So it's time for some good news about the Crown of Leaves!
We've been thinking for a while after analyzing the situation with save-file bugs, which caused errors in the game code and awkward FPS stutters, and… We have finally moved from the free RenPy engine to a professional paid engine: Game Maker Studio 2, which is more suitable for our needs and the genre of "the Crown of Leaves". It has finally provided us with decent optimization and stable work. You'll be able to check this out when the game updates on Steam – which will happen at the same time with the release of Chapter Two. We have been busy with this for a long time, but most of the first chapter has already been transferred to the new engine, and everything is going smoothly, so we've decided to share that news with you!
Changing the game engine has entailed some changes within the team. Our previous coder, who had been working with the game’s modules –mold.ff– unfortunately left The Broken Horn. Now coding is entirely on the shoulders of our new programmer: Dizir. Such an arrangement allowed Lins (screenwriter and sprite artist) to relieve herself of coding responsibilities to focus more on the main plot of Chapter Two, and enabled her to finish it with all routes in under 3 months. The script’s word-count is approximately 37,300 words without additional dialogues, points of interest, item descriptions and the Mindscape's articles! Maria Mukharskaya, a professional literature editor and also Grimm's mother, has wholly joined our team. She has been ruthlessly reading the text, making corrections, checking the logic and behaviour of the characters, and also discussing the further plot with us. It’s possible that her interest in this story played a huge role in a morale boost for us to pull ourselves together and continue our work.
And we've also got a professional translator, Lada Zainullina. Lada works fast -and this is important for us because we are going to publish "the Crown of Leaves" in two languages at the same time.
And finally, we now have an animator (!), Fjorge, who will make the character sprites life like by animating their tails, and she also helps us work with the animatic.
To sum up:
► The main scenario for the second chapter is finished! Almost all sprites have already been drawn, and Grimm has completed 80% of all backgrounds. We still need to work on quests, additional dialogues, descriptions of points of interest and items, as well as to write articles for the Mindscape. Cutscenes are currently only in the sketch phase.
► Transferring the first chapter to the new engine is in full swing. With the help of Dizir, we don't have to work on coding by ourselves anymore, which means we don't have to waste our time on it.
► The release date is scheduled for the end of the 2020, according to our tradition - on the 27th (November or December). Perfectionists take time with a margin!
► The second chapter is almost twice as large as the first!
P.S: What else would we like to tell you about the game? We've planned to create a small story in three chapters, but it seems like we have placed too many mysteries to the first chapter but haven't answered that much on them. Therefore, the second chapter will not only answer some of those questions that concern you, but will also begin to gradually lead you away from the Hill Camp, inviting you into a great adventure beyond its borders.
That's all for today, folks! Don't forget to wash your hands. And thank you very much for being with us!
Let's keep strong, no matter what 2020 prepares for us.