File 04 is now roughly blocked out and coded.

Here's what I worked on since the last devlog.

• Rough blocking/coding for File 04

• Halloween art

• Prison of Lies Enhanced Edition soft launch

So, I decided to code File 04 before working on backgrounds/music, as an experiment to see if it would speed up the File's development down the road. What does that actually mean? Here's an exclusive image of File 04 to show you!

It means the whole File looks like this right now. I have the characters on screen where they are supposed to appear, they open and close their mouths, but they have no expressions. The puzzles show up but the correct answers are not implemented yet, the methods minigames are not implemented, and there are no CGs or backgrounds. This is why coding is at "90%" complete and not "100%" on the graph. However, even in this primitive state, getting it to this point earlier is going to be really helpful I think. In addition to the benefits I mentioned last time, it also means that towards the end of production on the File, all my focus can be on art assets. What you end up crunching on matters — it's difference between deciding to draw CGs for special moments or to cut them out.

My next task is backgrounds. Because it really helped with File 03, I'm going to be rotating between working on multiple backgrounds at once, instead of getting each one 100% finished one after the other. Just another special trick I'm hoping will speed up the process! ;)

Until next time!

— LockedOn.