Progress Report - 4/16

I wish I had a bigger update to share today, but most of my development time recently has been going into very large renders (~2-5 hours to complete, compared to my usual 5 to 15 minutes).

The good news is that I'm all but done with the large renders. And being entirely done with that environment is just a matter of whether or not I feel like touching up a few things I started in that environment a while ago.

The OTHER good news is that I figured out a good workaround for the world center shadow bug in DAZ. Using this will save me a lot of time clone stamping in Photoshop (for the instances where I've encountered the bug, particularly in large environments).

You can see a good example of where I've put this to use in the animated image above - originally I had to crop Chrissy because she had some just awful black marks on her face and it wasn't feasible for me to touch up 30 frames (I have tried doing this before, the touch-ups become far, far more noticeable in animations since you see the touch-up smudges moving - it's just not a good idea!), so I'm rather pleased that I have a good working method to handle this in DAZ now!

I'm currently working on rendering the sequences on the interior of Abernathy, which shouldn't take me TOO much longer. Up next will be some of the scenes with Chrissy immediately after being in Abernathy. Those scenes will be followed by the branching scenes at the end of the day (probably three or four paths, with some additional options).

Depending on my mood, I'm also considering a few other development opportunities (that aren't focused on the main plot), including:

• Building the Kunnilingus Kombat scene
• 33 images, already rendered, just need to add the text
• Would be on Erisa's PC before leaving the apartment, also later when you'd be able to not have Chrissy looking over your shoulder
• Finishing the Victoria Vixxen Versus the Autofuck 5000 scene
• Already have 1 animation (currently in-game) and 5 still scenes (some with multiple angles) rendered, just need to add to it and add text
• Adding an interface tracking relationships
• I've pondered putting this in phone (which currently does nothing)
• Basically, I've already done a little JS to make a simpler (in my mind) way of coding the "Check Objective" skill (because RMMV 'if' statements are awful, contain no elseifs or switch cases, and don't offer string variables) and am considering doing some more advanced coding/light UX development to make a "check how you're progressing with girl x" screen.
• I feel like these are pretty standard, but it's something I've yet to build myself, and I like doing new things

Anyway, the next release is still a ways away (no ETA), but I'm happy to have a little more traction on the interwebs and some positive feedback (some negative too, but all I can do is learn and improve, right?) It's really kind of amazing how one post on one website results in so many uploads by other parties on other sites (are they paid upload links? probably).

As a reminder, there are no current plans to monetize this game. No Patreon, no bullshit. I'll continue uploading the latest version here and on https://f95zone.com/threads/erisas-summer-v0-0e98-im6.11135/ - which is probably also the best place for discussion at this point.

Bug Fixes - v0.0e98 Released

So, some of the intrepid players at f95zone pointed out to me that there was a bug preventing players from using the shower, which locks probably 30 - 40% of the existing game content (not that it's ALL that much, but it is significant). It was a really, really dumb bug, one that I'm not even sure how it made its way through, but the fix has been made and the latest version of the game (v0.0e98) is now downloadable here:

MEGA
NOFILE
FILESUPLOAD

Initial Release! Demo v0.0e99

Time to wake up!

Yes, Erisa's Summer v0.0e99 is here! Why 0.0x10^99? Because I can steadily back it away from being infinite zero to slightly less infinite zero in version! Don't worry, I'll give it real version numbers once I consider it to be out of a demo phase and have at least the first full day done, but I did want to get something released not only as proof of concept, but to get the feedback ball rolling.

Hopefully, if you play enough, you'll find there's a decent amount of content for the demo version.

I've also submitted the game to f95zone and am awaiting board approval on the upload there. Once it's there, I'll share that thread as well (not that anyone is coming here first, anyway!)

Anyway, here are some links to v0.0e99 if you care to give it a try!

MEGA
NOFILE
FILESUPLOAD

There's an email I'll be monitoring listed at the end of the game if you have any feedback as well. Thanks for giving this project a go!

Sneaky dev edit: here's the f95zone.com link for anyone interested: link

Demo Coming Soon!

Hi everyone! Mostly, I just want to let everyone (or at least all of the 0 people reading this blog) know that things are still moving along. Or, at least they will be. I had a few personal events that kept me away from the computer for a few weeks. I expect to resume my regular irregular development tonight/tomorrow.

I've used some of the time away from the computer to think out some ideas for paths and plotlines, including different paths for each romanceable character. So, if you decide you'd like to focus on Chrissy, it won't be as simple as just spending each day and possible scene with her, you'll need to make choices on whether you want to proceed down path a or path b with her. That way there's still a little spice for each girl.

From a very high level perspective, my idea of paths for the three girls Erisa already knows are:

• Chrissy
• Exclusive relationship versus semi-open relationship where you two invite others to join you
• Amanda
• Submit to Amanda's domineering versus convince Amanda to take things seriously with you
• Abby
• Long-distance relationship with lots of skype and phone sex versus moving a ways away to be together

Ideally, there'll be plenty of time across multiple days in the game to achieve all of this and have multiple triggers that will help you lean one way or another (with associated scenes), but since I'm still very early on, I'm making no promises! Just sharing my ideas.

Also, I'm leaning towards putting out my demo or proof of concept version relatively soon. This would basically be a version of the game where the player could experience everything in Day 1 up until the point where they'd have to leave the apartment. There's a decent amount of content and setup up to that point, should you choose to interact with it, and it'll prime me for some feedback before I get too far.

There may also be a few "bonus" elements I'd inject after the fact - such as the completed Kunnilingus Kombat scene and the full version of the Victoria Vixxen Versus the Autofuck 5000 scene (the game currently only has one rendered animation from that scene, though the rest of it is at least 60% complete, excluding text).

And, of course, as a reminder, this game is 100% free with no plans to monetize. I may open things up to donation at some point, but there will be no Patreon for this project nor anything be behind a paywall ever. So, hopefully I'll have a taste of something you may enjoy out soon!

What's New?

Has it been a week already? Time is flying!

In the past week I've made a couple breakthroughs with DAZ, mainly in the areas of lighting, building, and animating. I was having a lot of frustration with keyframes not locking as I expected in DAZ... lo and behold, DAZ requires you to select all child nodes of an object when creating keyframes. Sometimes user-friendliness goes out the window with that program.

As far as lighting is concerned, I've improved, I think, a fair bit, by learning more about ghost lighting and coloring my light sources. I think I still have room to grow there, but I'm much happier with some of the renders I've come out with since applying ghost lighting techniques. I'll also admit it's frustrating how ineffective DAZ's default lighting sources can be.

Here's a quick comparison of some lighting changes I did:

DAZ default lights

Ghost lighting

DAZ default lights - looks drab and overcast

Ghost lighting - was able to make it a nice, bright summer day!

My other new foray in DAZ was into primming out some environmental props. I've been working on a shower scene and found the stall I wanted to use, but didn't like the curtain associated with it, so I decided to build a glass door for it (along with handle, hinges, etc.). I think it came out pretty nicely!

Things you can't see in this scene: the hinges, which rotate the door along expected lines
Also, the split between the glass panels at the hinges

I've worked on a few other things as well, of course, like rendering scenes, creating animations (including an animation I just rendered last night of Chrissy in the shower that I think looks... well, I think it's my favorite animation so far).

As far as story goes, I think I now have a full roadmap for Day 1 from start to finish. Day 1 should feature about 12 distinct scenes (each with multiple renders and possible animations), including a few branching paths and choices I plan to carry into Day 2 and beyond. This does not include optional content I've also included, like solo masturbation scenes for Erisa and the Victoria Vixxen content on her computer.

Now that I have my roadmap, I'm probably about 25% complete from a time standpoint. There are a number of renders I still need to do to complete the day, but I feel comfortable with my progress.

Pew Pew!

Animation Sample

Yep, I am wayyyyyy too into animating right now. Here are my two latest characters: River and Sandy. They're sisters who will feature in Erisa's Summer, but I'm also leaning towards giving them their own game as well.

Also, this is my first time trying to get a WEBM to run on Blogger, so here's hoping it works. I can tell you already that things work splendidly in RPGM (and no, the backgrounds are not transparent/black there!)