Dandori Downpour - A Pikmin 4 Dating Sim - October 5th Development Blog
IT'S BEEN A WHILE‼️
Last time, I hosted a poll about previews and non-canon (to DD) doodles won! Though, I don't really like them LOLOL so I'm hijacking the poll HERE HAVE A SCREENSHOT
Russ' route is complete!
That's right! The first route is fully drawn and implemented! Currently, it sits at 4 game overs and 4 endings!
I'd say total runtime is about 15-20 minutes but there are a lot of extra dialogue if you chose other options!
I am proud with how it turned out! It's my first (playable) dating route ever, I learned a lot!
It's looking like most routes will last the same amount of time (hopefully)
Theoretically, the first route **should** be the longest to produce as the implementation of Russ' route included the intro and drawing sprites for everyone else, as well as some foundational code.
Who comes after Russ?
The answer is Erma! I chose her to be second because her route has a coding mechanic unique to hers (and another character). I believe I mentioned this in the last newsletter? So I want to do hers next to build that code. This should be the last foundational code for the game! Albeit, it's a tall order. You'll see why.
Do you have an estimate on how long her route will take?
Confession time: I am taking a week off of my day job, unpaid, just to work on this game. That is gonna happen during my birth week (wooo my birthday is in a week exactly!) (& it was a birthday present to myself) sooo with a week of working Erma's route full time, I'm hoping hers takes a month to a month and a half? I HOPE...
Drabble
I am genuinely surprised still by how much work this project is LMAOAO I REALLLY underestimated it.
Did you know that I originally thought Dandori Downpour would take about 6 months to complete? And despite working on it daily for 6 months, I only got Russ' route done? Oh, what innocent times.
Regardless, I'm still very determined. I am not letting myself give up! I just want to make this game for myself at this point, so I can see my stupid Rescue Corps babes on my computer screen moving around and talking.
--
WELL... Sorry I left y'all in the dark.. Was too lazy to share last month (or in the zone, kee-hee)
I just really wanted to complete Russ' route. Here's to Erma's route! I am REALLY looking forward to hers (unsurprising)
Very sorry for how long this chapter has taken, but good news is: I’m finally done with the draft of the entire full chapter! It’s now undergoing testing and editing, and should be out / ready for ko-fi supporters on Oct 5.
It has been a real journey (I’m not sure why but this chapter was really challenging to write, mostly because I really wanted to make sure I did enough credit to the possible routes/branching and also cater an experience that even non-Sam romancers would be able to enjoy.) I'm not sure if I fully succeeded, but it's a WIP—with the amount of rewrites I do to earlier chapters... I'm sure I'll improve this one in the months to come as well. !
In any case. Without further ado, I present to you the features for the fifth chapter / update No. 9, and thank you all so much for being so patient with me and supportive!
Update No. 9 Features
Sam attending team dinner (when the flamenco music comes on, you can choose to… get cozy with Sam/Rayyan/Tobin)
Team party on Friday night (participate in a drinking game known as the Devil’s Dozen (party edition). Partner Sam, Tobin, or Rayyan and get… drunk (or not. Non-alcoholic drinks are available too!)
Share a bed with Sam… pt. 1.
Go out to a fancy Italian restaurant on Saturday with Sam (you can choose to wear something nice or not), and then head to a bar afterward.
Share a bed with Sam… pt. 2. [exclusive to Sam romancers]
Have a (tough?) conversation before Sam leaves on Sunday (or you might’ve had the tough conversation earlier on Saturday).
P.S. Sorry again for how long this update has been ‘in the works’, but I can't wait to share it with you all!
If you sent in bugs/errors/suggested improvements earlier, I’m so sorry but could I possibly get you to send it to my gmail ([email protected]) for easier referencing if I haven’t gotten to it yet? The forum thread’s really hard for me to keep track of, so I think I might’ve missed quite a few things!
This will sound awful when I posted last week from Exeter
But I just got home from Wales
Promise I don't usually travel this much XD
Anyway- first drafts for chapter 2 and the second interlude are complete! Interlude is much shorter than the first and doesn't have as many choices just because that's how it worked out, but it allows you to flesh out your dream figure a little more.
I will be getting into coding as and when I can tear myself away from my first BH3 honour mode run (just beat the goblin camp :D) hoping to have chapters released by late September? I'll see how it goes.
The Stellar Crew is hard at work with development! We can't show all too much now, but just know that progress is being made! In the meantime however, We do have a small teaser for some items that we hope you'll enjoy!
Devlog: Unionizing Is Good News For Amadeus's Development
"What?"
This is a very short update, but it should explain what I mean.
( Steam | Itch.io | More Links )
Many things happened this month. I got very sick and very stressed over the situation at my IRL workplace, did a lot of organizing work, and ultimately made a speech about unionizing at a team meeting... which got me placed on "administrative leave" and probably fired. If I'm not fired, I intend to quit anyway because there is no way I can have a healthy relationship with that workplace anymore. I'm still going to support the ongoing unionization effort I've left behind, because it's sorely needed and I really care about the coworkers and clients from that job.
Which means, while I have not had much time for Amadeus this past month, I am about to have a LOT of time for Amadeus in the coming months.
I have the savings necessary to spend a few months unemployed and focusing on finishing this game. So, that's what I intend to do.
I do also have a brief development update! Even in the middle of all this, I managed to get started on a fix to the pathfinding algorithm in Amadeus's point-and-click control scheme. It's not working yet, and if I can't get it to work I will revert to the current system as a backup; but I'd very much like to get it fixed so it feels a little better.
Sorry there's not much more to say for this past month, but I'm looking forward to having more time to focus on this project for a while!
