To Be A King - Volume 1 News

Thanks to regular steady progress in development (finally!), I've set release dates for the next three releases. Chapter 11 ended up growing quite a bit, so I've split what was originally planned for Chapter 11 into two parts. What was Chapter 11 - Part 1, is now just Chapter 11. Chapter 11 - Part 2 will be Chapter 12, and what I was calling Chapter 12 is now Chapter 13. I am thinking that Chapter 13 will wrap up Volume 2, but I'll know more about that mid-year. Might need a Chapter 14 to finish out Volume 2. I've put the planned released dates for the next three chapters at the end of this post.

Progress is good on the next release. There is finally a good groove, and issues I run into are more easily dealt with now. It has been a very long road to get here, much longer than I expected or hoped for, but the render speed gains, as well as the ability to do things in renders that were never possible in Daz Studio (my old software) are making me very happy. It is going to be fun to grow more into the new software over the next few years.

The remaining chapters in Volume 2 are doing a lot of work for our story. There are some characters, like Alessia, Tamura, and Flavia, that we have not gotten to know much about. That will be remedied over the next three chapters. Also, there are several big decisions, like choosing your queen, that you will be making. For a lot of you, there are going to be many more save files over the next three chapters.

My final note is that we have a few more characters coming into our story over the next two chapters specifically. These new characters are going to present some interesting choices for you, and some may test current alliances. Just when you think we might be getting some normalcy.

I'll be back around mid-February with what should be my final development update before Chapter 11's release. Have a fantastic 2024!

2024 Planned Release Dates:

• February 23: Chapter 11
  
• June 7: Chapter 12
  
• September 27: Chapter 13
  

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As always, thanks for the support, and join our Discord server to discuss with other fellow kings ❤️👑

ITRoy

Would you believe I'm still not over this virus? It isn't near as terrible, but I am definitely approaching that 8-10 week mark. The good news is that it is causing me fewer issues day-by-day. I did check in again with the doctor, and they confirmed it just is going to take awhile to get over.



Now on to what you all came to read about: Chapter 11's development. The very good news is that render progress is now steady. Not that there isn't the occasional issue that grinds things to a halt for an hour or two while I figure out how to solve it, but I'm back to a life of cranking out renders (and then inevitably redoing some of those when I find things I missed the first time). That and rewriting rougher parts of the script.



I'm using a new clothing setup that allows me to grab clothing during simulation to position it. This allows for some "happy accidents," and lets me get creative with some of the clothing items I'm using. You'll get to see this in some of the previews. And speaking of clothing, it turned out to be much easier than I thought to get custom clothing into these scenes. So you'll get to see some more period appropriate outfits for some of our characters, though many have a few modifications to make them a bit better fit for an adult visual novel. In fact, a lot of the custom clothing is more problem free than the clothing items I was using before.



At this stage, progress is steady, but things are still fluid. While writing my scripts, I always estimate how many renders a scene will get. Render setup, while quicker, is still the largest chunk of my time. I already had an enormous release with Chapter 11, and a lot of scenes are growing the render count, as I go through and do them. This is one time where a progress bar or some other example of progress isn't very useful. Scenes vary in size, complexity of characters, posing difficulty, etc. There are some scenes that are on the chopping block, but I'll make the decision whether to nix those before I start renders on them after I have more of these essential scenes out of the way.



One big area that I've been working on to speed up my development times is doing only what I have to do for the render. In times past, I would look at a render from nearly every angle, and then make adjustments. Now? I get my camera setup before anything else and then look through that only. If there are problems visible from the camera, I'll only fix those. This has also helped with things like environment creation, as I just need to get those to a baseline of quality, and I can adjust any details during individual renders or scenes.



That's all from me for this month. I'll be heading on a holiday "vacation" (family visit) in about a week, and then return back here before the end of the year. During the break, I'll be doing some editing of the script and writing, but render work will cease during that time. I will have some special holiday themed renders coming before I leave. Have a great holiday season, and I'll be back with another development update in January.

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As always, thanks for the support, and join our Discord server to discuss with other fellow kings ❤️👑

ITRoy

Apparently someone was plotting against me. The last three weeks have seen me recovering from a nasty virus (not covid, thankfully). At times I was a bit worried that parts of my lung might come out, as the coughing is intense. Nothing I've gotten from the doctors has done a whole lot, so far. Still getting work done, but at a slower pace.

There is a lot to explore in Chapter 11, and I am working hard to do it all justice. There are very few characters who won't get some screen time, though some favorites (e.g., Kaylan, Flora, & Aelinia) will figure prominently. Thanks to some recent software updates, I think the ladies might be looking their best ever, and I've found a new way to easily manipulate the clothing for some "special reveals."



There are two big decisions in Chapter 11, and I continue to polish the script to get us naturally to those decisions. The real difficulty is making sure it is clear to you what the major implications are without just spelling it all out. This is especially important since even I realize new consequences to these choices as the story progresses. If you've been eager to get some big choices out of the way, Chapter 11 will be very satisfying. I am certainly no professional when it comes to story development, but I've enjoyed writing this chapter and it feeling like the characters are naturally interacting with you and the other characters. There are some big revelations in this next chapter, as well as some very difficult choices.



The holiday season is fast approaching here, and I've got some trips to make to visit family. I am trying my best to get Chapter 11 out the door before all that happens, and I'm cutting stuff like crazy to get there. We will see how things hold up. As the recent bout with this virus taught me, you cannot always know what is ahead. For those in America (like me), have an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I think Flora is going to cook a big meal.