Yo, wassup everyone.

Hope you've all had an amazing holiday & new years. I've been having some bad times these past few weeks which is why I've been pretty silent, but I can happily (and filled with anxiety) announce what's happening going forward.

We're dumping the old engine, and moving to Blender!

This post is going to be pretty long, so if you'd like to hear a smaller rundown scroll to the bottom for a TLDR.

What does this mean going forward?

Well, It means that Episode 1 will be completely reworked in Blender.

It's amazing to see how much positive reception Episode 1 received from here and other various sites the game has been uploaded too, on a personal level however, there's a lot of things I feel I have done wrong/badly that can't be corrected staying on the current path.

The biggest gripe I have is what I like to call "the stink of coincidence" 

From the Jester targeting the MC early on with no real explanation or build up; The Hero just coincidentally visiting the same town as the MC right as we arrive. I could go on, but you probably get the picture.

These aren't fixable problems without going back to the root cause, which from the beginning was pure bad planning on my part.

The Blender edition of Episode 1 will feature a complete rework of the story post-Goblin cave arc. Even the Goblin Cave arc will receive a lot of love with some minor changes, but overall the story of the arc remaining in-tact.

So... Why The Engine Change?

Creative freedom with the koi studio engine is practically non-existent. My needs have completely outgrown the capabilities of the engine, and for Episode 1, I found myself spending more time in Photoshop just trying to fix things or make additions I simply couldn't do in-engine. 

Even something as simple as the trails from a sword being swung had to be done in photoshop, which took a lot of my time during the later half of Episode 1.

The workflow is also PAINFULLY slow. Maps from Episode 1 were completely custom created using in-studio assets, something I prided myself on since it made every location unique from other VN's. However, these maps also took hours, if not days to make by hand. I don't have this problem in blender.

You see this? This is just an out of the map preview of what the new HobGoblins cave area will look like in the Episode 1 rework, and the geometry for this place alone took less than an hour despite it having the details a rocky cave would usually have.

I could go on and on with how much better the quality of renders are; the VFX I can now create; and having access to animation tools that are native to the program and not something that has to be added with a clunky to use plugin; but for the sake of time I'll end this segment here.

B-But, What about the Chara-

Shhhhhh, don't you worry.

The main characters you have come to know so far aren't going anywhere. Those with a keen eye (or if you're not blind, pretty hard to miss) will have noticed Bigger-Kino looking extra drippy compared to her old style. Most, if not all, the main characters will be receiving smaller-scale reworks, but for the most part, they'll remain completely recognizable as the characters you've come to love over the course of Episode 1.

The biggest changes will be the side characters. Some will remain with minor reworks, some will sadly be gone for more improved designs, however the fun part is...

You'll get a say on the Final Designs!

Uh-huh. I'm gonna be doing some pollin' shenanigans for the final designs. This may go to complete shit, but I think it'll be a fun way of giving support incentives going forward as well as a way of getting the community as a whole involved in the games production.

How this'll work is pretty simple:

• Four samples of finalized designs from myself will be posted with a poll.
• Pick the one out of the four you like, and that'll be counted as your vote; self-explanatory.
• If in the scenario a vote between two options is close, then those two will be given a separate poll for the final design.
• There is also a chance that I may consult in the comments of those two designs what people like the most to see if I can potentially combined those aspects together to make an even better design.

Additional votes to the polling will also be given as a support incentive for higher tiers over on Patreon. While I like to keep things fair, I also would like to add some more incentives for providing support, and I will also be adding an additional cheaper tier of support for accessibility.

This polling may or may not including final designs for main characters. I already have an idea of the smaller changes I'd like to make, but new characters that are introduced to the party in future updates will most likely have some kind of poll influence.

(Note: Increase in support would probably be required for this to work properly. This isn't to say I'm not willing to try polling the final designs, only that some decisions may be a little skewed without more votes. I'll be monitoring everything pretty closely in the beginning to make sure nothing goes to shit.)

How long will the whole process take?

There is no ETA. Plain and simple.

I know this will come as disappointing to some, and to those people I apologise. This isn't something that was a quick decision, I have been making it over the past few months, even before Part 3's release, and the animations I had already completed for the animation update I had planned were pretty much scrapped once I locked in the decision to move to blender.

Having my time focused between the two just wasn't going to happen; I just don't have the time for it unfortunately.

It'll take a while. The entire Episode 1 will be released as a whole, with animations, new story arcs etc. but that's about all I can say.

I will be looking to significantly reduce the amount of renders compared to previously. On average the updates were released with 700-900 renders each, and Part 3 was around 1200 which is pretty nutty; Not to throw shade, but some games don't release with that many renders in a years worth of multiple updates let alone one.

This'll be done by having some more traditional VN styled scenes with sprites rather than full on renders to fill in the gaps. These traditional VN styled scenes won't be replacing important scenes in the story that require full renders, only sections where having renders just isn't necessary.

Patreon Support & Final Thoughts

As usual, I just want to give a quick thank you to everyone who supports me on Patreon and here on Itch. I don't do any of this for monetary gain, and just getting even a penny for this is whole thing is just insane to me.

I will be looking to add additional incentives to all tiers going forward. Since the release of Episode 1 - Blender Edition will be the entirety of Episode 1, it's going to take a while to get there. In turn, I'd like to add some additional incentives to each tier to give a reason to provide support for the project; What those will be, I have no idea yet.

I need to brainstorm some stuff, and I will be asking in the discord for possible suggestions.

The monetary support helps go a long way both in my personal life, as well as being able to commission models I simply couldn't make on my own due to time constraints.

I'll end this post here. Sorry for the long wait and long silence, and I hope you're all looking forward to the incredible improvements that the Blender edition will bring!

-DuckDev 🦆

TLDR

I'm switching from Koi Studio to Blender, and Episode 1 will be receiving a complete rework to fix a lot of the narrative issues in the current release. Blender will give me a lot more creative freedom going forward, and significantly speeds up the workflow overall. Character designs will also be getting reworked, in some cases like side characters, they may receive a complete redesign. Main characters are staying, only getting lesser changes to their designs like what you see with Kino. I will be looking to poll character redesigns/reworks, as well as additional incentives to Patreon tiers, and another cheaper tier to open up more potential votes for the polls.

More traditional VN styled scenes with sprites will be added as a way of reducing the render count and hopefully speeding up production. This will only be done where necessary, and when full-on rendered scenes are just not needed. Patreon support is appreciated for the project's development, and I thank you all for your patience with my silence these past few months.

PS. I strongly recommend you read the full post, or at least skim through for full context.