Progress Summary July

Hey everyone, I'm once more (although a bit later than the last couple ones) back to update you on Dream Molders progress a bit.

I can already say that there isn't a lot to show or tell this time around, but I'll explain in detail further below~

Short Summary + Info

Script Work

-rewrote and improved some story parts

-finalized the first few scenes, added scripts calls needed, etc

Art / Coloring Work

-drawn and edited some more Backgrounds needed

-Made a couple more adjustments to different UI's used InGame

Tama Work

-added Stylist to change your Braixens style in a immersive matter

Some more detailed info on each section & the usual rambling

As already mentioned there really isn't much to show or tell this time around as most work done is text/script based.
I've pretty much started finalizing the different scenes to make them feel more like a proper game and less like a demo.

A big part of that is re-reading everything, adding and changing whatever I feel could sound better, then add the new scripts calls to control the model and scene and finish with some smaller details like additional sounds, music, backgrounds, etc, etc.. 

This pretty much means that, aside from showing the finished scenes, there isn't really a lot that I can talk about at the moment..

I can however, use the chance to show you what parts of the game are actually going to be in Episode 1!

Dream Molder Episode 1 - Planned Scenes

Having finalized the first couple of scenes and gone through most of the story needed I feel confident enough to show what scenes are planned to be included in EP1.

And I felt the best way to do so would be by using some kind of map / flowchart that shows every path of the game like this:

Not only does this map show what scenes are planned for the episode, but also how many are already worked on (yellowish parts), finished (green parts) or will come in the future. (dark parts)

If you've played any of the demos I've released over time you'll actually have a bit of a comparison on the games size and where the episode is likely going to cut off in story.
(White M to H is the very first demo released (the fair), yellow H and box left to it is the last released h-demo (the office one).)

There has been quite a bit of changes in the writing and story since the first demo release so it won't be exactly the same, but it should give you somewhat of an perspective on how big EP1 is going to be.

I hope this clears up some questions you had about how much EP1's release is going to cover and gives some insight on how far we are into finishing it.


If you're interested in how scene-/path structure looked before I started working on it at the start of this month, here's an older scene map from the sketch demo I've released a while back that some of you might remember:

There's still a lot that will change as I work on/rewrite the remaining scenes but as always I will keep you up to date over here every few days or so.
I can also update the map and post it together with those updates if that is something you would like to see~

Art / Coloring Work

Again, not much to be said.
There was need for some additional background work and a few UI pieces here and there, but I will keep most of the art work to till the end of the scene work.

I'm always updating the list on what needs to be done at the end of the scene work when I'm posting smaller updates on the side tracker/discord, so you already know about that one as well!

Tama Work

Although mainly made for the main game, this scene/script will also be used in the tamagotchi later on:

-The Stylist

Now the stylist isn't anything new or exciting as it's pretty much just a modified Braixen Creator, but this is going to be the main tool to change your Braixens style/looks.

Unlike the creator you can only make style changes as clothing has to be bought/unlocked separately.
There won't be all of the styles available since some wouldn't make sense (lucario spike on chest, etc).

You're still going to be able to use those styles in the tamagotchi, but they will be character bound traits that can't be obtained/changed after creation of the Braixen.
(This goes for default tamagotchi gameplay only, you could still use cheats/debug to change your Braixens style at any point.)

Some other stuff, rambling and Patreon related info...

As everyone supporting me on Patreon already knows, I havent been posting in a bit. Again.

I've pretty much fell back into the habit of not posting because I haven't been satisfied with the work I did, which even if nobody get's charged, shouldn't be a thing.

There is a lot of stuff that I set the Patreon up for: Fighting some health problems, trying to imrpove my living situation, support for my "art career" and DM, etc, etc..

Some of the support I've got so far actually really helped me out already!
I've been able to get a graphic tablet and properly get started on learning to draw, improving my writing, buying material and licenses for DM and so on.


DM is taking a lot of my time though and although Iam doing what I can I simply won't be able to post/update as often if I want to concentrate on it.

I pretty much had to make the decision if I wanted to keep working on DM forever and upload other animations and art on the side, or concentrate on DM and going without uploads for a while..

First option would mean I'm stuck with DM for much longer, letting people wait for a finished product not knowing if there will ever be such a  thing, but I would still have other stuff on the side to upload to patreon.
Second option would mean I can focus on DM, but won't have anything to upload to patreon for the time being.

Obviously I wasn't fine with either choice.

I don't want to be stuck with DM forever or make an release seem impossible, but I also don't want to gain support without giving people something to back it up.

I did try both, and both made me rush things or try to meet quotas that I couldn't to then stress out for no reason.


Which is why I thought things over and pausing/freezing Patreon was the best solution.

It's not the end of the world. I'm in an okay place right now (which is partially also thanks to you guys) and I think it's more important to finish DM than worry about improving/making a name of "InDarkWaters".

DM is what I started out with and a lot of people were looking forward to. (myself included).
So I rather take my time to work on/finish it without having Patreon/Upload quotas in the back of my mind than burn myself out.

That's how I started out and worked best with after all.


I can always go back to random animations, Pateon and those other smaller projects that I wanted to work on after that's done.


I'm going to add something like an support button somewhere on the blog or similar for the people that are still bothering me over it (:p), but for now I'm just going to focus on myself and finishing DM.

I'm sorry to everyone that I left waiting over on patreon, I will still come back with some animation, game related and physical rewards once I've got the first release though!

So if you don't mind hanging around, I'm always happy to see you guys once I turn support back on~


That's pretty much all I've got to say right now...
As always I probably forgot about something, but I can always answer some questions over on discord.
So just let me know!

I'll keep updating progress over here so for everyone following, I'll see you around~

-Dark

Progress Summary (Late June)

Hey again everyone, I'm back to post some minor updates & progress on what I've been doing over the weeks.

Similiar to earlier this month there isn't a lot to post, but I'll try to show whatever I can regardless.

Short Summary + Info

Coloring / Model & Animation Work

-Finished shading and modeling a couple of the characters needed for EP1

-Started preparing and coloring the next ones

Script Work

-rewrote a couple more scripts needed for EP1,

Braixen Tamagotchi Work

-started writing the scripts & lines needed for the Tama

-replaced some of the sketches used with a proper model & animations

----------

There's honestly not a lot that happened as coloring & modeling still took me quite a bit.
As before I don't think it's worth updating these kind of things but I don't want to

let you guys sit in the dark/wait for new information either.

Just know that I'm quietly working in the background and actually finishing stuff off one at the time.

I've realized that I've been rushing things too much a couple of times now and slowed down a bit when it came to work on the Braixen Tamagotchi & Sara (the Players childhood friend in the main game).

Keeping to myself and simply focusing on the work definitely improves the quality a lot and I hope that this will actually be visible in the end though.


Starting next month (July) I will actually have a lot of time to work on the game again and can use a proper time plan to not only work on the game but also do some random animations again. (Lopunny is waiting for a while now)

So let's look forward for those and hopefully have something proper to post at the end of next month!

Some more details, spoilers and the usual rambling

I've been hoping to have finished most of the models needed for DM Episode 1 by now but I'm still not quite done.
I've finished enough to add everything into the main game though so starting this month I will work through each DM Scene and make it 100% playable, working on it one at the time until Episode 1 is finished.

This way I can put out somewhat of an daily progress again too since I can post whenever one scene is done.

Model Work
There isn't much to say or show here since most models finished are side characters that are neither important nor have special features/poses to show.

There's the ruffians that have their skeletons finished but no actual animations yet
(so all they can do is kinda idle around in different random poses) and...

 ..the one filler Pokemon I've decided to add for some reason.

I'm working on finishing the other few side characters too
and actually started working on a lot more than I wanted to initially.

I'm not sure which ones are actually going to end up in the game though, so I might end up not finishing them at all.

I'll most likely make this decision when finishing the scenes those characters are in since that will reveal if it feels strange to not having them shown in the first place.

Sara's Model

This was probably one of the bigger parts of the model work needed for EP1.

Physics Preview            /            Test Expressions/Animations

Sara's model is build and works similiar to Fia's/Braixens model but I actually knew what I was doing this time around.

This not only made it a lot easier but a lot cleaner looking as well, which is kind of shame if you think about who the main character is supposed to be.

It did show me that I at least learned some stuff while doing all of this though so if I ever have the chance I definitely know how to improve Fia's model.

As you can see in the preview I've already completely finished the skeleton and added physics, a couple of animations and simple functions needed for the game.

Similar to Braixen's model you can also change the outfit she's wearing directly on the model so adding newer ones for the later episodes will be no problem either.

                                                Clothing Test (Somewhat NSFW)

I'm going to try keeping up this quality for the coming more important side characters, but it's definitely going to be less important.

Script & Tamagotchi related stuff
While I did a lot of work on the models I've also did quite a bit of programming in the background.

There's a lot of thought that went into the different Tamagotchi systems and most of the message box related scripts in the main game have been replaced by now.

Something I'm a little bit stuck right now is adding chat lines and other responses for each different natured Braixen and how I'm actually going to use them in the end.
I'll take my time with those and update you properly when the whole system is done though.


I've made some additional UI stuff, finished the naming screen for both game start and first Tama use.

(Don't mind the unaligned background, that's just a placeholder xD)

I'm gonna ask you guys for suggestions for the random names later on btw,

so Patrons will be able to have their own or OC Names added to the list. :>

A lot of other scripts are mostly functional and there isn't much to show yet, If you're interested in the save menu and that kinda stuff though I'll definitely update you on that too.

Lastly I've replaced some of the early Tama sketches with the proper model and made/added some proper animations to it.

I thought that it would be cute to be able to pat/scratch your Braixen in different locations and have each Braixen have it's own favorite spots, which is probably gonna look somewhat like this.

I'm planning to give pat scenes and similar Tama stuff it's own more detailed model in the future,

for now it's using the usual DM Braixen Model though.

But this is pretty much all I'm able to show right now...
As mentioned before I'm actually skipping support for this month over on Patreon again, nobody needs to worry about though.
Patreon is not my main income/job and although it does help me pay for the servers/software and tools needed to work on all this I would simply feel bad having anyone pay for something I'm not satisfied with myself.

When I feel like I've done enough for myself and/or need the extra funds I'll definitely put it back on.

For anyone that is bothered by this (I have been asked for my paypal/etc a couple of times) I'm thinking of adding a simple donation button somewhere if that's something you want.

Just know that at the moment simply reading through these kinda posts and following what I'm doing is enough support to keep me going already!

I hope this was informative and/or entertaining for some of you guys and I'll see you around with my next update in hopefully ~2 weeks!

Stay healthy and have a good time everyone,
Dark~