Friends! The last two weeks have been spent mostly on animations. They came out pretty good–there’s one that isn’t quite up to our standards so we’ll be reworking that one today, as well as the last handful (3? 4?) of static renders.

We’re so close. We anticipate beginning beta testing on Monday. Testing should prove interesting, as a lot of the underlying code has changed since chapter 4 to accommodate new visual elements. (And to make the code more efficient.)

Our new render server has gotten a real workout. Most animations are between 30 and 60 renders each, all for a couple seconds of video. The increased speed of the new server helps a lot! After a month’s shakedown, we’re going to need to pull it apart and fix a few water cooling issues, but that can wait until after chapter 5 ships.

We’ve also been experimenting with some new animation techniques. The results have surprised us to be honest. We should be able to pull off longer and more intricate animations in the future. Chapter 6 will require a lot of them.

The first part of the story climaxes in the sixth chapter. Well, some of it carries over into chapter 7, but for all intents and purposes you’ll start witnessing Alex take a lot more control over her life.

We’ve been working pretty much non-stop since Confusion‘s initial release last June. (Well, not counting Snax’s time in hospital during the summer…) When chapter 4 was finished, we immediately jumped into the current chapter without a break. This time around, we’re going to take a few weeks off for some much needed R&R. (Hogwarts Legacy is out and we haven’t had much time to play. 😢 Plus, Tears of the Kingdom is coming in May!) So the development cycle will be slightly extended for chapter 6 from our usual 10-12 week goal. Ballpark estimate has chapter 6 releasing some time around July 1.

Witness the habitual twosome of digitally-rendered visuals extracted from the past fourteen rotations of planet Earth. Enjoy!