Hiiiiii....

In my last "half time report" I answered the question that's been itching furry craniums the world over: "Where the FECK have I been?" Now, it's less of a question and more of a demand!

This is the halftime report for Build 0.4.x (or 0.5?), which unofficially marks the halfway point of development between the last published build and the next release. That's… pretty bad, considering it's been over five months since the last update. 

It's been a hella-busy 2023. I (eyematerror) moved from California to the Midwest in October. I had to do the entire move-out myself, so the process took many months; it took longer than I hoped. Getting the last update out before my move was very important, but after getting settled into my new home, the Christmas season started… and then I had to take on a slew of art commissions to support the cost of the move… it got exhausting to think about starting dev again. 

I overcame that exhaustion a month ago. Fingers crossed, nothing in my life on this scale or size happens for a long, long time. Anyway, I have some things to share about development, specifically for this year, and why I'm certain it will speed up after this extended break.

What will be new at the next release?

Every character's Part 1 is, more or less, "done". Two main things are expected for the next release of AATV: a return to Danny's route, and the removal of Malik's route. 

A confused Danny between builds & outfits (one on right is still a WIP)

Despite being one of the most prolific characters in the story, Danny's sprites remained (more or less) unchanged, save for some tweaks in 0.2. With the character design skills I've gained, Danny's update achieves greater flexibility to his expressions and movement, which are desperately needed. It's actually hard for me to look at the old sprites now. But he's the donkey you fell in love with, so this version won't stray too far.

A 3D reference model of Danny, made in ZBrushCoreMini

His sprite rework required the most time. We wanted to get all the poses and work done in one fell swoop. This is why we are only focusing on his route for the next build, as it's unreasonable to expect all this and a bag of chips in the usual development cycle, let alone one that had so many distractions.

What will be changed from 0.4?

I'm thinking of releasing a 0.4.1 build that doesn't add new story bits, nor would it remove Malik's path, but it would replace Danny's sprite work. We mentioned the possibility of a patch like this in our last report, which would also include small bug fixes and music reformatting. 

Would you (the reader) prefer this, or would you like everything to come out at once in a 0.5 build? It's been a while since the last build, but 0.5 is at least two months away. That's because part of the next chapter is shared between all characters (in some format), so it's important we get it right. However, it's been a long time - it'd be nice to get something out there.

If we don't release a 0.4.1 build, the next build will be 0.5 and includes what has been mentioned previously. The character sheet is unlikely to be ready by 0.5, but who knows. 

What's the road ahead look like?

In build 0.4, we posted a new version of the Feedback Form - please continue to send feedback! We take your comments seriously. If you have any feelings on the story or its characters, we love to see them. For example, in the last devlog we received comments about someone's intense hatred toward Warren. Since then, I've had a couple people show their support (and, ahem, "interest") in Warren. He's a problematic moose, but we love to see it.

Speaking of problematic boyos, Rodrigo got nominated in the "March Man-ness" poll for 2024 in the 'Niche' category for "Best Musician"! He made it through the first round but came up just short against the bard from NeVeN… oh well! Anyway, if you're wondering what the heck I'm even talking about, go check out Sir Bob's twitter page for more info about this "contest". He's the guy running it, complete with graphics!

Lastly, a reminder that 0.5 signals the start of one extended route per build. Once they get started, these builds should come much faster because we can focus on one character at a time, and we won't be spending half of the development cycle redoing character sprites. This is the 'untold' work you're not seeing that prevents a build every 2 months, as promised.

That's all I've got for now. Once again, I appreciate your patience - it's mostly a one-man show, and I tend to not "sell" my product or socialize its existence. If people are interested in what they see, they will read it. If you took that chance, and read it, and enjoyed it... I LOVE YOU lol.

Back to scripting! :3

-eyematerror