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Development Update #84
🕑 Added 2023-04-24 17:40:36 +0000 UTCThe grind continues, and I'm not going to bore anyone with details of the triumphs and agonies of the last couple of weeks. I am trying something a bit different with development over the next couple of weeks. You can get all the details (and a sorta preview) by watching the video (no longer 18+!), but the gist of it is that I am now going to try and complete a scene (or most of one) in Unreal Engine to work out all the bugs. There's a lot still to get done for characters, but I'm hopeful that this will be more interesting for you all to see for progress, as well as a nice change of pace for me. Now let's talk about To Be A King's future, without getting spoilery.
New Lands to Survey
Due to Daz limitations, I planned to keep things centered in Caudium. That limitation, along with the animation issues in Daz, are what really pushed me to move to Unreal Engine. Imagine the General and his traveling companions looking out over a vast landscape. Impossible in Daz (without some SERIOUS faking of it). Easily possible in Unreal Engine.
You'll be visiting Egypt, Gaul, Estrid's homeland, and likely a few other locales over the next few volumes. We will return to Caudium periodically, but it's time to visit some new places in future volumes. I don't intend for long journeys to these places, so there will be some short time skips. If all goes well, we will even join the General during his sailing across the Mediterranean on a custom war ship.
More Characters To Meet
I don't want this to turn into 101 To Be A King characters, but we have many left to meet. Possibly some more late game love interests. My original plan with the harem was for most players to do a "gotta catch 'em all" type playthrough. Well, based on how you all feel about the different personalities, I know that isn't likely for most players. That means I'm less concerned about adding in a few more options, as you'll probably only have a handful in a given playthrough.
The General also needs a few more military commanders, and we are going to meet those men over the next two chapters. My goal with these new characters is to ensure they enhance the story and don't remove precious time from your favorites (Kaylan, Aelinia, Flora, etc.). The switch to Unreal Engine is going to make that easier to maintain. Within a few releases, I'm expecting even larger chapters, though your actual playthrough time probably won't increase a great deal. Just more options. More on that in a moment.
Oh, and we are going to meet more gods and goddesses too, if you've chosen to enjoy those scenes. Some very unique characters are ahead, and maybe Queen Avila finally presents herself in the flesh.
Unique Story Choices
When you are doing 1000+ renders per release, and can only setup and render those out so quickly, it is important to keep the story a bit more concise. Put up some guardrails, and make sure you don't enable a dozen choices for one scenario. I haven't been the best at that, but I have cut out a ton that either wasn't possible or would add way too much development time. Trust me.
That changes with this render engine transition. Once I get my bearings in Unreal Engine, I'll be able to let you, the player, direct more of the story. Things like alternate scenarios with a change in a character can be done in minutes, instead of many more hours of setup and rendering. Clothing and hairstyle choices will likely also be included, assuming I don't find significant issues when I test that. Oh, and you'll get to choose when certain things happen, within some limits. I still need to make sure I don't have a story with more branches than a 100 year old oak, but I'd like to offer you all the opportunity to do things like visit the tavern, pay a visit to Goddess Anna, and maybe see if your favorite princess is available for a quickie. I have many ideas, but they will need to go through some testing with my beta team before I can say yay or nay. Nothing about this is going to make the game free roam. Just some more choices presented where you can choose where to go next. Maybe even get risky with your choices to see what happens…
How Long, Roy?
How much longer until the next chapter? How about the completion of To Be A King? Short answer: No good idea right now. I hate to promise and miss a date (short of a catastrophe). I planned for 4-5 months for the next release, if I kept everything in Daz with its animation system. We are past the 4 month mark now, and my to do list remains large. This transition has been both the most exciting and most demoralizing change I've done for TBaK. Quite frankly, I've felt like an idiot many times. I haven't, for a moment, felt this transition to be an error. But I've certainly questioned whether I'm missing some big thing to make this easier. Sadly, it appears not. A lot of this is trial and error, even for experienced developers in Unreal. All I can do is plug along daily, and continue to show you all the progress.
My goal for Chapter 11's release now is sometime late this summer. Believe me that I prefer quicker release cycles, and I hate the wait as much as you all. Sadly development is not a quick process, even in the best of times. I know it can look like all I need to do is write some words and stick some characters into a scene and pose. Sadly, even just in Daz, it is never that easy. The good news is that you'll (relatively) soon have beautiful fully animated scenes with your favorite characters. They will look more lifelike, and even the environments and clothing will be more realistic and period appropriate. It's my first go with animations, so I'm also studying other experts on how to do these since the devil really is in the details.
As for the end of To Be A King, I'm now looking at 4-5 more years as a reasonable timeline. Volume 2 has two to three more chapters left, and there is going to be a Volume 3 (and likely a Volume 4). Those should average 5-6 chapters. That means that, conservatively, we have 12 more chapters, and those will continue to grow a bit in size. If you want many more adventures in the kingdom, you won't be disappointed. Just writing out the remaining events that will happen in Volume 2 makes me giddy. Big decisions lie ahead, and, as you've seen with me, I love to let your decisions take many chapters to play out. I'm evil like that. Every character will continue to develop, and yes, there will be more weddings. Let me stop here before I spoil anything. Goddess Anna would be pissed!
