Hello there, everyone!
I hope you all have been enjoying v0.23 even with the aging backend barely holding on. 😅
Now some of you might have encountered a few bugs caused by the current backend. Some of these are not solvable because of said backend, which is why this code redesign needs to happen. So let's get into what is being worked on, where the real challenges are, and what you can expect in v0.24!
Some system redesigns are bigger and will take longer than others. For example, the image system. Everything in the game uses it, so the backend redesign of this system needs to be done carefully and thoroughly. I will explain the impact of these changes in the list down below.
Backend systems being reworked:
Image/Video system.
This one is huge since it impacts multiple parts of the game. Not only is it in charge of the entire gallery, but it also keeps track of your unlocked images, showing or playing unlocked images and videos, and everything that displays an image or video communicates with this system to get it done. I almost completely rewrote this while taking a lot of inspiration from RotB.
Stats system.
Another huge one. Not only does the stats screen interact with this system, but everything that can impact stats or needs stats, which is basically everything. The good news is that this gives me a chance to add some stats that were missing at first.
Dialogue.
This is the biggest task without a doubt. I need to update all the dialogue to use these new systems. While I am at it, I might as well split Liz's first chat into multiple parts so that the system doesn't shit the bed when you try to load it. I will also introduce some smart caching to help with the dialogue overall.
ShareSpace.
The ShareSpace code redesign is a big one, but not as big as the three systems listed above. A lot of players might have noticed their game just freezing when a lot of ShareSpace posts are added at once. Sadly, this needs a complete redesign from how the current ShareSpace works. But since ShareSpace works closely with the image and video system, some of the work is already done there, which is why the ShareSpace code redesign isn't that big.
AskItShareIt.
AskItShareIt changes are pretty small. The system is mostly being stripped down to a simpler state (some code is fusing with another system so this redundancy isn't needed), while making some performance improvements.
Browser.
Shops in the browser are being fused into a single system in charge of governing them all. Not a big redesign, but a redesign nonetheless.
Save system.
The save system itself got a few improvements in v0.23. With the new stats system and the way saves are stored, a save migration system is needed to make sure you all can still enjoy the game. To be fair, with the changes to the stats system, I would suggest starting from scratch anyway. It is going to be improved with a small redesign so saves can be cached to improve performance for people having 50 saves.
Day reset.
Restarted from scratch. Pretty small by itself, but the big part is updating the dialogue to use it (as mentioned above). The stats system will also be using this, and so will the new timeline system.
Timeline system.
Completely started from scratch. The old one wasn't reliable or just didn't work at all. Apart from some checkpoints, you will be able to go back to an extra point that will be added for each day so you can go back on a day to day basis.
Compact apps.
This system is being reworked to support multiple apps (ShareSpace, AskItShareIt).
Comic system.
Some code redesign focused on optimization and some added safeguards. Some improvements to the comic system have already been implemented in v0.23.1 to improve quality of life.
Multi lingual support.
The game will be gaining support for multiple languages.
Update system.
A new system will be implemented to download game updates going forward. This will require Patreon authentication. This will allow me to surpass the 4GB APK install limit without you all needing to do anything technical. It also allows me to release updates on a per path basis with a simple notification in the game. Version numbers will now only increase with new features or redesigns, and these are required to download outside of the game. The free version will still receive updates (just not in game), but it will gain the added benefit of getting access to the Patreon version by just becoming a supporter.
Front end polish.
Just polishing up some of the front end.
Now this is quite an undertaking. But last update was 70% bug fixes and optimizations to get it in a somewhat working state. I do not want that happening again, which is why this backend redesign is critical. The good news is that the image and video system, the stats system and the save migration system are already done! Now the changes to the image and video system required me to go through all the images and make some changes to each so they are supported. This redesign alone saved me 1GB of game space while lowering the compression, so you get a better image as a result.
With the sheer amount of work going into the v0.24 backend rework the amount of story content will be minimal. Seriously, just a day (maybe 2) at max of progression will be in it.
I am confident that this backend code rework will solve a lot of issues since most of the design ideas came from the issues experienced while working on v0.23.
I will be tackling ShareSpace and AskItShareIt next!
Thank you all for making this possible! 🥰