Lack of Updates

I am very sorry that I took so long to post another dev log. I didn't actually think I'd post another update 2 years later . I have been busy with life, and sometimes I felt like models or code had to be completely done and presentable before I made another update. I also felt like making an update earlier than right now would've been pointless because there wasn't great amounts of progress back then. But I feel like ever since the last dev log article post, we have made some great progress with this game.

The Game's Status

So we are still in pre PRE production. Still have a lot to do, modeling and programming wise. I've recently have just been doing quick mock ups of the models for the rooms so the modeling process can go a bit quicker I guess. I have been procrastinating on the character models, and it's not that I don't know how to model, it's just that it can be a tedious process, but I suppose that goes for every component of game development. I am almost done with modeling Tiny, and once he's done then the modeling process for the other characters will go quicker. All I'd have to do is copy and paste some of Tiny's limbs and warp them a bit.

Mechanics and Rendering

Mechanics have been tough, I'll solve a problem and then a new one spawns in. It is very rewarding when something finally works though. The game will speed up because of my progress with the mechanics. Its been easier to do the mechanics now, compared to how it was two years ago. Its easier to code them now because I changed how the game will be rendered. Instead of the world being 3D with calculated lighting and reflections, I changed it so your game view is looking at pre-rendered images and animations from blender, which is how Fnaf games would traditionally do it (honestly idk why I didn't do this in the first place). This is making the game dev process go quicker. If i was still importing 3D assets to Unity and trying to bake lights for hours, the game's development would probably extend for another 5 years . Idk about you, but I want this game to release soon.

Writing

The game's script is also going through a long and weird phase. We are having detective elements that happen between the main night shifts. These detective parts will be important to the story, so we are basically trying to make a murder mystery story, which takes a lot of planning to do. We pretty much have the beginning, middle, and end written down, along with other lose parts that we want in the game. So it's a matter of connecting all of those parts in a way where its not trash. But besides script, we are also writing lines that the animatronics would say during night shifts. These are easier to write because they don't really require a direct connection to the main story.

Voice Acting

WE HAVE VOICE ACTORS!!! So if you follow me and this project, you will know that I have constantly made help wanted posts for voice actors. We would get a few people offering to help, but not a lot. And we only had a few people that are part of our team that could voice act, they also could only do so many characters. So we pushed this to Casting Call Club (CCC), basically an app for creative people that need other creative people. The most auditions we got from people on Gamejolt and our Discord were only 14, but with CCC we received 65 voice auditions! With that many auditions, we were able to cast all 12 characters. By the time you see this post, the voice cast should be listed in the description of our game page. These people are really cool and I highly recommend them if you are looking for voice actors for a project you are working on or will work on in the future.

Future

So I will try to make more dev logs and show more progress for the game, even if the models are not finished or the mechanics are not completely done. I'm trying to work on a tech demo and get that out as soon as possible for you guys, and then maybe launch a kick starter in the future. Hope this post is reassuring, because I know when developers are very quiet, people start to lose hope for a release of the game. Game is still in development, and I don't think it's going to get cancelled anytime soon. Make sure to follow our game for more updates.