I love deleting code - and over the last 6 weeks I've deleted a lot of it. Read on to find out why this is good news and I'm not crazy. [h1]Stopping the Rot[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42879931/084cdca490d79fb107d7933516ddf0c9dea8bc31.png[/img] Regular readers may remember that back in April I said I was going to take control of the Private Dick codebase, clear out the rot, flush through my brain, and generally take control. Well, I did it. And I mean, obviously the game isn't finished and the codebase isn't perfect. But I have ticked off some of the major items in my list: [list] [*] The codebase is generally way cleaner and more organised. I'm in a better position to hire help now. [*] I've re-written the dialog system and cut out all the distracting, confusing, half-implemented, broken code I'd written previously (fixes to fixes of fixes and with little benefit to anyone). [*] I have consolidated a whole mess of code branches, half implemented features, experiments. Sometimes it's hard to know what version of the game I'm even editing - but that's basically all sorted now [*]I've made been progress on the soundtrack, with two new tracks in a great position. [/list] Perhaps most importantly, I enjoyed the work and actually feel comfortable about working on the game again. I've made changes to my schedule, increased by dev time and increased my focus. I am building momenum. This is all good news, and will help me make a better game, faster. [h1]Deleting Code[/h1] But wait, didn't I say I deleted a bunch of code? Isn't that a bad thing? Why am I so happy to remove work I sweated over? The big refactor, particularly around the dialog system, represents a huge improvement and sanitisation of the code base. It allowed me to delete dozens, maybe even a couple of hundred, of lines of confusing, awkward code. I love deleting code because there's a deranged, visceral thrill to seeing your work vanish. And also any code I delete is code I never have to maintain, document or be confused by again. A good code base is a concise codebase. If I can delete lines of code without anything breaking, that's probably an improvement And I know that the code I'm deleting has been replaced by something better, and that makes me happy [h1]Deep Dive[/h1] A couple of days ago I posted an epic, 3,000 word post to my Patreon. The post is a technical deep dive into what parts of the code I've been refactoring and why. There's also some stuff there about the UI and dialog design in Private Dick, about why the game looks like it does. It's a detailed and in-depth read. I've tried to make it accessible but the content isn't for everyone. I hope that if you're into gamedev and are curious about how I work, it'll be rewarding. I also hope that if you have no idea why games are so hard to make, it'll shed some light on the process. I won't copy the content in here but I will link it. This post is totally free and public and SFW (my whole Patreon is free and public and mostly SFW) [url=https://www.patreon.com/posts/talking-about-104862487]www.patreon.com/posts/talking-about-104862487[/url] [h1]General Updates[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42879931/79830ff9e63a448b160052862e7035b977e501c9.png[/img] I know that this is a bit of a dry, technical update. Agan. But this is the most positive and excited post I've been able to make for ages. It's relevant, immediate, hot of the press, and it's all good news. But I don't have a lot else to report. Art and audio are still moving forward. I've included a few new art pieces in this post. I've edited a whole bunch of new voicework into the game, and send some more lines out for recording. The soundtrack is sounding sick (in a good way). I keep thinking about animation and asking "oh but what if we tried this...". But I'm resisting that - it's a trap and the game will never get made. For the record, actually, I hope that I can go back and add animation to the earlier scenes after release. Getting some sales numbers will help justify the time investment and enable me to hire. Over the next month I'll mostly be focused on voiceover. I've got a couple of roles to cast still, which is tricky. But momentum is building and I can get through the editing quite quickly. I've got some personal shit coming up which I hope won't distract too much, and with a bit of luck I'll be playtesting an early access build in July. That speaks to an August/September release. No promises, let's see. In the meantime friends, stay safe and don't be Dicks. Cisco