Tag Archives: Status Update

October polls review, new polls up now, and current plans.

Hey. So the polls for October drew less votes than I was hoping, but the results were still somewhat clear. In the game poll, the majority of people seem to want me to stick with my current game idea. The other poll asked if I should stop giving out free stuff; obviously most people said no but a surprising number of people voted to just wait longer, which is actually a possibility. (This poll was mostly posted just to see if anyone actually read the polls or cared what they said, as votes in the polls have been dropping for whatever reason.) Two new polls are up now as well; one asks what kind of player character you prefer to play as in VNs, and the other asks if you prefer sci-fi, fantasy, or modern settings for adult stories/image sets/games. If you are interested in my current/future plans, I explain it after the break here.

Quick side note first: there is less than one week left in the contest, so get your entries in/fixed if you haven’t already!

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RTL 7 final renders starting, set may be done mid-week.

Hi again. So RTL 7 final scene construction is done and I added a few more images that I wasn’t originally planning to, (again) but it is all for the best I think. Normally in my sets there are minor time skips here and there, to cut out parts that aren’t that important; (and/or aren’t exactly sex, so I figured people wouldn’t care) this time I decided to keep most (if not all) of those middle images in. I think it really helps though, as you can essentially figure out the story these images tell without any words on them at all. The problem with me doing that is that I am just now starting final renders, and I am not even sure how much more I can do today; I feel so drained right now having worked so much on this the past three or four days. I did fix a bunch of other small issues as well, (which I usually end up doing during final renders, so some work has been done there) so I am hoping that the final renders process goes smoother than usual this time; but if prior experience tells me anything, it won’t.

I think this set will be extra nice if everything I tried to do/planned works out, and still really good even if one or two things don’t. It also will likely be twice as large as I was planning; whatever that means at this point, since I have a bad habit of going overboard all the time anyway. There will also be some substantial postwork involved in this set, partially due to one thing I am planning to try and include. I will try and get some of the renders done today, but I should have a lot of time tomorrow either way; and the set may get done mid-week if everything goes well and I get a lot of time, but it will definitely be finished by the end of the week at the outside. Side note, there are still almost two weeks left in the contest and a week left in the polls; the game poll I actually am using to gauge interest in my current game idea, so votes there matter a fair bit and would be appreciated.

UPDATE 10/27: I am at least 2/3 done with final renders and things have actually gone fairly smoothly with one truly bizarre exception that I somehow got to fix itself in a way I am not totally sure I understand. I currently have around 30 images, with another 10 or so main ones to go; as well as some other auxiliary renders for a new thing that I am attempting, hence the 2/3 estimate. I should still have a little more time later tonight but I think final renders will wrap up early tomorrow, and then the postwork starts. All the new stuff seems to be working out so far, but the major thing I am worried about is that auxiliary render set and the postwork surrounding it; so I will see how that goes tomorrow. Looks really nice so far though.

UPDATE 10/28: Final and auxiliary renders are done; it took a lot longer than I thought it would to get everything working and fix a few minor issues, but so far it looks like everything is going to work. This set is on track to be my largest and best yet; but we shall see how the postwork goes.

Status update: 10/18

Hey. Just a quick update, RTL 7 scene construction is about half done I think. I can’t say for sure since there are a lot of things in play this time that I either generally don’t do or have never done before; so a lot of things can potentially go wrong and make it take longer, either due to time taken to fix things or to redo them. The only way to know for sure what will work and what won’t is to wait until final renders and see if any horrific problems arise. I should have a fair bit more time later today to work on this and I would like to get base scene construction around 75% done today if possible. So hopefully I will get this done by the end of the week, but be aware that there are unknowns in play this time and it may get delayed again.

In other news, the contest still has a bit under three weeks left, and still could use more entries. The polls are also still low, not even a vote a day so far. I would have thought that the current polls would have drawn more of a reaction, but apparently not.

RE-EDIT 10/20: So I’m a bit behind as per usual, but this is due to me planning to add a few images that I wasn’t originally planning to include. I will see if I can get them to work. Also I likely won’t be able to do any more work on it today due to multiple real life things that needed to be done. (As well as me being in considerable pain again today likely due to me overdoing it in real life.)

UPDATE 10/21: Ok so the original scene construction is finished, but I really want to try and add that other part; possibly even more than just that one, so I am going to try and work on that in the next couple days. (I feel like the set doesn’t have enough sex/variety in it as it is; there is a fair bit of setup/story to this one, at least more than usual.) Hopefully I can get final renders started over the weekend. I think most of these changes are definitely for the best, but we will see how it all works out in final renders, if it even works.

UPDATE 10/24: Other part is about 85% done, should definitely finish it today unless something horrible happens. With luck I may be able to start final renders today as well.

New lighting preview; feedback would be great.

Hi again. Against my better judgement, I am posting a preview of the new lighting that I am working on. Below on the left is the old preview for RTL 7 and the updated preview is on the right with a preview of the new lighting. I know the old one looks a bit bright for bland lighting, but that is due to me raising the brightness in the postwork. The new image on the right currently has no postwork except the logos.

Personally, I think the image on the right is a huge improvement; as noted in the update in the previous post. I know nobody here wants to leave comments for whatever reason, but some feedback here would really be great. If nobody bothers commenting or voting, I can only assume that everyone is on board with what I am planning since nobody cares enough to say otherwise. Even if you like it, I would appreciate it if you let me know. I still have no idea when the set will be done, I am hoping for late next week.

EDIT 10/13: To nobody’s great surprise, RTL 7 will likely run into next week. I have had various real life things happening for the past few days or so which have prevented me from putting in any solid time to work on this.

RTL7earlypreRLAlightingtest1

New ideas for future sets.

So since I have been looking for ways to improve my work, I recently asked another artist for for feedback; and actually got some very useful ideas. I won’t bother explaining it all now; but just be aware that I plan to try a lot of new and different things for RTL 7 and other future sets. There have always been some things that I did simply to keep things uniform, and/or for utility’s sake; such as the high level of standard lighting, just so that people can see what is going on. (There are tons of 3D renders on DA and the like with lighting so bad, I can’t even tell what is in the image; I wanted to avoid that at all costs.) I intend to try different, “artier” lighting this time, among other ideas; both things that I had planned anyway and ideas I got from this other artist. This could go amazingly well, be horrifically bad, or end up anywhere in between. Personally, I think many of these changes will be for the best though, assuming that I can do it right. It may take a few sets to work out the kinks. One idea of mine in particular is very close to out of my area of expertise/comfort; but I really want to try it if I can get it working right.

Also, the polls could still use more votes and the contest can always use more entries. I have no idea when RTL 7 will get done; I already posted the early preview so there likely won’t be much posted between then and now, except maybe another status update. I plan to do the main set before the mini-set this month for once as well; if only because I am sort of behind schedule. So maybe late next week, we shall see.

UPDATE 10/8: After preliminary testing, the thing I was worried about looks like it will probably actually work; but it’s too early to say for sure. The “fancy” lighting is yielding mixed results so far, but that is part of the reason I never bothered with this before now. Two other things I have planned are also no problem and are definitely happening.

UPDATE 10/9; So after fiddling with the lighting some more, I think I actually have it working pretty well now. This set is on track to be epic and/or my best one yet. Even if it isn’t the biggest or the most complex, I think it will still be the best if all these new ideas continue to work out.

Polls review, new polls, probable changes to some things.

Ok so first off the last set off polls was the worst yet in terms of votes; (a maximum of six) which is far from encouraging. I can only speculate that the topics were of no interest to most people; as one poll indicated that my current written previews are sufficient and/or that nobody reads them anyway (which is depressing) and the other poll was basically a three way tie as far as 7-zip goes, so I will just keep using it. If only two people care enough to say they don’t like it, then it can’t be that big of an issue.

There are two new polls up; they are likely to be the last polls for a while if nobody bothers to vote again. Perhaps the subjects of the new polls might draw people to actually vote this time, they will be up all month. I had a very large post that I was going to post instead of this one but I will instead summarize it: I really need and/or want more feedback, comments, votes, and preferably even support from all of you. If nobody tells me what they like and what they don’t like about my work, then I have no idea how to improve it. I can’t fix problems that nobody tells me about. If nobody wants to bother supporting my work, giving feedback, leaving comments, or even voting in the polls anymore, then it really makes me feel like I’m just feel like I’m wasting my time here making all these image sets. I at least get some positive reaction from most individual images that I post on DA. A little effort and/or appreciation goes a long way, people.

With no real feedback, I can only assume that the general lack of support is due to me giving most things out for free already; if the way I am doing things isn’t working, then something needs to change.  I already push the limits of what this limited machine can do with almost every render i make as it is. Sometimes I already have to split renders just to get everything I want in one image. I really want to work on this full time and make better and bigger image sets, but I need support or at the very least some feedback to help me do that. Comments and votes are free, so there really aren’t any good excuses for not doing those at the minimum. I am also likely to try opening up for commissions soon; and see if that helps out at all. If I didn’t like making all this stuff, then I wouldn’t be doing it; but I would at least like to know that people are enjoying what I make here.

Anyway, for the five of you that actually read this this far down, I am also seriously considering shelving my current game idea (for those of you that even know what that is; if you don’t then search my site for the old post I made a while back about it) in favor of small VNs. My current idea would take months of solid work (assuming that I was doing nothing else) to completely finish the way I want to and I cannot justify doing that (or just taking time to work on something that I will not finish in the foreseeable future unless I stop making regular sets) as things currently stand. (With seemingly no interest and no support.) Yes, I could do a crappy job to finish it quickly and then go back and put in more content later, but that is the worst way to make any game and generally a recipe for disaster.

Small VNs are much more within the realm of what I could do in a reasonable time-span, and would give my Patreon tiers more weight, in addition to likely extending main set exclusivity at the bare minimum. (The current game idea if done the way I planed would likely be at least 6 small VNs worth of work and scenes; and  then there is also the problem where some of the scenes that I initially planned to include in the game [back when I first came up with the idea nine months ago and didn’t have Octane] I can no longer do because of my limited hardware and Octane’s memory limits to consider as well.) Anyway, RTL 5 will get a free release in the next week or so, and RTL 7 will get done sometime this month; after that I am not sure what will happen anymore. Looking at the polls and this post, it should be clear what my plans are likely to be unless something changes.

RLA first anniversary image and other news.

Hi. So I posted the two character previews and the Patreon anniversary image to Patreon over the last few days and I hope to post the game scene preview and this month’s special story-mini-set there as well in the next few days. The next main image set will likely run into next month a bit again at the minimum, but hopefully it will be done in the first week or so; before Patreon finishes processing payments, as it was last time. As for the short story contest; only about two weeks remain; so if you are going to enter, you best do it now so that you have time to fix any issues that may exist with your entry. (I am currently trying to tell people if they are missing important things in their entries unless I suddenly get a truckload and can’t possibly keep up.) As of right now there are only a few entries, and I was honestly expecting both more entries and more… diversity; especially considering that so many people allegedly wanted futa content and so far not a single entry has any. So if that interests you, or if there is anything else in particular you would like to see me do, check out the contest page up top for all the details! There is still plenty of time to put an entry together.

It would also be nice to get more than two votes in the polls, so… more votes maybe? There really isn’t much point to me having polls if nobody votes in them. Anyway, I hope to post either a preview of the story-mini-set for patrons or RTL chapter seven later this week, possibly both but I doubt it. Remember, if you want to help motivate me, support my work, and early access to my normal sets and possibly other cool stuff, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart Anything donated helps. Comments, votes, views, and shares are also helpful and motivating; so doing any and/or all of those things helps too! Also, if anyone else has been having weird issues accessing my site, please let me know.

Oh and here is the RLA first anniversary image featuring Zayla, as voted in the last special poll. I am hoping that you all will like it, I think that you will.

RLAannivEDIT 9/25: RTL 7 preview and game scene preview up on patreon, still working on the story-mini-set right now.

The fog clears, poll updates!

Hi. It’s been a while since I’ve posted and so far things have actually been good. I can seriously feel the overall pain and the general depression from it going far away now. I am in no way joking when I say that two months of my life back there was and/or is just a foggy, vague memory of horrific pain and bed. I think it is definitely for the best that I don’t remember it clearly; (which is actually rather odd as I generally have a hard time forgetting things; especially things that I want to) although somehow RTL 6 was made during this time and I think it came out nicely.

Though in reality the pain could return at any time; at this moment I am effectively back to normal. If everything stays good, I am hoping that I will be able to do a main image set this month after all, and I have already started construction on the scene; and almost finished base scene construction really. (Patrons who have seen the full RTL 6 should know and/or be able to guess what it is going to be.) However, this whole week is really going to be devoted to Patreon stuff. (If you want to support me and my work and get in on future stuff like this, check out my Patreon page, https://www.patreon.com/redleatherart)

The polls there have ended and the special mini-story-set that won the poll was the Helenya and two imps option; so I will work on that, as well as the various Patreon previews that I need to post and the two anniversary images that I need to make; one for the site and one for Patreon. The site one will feature Zayla, and the Patreon one will feature Helenya; as voted in each poll. Preferably once all this crap gets done, I will see about RTL 7.

In other news, my short story contest is still going; (Check the tab up top!) if you want to see anything in particular from me, this is your chance. Allegedly a lot of you want to see futa/futa stuff; if that is the case I would expect at least a few entries focusing on that. The stories submitted can be no longer than five pages; but can be as short as one. (As in the actual story part can be one page, I still need/want the other two pages about the characters/sex scenario.) It is the general sexiness of the submissions that is what matters; not the length. Details can help, but they can also make something that is already bad much worse; so be careful and don’t overdo it. Submissions are accepted until 12:00 AM on October 7, 2015, EST, check the contest page up there for details. 

Also, two new polls are up; one actually is asking about the format I use for my image archives (.7z, the 7-zip base format), which I recently realized/was told may be an issue for some people(?) so I wanted to check that. The other poll asks if you would prefer more or less textual details about my sets in the initial preview posts. So votes in those would be appreciated, and watch for various Patreon content this week and hopefully the anniversary image for the site later this week as well. Finally, I put all these social media buttons everywhere because apparently WordPress can do this and I had it enabled before but I forgot to put in the actual buttons. So if you like my work, an image, one of my posts, or even the contest page; please share it so people can find out about my work. (I think I did the buttons right, please let me know if I didn’t.)

Status update: 8/28

I am doing my best to finish RTL 6 by the end of this month, (the patreon scene preview will likely get bumped again; sorry but it will almost surely be all I can manage to finish RTL 6 this month, if I even can) but unfortunately I am basically back to where I started physically. The medicine only helped as long as it lasted and apparently I can’t use it again and the specialist I saw either can’t or won’t do anything more until I get a scan done. The problem is he didn’t tell me that the first time and now I can’t get any appointments for scans and such for over a week and then I still need another doctors appointment after that sometime to get the results and hopefully some kind of treatment… I may be able to get a scan done later today but that is depending on a great many factors and it will surely cause me a great deal of pain.

Long story short, I hope to finish final renders today and maybe start the postwork if I can hold out long enough. I do not think I can manage another main image set next month if this continues… especially with all the other crap I want to do. I can only hope that something comes up to fix this… it is really starting to wear me down; both physically and spiritually. I am so sick of being in pain almost all the time and stuck in bed and I really want to do other things and work on all this so badly but I just can’t without being in more pain. RTL 6 so far is really nice I think, hopefully you all will think so as well whenever it gets done. It will almost certainly be over 30 images.

EDIT 8/29: Got an MRI done yesterday, tons of pain. Bad enough to get different pain meds again; I will see if these actually help. Scan being done means I may be able to get some actual treatment next week… maybe? RTL 6 final renders are sort of done; I could stop here but I want to add four more images. I will do the best I can to finish the postwork before the end of the month.

RE EDIT: Previously mentioned meds didn’t help again; so I had to go to ER again, got better pain meds, they seem to work this time. Should let me work tomorrow/day after if all goes well. Initial impressions of my scan aren’t great per se; PA said it is a long term issue but it could be treated, so I will see this coming Wednesday.

EDIT 8/30: Couldn’t help myself again, even in horrible pain I added almost eight images instead of the four I planned… Final renders are done, early postwork done, clean versions of each image is done… story versions sort of in progress. i haven’t slept in three days and I am kind of falling apart, even with the pain under control right now. Doing the best I can; set ended up with I think 38 images and one alternate ending image for patreon unless I miscounted. Note: there is going to be a post/content bomb here in the next few days whether this gets finished in time or not. RTL four gets a free release, old polls get reviewed and a special poll will go up; and finally a very special thing will get started early next month. (Patrons know what I mean.)

EDIT 8/31: I just can’t do it today; I’m in so much pain today I can’t sit at all. RTL 6 will have to go into next month again. I’ll get everything situated later this week whenever I can.

Situation update, 8/17 -Edited 8/21

Hey. So… fun story. I got to go to the emergency room last night at 1 AM due to crippling and incredibly painful muscle spasms in my leg. Long story short, I have a rather bad case of sciatica; which in short currently prevents me from sitting for more than a minute at a time. I got some painkillers to help in the short term, but they do not fix the problem and I cannot risk this getting worse in any way. Working on anything like this (if I even can) will make it take five times longer then it should and cause me a lot of pain, so there isn’t anything I can really do like this.

I am going to stop giving time updates as for when RTL chapter six will be finished just in case I am jinxing this by doing so and because this shit just keeps happening. Just know that it, the mini-set for the month, and the one scene preview for my patrons will be done by the end of this month somehow. (If there is any way at all that I can do it, I will; I am hoping that this gets at least a bit better in two weeks…) I am doing everything I can to work this out, but it really isn’t up to me that much. The DA images for this month may or may not happen depending on how long this lasts. I may update this post or just make a new one sometime at the end of this week with another update. Sorry for all the non-content updates, but I think it’s best to keep people updated on what is going on rather than me going MIA for over a month without saying anything (like some other people on the internet do) and making you all wonder wtf happened. In the mean time keep voting in the polls and spreading the word about my work, the polls, and the stuff I plan to do next month.

EDIT 8/21: So I went to two different doctors yesterday and got some pretty crazy medicine for this… and as of right now it seems to be helping. If all goes well I should be able to really work on things over the coming weekend and next week for the first time in weeks. I will see how it goes…. hoping for the best.