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Progress on Release Preparation

After all sorts of tests and verification to see what works for which target I have officially settled on my platform configurations. Things may be different in appearance between versions as a result of the multitude of differences in what works where, so here's what I'm doing:

On Android there will be a Mode7-style overworld render, while on Steam, GameJolt and itch I will be using a more extensive render that utilizes babylon.js for generating the field depth provisions. The primary difference between these rendering styles is that babylon.js utilizes GPU-level processing while the Mode7 render echoes the retro callback with on-the-fly processing that is not as intensive. The reason for the split rendering targets is that I have not yet managed to get the babylon.js render to function on the Universal Windows runtime that I require for the Xbox build, and the code release for RPG Maker MV that implements babylon.js is technically still in beta. This is why the system requirements on Windows 10 are so high compared to other major iterations on the genre.

Controls may differ as well. The Android build will be input-agnostic due to a functional code rejection issue, but on Windows 10 the game is configured to exclusively rely on D-pad controls. Additionally, only the A, B and menu buttons on a controller will function in terms of input on Windows 10 while on Xbox I really don't give a damn (and I have even used this to set up a hidden surprise on Windows 10 builds for those who know about the ultimate secret in the history of videogame tricks.) In either case, the keyboard input methods are not affected regardless of which version you acquire.

Third, I am not targeting Xbox as I originally planned due to a multitude of technical difficulties and changing requirements (they literally just took away one of the revenue options) so don't expect a console release to be available until I can analyze the prospect for alternative provisions. This will not affect Steam or GameJolt however - launch timings and achievement tracking features are still on schedule for these storefronts. As a consolation I am preparing to include mobile distribution vectors starting with Android.

Other differences will be documented here as they are determined.


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