGs moved from Needed to Completed!
Comments
Danny Nym
I have a planning document where I keep track of how many galleries a guy has been featured in. I try to keep them around an even number. I also try not to repeat a guy if he's been featured within the previous few months, and I also try not to repeat pairings that have already been done. So taking all that into account, I list out the guys who are available for a gallery and figure out which ones make sense to use for whatever theme I'm doing. When grouping them up, I look at the guys who haven't been featured together yet and try to find some connective thread I can use so I can put them together. Some of those connections are tenuous, but I do my best 😉 I slip in real details when I write those captions, so yeah, Griffin is part Japanese. It's just the events happening in the galleries that aren't necessarily canon.
DC Burns
When grouping guys together fir the galleries (for example Blaze, Griffin and Owen were together in a pride gallery) is there a method behind pairing certain people off or is it random? Also are some details mentioned in the guy galleries canon, like Griffin having family in Tokyo, or is it just made up to have a reason for naked Griffin in Tokyo, and should not be taken as a “fact.”
Danny Nym
I wouldn't say they inspired any particular scene, but doing them really helped me develop my skills when it comes to making CGs. Seeing the response to the guys I feature does influence some things, though. I'll probably include more Jordi stuff than I originally planned, for instance.
Jeffrey C
A bit off-topic (and I might have asked you this way earlier on the Patreon)..., but have the Guy Galleries influence you on what type of scenes/CGs you want to put into the game.
Danny Nym
Last year proved I'm really bad at guessing time frames, so now I'm just giving lists of what I need to do and what needs done. The most recent to-do list is in this post, and I'll have another status report up soon. I do status updates every two weeks or so.
Derek Wood
What’s the timeline on the new Grin’m guy?
Danny Nym
Yup, that's the latest version! And thank you, I hope you like it.
Tom Swift Sr.
COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC: For various health reasons, I have fallen woefully behind in keeping up with downloading the updates for the various games I support here on Patreon (since October 2024 *argh*). :( I've missed playing your game and am so far behind, well, I can see the back of my head. The last game update for "Freshmen: Physical Education" I've found is: FreshmenPhysicalEducation-v0.2.2b-pc Would you please tell me if I am now caught up?! THANKS. I really enjoy this game! **
Charlie
thanks a lot!
Danny Nym
I actually just went in-depth about this in the past few status updates, which is good since it saves me from typing a very long reply, haha Status Update #70 goes into the future plans for the game as a whole and also lays out what is planned for the next few releases. I expanded on it further in Status Update #71 with more details on the rest of Week 1. The "game update" tag will bring those up, or you can head to these URLs: https://www.patreon.com/posts/status-update-70-118069534 https://www.patreon.com/posts/status-update-71-119155373
Charlie
One question, and being new to the Patreon, could you tell us (without specific dates of course!) what are the envisaged updates to the VN? Like, what comes after the Morning After Update until the story is concluded, and if you plan to split it in smaller pieces? Thanks a lot!
Ryostorm
Awesome! Good to know. Thank you for the update.
Pallino
As a relative newcomer to visual novels, I have got to say that this is one of the very best I have played so far. I think what you are creating is excellent. I can't wait to see what happens next. Keep up the good work and know that it's very much appreciated. Happy to be a patreon.
DC Burns
The good news I needed this week! Trevor is looking mighty fine. I am excited about this update, but I can be patient since I’ve only played one route in the latest update so far.
Orannis
Thanks so much for the update! I love that you’ve started listing out the tasks as “completed” and “needed” so that it’s more clear to both us and you how much work you’ve done. Really excited about the Grind’m Albums! It’s been so cool to watch as your get more and more skilled with Ren’Py No worries on life making it hard to focus on writing - we’re excited, but patient. I hope things improve for your sake, not just so that the game keeps moving forward.
BJ
So excited, car play with Trevor (lets out a high pitch squeal 😆) Can’t wait for Connor to get is guts rearranged by Trevor. You’re doing amazing work!
SiJin
Thank you for the update :D
Charlie
Thank you for the update! Looks extremely promising :)
Jeffrey C
Thank you for the update. Cannot wait to see Trevor’s Grindm update once it is completed. Keep up the hard work as always it is much appreciated.
