Progress Update

So, it might not look like much, but the above image actually represents a fairly major technical step taken care of for the new game. One of several, as a matter of fact. After my grumbling, bitching and moaning a few days ago, about how I was going to have to use Renpy again, I put my nose to the grindstone with said engine and started grinding away at the UI elements that the game is going to need.

Unlike Eros Academy, where virtually everything from navigation to character interaction is handled purely through a series of menus, with The Sexy Cosplay Cafe I'm shooting for a much more...sophisticated? I'm not sure that's exactly the right word, but a significantly more advanced UI. In example, if you want to navigate to places, you click on a map button that will be present in the upper right corner of most locations. Which, as it happens, brings up the screen pictured in this post, from which you can hover over each of the 'thumbtacks,' read the hover-text, and click on it to move to that location (as well as advancing time). Likewise, there are buttons in locations with multiple rooms (such as your apartment) to move between rooms(which doesn't advance time). 

None of that is built in to Renpy. Also, Renpy's documentation is horrifically bad, which has made the process of building all the functionality I need from scratch much harder than it should be.... 

Which is why I've spent the last three days working on building all the UI functions into the game. So far I've built not just the map screen and functionality, but also the time progression system, time display, and connected all the various locations in game with their own coded buttons (barring the one that I still need to find or make art for, which as a button...that just don't go anywhere at the moment). Which means, technically, that it's now possible to navigate through the game town(at least the locations available in the first build)...it just doesn't have any people in it yet ^_^. 

At this point the only major remaining technical challenge I have (I think), is building a simple inventory. Which I'm planning to do tomorrow(later today, technically, since it's after midnight). After that, I can begin actually putting the characters in their proper places, with dialog, stats, and so on. I still don't have a time estimate, but things ARE moving along at a pace I'm more-or-less happy with.