Update 09 - Now Hear This

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Update 09 - Now Hear This

May 05, 2017 /
It's that time again: another two weeks have passed and April is now behind us, placing VNgen firmly in its sixth month of active development. It's come a long ways in that period of time, and from now on it's only a matter of putting on the finishing touches before VNgen is ready for market. However, finishing touches though they may be, they're also rather large ones. This is where the rubber meets the road—where VNgen transitions from being a prototype to an actual development tool. Silence is (not ...

Update 09 - Now Hear This

Update 08 - Sic Parvis Magna

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Update 08 - Sic Parvis Magna

April 20, 2017 /
I've heard it said that the last 10% of a project is the hardest to finish. The foundations have been laid, all the pieces of the puzzle are in place...and yet there's still a whole checklist of things to do before the work can be considered complete. While VNgen is certainly not done yet, it is this stage where I've found myself for the past couple of weeks, and in more ways than one. Shifting Gears Now, before we get started, there is one other small matter that needs to be addressed: in the past, I ...

Update 08 - Sic Parvis Magna

Update 07 - Perspective Completed

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Update 07 - Perspective Completed

April 07, 2017 /
It has now been four weeks since I first introduced perspective into VNgen—a feature carried over from Edge VN that never really worked quite like I had hoped, and for one crucial reason: it was tied to a specific engine element, backgrounds. While this made sense at the time based on the way Edge VN was written, for VNgen I didn't want to merely tack on perspective as an afterthought. As a result, the time gone into it has been lengthy and challenging, but now at last one of the engine's most complex ...

Update 07 - Perspective Completed

Update 06 - Perspective Continued

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Update 06 - Perspective Continued

March 24, 2017 /
Well, there's only one week left in March, and all told I've done...about half of what I hoped to. It's been one of those months: setbacks, diversions, and unforeseen complications. However, while this may be the last update before April, the foundations I've laid might just cause the end of March to be the most productive days of the month. Collaboration It's frequently discussed how modern occupations can often be lonely business. People work in isolated conditions for long stretches at a time to ...

Update 06 - Perspective Continued

Update 05 - All a Matter of Perspective

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Update 05 - All a Matter of Perspective

March 10, 2017 /
Following last post's flurry of updates, VNgen development has hit a more technical stage over the past two weeks. While no less exciting for the long term, in the meantime it means making design decisions consumes almost as much time as actually programming. But as you'll see, the slower change of pace is paying off, 'cuz VNgen is about to take on a whole new dimension. Don't sweat the small stuff But first, a few words on the smaller tweaks and additions. In keeping with last post's theme on adding new ...

Update 05 - All a Matter of Perspective

Update 04 - Characters, Scenes, Animations, Oh My!

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Update 04 - Characters, Scenes, Animations, Oh My!

February 24, 2017 /
Hello again, world! In my last update, I covered the final pieces of the foundation for Shaftworks VNgen, which I aim to make one of the most advanced and easy to use visual novel engines ever. I said that with the core components in place, development would pick up quickly for the rest of the engine. And this weekend, I'm happy to report that's exactly the case. So strap on your seatbelts, because we've got quite the haul of new features to go over! Around the engine in...well, a lot of ways First off, ...

Update 04 - Characters, Scenes, Animations, Oh My!