Chapter 3.5 - Dev Log #2
Hello,
So, now that CH3 full is out, Chapter 3x5 & Chapter 4 are now in focus.
Over the next two weeks, I'll be moving WiAB to the current SG Workstation. The current WIAB PC will then solely be used for rendering.
I'm making the move now and not after the planned purchase of the new Workstation because I ordered a little upgrade for the current PCs.
I'll give you more details about the upgrade when the hardware arrives.
It's still the plan to get a big boy workstation after the SG Steam release, on which both SG and WiAB will be developed on. All the other PCs are then being used as slave nodes. (Render PCs).
I've started reaching out to some more music artists, and I hope to secure a few new songs before the next update.
Previews:
As mentioned in a previous Dev Log, I'll limit previews to a max of three images per log now.







With the next log, I'll add a precise render count for both Chapter 3x5 & Chapter 4.
Chapter 3.5 is somewhere between 700 and 850 renders atm.

- Ocean

Hello,

So... First of all... Happy New Year!
This is the first Dev Log in 2024 on SG & well...

My focus is completely on getting Season 1 out. All that is left is the Basketball game in Chapter 2 & the end of the college day.

Afterward, I'll need to translate the rest of the game into German... Which is surprisingly awkward due to all the Ä, Ö, Ü and ß.
Until I started the translation, I wasn't aware of how often we use these letters in the German language. It's awkward because I have to write them as (ä = ae) and so on.

Then postwork & the final testing. The testing will be a little bit more intense because I have to make sure that the "Save porting" function works before I publish the full.

I did run into some issues with the VRAM again. I tried to layer it by rendering half of the college scene and then fuse them in Photoshop later... But I had so many people in the scene, that they fucked up the shadows...
I tried to render it on the WiAB PC, but it lacks a lot of assets SG's Workstation has... So, I'm still hunting down all the assets it's missing.

I mentioned some new scenes for Chapter 2, and I can show some of them without spoiling anything.




Those are just two of the new additions. I think there are four or five new scenes. (Without adding all the additional content to the old scenes.)

It often feels like a punch in the face whenever I see old Chapter 2 renders. And the Basketball scene in Chapter 2 is one of the worst-looking scenes.

That was also the first time I ever encountered the VRAM problem in SG.
Old


It gets worse when the actual game begins...
New. (Ayua with a new hairstyle. I love this one.)


I have more renders of the Basketball scene, but just as I was looking for what to show as previews... I saw that I didn't like the lighting in a few of the renders and decided to just show these two.

The environment is quite challenging and unforgiving when you want to light in a cinematic way. I'm gonna take another look at them. (I love a challenge.)

I took a few days off after I returned home from the family trip, and the end of the year/start of the year is always a bureaucratic nightmare. All the bills come, you've got to finish your Annual financial statement with your tax office, bla bla bla... Exhausting.

I will soon see if an RL friend can do my postwork in the future. That would already be a good timesafe... But it's tricky... I'm not sure if he sees the renders like I do.

So my hopes are not that high. As I often decide on the fly what needs to happen to the render. Or realize I have to redo render X or Z.

We'll see.
I hope it'll work out.

The goal is still to get Season 1 out in January.

- Ocean

Hello everyone! As the year comes to a close, I have some wishes to share and some news to announce.
First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for your support. A special thanks goes out to those who have provided me with the opportunity for improvement, particularly my dear patrons and Afdian friends. I am also thankful for the kind individuals who have taken the time to offer constructive feedback on this game. It's challenging to grow without criticism, and your input has been invaluable. Additionally, a shout-out to my friend Black_Red for his incredible support and work in helping me enhance th
is game.
I appreciate each one of you, and I wish you all the best for the upcoming year and beyond.
Now, let's delve into something important.

As many of you may already know, I've had concerns about the game's reputation due to its use of HS2 models, as well as the difficulties I have to go through to make things work in StudioNeo2. These difficulties have led me to reconsider my development approach and contemplate Lycoris's future if I continue with HS2/SN2.
I am someone who enjoys learning, evolving, and avoiding stagnation. If there are ways to enhance my work, I am committed to making those improvements. This project was never intended to be a one try speed run; I knew that over time, I would accumulate knowledge to develop something I can be proud of. Just a year ago, creating my own models and maps seemed impossible, but after months of study and practice, I made it happen. A piece of advice for those learning modeling: don't give up when faced with challenges; practice, absorb knowledge gradually, and don't strictly follow tutorials… improvise.

Now, the point is, I've decided to transition to Blender, a more user-friendly and creatively liberating program. Don’t freak out; this won't be an abrupt change, as I still have work to do on the models. The next update will likely still use HS2 models, but the transition is underway.
Blender offers more flexibility, optimization, and eliminates many time-consuming issues I encountered with SN2. I already explained it on itch, but to give you a quick example, it takes me 10 hours to make a map, 5 to texture it, and minutes to test it in Blender for amazing results. In SN2, the same process plus 5-7 hours for porting, testing, adjusting textures (due to SN2 light limitations), and making it compatible with characters. For those who may not have noticed, in many instances, characters do not cast shadows on the maps. The reasons include: SN2 light lacks (or at least I couldn't enable it) bouncing light from sources, except HDRI, which is bad; SN2 light doesn't handle roughness textures very well inside maps (perhaps due to refusal to learn Unity), and there's no control over shadow softness.
Blender can handle all of that and much more.

I'm also exploring a new method to improve the flow of each chapter, making updates longer and the time I spend on renders shorter. I have an idea in mind, but I still need to test it, and I plan to do so during my break.
Oh, regarding my break… well, it won't exactly be a break since I'll still be working on Lycoris. However, I intend to dedicate this time (the month of January) to testing my new idea, working on Blender projects, and addressing various issues. So, for those financially supporting this project, please take that into account.

Enough of my rambling… today is a day for celebration!

These renders are from Blender, showcasing a prototype model of Mirai. It has room for improvement, but I want to assure those concerned about drastic changes (lonely neet) that I aim to maintain a semi-realistic anime style.
For more questions, feel free to ask directly or use a specific channel in Discord.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year, good health, and plenty of Mirai in your life!

Я говорю о сюжете этой ВН. Как видно, понять сюжет у вас не получается, вот вы и занимаетесь анализом одной вырванной из контекста сцены (с понятным результатом). Что касается переделок в процессе разработки - в чем ваши проблемы? Разраб делает то, что считает нужным. Или вы предлагаете сначала закончить ВН, а уже потом переделывать и исправлять?

S2 - Chapter 1 - Dev Log #2.5
Hello,
So, this Dev Log is a few days late because I visited my family during the holidays.
And it only adds half a Devlog because there's no Season 2 focus.
While I was away, and during my free time, I began translating Season 1 into German. SG will be released in two languages at first.
I finished translating Chapter 1 and Chapter 3. (I'm waiting with Chapter 2 until it's actually done to prevent rewriting it.)
Good DAZ news for once... (DAZ is the software I use to create my renders and animations.)
So, one rule as a Developer is... Don't fucking update DAZ mid-update. It will break everything, including your soul.
So I was reading up on the latest DAZ news and I went in there with the thought "It can't possibly offer me anything to update."
But then I saw this...
"Faster asset loading speed for characters with a lot of morphs."
I have been complaining about the loading times for a very long time... So I had to try it out.
Daz 4.22 is the newest DAZ with the apparently improved Loading speed. So I took three tests.
DAZ 4.21 (old) vs DAZ 4.22 (new) loading times:
Scene with 2 Characters.
4.21: 3:16 minutes
4.22: 2:12 minutes
(1:04 seconds faster)
That's decent, okay... But the real improvements show with more Characters.
Scene with 5 Characters:
4.21: 18:30 minutes
4.22: 11:44 minutes
(6:46 minutes faster.)
Okay, that's quite a bit...
Now for a book club scene with 20+ characters.
4.21: 46:06 minutes.
4.22: 30:45 minutes.
(15:21 minutes faster)
Sure, it still takes half an hour to open the scene... And then you gotta render it... But 15 minutes is amazing.
Chapter 5 has around 620 book club renders. With 4.22 I would've saved 157 hours of just opening scenes.
So yeah, great news on that front!

WiAB was released last week and now I'm back to my usual work routine.
WiAB's Full will be released in around two weeks and will be available for certain tiers here.

So let's talk about another scene in Chapter 2's rework.
Those Nami renders are kind of iconic... They were the first real "lewdy" ones I think. But yeah, the scene has been changed dramatically.
The scene I'm talking about
(известные нам рендеры z542, z552, z564)
The new scene:






The old scene started with something serious... MC not meeting up with Bella... And they talk for about 15 lines, but then the scene becomes full "Lewd Game" out of nowhere where Nami indulges the MC with her porn preferences.

I think it didn't help Nami's build-up, and undermined some deeper aspects of the Cheeto that were introduced later.
While Nami and MC's porn talk will return at some point, it was too early for that. In Season 2, the Cheeto's story will start too, and... Well, you'll see.
The new scene is much more serious, but also more romantic if you choose to have it that way.
The internal struggle of the MC and his decision to not see Bella has a special focus here.
More info about the MC and Nami as well.

Anyway, back to work, and I wish you all a Happy New Year!
May you and your family be healthy and safe.
- Ocean

Похоже, вы не понимаете, что сцены ВН не существуют самостоятельно, а объединены все вместе в рамках сюжета/сценария. Поэтому анализировать одну сцену совершенно бессмысленно и глупо, что вы великолепно доказали своим глубоким анализом