Greetings,
Welcome to the third and final sprint of the rework! Nearly there!
I had a nice break and now I'm getting back into it. I haven't been completely idle, as the PC's have been busy re-rendering some episode 4 scenes while I was away. I messed some of them up previously during the EP1 and EP2 relaunch due to some lighting changes, and some haven't yet received an update at all since the initial launch. I also upgraded the engine to UE 5.6, which finally fixed an annoying bug with the hair shading model I've been struggling with for so long (the pixel normals were broken if the character was on any other axis than standing up, so laying down broke the hair shading for example).
First, I'll be working on finalizing the fight system and getting the "Fight Now" feature finished and working. I couldn't do it previously, as I needed Diana's match fully realized with the missing moves. I'll also have to think of a way to be able to select your fighting style and assign your moves. Furthermore, I need to implement the ability to evade takedowns and clinches, and I'll try to make the submission game more challenging by adding a timer. The higher your skill level, the more time you'll have to execute submissions. I've already made some of the UI improvements, making the visuals like the stamina bar and available action points look a little better.
Next, I'll start setting up the STEAM store page, so I can start asking people to add this game to their wishlist on STEAM while I continue the re-development of EP3. I mapped out the progress tracker for EP3, and I never realized how big it was until I saw it mapped out like that. 10 scenes more than EP2, but 18 scenes less than EP4. Speaking of the progress map, it gave me an idea that I'd like to play around with. I'm considering making a new phone application within the game that shows you something similar and indicates which route you're on and what scenes you've missed. I'll have a go at programming something like that and see if it can work.
There's a lot of little things to take care of this final sprint, like creating promo material, updating the old banner, finish the walkthrough PDF's, all of which is long overdue. One thing I have now is time, so I'll make the most of that while I still have it. I may take on a contract at a company at some point to make some money which will reduce the time I can spend on this project, but I don't know yet if that's happening. We'll see!
Cheers,
Ezy ❤️