Hello everyone!
It's been a busy two weeks here at the studio - I'm back to my usual 80-hour a week schedule, 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, no days off - trying to organize everything across the studio and getting the last of the new pre-production duties out of the way. As a director you have to work these kinds of hours and lead by example otherwise you really cannot ask the same of your team when the going gets tough. Burn-out is not really an issue since it's an honor to work on such an amazing project, but I hope to dial it back a bit once production gets into full swing and departments become self-sufficient.
Here's a rundown of what we've been doing since the last update:
SCRIPT
We've expanded the game from a 3-chapter game to a 10+ chapter game, so a lot of the ending and third act is still a work in progress - but we've made amazing progress on the script so far and we're on course to have it ready for recording well ahead of time. We're also in the process of headhunting an additional writer to help with the onboard dialogue sequences. This new writer will take a bit of weight off Kristoff and myself in terms of the writing load. We also hope the new writer will vary it up with a more feminine tone as well, instead of the usual testosterone-fueled fuckery.
MODELING
The Mantic bestiary is expanding by the day, and thanks to the hard work of Dzung and his team alongside our new modeler, we have alien dicks galore! We're also cleaning up some of the existing models and making them more consistent with our art direction. Anything else we don't have time for will be supplemented by buying them off the trusty Unreal Marketplace and corrupting them, in true StudioFOW fashion.
WAIFUS
Elaisha is getting finished up rigging-wise (the hair is fucking insane) and she'll be all good to go next week. Dzung and Portsman are working on the outfit for the next waifu so we're well on schedule here. The Smenchkin, whilst not a waifu (thank god) is also going to be ready by the end of June. I can't wait to share some screenshots of this critter with you guys!
CLOUD
We've synced our cloud storage and updated our GitHub repository to make sure its production-ready for the devs. We have a new chain of command established for ferrying assets across as well as complete backup system to prevent any mishaps when Manski's obese, 20kilo monster of a cat chews on our cables.
DOCUMENTATION
Basic documentation is now in place for the new devs coming onboard - this will enable them to get their bearings quicker as well as be a point of reference for the team internally. We hope to expand the documentation in the coming weeks.
ANIMATION
The animators are pleased to be experiencing the full power of DEMI's butthole. Very pleased.
KEYS
Steam keys are now being sent out in waves, over 30,000 of you have already activated your copies which is awesome. If for some reason you don't receive a key - check your spam/junk folder. Then double check it again. Then triple-check it. 99% of the time the key email is in your spam folder, 1% of the time it's an actual error. Keep in mind we send keys to the email address associated with your Kickstarter account. If by chance you do have an actual problem please email [email protected] with your issue and she will sort it out for you.
CINEMATICS
I've just returned from a crazy, 3-day storyboarding session in London where we sketched out about 300 shots for the new cinematics that were added as part of the Kickstarter goal. These cinematics are going to be kickass in every sense of the word and will make you all proud to be supporting the game.
We appreciate your support and will see you for the next page of our Dev Diary!
- Studio FOW