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2.2.444 Release – A Fungal Infection
🕑 Added 2019-10-03 00:14:47 +0000 UTC(Download links can be found at the bottom. If you’re upset with how development has been this year, we ask that you please read this post.)
We’ve touched on a lot of the struggles SR7 has been working with this year but haven’t really taken the time to fully explain it because of the technical aspects involved. However, we feel like it’s time to explain these issues in a bit more detail.
A Fungal Issue
As we’ve stated many times before, SR7 built SU using Fungus – which is essentially a sort of Ren’Py for Unity add-on. It’s a visual editor that more or less removes the need for coding and is meant to ease game development for people who lack the ability or desire to deal with programming their own games.
What you’re seeing in the title image is Supergirl’s cell. For comparison’s sake, this is what the entire Yacht event looks like:
Each square is a scene or selectable option. You can only have one scene or selectable option for each square. If a square is not connected to or manually set to lead back to another square, the game will result in a black screen that leaves the player stuck. If there is an error in a square’s logic for whatever reason, the game breaks and goes haywire.
Add to that the inability to call or assess more than one variable at a time and you have a nightmare scenario of epic proportions. Frankly speaking, having built the game this way with these restrictions, options like costumes should not be in this game at all. The spaghetti code manner in which Fungus forces SR7 to make something as simple as the Galatea spanking scene with multiple costumes involved is staggering to say the least, and required 69 (Giggity) pieces of art variations to be made before he could start the massive spider web of IF statements required to make that one scene functional in-game.
With Fungus, SR7 cannot use bread and butter aspects of game development, like Switch and compound IF statements or even create basic functions.
Frankly speaking, SU’s scope is far beyond any type of game Fungus was meant to make.
But wait, it gets worse…
RNG Game Development
As we’ve stated before, it became obvious early this year that SU could not continue being developed by Fungus, which led to the creation of the Rebuild project. Things quickly became worse than we ever thought they’d be though.
Shortly after April, when we unveiled the Rebuild for the first time, SR7 ran into a brand new hell of a development issue with Fungus. Whenever he saves the project, there’s about a 10% chance a random variable in the scene he’s working on will be disconnected. This chance seems to increase depending on how large the area in question is and, due to the layering of Fungus on top of Unity, no error message occurs when this happens. So the only way to find out is to play test the build or go through and check every single square individually to see if a variable has spontaneously been set to null.
To make matters even worse, SR7 just learned with the Supergirl update that the disconnect errors might not even appear visually unless he clicks on the effected line within the square. So his preview looks all good, like this:
But he won’t see the error unless he clicks on every single line to see if he comes across something like this:
Each square has tens, if not dozens, of lines like these. It’s literally RNG development. Each time he presses Ctrl+S, something could break and he won’t know what.
And this is just a single piece of the puzzle. A few of a variety of cogs in the machine that can go wrong from the time SR7 comes up with a scene idea and the moment you experience it.
Not an Excuse, Merely an Explanation
This is why we’ve had problems all year, and we promise you that no one is more fed up with them than we are – especially SR7. Yes, it’s the bed SR7 made for himself 4 years ago when he started making SU with Fungus and we’re well aware we put ourselves in this corner. But frankly, you don’t become an industry professional overnight. You do so by fucking up over and over again until you gain the experience to start fucking up just a little bit less.
The only solution is a complete ground up Rebuild. But building something from scratch with sweeping improvements that SR7 has spent 4 years tirelessly adding to takes longer than the blink of an eye to accomplish, i.e. we’re working on it. And the fact that it’s even going to be close to being done by the beginning of 2020 with all the improvements we’ve already shown you – let alone those you haven’t seen – would frankly be a miracle in-and-of itself. But Locke is working pretty damn hard and fast to make that miracle a reality, on top of doing other shit like writing this nearly 1000 word post most people still won’t read even after yesterday’s lesson all because we want to do our best to represent the change we wish to see in the gaming industry at large.
All that being said, feel free to tell us how simple these problems actually are to solve because of what your professor said in a lecture once in the comments below.
The shitty amateurs with crazy aspirations clearly just milking their patrons,
Gunsmoke Games
Comments
Warm simp
okay ive been clicking links on the patreon and discord back and forth, how do i get the link to just download something unlimited
SpecGhost
good to hear thank you, need something to fap too under quarantine.
Gunsmoke Games
We will be updating it this month!
SpecGhost
When's the next public build
Isaac Dansicker
I have low tier backing, but am in for the long haul. Honestly, I can sympathize with the development constraints — I'm willing to wait for rebuild. Why not a full pivot?
CatTerrorize
Fungus sounds like it would be an easy but seems like reality kicks to the balls
Freeze
Uhh I cant open the program for mac, how do I prevent this from happening, normally I just need to accept the "Risk", but that dosent show, any ideas?
Mike Does
Can I just say, I appreciate the balls it takes to step outside confines of a system and try to make it better. You have my support! (0 complaints)
😍
how can i unlock lady shiva?
Chaosreaper12
Hey i have been trying to access supergirl and Galatea content but it keeps freezing on a black screen. Maxima's content starts perfectly fine but I cant get into the other new content.
Nakona Nannako
Good to see this kind of development post sometimes. Really wish there's more of it.
AJ_Dragon
Well good job and keep up the great work
Locke Kosta
It's a lot easier to get answers in our Discord. Also the guide is available for patrons $1+ in the Discord too.
I had the same problem with supergirl. Use Galatea as henchwoman and do all the stuff with super girl (including talking, think there are like 4 diffrent dialogues) and it should unlock eventually. I had to repeat some of the stuff so im not sure what triggers the slut outfit.
Cosmo
LOL! You tell'em GG!
Tuggs Johnson
Thanks for the perspective. It's always cool to see people adapt and overcome challenges. Keep up the good work.
adam
Obviously he can't code or not enough to build this kind of game, otherwise he would have just coded the game in Unity using C#. So I know what you mean but it's not really doing anything for him right now ^^
"You do so by fucking up over and over again until you gain the experience to start fucking up just a little bit less. " <--- This
Dreikaiserbund
This all seems perfectly reasonable and understandable to me. Keep up the good work! :D
Is anyone still running into the same issues with Supergirl from the previous build?
JusDB
Not sure if you have to have married Talia before, but it'll happen by visiting your office and she'll bust in. Then do the same the next day. Then teleport to her planet afterwards.
JusDB
Supergirl still felt disgusted after saying all of that, but took satisfaction that it pissed off Galatea. Not everyone changed dialogues after getting the slut costume. The only ones off the top of my head are Batgirl, Terra, and Miss Martian(?). And even then, Terra changed her tune after being brought back from the dead and being smitten for Lex because of it.
Crowsims
I've stuck with you from the beginning of this game and I'm in it for the long haul. That art and everything about the game is awesome. Don't focus on the haters, focus on the work and trust that your hard work is appreciated by those who love you guys and are loyal. I do have one tiny idea for the future though, adding Poison Ivy, Bane and Metallo to the cheat sheet in the villain section. Just a thought. Otherwise the game is going great. Keep up the good work :)
Just a simple FYI. I support you guys because this game idea is awesome, the art is awesome and NSFW games are awesome. I want the best game you can make, NOT the fastest game you can make. Take your time, do it right and it will be awesome. I don't play each update. I will not play this one. I give you five dollars a month not because of rewards, but because i want the final game and i want it to be perfect. I know that takes time, so take that time. Never focus on the negative. Don't live and die by the comments. Do the work you love and know we all love it as well.
Lukasz Jaskowiec
a slowdown in content is fine if it is to help fix the engine don't let the issues get you down
RedBadger
As i see it you guys are doing a fine job. Everything stated above I think is totally understandable, i think if he needs the time to make the game better than it ever has been by reworking it from the ground up then we as patrons should be happy about that rather than be upset over a loss of content. Thanks for all your hard work !
Penfold
Bah, just admit you are evil, degenerate, naughty people who are making a game in an engine that frustrates you at every turn. Oh you have, well err.... Do something about, it. Oh, you are... Humbug, well dammit, what can I rant about? I know, features you've not implemented, that I want but cannot describe. There we go!
MBII
My understanding was that he was only in the yacht (same with Rose). I could be wrong.
MBII
I appreciate the explanation. How do I go about unlocking Maxima?
Keep on keeping on! You guys work hard for our enjoyment and we know it. Don't bother reading the comments (including this one); they are usually irrelevant to resolving present problems. Bravo!
Locke Kosta
Lol, it's much appreciated!
Locke Kosta
GG hired a programmer. We're good. ^^ Just takes a long time to rebuild something 4 years in the making, and as you can see, not really much you can salvage from Fungus so it really is a complete rebuild from scratch.
Ghilz
Know that your hard work is appreciated.
squarenuts
The milk is a lie. 😉
Al Ca
What I noticed is that the dialogues for Supergirl don't change after getting the slut costume like the other characters. I hope that they don't forget to include them in the future.
Nemesis Valentine
Anyone know if you can set nicknames for supergirl, can she call you daddy in the cell?
Kennyannydenny
Thank you for the quick bugfix patch! And thank you for explaining it in detail, it was a very interesting read. I feel for you guys that you'd have to work with that, now I understand why a rebuild is being done. And don't worry Locke, I read every letter of every post <3
unclefester84
Do i have to restart the game? I'm still stuck with supergirl at the bj scene
I've been there mate. Sometimes the wheels come off before you can transfer the cargo. Getting the overhaul done by Q1 2020 is a hell of a feat.
Neoxyde
Yo if you guys need some coding hand you could post your scripts to GitHub and let the community help you out, I don't know how the logistics would be around spoilers and that kind of stuff but.. yeah just saying.
Waldo
Whoever says you're just milking the patrons is insane. Each scene is unique. All of the art is hand drawn. There are very few typos in dialogue that mostly matches the characters. Each update is relatively consistent, and you communicate with the patrons. I don't know of any other project with these qualities that puts out such a polished project. Even with a couple of bugs, this game is vastly superior to any other game like this I know. You guys are great. Anyone with half a brain can tell you're working hard on the game. You're honest and realistic about what you can accomplish. Keep doing what you're doing.
J
As an amateur developer who inherited some legacy code, I feel your pain and admire your perseverance.
longback
You guys are sent by the gods I only hope that the joy you bring us out weighs the burden this has put on your mind.
Lyner
Haha. Thank you for the very informative update, also what you've been able to do with all that is nothing short of amazing. Kudos.
Haji_Bob
On a minor sidenote though, can anyone tell me how to trigger the Deathstroke content? I've just about maxed Rose so now she just gives me three options for what to do with her. I haven't seen Deathstroke at all since the yacht.
jose hernandez
GUYS!!!! I decided to support you a long time ago even before i had a permenent job... I will keep doing it until you tell me is enough. Love the cocaine.
Haji_Bob
You guys are doing great and I must admit, it's quite interesting to see it all laid out like that.
Doanld J Baverstock
what did we just download a new game
geos_omega
I mean, I know game development is hard. You don't have to tell me that. I'm not 4. But thanks for putting it out there for those who don't understand. As for: "The shitty amateurs with crazy aspirations clearly just milking their patrons," Despite criticism I give, that's not how I see you guys. The only part of that I agree with is the aspirations (and to me having aspirations is a good thing).
Jonx release when?
Locke Kosta
If you're not using Ren'Py's templating then there's literally no reason to be using Ren'Py. So it's an apt comparison imo.
Jakeflado
All I wanna say is y'all are awesome and Godspeed to Locke on that Rebuild. Considering he has to go through 4 years of SU by manually transcribing everything...I don't envy that man. Godspeed to Locke and all of GG and I hope SR7 gets the rest he so rightly deserves. P.S. I'm super hyped for those other 2 patron mystery updates later on in the year. P.P.S. I still used the POWER OF READING on this post and I will continue to do so on every post! XP
SilverLotus
Glad I read all the way through cause that last line made me laugh. But in all seriousness, the fact that the game is as massive as it is now speaks volumes to your dedication. Don't stop believing and don't work yourselves into an early grave.
SonofKalas
Holy crap. As a software developer, the first thing that popped into my head was, that needed to be done in an object oriented language with objects for each scene with editable attributes. I can only imagine how much unnecessary work and time cost using this approach must have caused. I feel for you. My head hurts just thinking about it. Oops would have gone a long way to simplifying your structure. Also a proper language. Switch statements go a long way to make nested IFs more legible.
Doc Odd
I won't criticize anything about how you've proceeded, as apparently you've learned your lesson, but I do think it has to be said that you're being quite unfair to Ren'Py in suggesting that the abomination Fungus appears to be is in any way similar to Ren'Py.
Anthony Michelli
Tedious debugging aside (like, holy shit that sounds fucking tedious), I'm excited for the Rebuild. Whenever that may be. That UI demonstration video from a while back looked so clean in comparison to the Fungis version.
Kalash_Neko
well all i can say is keep up the good work, i realy like what you have done so far and im exited to see what more you can do.
