Escort Forum v0.2.3 - The Big Rebuild


Hello Everyone! I promise it's the last time today! XD

This update is really huge and it took a lot of work to get it released. I know everyone loves new content, but this update isn't about that, it's dedicated to fixing all the v0.2.2 issues that have been reported to me by the players plus the issues I detected while testing.

Fixing all the problems was a complicated task because while I fixed a problem, I ended up finding new problems and I had to devote more time to fix them. In addition, everything from simple to complex issues has been fixed, which led me to have to rework about 1/3 of all game images and almost 1/2 of all game animations.

The first 2 sessions of this Changelog were also posted as separate posts, so if you've read them you can skip them. Let's go to them:


Android version was rebuilt from scratch

One of the problems that bothered me the most in version 0.2.2 was the lag that occurred during some animations, if the player was playing on an older Android device.

This was because, as mobiles tend to be less powerful than PCs and the Android version was just a port of the 1080p version, older mobiles ended up not having enough processing power to run the game smoothly, without the occurrence of lags.

Some players had informed me about the problem, and to test it out, I ended up buying an older Android device in order to fix the problem.

After a lot of research and extensive testing, I concluded that animation lags occurred because the videos had a large file size. This hindered the loading of files during gameplay due to mobiles being less powerful.

Considering that the screen of most Android devices (Smartphones) is small, I decided to resize the video files resolution to 540p to try to solve the problem. Despite this, the interface was still kept at 1080p and the video files were zoomed in to fill the entire screen.

When performing the tests, the performance gain was notable, but I still felt a little lag during some segments of the animations. So I decided to go even further and rebuild the game from scratch with the 540p interface.

Despite the huge work this would generate, I decided to resize EVERYTHING to 540p: Interface, Images and Videos. In addition, a compression was also performed so that the files were even smaller, but without compromising the quality.

By rebuilding the Android version from scratch, the lag issues would probably be fixed, despite losing some quality due to the resolution downgrading to 540p, but if that made the game smoother, it would be a worthwhile tradeoff.

Test time: I played the game from start to finish on my old mobile and all the lag issue had really been fixed! Also, the small loss of quality due to resolution reduction wasn't even felt by me, as the device's screen is small, so it was a win-win situation.

Obviously, if someone is playing the Android version on a device with a big screen, such as a Tablet or Android emulator for PC, the drop in quality due to the reduction in resolution will be noticed, although it doesn't harm the gameplay; but, on smartphones, the gameplay will be fluid while maintaining good visual quality.

I feel that the Android version has all issues resolved and there is nothing to change for the better in it. Now everyone can try the game on its Android version, even if they play on older devices!


Smaller file size, same quality

Another issue that bothered me in version 0.2.2 was the large file size, so I needed to find a way to reduce this without losing quality. For this reason, all image and video files were compressed!

To be honest, this started while I was trying to fix the lag issues in the Android version. I noticed that big file sizes generated lag in some situations, so I decided to compress all the images and videos, but keeping the quality. The goal was to try to find the sweet spot between file size and visual quality. Besides that, smaller file sizes can be beneficial in all situations.

From that, we were able to get several improvements:

  • Better Quality x File Size ratio: Now the game's file size is considerably smaller while maintaining high graphic quality.
  • Performance Boost: Having lighter image and video files makes it easier to run during gameplay, this positively impacts game performance.
  • Applicable to all versions: This procedure was done to 1080p, 4K and Android versions, thus bringing improvements to all of them.

To better illustrate this, here is the decrease in file size for the 3 versions:

  • PC 1080p: 951 MB => 709 MB
  • PC 4K: 1.74 GB => 876 MB
  • Mac 1080p: 937 MB => 695 MB
  • Mac 4K: 1.73 GB => 862 MB
  • Android: 678 MB => 181 MB

As you can see when comparing v0.2.2 with v0.2.3, there was a significant file size reduction.

The 4K version was the one that benefited the most from this procedure, having a decrease of approximately 900 MB, which makes downloading this version much easier than before.

The other versions also benefited from this, although it wasn't as much as the 4K version, but it's still been worth it as it also made distributing those versions easier.

Well, I hope this has made life easier for players when downloading the game!


Several graphical problems were fixed

Several graphical issues have been reported to me by players. So, I did a complete review of all the game images and reworked all the problematic images I found, correcting the errors mentioned below.

An headphone floating in some renders: In the job interview scene, earlier there was a headphone that should have been on the table, but it was floating. I chose to completely erase it from the renders, as it was just a decorative object.

Character shoes clipping on the floor: In some renders throughout the game, the characters feet clipped a bit on the floor, so I took a look through the game and fixed the issue cited in every image I detected this issue.

MC's dick being red instead of his body color: There was a small graphical issue where the main character's penis color was red, different from the character's body color. This was the most laborious one to fix, as there were a ton of images and videos where the MC's penis was showing, so I had to rework a lot of files to get the problem fixed.

In some renders which the MC is taking a shower, his skin was not wet: In the renders the main character showered, the character's wet body texture was missing, so even though he was underwater, his body was dry in the render. This issue has been fixed. In addition, the texture of Talita's wet body was also changed to look more realistic, as the texture present in previous versions was a little strange.

To fix the problems mentioned above, a total of 69 images and 48 animations were reworked, so you can get a sense of the huge amount of work that went into fixing these issues.


Additional content

2 Cover Renders: I decided to include some extra renders to serve as a cover containing the episode number and title. This makes it easier for the player to identify which part of the story he is in during gameplay.


Game design changes

Several small problems related to game design were reported by players, so I took the opportunity to fix them in this version. Let's go to them:

Save slots are now unlimited: One of the players complaints is that the number of save slots was limited, so now I've removed that limitation, making it possible to create an infinite number of save slots as needed.

The amount of save pages displayed at the bottom of the save screen has been increased: Now we have 20 pages being displayed on PC version and 15 pages being displayed on Android version, to make it easier to access a wider range of pages.

Quick Menu is now available on PC and Mac versions: The quick menu was only available on the Android version, now it also appears on the PC and Mac versions.

Auto-forward feature was implemented: This is a feature that players missed because I removed it in previous versions, so I'm bringing that feature back.

Reset to Defaults button was implemented in the Options screen: One thing I was missing was a way to easily restore default settings, so I decided to implement it in this version. So, in case the player feels lost, he can use the recommended settings with just one click.

The default Display Mode has been set to Fullscreen: Now the game starts in full screen the first time it is opened, instead of opening in windowed mode.

The default Music and SFX volumes were been set to 50%: This helps to avoid scaring the player the first time the game is started.


This update was so big that it took a lot of work to even write the changelog! o.O
Imagine the absurd work it took to build this version!
But now it's done and it's here available for everyone.

I really hope you enjoy! ;)

Files

EscortForum4K-0.2.3-pc.zip 876 MB
Sep 09, 2021
EscortForum4K-0.2.3-mac.zip 862 MB
Sep 09, 2021

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