Hey everyone! Back again with an unusually early update. Perhaps you might be thinking that bodes ill. Normally, I would probably agree. But this is one rare instance where I am being completely serious when I say that I have nothing but good news all around. So I've chosen to seize the moment and give a bit of an update before it all goes to crap again.



How I'm feeling right now.

So let's get started with progress on the game proper. As I believe you'll recall, when I last left you I mentioned something about not remembering how chapter two's murder goes and there was a late-trial twist that I didn't understand... Ultimately what I decided to do was to take the notes I had for the case (the outline, the list of evidence, and so forth) and write it all out on paper again. I worked through the trial beat for beat from beginning to end again, making changes here and there along the way.

I ended up condensing the trial. Originally the trial was going to have like 8-10 rebuttals/cross-examinations or something like that. But harkening back to the first case, it was somewhere inbetween 2 and 3 hours long with just 6 rebuttals/cross-examinations. I'm trying not to pull a V3 and have trials that feel too drawn out (at least not this early on; something like chapter 5 would make sense to have a longer trial), so I think condensing things a bit was a good move. Especially so, considering that I believe this trial will end up being a tad bit longer than the first one even after condensing it.

I do want to mention that upon getting to said infamous twist that I just couldn't for the life of me remember how it went... It made absolutely no sense to me. I just couldn't figure it out. And it's a major twist, too! I mean, it's how you end up catching the killer! But not to worry! I came up with a different way for the killer to be caught. One which makes sense. One which actually seems relatively plausible/feasible. And I think the case is much better for it.

That being said, I think pretty much all of the changes I made as I went back through chapter 2's murder and reworked it were positive changes. The second murder went from one that I felt was a bit on the weaker side to the kind of case that keeps the twists coming even after you think everything's already been worked out. And as such rather than dreading it and going "oh boy I can't wait to finally get past this chapter two hump" I'm actually rather excited to make it and see it play out.

With how successful this sort of process has been, I'm definitely going to do the same thing for chapters three and four when we get there. I think those would similarly benefit from some tweaks here and there. And then as I believe I've mentioned in the past, I plan on completely re-writing chapter 5's murder from the ground up (though I already have most of the major twists in mind). So... there you go. Ideally, things will only get better from here as far as the murders are concerned.



Makina is very happy to hear that things are progressing smoothly.

But surely that can't be all the progress that's been made, right? Right! When I last left off working on chapter two, there was a single scene made for the investigation. After I finished working out chapter two's murder again? I knocked that investigation out in under a week. That's right. Work is underway on the second trial now. As for har far into the second trial I am specifically, I finished making the first rebuttal the other day. There's still plenty to be done, but it's coming along (though to be honest, I've been slacking the past few days).

Originally I had wanted to wait to post a new update for Danganronpa Team until Chapter 2 was completely done. That's changed because I have more news to share than I originally thought I would. But as I informed my beta testers, I'm currently aiming to knock the rest of Chapter 2 out by sometime in late March. I don't know if I'll make that or not. I think if I work hard I can.

I do want to say that while the investigation went rather quickly, the trial has been slower going, which is part of my hesitation when it comes to my target completion date. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is, but I was having more trouble coming up with dialogue when I was writing the first few scenes of the trial. I don't know. Maybe trials just inherently take longer to create. Regardless, I will forge ever onward.



Hey look it's the Princess—and what's this?! She has a new sprite!

Another thing I want to mention. In the last update I believe I said something along the lines of "only a few characters remain that only have one sprite/expression/what have you". I can't remember if I included the Princess under that or not. I should have. She did have a second sprite at the time but it's a one-time use sprite. Not something that would come up on multiple occasions. So for all intents and purposes she only had one sprite.

Not anymore! Along with giving Okabe the multi-sprite treatment, I went ahead and did the same thing for the Princess! Again, I have to voice my disbelief at how many different sprites you can get from just moving some eyebrows around and messing with the mouth a bit. So the Princess has a bunch of sprites now. Which is great. In retrospect, she really could've used them. Obviously along with making her new sprites, I have to go back to the prologue and chapter one and put all the new sprites in. I'm not doing that now. I just finished going through the prologue and chapter one. I'll save that for the final editing pass, I think.

But that only leaves Charles and Foxy with one sprite apiece (aside from another one-time use sprite for Foxy in the same vein as the one I mentioned for the Princess beforehand).

Oh... wait. Did I mention TK also has multiple sprites now? Yeah, that's a thing, too. And Yu also has a second sprite now (although it's used frequently enough that I can't really call it a one-time use sprite).

So almost every character is way more expressive than ever before! This is really great. Seriously. Back when I was writing chapter one the final scene where the killer confesses didn't have as much of an impact because certain characters just did not have the sprites to properly express themselves. Certain characters were smiling when they should've been upset. Having a multitude of sprites at my disposal opens up a lot of avenues for me to have characters have more emotional roles in the story and for any emotional scenes they're involved in to hit a bit harder.



I'm in a good mood, so here, have the very first frame of the first chapter's results screen as a little bonus. I wonder what sort of animation(s) this Danganronpa's result screen will feature?

Now for the bit of news that convinced me to post an update before Chapter 2 is finished. As you are probably aware, I work a full-time job. Two things happened recently related to my job that are very good news for Danganronpa Team.

First of all, I now have set days off. Before, my schedule was random. Some weeks my two days off would be on opposite ends of the week. Sometimes they'd be back-to-back. Well, now they're back-to-back for good. This allows me to get into the gamedev mindset and try to get as much as I can done on those two days off. It's much better getting in the zone and staying in the zone than getting in the zone for one day, having to work a few days, and then having to wind back up all over again on my next day off.

Secondly, our yearly bonus just came in. And ho-ly crap is it a big one. Without naming a hard number, it's nearly twice what I was expecting. As such, I think I'm going to take a chunk of it and purchase myself a new laptop. I do have another laptop. It's what I used to make all of Danganronpa Team up to last summer. But that laptop is a piece of garbage. Some of the keys don't work right. The screen is kinda broken. The connections on the battery are shot or something (it can't store power; you have to use it while it's plugged in).

Suffice to say, my old laptop is just riddled with issues that make working on Danganronpa Team on it not only impractical, but straight up asinine. I've just been using my PC to make Danganronpa Team ever since I started working on it again back in October or November (whenever it was). But that laptop's issues are probably entirely my own fault. I just did not take proper care of it in any way, shape or form. I'm not at all surprised that it has the numerous issues that it does.

So you might be wondering what difference a new laptop will make if I'm just making Danganronpa Team on my PC now. With a new laptop, I can work on Danganronpa Team during my breaks at work. That might not seem like a big deal. But I get around an hour and a half's worth of breaks per night. That's an additional seven and a half hours per work week that I'd have to work on Danganronpa Team. That's a pretty good amount of time! And I plan to treat this new laptop like it's the Princess herself. Until Danganronpa Team is finished, I'll only use it to work on Danganronpa Team. I don't want it breaking down on me before Danganronpa Team is done this time around.

This also allows me to go back to my original plan, but with added gusto. Originally, I intended to make School Mode on my crappy laptop while I was at work. As my laptop only deteriorated further, I gave up on the idea. Now I'm going back to that plan... sort of.

My current plan is to use this new laptop during my breaks to work on Danganronpa Team's main game until chapter four is finished. Once the main game is that far along, I plan to switch gears and develop School Mode while I'm at work. While School Mode is a large undertaking in itself, I don't think it's anywhere near the undertaking the main game has been. So I think by waiting until the main game is further along in development, there's a better chance of me finishing both the main game and School Mode around the same time. In all likelihood, School Mode will still need some work even after the main game is all done, but... Well, at least this way I won't have to go "Okay guys the main game is done now just wait another four months for me to make School Mode."

All in all, I think adding this new laptop into the mix will make development speed up a little faster. And there's the added bonus (for my sake) in being able to work on Danganronpa Team while I'm at work of not feeling as guilty about playing other games from time to time when I'm at home. All too often I try to unwind with a game, but I'm pestered by intrusive thoughts like "You know instead of wasting time with this game you could be working on Danganronpa Team right now". It's just the kind of person I am. Find it hard to relax when there's work to be done, especially now that Danganronpa Team is back in development in the truest sense of the word.

I'll probably be looking to pick up that laptop sometime later this month. I'm not rushing it right now. Right now I'm spending my breaks at work reading the Spice and Wolf light novel series. I'm terrible at reading actual books. I've been collecting these light novels for well over four years, and I never managed to make it past book two. I just suck at committing to reading actual, factual books. Thanks to reading them during my breaks at work I'm now up to book thirteen. So I'd really like to finish the series before I get that new laptop. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll just put off reading the rest of the series for another four years. And I really want to finish it (it's so good). Sorry, all the girls of Danganronpa Team's cast. None of you can match Holo's charm.



Heck I'm in such a jolly mood I'll even give you the prologue's titlecard. It's nothing special, but hey. You get no more after this, though. I can't spoil anything from chapter two and onward for obvious reasons.

Well, that's all I have to say for this unusually timed, oddly positive, extremely long update. Things are really looking good for Danganronpa Team's future! Not only do I feel like I'm more or less back in the swing of things, but development will only ramp up from here! That said I do have to be careful not to overwork myself. I know my friends are concerned about that. I can't blame them. I think last week after I finished my work week I ended up spending eight hours straight working on Danganronpa Team the first night and then twelve hours straight the next.

Believe me, I'm just as eager as the rest of you to get this thing done and in your hands! But I really do have to try not to overwork myself, regardless of what targets/deadlines I try to set for myself. As much as I'd loooove to get Danganronpa Team out this summer, I probably shouldn't kill myself trying to do so. But there's still plenty of time left in the year! You never know how things will go!

The next time we speak, Chapter 2 will be finished!... I think. It'd damn well better be. Look forward to it!