Status update Episode 9

This week I worked on different tasks, including:

* Finishing the remaining lewd scenes
* Wrote three new scenes and made the art for them
* Polished and expanded a few scenes
* Wrote bios and added some characters to the Bios app
* Fixed the credits section for v0.9.0
* Made the "Previously on Being a DIK" section
* Added ending screens and end reports

Work that remains:

* Make some missing GUI for the new mini-game
* Add music (A couple of scenes remains)
* Add SFX (A couple of SFX remains)
* Special renders/2D art (Testing remains)
* Scenes Gallery (Testing remains)
* Verify bug fixes from the Interlude
* Playtest and polish (40%)

Phone content:

* Rooster (2 clucks remain)
* Stats, Bios and Vault (Testing remains)

As you can see, most of the manual work left is testing and polishing the episode.

**Further insight:**

4887 static renders are complete (0 in the render queue)
The number of animations for episode 9 at the moment is 303.

* 258 animations are completed
* 45 animations are in the render queue

The planned animations have been posed, and during this upcoming week, I'll try to estimate how long the render time will be for the entire animation queue.

I will try to finish all tasks in the checklist above aside from the playtest and polish task. Then I will continue to playtest and polish while the animations render. After that, beta testing and proofreading can start.

The truckload of work for episode 9 is almost dealt with. Now it's all about nailing the details.

Have a nice weekend
Dr PinkCake

Status update Episode 9

I've been posing animations, some static renders, and playtesting a lot this week.

I have 44 animations in the render queue and 252 completed ones.

I'm finishing up the lewd scene I've been working on this week. After that, I have a partial lewd scene left to pose a few animations for. Then I'm done with the planned art. I estimate that I have \~20 animations left to pose.

It will be a push, but I aim to complete what's left of the art in the upcoming week, and after that, I will test and polish like crazy while completing the remaining tasks and waiting for the PCs to render the animations in the queue.

Some of the remaining activities include:

* Writing Bios for the episode
* Fixing ending screens
* Recapping the story in the intro section
* Adding patrons to the credits section

Those tasks I mentioned shouldn't take more than a couple of days to add.

Before beta testing and proofreading can start, my personal playtests and the render time are the big things left.

Speaking of the credits section, I will lock the entries for v0.9.0 before next Friday. If you put your name as a comment [on this post] before that, you will appear in the credits for Episode 9. If you already appeared in the Interlude or have commented on that post since you don't have to put your name on there again.

This week I played my game from start to finish for the first time since March. It's a helpful way for me to polish a new episode, and it's easier to feel how the new episode flows together with seasons 1 and 2.

It's always inspiring for me to do this, and each time I do it, I'm baffled by how big the game has become while knowing how much more of the story is left to tell.

Even though Season 3 is just starting, it feels complete in my head and notes. Ideas and scenes written four years ago will finally be a part of the playable game - to me, that's crazy.

I'm usually my biggest critic regarding the content I put out, but with episode 9, I can wholeheartedly say: FUCK ME, this episode is good.

Have a nice weekend Dr PinkCake

Status Update Episode 9
14.10.2022

This week I worked on and completed one of the remaining lewd scenes.

I wrote and worked on some unfinished scenes and playtested/polished Josy's & Maya's and the Others' branches.

Josy's & Maya's branch feels the most complete out of all branches, and the Others' branch needs more work to bring it home.

I will work on the remaining two lewd scenes next week.

I believe I will need to pose up to 40 more animations and between 75-150 static renders before I'm done with the current missing content.

Updated stats:

280 animations (240 completed, 40 in the render queue)

4762 static renders (0 in the render queue)

30 new songs (I added some real bangers this week)

Animations: 87%

Static renders: 97%
PCs are rendering animations at full capacity.

As soon as all animations have been posed and I've gotten a feel for the render times per frame, I will try to estimate how long it will take to render everything to completion.

Be prepared that the render time for the remaining animations will take a while.

The missing animations are for important lewd scenes of main girls, and I'm sure most wouldn't want the episode to be lacking or feel rushed in this area.

I will do my best to ensure a 100% uptime of my PCs while polishing the episode further.

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Status Update Episode 9

This week I started off making animations and renders for a lewd scene. After that, I felt like playtesting Sage's branch while polishing everything I found along the way.

I created Pack quest for the episode, added all lewd scenes to the gallery, tested special renders, and fixed some code for it. I fixed a big chunk of the final free-roam event code and wrote a bit more dialogue. I added some more choices and a couple of new scenes and polished what I could spot.

I enjoyed playing Sage's branch, and I'm sure you will too. What struck me the most were the differences between Isabella's and Sage's branches, playing them back-to-back. All hard work is feeling worthwhile, and this episode is starting to come together.

Here are some stats on the current progress and what I have left to do:

**Episode 9 current total:**

* 4564 static renders (0 in the render queue)
* 260 animations (231 animations produced, 29 in the render queue)
* 25 new songs
* 8 new sound effects
* 18 2D-art pieces
* 5 2D-art animations

**Work that remains:**

* 2 scenes left to write
* 6 scenes left to make art for
* 3 lewd scenes to make animations for (50-80 animations)
* Make some missing GUI for the new mini-game.
* Add music (95% done)
* Add SFX (95% done)
* Special renders/2D art - Some testing remains
* Scenes gallery - Testing and a couple of thumbnails for the missing lewd scenes remain
* Playtest and polish (20%)"Previously on Being a DIK" section
* Ending screens for all branches
* Verify bug fixes from the Interlude.

Phone content:

* Rooster (90% done)
* Phone chats (90% done)
* Bios (0% done)
* Stats (Testing remains)
* Vault (Testing remains)

**Overall completion:**

**Static renders**: 95% (Based on a 4800 render target)

**Animations**: 76%-84% (Final animation count is still hard to estimate)

**Writing/Coding**: 95%

**Further insight:**

I am currently alternating between writing the final scenes, posing animations, and playtesting/polishing everything. As always, I aim to keep a 24/7 uptime on my render stations while multitasking the remaining areas.

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Status update Episode 9
30.09.2022

This week I worked on and completed a big and tricky scene and some smaller scenes.

I have started working on the remaining lewd scenes of the episode now, posing both static renders and animations for them.

Art for 8 scenes remains, and three of those scenes need writing. I might need a couple more scenes after playtesting the episode if I feel something is missing.

I playtested Isabella's branch this week. It took me over 3 hours to complete it, without mini-games and without being able to test everything, as the final free roam event is still a bit of a mess regarding the code.

I felt that some parts of this branch needed a bit more content, while other parts of it were perfect and unique.

And this is an example of how I will work after finishing the art for the remaining scenes. I will playtest and then polish and add any additional content I feel is needed.

I have to do this for five branches and all possible combinations of choices and consequences therein. Each branch is of similar length, meaning a single playtest of all branches will require at least 15 hours of playtime. I always do this many times, over and over.

While there is plenty of joint content, there is also plenty of unique scenes for each branch; this makes quality control a big task.

But I'm very much looking forward to playing the episode. There are many scenes I haven't even seen in-game yet, even though the art has been finished for months - it's crazy, even more so than usual.

I'm up to 4524 renders, and now that I started animating again, I will know how many more animations I need within a few more weeks.

I don't have an accurate estimation of the release date; everything will depend on the remaining animation render times and how smooth the last stretch of development goes.

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Status update Episode 9

I've mostly been focusing on static renders this week. I've produced the remaining environment renders for the final free roam event and worked on many shorter scenes.

4314 static renders are posed, of which about 200 are in the render queue.

Of what I have planned, 3 scenes are left to write, and 13 scenes are missing art. Of those 13 scenes, 4 are lewd scenes that are missing animations; 2 are longer lewd scenes, and 2 are shorter ones.

After making a bit more art, I will playtest and see how the episode feels for all branches, and if needed, I will modify/add scenes to make it feel better. I don't have a full grasp of the flow for the second half of the episode yet, as it's been mostly incomplete when I played bits of the episode. It's all part of the polishing process that I always carry out.

Due to spoilers, it's getting increasingly harder for me to show you previews at this point. But that also means we're at the end of the development cycle when this almost always happens. I have planned to show you a few more special renders of Josy's and Jill's series and, hopefully, a couple more normal previews.

More static renders are on the schedule for next week, and hopefully, I'll make some time to pose lewd animations. I've picked up a few animation tricks during this development cycle that I want to experiment with in the remaining lewd scenes.

My animation queue has 17 animations in it. My current estimation is that 70-100 animations remain to be posed. I believe they will render faster than other animations I've done for the episode.

Have a nice weekend!

Dr PinkCake

Status update episode 9

This week I've been working methodically, producing art for shorter to medium-long scenes and checking off my checklist as I went.

I've been working on the free-roam environmental art needed for me to test the final free-roam event too.

Soon, I'll be able to test the entire episode for the first time without any errors or blocking areas. There will be art missing during that test, but that's how it is when you develop these games.

The episode will be the biggest in the game so far. Funny how that always happens. I have reached 4103 posed renders, and I have ~30 more scenes to make art for.

Reaching 4000 renders is a big milestone for the episode, and that's worth celebrating.

It's been hard to be accurate with guessing how big this episode will be, but we're getting closer to the end of the development cycle. Tasks are becoming more defined, and the checklist is shrinking.

My mindset lately is that I've come this far, and I'll add what I want for the episode, regardless of how many more renders it takes. I'm not going to rush or leave out the content I've planned. I don't think anyone wants that.

There's more art on the schedule for next week. I don't think I will need to reach 5000 renders to complete the remaining 30 scenes, but time will tell. My current strategy is to work on static renders and leave animations for a bit later. While those remaining animations render, I will playtest and polish everything.

Plenty of animation work remains, but I'm making progress. No PC is idle, and neither am I.

Completion stats
Static renders: ~85% (4103 posed)
Animations: ~75% (229 posed)

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Status Update Episode 9

This is the progress since Monday's delayed update.

The long 1 min 23 s animation is finally done, and I couldn't be more proud. I've put it together and added music/sound effects to it and probably watched it 20 times, smiling and thinking about how long way we've come. I never imagined I'd be able to do something like this in the past, and now it's what I want more of in the future.

3820 static renders, including the render queue, have been posed. Since Monday, I have posed around 10 animations too.

I worked on some lewd scenes that needed art, and I've also been working on renders for the episode's ending. I don't work in chronological order, though.

Yesterday, I spent all day playtesting three of the branches. I fixed errors that I spotted and made a to-do list of things that needed to be polished.

The feel of the episode is good, but it's still very rough, and it's tough getting a complete picture when many scenes are missing. I can't play everything from start to finish as the final free roam event isn't completed, and I can't test the produced scenes of the final free roam event without messing up the flow.

I will go back to making art today but seeing the current status of those three playthroughs was a good indicator. Something I liked, in particular, was how the branches felt different and unique in many areas.

I think it's safe to say that there are at least 3 hours of playtime for any given playthrough if you're not rushing through the episode. I estimate that you need at least 10 different and particular save files to see everything, which is nuts.

I played without mini-games, too, and I know that the party planning mini-game will add quite a lot of extra playtime, depending on your ambition.

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Being A DIK Season 3
07.09.2022
Special render preview: Jill #1

Status update Episode 9

Here's an attempt at a status update to give you some stats as I wanted for Friday.

**Work completed:**

* 3652 renders (3569 produced and 83 in the render queue)
* 211 animations (201 animations produced, 10 in the render queue)
* 22 songs

**Work that remains:**

* 8 scenes left to write

* 50 scenes left to pose art for (~1000 more static renders)

* 3-4 lewd scenes to make animations for (<100 animations)

* Make some missing GUI for the new mini-game.

* Write some code needed for other mini-games.

* Add music (almost done)

* Add SFX (almost done)

* Rooster (90% done)

* Other phone content (Phone chats/Calls, Bios, Stats, Pack Quest, Vault)

* Collectibles (special renders/2D art/scenes) - Only testing remains

* Playtest and polish

* Verify bug fixes from the Interlude.


**Overall completion:**

My best shot at estimating a completion % right now is:

Static renders: 79%

Animations: 70% (based on animation count, not duration. The longest animations are almost done, so this number should increase faster from now on.)

Writing/Coding: 95%

Render and animation numbers are based on a target of ~4652 renders and 300 animations; subject to change if needed.

The writing/coding percentage is my gut feeling.

**Further insight:**

Lately, I've done most of Rooster, the main menu art, Jill's special render set, and placement of magazines/unlockables. These tasks require a lot from me, and I'm happy I'm close to done with all of them.

Long animations have been rendering for the last month, and I haven't been animating a lot which is why this count isn't much bigger than the last report I did.

The longest animation I've done to date has almost been completely rendered. It's currently 1 minute 16 seconds (2281 renders) long. It needs a few more hundreds of renders before PCs are freed up for other animations; this should happen before next Friday.

Threesome animations are still in the render queue and have been there for the last two months. They take a very long time to render but are worth it.

I will have a split focus on renders and animations in the upcoming weeks.

I hope you had a nice weekend! I'm still a bit tired, but I've rested and am fit to work again.
Thanks again for your amazing support. I couldn't ask for a better community.

Dr PinkCake

Announcement

There's no status update this week because I'm dealing with a case of identity theft, which is halting development.

A user on itch.io is impersonating me and selling my games illegally under the name "drpinkcakegame".

If you bought the game on itch.io, you might have downloaded malware. Those versions aren't mine. I'd recommend you delete what you bought, demand a refund, and report the game to staff on [itch.io](https://itch.io).

I'm trying to reach itch.io about this, but they are acting very slow, and the whole situation has given me insomnia and is making me feel deflated and disgusted to the point that I'm not fit to work. You can help me by reporting drpinkcakegame on itch.io for copyright infringement, theft, and fraud.

My apologies to anyone who bought the game from itch.io thinking it was the real deal.

What saddens me the most is how this scammer is fooling honest customers/players/fans with a cracked product and fake communication pretending to be me.

My games are only allowed for resale on Patreon, Steam, and GOG.com with the handle "DrPinkCak
Anything else that uses my name or product names is fake, not endorsed, and/or doesn't come from me.

Thanks for your support and understanding. I'll bring you development news again when this matter has been sorted. Hopefully, sooner than later.

Dr PinkCake

Status update Episode 9

I want to start this update by thanking everyone for your comments, DMs, and overall support this last week. It means a lot to me, and I can see how many of you care as much as I do about the game, and it is heartwarming. It truly felt like the entire community came together, mourned the changes, and supported the game. Thank you!

I started this week by finishing the main menu's artwork. 20 new art pieces for Season 3 have been added to the main menu, and as promised, I'd like to show you a teaser of it today.

While working on the main menu, I couldn't stop thinking about the title music and the future of the main menu. One thing that has been in the back of my mind for quite some time now is the Music section of the main menu. You know, that button that says Music at the bottom that you probably pressed once and then never used again.

I've never been truly happy with how it looks or functions. Its purpose has more or less been to show and give credit to the CC0 music in the game.

I've wanted to add a proper music player to the main menu for a while, so I spent a day developing one from scratch, and I'd love to show you some of what you can expect from it today.

You no longer have to load a free roam event to listen to the music. You can now access and play the entire music library, barring a few sound files, from the main menu. It is synchronized with your favorite list on the music app of your in-game phone too, and you can manage your favorites from this menu.

To not remove the original functionality of this menu, I've kept a CC0 section with credits and a link to the license.

So, what does the title music have to do with this? Well, from now on, you can set any song of your choice as the startup song for the game. Listen to any song in this music menu and click a button to set the song as the startup/main menu song.

I feel this is the best way to do this since we're at a status quo with the title song, and everyone has a better idea of the replacement title song than the one before them. There will still be a default title song playing from the start, and I won't stop looking for a replacement, but if you wish, you can change it.

While listening to your music, you can also hide the music menu and watch the main menu art without any GUI. I have also added a tips section to the music menu, where you can browse through some of the many useful tips you might have missed.

I hope you will come to like this idea as much as I do.

These changes will come into effect with Season 3, for starters. There are some additional difficulties to deal with if I want this added to Season 1/2, but I haven't ruled out adding this to that main menu.

Aside from this work, I posed Jill's special render set this week. She will get a set consisting of 20 static renders, just like Josy will, for this episode. The theme I've chosen for her set this time is "Surprise gift". I'll show you a preview of this series soon.

I've added code for the special renders in the Rewards app and started placing magazines in the game as unlockables. There is still some work left in this area, but it's just a matter of deciding how to unlock the special renders and testing that it works. Everything else in this area is done, including 2D art, 2D animations, and Pack Quest renders.

Two of my workstations have been rendering that long cutscene-like animation I mentioned a couple of weeks back, and it's about 50% done. I'm very pleased with the rendering speed of this animation; it's been better than I could have hoped. My other PCs have been working on static renders and other animations.

I also continued my work on both writing, posing animations, and static renders this week. I've been feeling very motivated lately, and this only gets reinforced by seeing the to-do list get shorter.

Another week of static render work is coming up. I'll have some updated numbers on the progress for you next week.
Have a nice weekend
Love ya
Dr PinkCake

Status update Episode 9

I rarely have to post bad news, but today I must, so let's get it out of the way.

I've been asked to remove all songs from The Friday Prophets from the game.

When I downloaded their songs from Soundcloud, they were uploaded with the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, making them free to use commercially, but this usage wasn't what they intended.

I reached out to them four years ago about using their songs, and I got my reply this week asking me not to use their music and to remove anything I had added since.

It's sad for all of us, for me, the game, and fans, since the songs have grown to become iconic during that time. No replacement to Punk Rock Flu will give the same nostalgic feeling when you start the game or a new episode, at least not for many more future episodes and years to come.

I will respect their copyright and remove all their songs from Seasons 1/2, and 3.

**Please, I ask you not to direct any negativity toward them because of this decision.**

I truly believed I used their songs in good faith because of the licenses, and it's unfortunate for everyone that it came to this.

I tried my best to replace the songs with similar tunes to preserve the college feeling of the game. We'll see what happens in the future regarding the title song.

**Patch v0.8.3 is live**

I had to work with preparing new builds for Steam/GOG/Patreon this week, which isn't all that bad since it gave me the chance to include a bunch of other bug fixes alongside this.

This impacted the game development by a few days, but now I don't have to worry about patching Season 1/2 when it's time to release episode 9.

All work with the patches is now done, and I can go back to focusing on episode 9 again.

My team of testers and Discord staff have been awesome in helping out with verifying the bugs and builds, and they saved me a tremendous amount of time by helping out.

The new patches are live on Steam, GOG, and Patreon now.

If you want the latest bug fixes for the Patreon version, version 0.8.3 is available [here](https://www.patreon.com/posts/59816635).

You can patch your current Patreon v0.8.0/v0.8.1/v0.8.2 version if you'd like to receive all bug fixes. It is a smaller 415 MB patch for episodes 1-8.

If you can't patch your game, the full download (v0.8.3) is also available [here](https://www.patreon.com/posts/58768095).

There's no new content in v0.8.3, and I didn't post the patch as a big release post as I don't want to confuse anyone into thinking that episode 9 is being released with this patch.

You can find the changelog in the release posts.

Similar changes for Season 3 (Interlude) will come together with the upcoming v0.9.0 release, including episode 9.

**Development news**

Onto the development news.

Aside from work mentioned above with the patches, I started the week working on static renders.

I also wrote five more scenes for the episode, one per main girl.

I've started planning and working on the new main menu art for Season 3. I want the main menu to look as good as possible for the duration of Season 3. I have made nine new art pieces for the main menu and have 10-15 more to make. Next week's status update will show you a preview of the main menu.

I will continue my work next week to complete this task and then continue with static renders.

PCs have been rendering animations, and there has been no downtime regarding rendering this week.

Thanks for your support and understanding during this unusual time.

We'll get through this!

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Status update Episode 9

This week I worked on static renders and animations. I have now posed 3253 renders for the episode, and about 180 are in the render queue.

I also posed the longest animation in the episode so far; a \~1 min 19 seconds animation consisting of 27 animations. The longest animation in the game so far has been 30 seconds. Episode 9 will breach that minute mark with three animations.

Making these long animations has felt more like working with cutscenes than standard animation work. It's new to me, and I believe this is the next level for Being a DIK in this area. I can't wait to show you everything!

I'm working on the final free roam event at the moment and I will keep pushing on with the art until I need to write some of the remaining scenes.

I have a scene coming up where I will have to pose more characters than I ever did in a scene before. I haven't counted how many characters there are for this scene yet, but probably somewhere between 50-70.

It's going to be exciting and very demanding work, and also feel like it's going super-slow at times to make a single render. But I know how similar renders in this episode already turned out great, so I know these will too, and that the work is worthwhile.

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Я чувствую себя помолодевшим. После достижения всех целей, которые я намеревался достичь, мне нужно больше целей, к которым нужно стремиться. Виолончель, йога и дегустация вин, я с нетерпением жду возможности овладеть вами. Совершенство