So,
The graphics cards were available for order on January 30 at 3 PM, and I tried to buy some. I was logged in at exactly 3 PM, even a little before, and around 2:58 PM, the site started lagging incredibly.
I was completely unable to do anything, and when I finally managed to refresh a page where they were in stock at around $3,300 per card, I was planning to get three. I added one to my cart, and by the time my cart loaded, the site crashed again until 3:05 PM, and all the stock was gone. 🙁
And now, of course, all these cards are on eBay at twice the price, around $6,000. So, I didn’t get a single one, I’m beyond frustrated, and today I’m going to call some smaller stores to see if they can get any.
But otherwise, the big restock is likely to be in March, which means I’ll probably have to release the demo in three parts on Steam.
Basically, I’ll first release a part that includes three different gameplays, each around 10-15 minutes long, maybe longer for some routes if you take your time. The first path will be purely to showcase the sexual content, because it was really difficult in the demo to show the adult scenes without spoiling the story.
Unfortunately, for you, my loyal patrons, you’ve already seen this part. However, the other two parts will be completely new to you.
That said, the sexual part is what will attract the most attention, so it’s obviously the most polished one already.
And I have no choice but to release it very soon because I need to participate in a festival, and I have until February 24 to register. If I miss it, it would be a disaster because it’s the best festival of the year, the VN Fest on Steam.
So, I’ll release this part for the festival, and then 2-3 weeks later, I’ll release the story-driven path, which takes place before the beginning of the current game.
A few weeks after that, I’ll release the ‘lewd desert’ path with the spaceship and the mermaid.
This way, I can space out the releases. It’s not a bad thing because it keeps players coming back to the demo, but strategically, it would be much better to release everything at once and let people experience the full thing in one go.
For me, this situation is frustrating, because, as I’ve said many times (sorry for repeating myself), I just wanted to release everything at once to show how much passion, effort, and love I’ve put into this game for you and for the project itself.
I wanted someone launching the game for the first time to feel that it’s not just a demo, not just a random slice of the game thrown out there, but actual new content created specifically for this.
On top of that, I’ve really listened to the feedback. Compared to other demos I’ve played, this one has actual gameplay, real things to do.
Honestly, I see it as a little game in itself. If we remove the sexual scene (which you already know and which I had to use because I couldn’t spoil the main game’s sex scenes), everything else is brand new, and I think you’ll really enjoy it.
We explore the relationship between the MC, Iris, and Gladys a bit more, and you’ll learn more about their past.
Though the real backstory of the MC will be revealed in Bonus 4, which I’m dying to work on. There are scenes I literally dream about at night because I’m so excited to create them in 3D.
I’ll try to post a pre-render of the mermaid video tonight or tomorrow. Just so you know, she’ll be wearing a swimsuit in this preview to avoid spoiling too much, but I think she has one of the best body designs in the game. I spent a lot of time refining her shape, and honestly, I regret not making her a main character. That’s one of my biggest regrets.
However, right now, rendering this video properly with my current setup is nearly impossible. The rendering time is estimated between 600 and 1,000 hours, which makes it unfeasible (Because of the water).
With the new GPUs I plan to buy, this would drop to around 200 hours max. That means the computer would need to run non-stop for about 10 days, mostly overnight while I sleep. So, in about 20 nights, the video could be fully re-rendered.
For comparison, most of the images in the demo take between 3 and 6 hours (and sometimes even more) to render with my current setup. With the new hardware, it would drop to around 30 minutes to 1 hour max per image. This would completely revolutionize my workflow. But since those GPUs won’t be available to the public for a while, I’ll have to make some compromises in the meantime.
That’s why I’ll be releasing a pre-rendered version of the mermaid video, which won’t look great, but at least you’ll be able to see it.
But, as I’ve said before, the Lewd desert location will be subject to polls, and votes. If you decide that these characters should return, they will.
In fact, in the playable Steam demo, you’ll see how and where these characters could come back if you choose to keep them, and you’ll get to meet them in-game.