Quick update

It's been a year since I announced my hiatus, so I wanted to make an update.

First of all, I've been working on the game for a few months now. So yeah, we're back. I've mostly been finishing the Customization Tools, which is functional enough to be used to design and manage dialogues. It's still far from finished, with a lot of features I still need to add, but it should be solid enough for a release along with the next version of the game.

I have also cleaned up a lot of code, little things that bugged me and weren't as neat as I wanted. It won't translate to a lot of change from the users' point of view, but now the code is a lot more maintainable and satisfying to work with. I've also been thinking about the itch.io front page and though it was time to give it a proper glow up, so that's also in the work. As a small teaser, here's a new version of the logo:

I have also been working on a few features and ideas I had for the game that I never really took time to explore. For example, I'd like to add some voices, I think it would be a great way to make every character feel a bit more unique and expressive. I'm considering two options:

1. Beeps. Pretty much what Undertale does for example, or what I'm already doing for the narration textboxes in Debucon. The advantage is that it's really easy to handle: you start with a beep, change the pitch to create intonation, and so on. Creating a new voice requires minimal resources and is as easy as playing with a few sliders. But it's also a bit limited in what it can do and how much personality it can convey.

Example: https://i.imgur.com/qX0baCm.mp4

2. Voiced lines. Not fully voiced dialogues of course, but a set of voiced sound effects to use during a dialogue. A bit like the burp sound effects, but for a wider range of moods and situations: saying "hello", gasping, humming, laughing, moaning... Of course this solution is great for conveying personalities and emotions, but it's also a lot more involved. Let's say one voice consists of 30 different sound effects, creating a new voice requires a whole new set of 30 voiced lines.

I... Erm... "Found" an archive of files ripped from a well known mobile game in which you make magical pets fight each other, that is basically a treasure troves of this kind of voiced lines. So there's that.

Example: https://i.imgur.com/jKbjTxH.mp4

I'm not sure yet which option I'll go with. I'll probably explore and experiment with both. But I'm also curious to know what you think, so I prepared a small strawpoll for anyone who would want to voice their opinion on that. Of course, you're also welcome to discuss it in the comments.

https://strawpoll.com/e6Z28MXr5nN

So here we are. There's no new version yet and I don't know when I'll release one, but it's in the work. I'm not working on the game as much as I used to ; I'm taking more time to look after my health. But still, I'm back in business.

Thanks you to whoever is still following me and hasn't completely given up on this game! I still have big things planned, and hopefully you'll get to experience it soon.