Hey, this is the first time I'm writing a devlog that isn't patch notes - but I feel like I should, so I will!

I took a break around Christmas time, aside from that v0.7 has been in development for about 3 months. But development will begin again shortly.

Out of all the new releases of jOeSU, v0.7 is the largest update yet: so I really want to take my time with it. I've noticed that I have a habit of wanting to release updates too soon, leaving untested code to the public which I have suffered the consequences of. It's probably just me that cares, but I do get angry at myself when people play my game and something abnormal happens.

It's a really nice relief to take a break every now and again, but I also enjoy making jOeSU and sometimes it can be quite hard to balance development and rest. I often find myself getting way too "into it", working my ass off daily to then be met with an inevitable burnout which is usually the cause of my breaks inbetween development.

Previously in versions 0.1 to 0.6.4 my way of adding new content was to think of an idea, execute it, and move on. But starting from v0.6.5 I have decided to be a tad bit more smart with the way I work. I've started using Trello to plan out what I want to do for each new version and words cannot describe how much it has helped me stay organized! There is still some time before v0.7 comes out because it's a much larger workload than any previous update, but that aside I'd love to share some details while we wait.

Firat off: recently I have noticed that new songs aren't as frequent as I'd like. Bug fixes and graphical changes are great but when new gameplay is lacking I can understand getting bored. I've also noticed that due to me being the only dev AND main tester, humble brag aside I have become quite good at the game which is a blessing but also a curse. Why? Because creating new songs actually becomes a challenge, easy songs, that is. I'm so used to the controls and how to play efficiently that when trying to make a song designed for beginners I often find myself thinking that it's TOO easy. This problem has turned A LOT of songs which were originally meant to be easy and beginner friendly into the exact opposite. Aside from a couple of hard songs for the pros, v0.7's new songs are in majority created as a better introduction point to the game. Adding onto the topic of beginner friendly content, there is FINALLY a tutorial, sorry for it taking so long to actually manifest.

Although this next point isn't really an issue for most people it's still dang important: v0.7 has some insane optimisations, from my own testing I have seen a 500% increase in FPS in v0.7. There are many different systems that I have improved for this result, but one stands out more than all the others and is the main cause of this giant boost in performace. Previously all notes in-game were always active moving beyond the screen until they eventually arrive into the game view. Notes would have an active state and an "inactive" state, quotations on inactive because although the amount of executed code in this state is significantly reduced, that doesn't help the fact that even when doing as little as possible, songs have hundreds of notes, all of them active at once taking a huge toll on the games ability to focus on more important tasks. This system worked fine at the beginning of jOeSU when I didn't know any better, but now I think it's only right to try my best to get the best performance possible. Now instead of hundreds of notes all active at once, the game will only have the notes in the game view be active. Every note is now stored in a data structure that only places them into the game only when it should appear on-screen.

To finish this devlog off, I'd like to talk about the main hook of v0.7: the campaign mode! Although it shows a lot of promise right now, it's current state is still fairly early so I wont go into too much detail as I might change my mind about certain elements. The basic gist of it is that you play in chapters, each with it's own unique "boss". These bosses will challenge your skill at the end of each chapter with their unique ways to change-up gameplay, once defeated you will unlock the next chapter and so on. v0.7 will not release with all the chapters available, as that is beyond the scope of a single update. Every now and then I will release a new chapter to the public, these include character art from the wonderfully talented Moppi, and even voice acting (sadly not from Moppi)! Voice acting costs money, and I don't have a lot of that unfortunately, so chapters do have to wait until I can actually afford to fund the voice work. I will continue to fund this game with my own pocket, but if you're ever feeling generous enough to support me with some cash when you press the download button - you know where it's going.

That's all for now! jOeSU may be a tiny insignificant spec in this world, but lately this game has been getting more attention than ever and it makes me really happy. I still remember looking at the statistics for this game when it was new, getting a couple views every week and rarely ever a download. I'm nowhere near the public eye but those few views/downloads have increased from a couple a week to multiple every day and I cannot express my gratitude enough!

See you in v0.7! ❤❤❤❤❤❤