So I got Octane, and it's awesome.

Hello again. Instead of going into details here, I will simply say that this project now potentially has a lot more of my time than it previously did due to impending real life changes. Due to that and a few other factors, I caved and bought Octane. It is amazing so far with a few issues here and there that need fixing but as the previews below show, it is quite nice. This also renders in minutes as opposed to the hours that poser renders take. The main problem there is that I am limited to small scenes with only about two figures maximum or else my gpu can't handle it right now. (I think I have ways around this but so far that is what I have found with preliminary tests.) That means that making stuff for octane renders is a bit more work for me right now as I need to make many small scenes as opposed to a large one with many parts. (This may be for the best.) Also yes, this was partially why I had that last poll about if people wanted fewer, quality images or not.

I will do the best that I can with this and hope that this works out better than things have been; but either way I think changes are going to have to be made to my current system. What those changes are, I am not totally sure yet but fair bet the Patreon exclusivity for things will be lengthened at the very least. (I have been considering this for a while as people who actually read this know; this is a pretty good time and reason to do so.) So the Patreon mini-sets from here on will absolutely use Octane; it is perfectly suited to them as the below images show. I have no idea what this means in regards to main sets yet, I would like to use Octane for them but it would be weird if some images couldn't be done with it and some could, but I will try. As far as the game goes, I also have no idea if this will work for it or not, I will see. The problem there is that some scenes I want to include that I just have no idea how I would get it working in Octane given the limits I have with textures.

Here are those previews, feedback would be appreciated. The left image is an octane render of a Lucia image I had on DA (check there for a comparison) and the right image is the octane render of the mini-set 6 preview in the last post; the difference is clear. (I will re-render the rest of mini-set six and repost it as soon as I sort out one of the issues I have with Octane.) I also replaced the old character images for these two on my characters page with these for obvious reasons, the rest will follow as soon as I can get to it. As far as the next story set goes, this kind of fucks everything since I have to change a lot of it (basically break it into two scenes, maybe three) to try and work Octane in. I will do the best that I can, but I may have to break it into two small sets as opposed to the one large set I planned. I know that I also wanted to have the previews up around now, but this screws that plan too. I will try to get the early preview up in the next few days and a regular preview up sometime after that. Also this poll and the one on the right still need votes so check them out: (http://www.poll-maker.com/poll242101xEe5a41Bc-9) For some reason this poll has less than half the votes of the one on the right... no idea why this keeps happening.

EDIT 2/20: Early preview is up on Patreon, hopefully the regular previews will be done by early next week.

Patreon changes, mini-set 6 posted, new polls up now and previous poll results!

Hey everyone. I had some time yesterday after all so I did this month's Patreon stuff as well as changing around Patreon again. I have added in various access options to games I make and edited some other stuff. Basic game early access is lower now, beta game access is where it used to be. Higher tiers have been totally changed and more details specified for them. Mini-set 6 features four images of Helenya and is up now, along with a new wallpaper for all tiers. A preview of mini-set 6 is below. Construction on the next story set will start tomorrow. If you like my work, please spread the word and consider supporting me on Patreon to get early access to my stuff and other goodies (like these mini-sets): https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart. Any and all support is appreciated and helps motivate me.

In the mean time I have put up two new polls; one on the right and one in a link in this post. I am trying a new method of polling, to see if this gets better/more results. This poll asks who you want to see star in my first VN attempt that I am planning through in the general sense. This is not a special poll and so I will not necessarily use the winner of the poll, this is more of an interest gauge. If something wins by a huge margin though, there is a much higher chance it might happen. Be aware; the first three options will limit what I can do in the VN, as I need to get the recurring characters out of whatever trouble they get in to. The last three options allow me to do darker shit like bad ends and the like as the character will not be overly important and is somewhat disposable, including the last option for using (what I planned to be) a future recurring character. I can figure something out if I decide to use her but semi-harsh things happening to her is fine for reasons that may be revealed later if necessary. Anyway here is that poll, (http://www.poll-maker.com/poll242101xEe5a41Bc-9) so vote now and spread the word if you want to see your favorite character in that list in a VN/choose your own adventure game or if you want to see some darker shit with one of the unnamed characters! (I am not sure which I will do, maybe the second one if one of the darker options wins; maybe a bit of both) Comments/feedback welcome on this or the current slave training game. Note: I am not working on the VN game yet in any actual fashion, I am just gauging interest in what people want to see so that I have a better idea what to plan when I do start work on it.

As far as the other new poll; it asks what kind of hair you prefer on female characters. Options available include long, medium, short, ponytails, braids, updos/buns and fancy/eccentric hair. (The last one is for the weird/complex hairstyles.) For a length reference, Zayla's hair would be medium; so longer than that is "long". The results from last weeks polls are that people seem to be alright with either quality or quantity when it comes to images, which is good to know; and that people want me to focus on the story arc, so that is the plan for now. Here is that preview of mini-set 6, and I will post again toward the end of the week (hopefully) with some previews of the next set. (Early previews should be on Patreon in a few days.)

Status Update: 2/11/15 - So far so good.

Hi again. So almost all that stuff I said I was looking into panned out. I have some music and sfx to put in the game, and I got the semi-complex event triggers working. There is little else to do from a structure standpoint given that I want to keep this first game somewhat simple, so it is coming down to time and content. I want this game to have a fair bit of content/different scenes but the more I put in, the longer it will take. Each event for this game is basically it's own miniset, and each miniset usually requires a day or so of work alone. (This is just for the images alone, that does not include the writing/coding of either.) It is probably best that I do what I currently plan to do though, I personally hate it when a game has multiple scenes with identical images and only slightly different dialogue, so I want to avoid that. (As I said before, I plan to have 3-4 variations per training option, each one would be a different image/scene.)

Initial tests that I did have shown that having the in game timer at 30 days might work, but I can't know until a handful of events are working. (It may need more, which is no problem.) I wish that I had something visual to show for this so far, but since it's all coding that would be a bad idea. I have made a lot of progress this past week and have gotten almost everything I wanted to include working in the technical sense. (Still working on the gallery. Actually I have the gallery basically working now, at least for images. Apparently I was trying to do this an old way which no longer works, so now that I have used the new method it works.) I will be busy this coming weekend, so there will not likely be an update until next week sometime, when I will be working on this month's story set. If you want to support my work and help all this along, my Patreon is www.patreon.com/redleatherart. I plan to post a few previews of some events and such on Patreon whenever I get them done; and the game itself will be posted to Patreon a while before it gets posted here for free.

Ideas/questions/requests still welcome, now is the time for those things; before the actual content gets made.

Status Update 2/8/15 - Looking into some new features for the slave training game.

Hey. So I worked on some coding related stuff yesterday with the time that I had. I am still working through some extra things, trying to see what little extras and helpful things I can get working. I want this game to be nice, but I also want to keep it simple enough that I can finish it in a few months. There are many little things that I would like to include if I can; such as more variations, sound effects, music, and maybe a gallery.

As currently planned, each 'activity' is basically it's own mini-set, with 3-4 variations of one or two images each (more for the complex options) depending on how many times it has been done and/or Salune's stats. Once I get most of the coding situated I can work on making the scenes/writing. I know enough from previous small games and other things I have made to get all the mechanics right before doing content. Essentially the base coding is all situated, but the rest will depend on how many bells and whistles I can get working/find content for.

I still could use votes in the new polls, votes so far are really low for whatever reason. One poll asks if you prefer quality or quantity when it comes to images, and the other asks if you want me to focus on story sets. I do use the results from the polls, as shown in the previous post and prior polls so votes are appreciated. Questions and comments are welcome, just keep it constructive.

Patreon miniset 5 posted, previous poll results, and two new polls up now!

Hey all. I have posted Patreon miniset five, it features Zayla and some imps in a few images. Below is one one the seven images as a preview. If you like my work and want to support me, you can get access to sets such as this each month as well as helping to decide what goes into them (to some extent) most of the time as well as just getting my normal sets early. (I am still considering extending the Patreon exclusivity length.) Support also helps my side projects go faster; such as animations and games. Just in case you didn't read the update in the other post; I have also posted the two new bios on the character page if you are into that.

I have taken down the old polls, a few hours before it was technically over but there have been no new votes in the special poll since yesterday so I figured it was done. (I also have something to do later, so I am writing this now.) The result of the special poll is that most people want me to work on the slave training game, so I will do that for the first half of February. If you have questions or want to ask if certain things will be in the game or make a suggestion, feel free to ask in the comments. (The scenes are still being planned so now is the time.) The other options in the poll got a fair few votes though, which is always nice to see that there are other things that I do that people like. The other polls are discussed after the break, to keep this post from being too large. New polls are up though, so vote on those! I am not sure when my next update will be given that I will be working on the game, but I will try to post something next week with a progress report.

Set eight posted to Patreon!

Hey everybody. I actually managed to finish the set today though it took a lot more work that I thought. (It took over 30 hours total to render everything and about two days of spare time for me to finish the writing and postwork.) I need to finish the Patreon mini-set and post the two new character bios sometime in the next few days, but other than that I am drained until the current special poll is done. I tried to go over this set as best I could despite hitting the proverbial wall hours ago; but some small errors may exist if someone gets this before I double check it in the next few days. So apologies in advance for that if that happens, but I really wanted to finish this inside January if possible and I did so that's good.

Set eight is the first part of the small story arc "Road to Lithorca" titled "Taking a break". It features new persistent characters James and Tabitha, along with two elven girls and a big orc. This set is a massive 32 images with both clean and comic versions and there are SIX preview images below; although two are the same as before, just larger and actually finished. I am totally wiped right now and I will try to post the character bios in the next few days along with the new patreon mini-set. If you like the previews below, the set is on Patreon right now for the appropriate tiers; plus you get to support my work and help me make it better. There are also polls on Patreon to help decide what happens in some future projects, including my first VN attempt which I am planning through. Constructive comments welcome, also keep voting in the polls on the right. There are also feeds and follow widgets under those if you like my blog.

EDIT 2/2: I changed a few words on three pages of the comic version of set eight and re-uploaded it; not that it was wrong before, I just wanted to reword some things. I have also added James and Tabitha's bios to the character page up top, so check those out if you are one of those people that enjoy backstory and additional info.

1/29/15 - Status Update and new special poll.

Hi again. So I tried to render set eight last night but once again poser queue manager decided not to work for whatever reason, so I basically lose a day of work. Even assuming that I can get the renders done tonight, I probably won't be able to post this set before the technical end of the month. (Re-renders and postwork takes a day or two and a fair bit of time which I may not have. I have it rendering now, but it takes over ten hours total [assuming there are no problems] and I can't work on anything else if it renders during the day.) This set will probably be put out next week, unless there are basically no rendering problems tonight. (Unlikely.)

I did put out the two animations this month already, as well as all the character bios; so there has been content put out this month. (Each animation is basically a small set by itself as far as work goes, and two small sets per month was my original goal for production.) I think I can finish the Patreon mini-set before sunday at least, but we will see about that as well. Long story short, don't be surprised if this stuff gets pushed back to next week. I would rather it be a bit late and done well than rushed and crappy. (I'm doing the best I can with no real equipment to work with, but I can't make it work when it doesn't want to.)

In other news, there is a new special poll up on the right side of the blog, under the other two polls. This poll was specifically made for those people that actually check my blog often and actually vote in the polls and even read what I write here. This special poll just asks what you want to see me put effort towards for the first half of next month, as many of the high end Patreon polls would. There are a few different options, not all of which will see immediate results. (Some options are simply putting more work towards certain things; they are the ones that say "work on".) The poll will be up for one week starting today, so vote now for your favorite choice.

Also, poll results for the other two polls are very interesting so far; though one does conflict badly with many previous poll results. I will check that out and discuss it when those are done though.

EDIT 1/30: I have had these images rendering for over 24 hours now including re-renders. I will do the best I can to get this posted before sunday, the Patreon miniset will be delayed a bit but whatever; I prefer to finish this main set if I can. There is a small chance I might be able to actually make it, we shall see.