There are two things that were not meant to be mixed; GDScript and C#. Beware, programmer, abandon all ye hope, should ye fester down this treacherous path. The path be lined with blood, sweat, tears, an' bones! But should ye brave it... gold lies in them hills...

Harvest December: Periphery Edition

Development Update 1 - January 2024

Progress? Is being made? Holy shit?

It's time for my first progress report. To start off, Periphery Edition isn't ready for release yet. But by Shiro, is it getting there. Here's what's done so far:

1. A working save/load system
2. Getting Dialogic to work seamlessly with C#
3. The prologue
4. Some custom UI elements
5. Playing MP4 files via FFMpeg (better, smoother, creamier video)

...okay. That might not sound like a lot. But let me emphasize one of these:

Getting Dialogic to work seamlessly with C#

Dialogic - the dialogue system I'm using for this project - does not officially support C. Guess what language I'm using! Yeah, that's always fun.

In order to get around this, I've had to practically hit the entire thing with a hammer and create my own library for interacting with Dialogic via C#. This current implementation is made specifically for Periphery Edition development, so I don't think it's something that I'll release anytime soon. In the future, though, maybe! I think it could be helpful to interested developers.

In addition to this, however,  I've been taking advantage of this FFmpeg library to play MP4 files inside of Godot. This means I don't have to worry about any compromises that might need to be made in OGG Theora videos. For example, my video editing software (DaVinci Resolve Studio) doesn't even support OGG! MP4? That's where it's at, mate.

In addition to this, I've managed to make a working save/load system. Saves in Periphery Edition are referred to as "Bookmarks." They'll save a screenshot of your current progress, and also show the last quote you read. You'll also be able to filter bookmarks by the current book, or all of your bookmarks. Well, you will, but the functionality for the latter isn't there yet.

"That's cool, but when is it releasing?"

As a wise man once said, "fuck if I know."

I have no plans to release this until at least Typhoon In April is finished. This might take a while! I am aiming to get up to at least the August book by the end of the year. For now, though, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Rest assured, progress IS being made!

I want to start doing these monthly development updates so you all can stay "in the know" about the progress of Periphery Edition. I'll be aiming to tag all future posts about Periphery Edition with the "periphery edition" tag - so you'll be able to filter just those pretty easily.

With all that being said... for the sake of clarity, development is currently halted. This isn't permanent by any means. It's just that the entirety of my time lately has been eaten up by both college and the new Like A Dragon game. Once I beat the latter, I'll be locked in and full swingin' back on Periphery Edition development. You have my word!