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[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 8/7/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Oh, hello there, stranger!  The time-off has come to and end and here we are... time for another development diary for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game Remaster.  As I mentioned in the previous post, these diaries are being cut down to every other week.  And, of course, never again once each project launches.  That being said...

Haulin’ Oats

A fair amount of the time after my time-off was spend on The Dope Game’s networking system.  However, what work Haulin’ Oats got was divided between setting up music and polish for the next alpha which should be out sometime this month.

To prevent music from getting horribly repetitive throughout a game session, the music will be set up like a radio.  One song will play then the “radio” will “scan the channels” looking for the next song; like driving in a big rig.  Some tracks have been assembled so far and more are coming.  The current ones will be added into the next alpha version so folks can hear them.

The polish phase is almost done and (I hope) most of the bugs have been squashed.  I’m going to try to jam in the racing feature before releasing it to the folks who have alpha access but we’ll see how that goes.

Also some accessibility features will be added prior to launch.  I have to get in touch with some folks to go over what all needs to be added and then create a plan to add it!

The Dope Game Remaster

Most of the work done around my time-off has been networking.  This is actually a drawn-out process; especially when testing it against yourself on a LAN.  Nonetheless, the Steamworks integration is going pretty well.

All the lobby stuff, after multiple iterations, is now done.  So far all the testing works, thanks to pulling some stuff from other CoaguCo games.  Currently I am implementing the multiplayer P2P framework in the game itself so folks can run around and slang together.  Well, more against each other.

You will be able to play against six other friends or foes though currently there is no option to join an in-progress game.  While it was considered, I think it might be too hard to catch up once a match starts.  However, maybe down the road that will get added.

Next update I will talk more about the character and server customization.  There will be a decent amount at launch with some add-ons over time.

More on that next time, folks!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 7/11/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Why hello, sweetlings.  It is time for another week of development diary entries for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game.  Also I will be taking the following week off of development to do some real-life stuff instead and will be changing the dev diary schedule to twice a month (every other week).  Yes, the applause is deafening but please remain calm... here are this week’s updates.

Haulin’ Oats

This week was all about getting that multiplayer up and running.  As you can see below, something that was visible in the current alpha (I think) is the hosting settings.  These are now functional.

All of the lobby set-up functionality as well as server list functionality is now in the next alpha build.  In-lobby chat also works.  Still tinkering with kicking players from the lobby though.  Avatars should show up next to each player too.

Now the focus is shifting to making the game playable.  Luckily there were hooks already for bots / remote players, so it’s just all about adding in the client-server functions to talk to these.

When the next alpha version hits, this should all be ready to go.  Expect that, probably, in August at some point.

The Dope Game Remaster

Combat was the name of the game this week.  And a lot of changes were made since the last version, like armor, multiple enemies, better healing, etc.

So yes, armor is now a thing.  It will be depleted before health except on criticals.  It can be purchased from Pinky or the Shady Merchant.

You can also now heal your crew in combat from the heal menu.  This will hopefully keep them in better shape during rough fights.  And speaking of rough fights, NPCs can now call in allies; there can be up to five different opponents in one fight.

There were also some minor tweaks to rewards, how buttons are laid out (no more accidental surrender), and more.

That’s it for now.  More in two weeks!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 7/3/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hello, friends! We are gathered here today for yet another development diary for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  No time to dally, let’s get into it.

Haulin’ Oats

This week not a whole lot of exciting stuff got done for Haulin’ Oats.  Mostly worked on improving things under the hood as well as completing more cards for the game; given there are currently 75 cards per deck planned.

Despite all the art still needed, my goal is to move ahead and get the multiplayer functional for alpha v0.0.3 then backtrack to the issues list and get those ironed out.

Oh, and per last post, here is something for the quickest of you who actually reads these things (9YXL6-VCPVL-KGER7).  There will be three more popping up in randomly places.  Or maybe they are actually in this dev diary entry but different in the other places it is officially posted?  Hmm.

The Dope Game Remaster

The Dope Game got a lot of love this week.  More restructuring of the underlying code happened to make things more efficient.  Basically gutting the whole system.  This ended up happening because of a few more features added to the game from The Dope Game 2, as tests.

Like you’ll notice in this screenshot.  You can actually donate a few “unneeded” organs to make some cash; some with unintended side-effects.  You can also now treat conditions, primarily the one you get when the old lady on the bus sticks a syringe into your neck.  Additionally you can now heal your crew members at the hospital.

There are some other new features that will be covered next week along with related screenshots to really give you a visual of what is new.  Lastly the Russian version of the game may be delayed a bit longer due to the new script not being complete and getting those changes in place.  However, it shouldn’t be delayed too much.

Well, that’s it for this week.  More coming soon!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 6/26/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey, my dearest reader.  The Steam Game Festival is now over and the Steam summer sale is upon us.  With a week off from dev diaries there is a bit to talk about, but it’ll be short and sweet.

Haulin’ Oats

A big thanks to all the folks who checked out the demo during the Steam Game Festival.  I got some decent feedback and glad people enjoyed it.  The demo will reappear closer to the full release this fall.

Armed with new details, the next alpha version should be out in early July.  I’m aiming to have achievements functional as well as stats and some more glitches ironed out.  Maybe, if we’re lucky, have multiplayer functional too.

Also I will be giving out four (4) beta keys to some folks during the Steam Summer Sale starting this coming Monday.  Keep an eye out on the CoaguCo Twitter account, the CoaguCo Steam group, and the Haulin’ Oats community page.

The Dope Game Remaster

Now that the Steam Game Festival is over, work has resumed on The Dope Game’s remastered version.  As you can see below, all the characters are looking pretty for the new version.

More assets are being drawn every day and I’m trying not to chuck in any more features from The Dope Game 2.  Though the idea is to have a few just to test how they will work for the sequel.  Working on the game again at this level has been fun.  Hopefully the beta version will be out in July at some point; probably near the end of the month.

I’ve also been trying to get feedback on how to approach the remaster version; things like:

Make it a new app?

Make it a full update for the main game but with a new, higher price?

Make it a full update for the main game but at the same price?

Make it a DLC?

Time yet to figure it out.  Feel free to throw in your 2 cents!

Until next time!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 6/12/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Why hello.  I see you are here for yet another development diary for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  Well, no reason to waste any time, please sit down.

Haulin’ Oats

Have we discussed this before?  The Steam Game Festival?  Surely we did.  Either way, it starts next Tuesdays and the demo will be available during that week.

As you can see here, the gameplay trailer for the store page is live!  Speaking of, the store page is also active currently.  You can go over and check out all the details and wishlist if it you so choose.

This week was spent polishing up both the demo and alpha v0.0.2 for the masses.  Which reminds me, if you are in the cast, crew, a guest, or an early adopter, your Steam keys are now available in Itch.io!  While you can redeem them now, you will have to wait until Monday night to get a hold of the new alpha version.

If you are none of these people, you can just download the very limited demo on Tuesday!

The Dope Game Remaster

Sidelined yet again, The Dope Game remaster saw very little work this week.  However, things will resume to normal after the Steam Game Festival is over.

In the meantime, here is a screenshot of the new bus map.  It shows off the new location: the Starkham Docks.  It includes a new NPC and sub-location: Jenkins, from One Way To Die and Into Oblivon, and The Bootleg Distillery.

Both are a tie-in to Into Oblivion’s upcoming DLC: The Brewmaster.  More on that later this year though.

Well, that’s it for now.  It’ll be radio silence next week due to the SGF but I’ll be over there doing stuff!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 6/5/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey there, cool cats and cats.  Another week has come, ushering in another brief update on what’s going on with Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  Here we go.

Haulin’ Oats

So the Steam Game Festival has been pushed back to June 16th - June 22nd.  That’s a whole other week of additional polish for the demo and whatnot.

As you can see above, the trailer for the Steam Game Festival is already live.  It is a spoof on old Wilford Brimley Quaker Oats commercials.  A huge shout-out to Stephen Knowles for his awesome narration in the trailer.  Also a huge shout-out to El Castor for the music track in the background (which is used in the game too).

The game’s Steam store page will be active this weekend after a few tweaks.  Since the game is still in alpha, it will probably change a few times before release.

Despite the Steam Game Festival being pushed back, the next alpha will be out next week and keys will go out.  The demo will still be locked until the 16th.

The Dope Game Remaster

As mentioned last week, there is very little news about The Dope Game as all time was focused on getting Haulin’ Oats ready.  That being said, a little more work was done on the underlying systems and doing a few play-tests on the upcoming beta version.

Next week there will be more Dope Game news and even more Haulin’ Oats news.  Stay tuned!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 5/29/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey there.  Gnash your teeth and weep for joy because it’s time for yet another dev diary update for both Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  First up...

Haulin’ Oats

This week was pretty much checking some small things off my list like updates to the HUD.  Mostly for spacing of objects (status effects, items, etc) and tweaking the behavior of said object changes.  Tweening sprites and whatnot.

Most of this “polish” is for the Steam Game Festival demo and soon to be available alpha v0.0.2.  I know, I know, it has been mentioned a few times and it is close at hand but not quite yet.  And, as I mentioned, not quite with multiplayer.

The card drawing system (Encounters, Resources, and Incidents) also got some love.  Mostly cosmetic but also functional.  Rebuilt the deck notification system and how cards are stored by the user; which also helps with how they are used in the game.

All in all, nothing dreadfully exciting.

The Dope Game Remaster

Prepare yourself... the update will not be ready tomorrow.  In fact, I am postponing the remaster release until the end of summer.  Why, you ask?  I’m further behind than I expected and have more polish to add.  Plus I’d like to have more time for the beta testing as well as time to get The Stash DLC up to snuff too.

That being said, here is an updated version of the inventory.  This new layout offers more interaction with crew, drugs, and equipment.  Also note that armor is now a thing.

I spent some time overhauling the API system and the drop / find system.  You can now drop armor, weapons, drugs, and cash in any quantity and everything gets stored in the database for you or others to find.  Previously you could only lose one of each type and, if it wasn’t found before you lost another, it would overwrite the previous one.  Now there will be a smorgasbord of things to find.  Also, they are linked to the area of town they are lost.  Meaning that they can only be found there instead of randomly anywhere.

That’s about it for now.  Next update will be just before the Steam Game Festival so expect more Haulin’ Oats news and a bit less about The Dope Game.  See you then!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 5/22/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey there, scallywags!  Another week, another development diary, another trickle of information during crunch time.

Haulin’ Oats

This week was more polish and more preparation for the Steam Game Festival.  The demo, thankfully, was approved and is ready to go. 

Since it has a separate repository from the main game, all of the changes I am making have to be ported over.  That sucked up a lot more time than I expected really; even though each each activity / interface is its own scene in Godot. The cards being the biggest pain in the ass, which required rewriting some underlying systems.

That being said, the next alpha should be out around the same time as the Steam Game Festival (early June).  Steam keys have been procured and will be distributed that week.

The Dope Game Remaster

Tried to crank out the last remaining environment assets this week.  They seem to take about a day a piece actually.  By that math, I didn’t get many of them done.

In between assets, I went in to check some things off my list.  Kind of a double-check before pushing things to the beta branch.  If I am still going to hit my May 30th deadline (which is about a week from today), the beta branch will probably end up with a very small window.

That being said, multiplayer will probably end up being patched in after May 30th.  Most of my time has been sucked up revamping the main portion of the game itself and multiplayer still requires a lot of additional testing and functionality before it is ready for prime-time.

That’s about it for now, next week will hopefully be news on the imminent release of some things!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 5/15/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey there, fellers!  It is that time again, you know the one; development diaries for both Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  I’ll keep them brief, as is tradition.

Haulin’ Oats

This week was a crunch to get the demo submitted for the Steam Game Festival and, by the skin of my ass, I made it.  The demo is based on the alpha version 0.0.2 build that you early adopters will get access to soon (and on Steam, no less); more on that a little later.

The demo will be available at the start of the Steam Game Festival for the public to try.  It limits you to just singleplayer, with only the basic five drivers, co-pilots, and pets.  Encounter, Resource, and Incident cards are limited to the first 10.  Everything else should function as normal.  Oh, except you only get one lap before the demo ends; however, you can replay it over and over to get a taste of the whole board.

This demo will also be updated as alpha testing and beta testing continue.  It will also turn into the game’s official demo at release.

Back to the next alpha build, I am currently doing one more big polish and bug pass before uploading it to Steam.  I don’t have an exact date but I’d say very soon.  Once that gets uploaded, the Steam keys for cast, crew, early adopters, and some other folks will be passed out.  The bulk will be available through the Itch.io links you were given previously or in your Itch.io account.  The small remainder will be e-mail individually.

A little bit down the road is alpha version 0.0.3 which will have multiplayer and Steam achievements.  Hopefully this will also be the last alpha version before moving into beta as all the systems will be in place and just need tweaked.

Oh, and a trailer is being worked on too...

The Dope Game Remaster

Honestly, not a lot happened with The Dope Game this week as almost all the time was spent getting Haulin’ Oats’ demo ready.  Nonetheless, there was some work done though it was mostly bug-hunting.

Here is a screenshot of the main menu now.  You know, for shits and giggles.

I was going to upload the new store graphics and Steam assets, as well as new achievement icons but after getting everything in place it just seemed a bit confusing.  You know, considering it doesn’t match the current version that’s available.

That being said, the beta branch should get some love soon.  Still hoping to hit the May 30th deadline and 4-year anniversary of the game’s launch, so I should get back to it.

See you next week for more!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 5/8/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hello there, my dear friend.  Welcome back to another development diary for Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  As per usual we will dig right into all the newest things.

Haulin’ Oats

With the Steam Game Festival right around the corner, much work has been put into getting the game’s demo ready.  It does include, however, necessary work for the next alpha build too.

The screenshot here shows the implementation of the achievements and statistics; as well as the new menu layout which probably doesn’t look a whole hell of a lot different.  It is now centered.  Stats and achievements will be active in the next alpha but, obviously, not the demo.

Multiplayer may not actually be in the game until alpha v0.0.3 depending on time.  Right now the focus is getting the demo and alpha v0.0.2 done by Valve’s May 15th deadline.  That being said, if it doesn’t then v0.0.3 will be along much faster than v0.0.2 was / is.

The store page is ready as well but a trailer is also being put together before I make that live.  Nonetheless, it’ll be ready for you to check out and wishlist by next weekend.

The Dope Game Remaster

The Dope Game also got a lot of love this week.  There was a lot of polish for the remaster beta testing and an update to the warning screen that Google loves so much.

All the main menu stuff got their face-lifts finished and systems tweaked.  The major difference besides graphical is the leaderboards will now show the top five players in each category instead of the top player.  Also Steam backed-up statistics were removed due to long-standing issues with keeping them synced correctly.  The game will rely on itself and CoaguCo servers to track everything.  Now that it’s all out of the way, the last push to polish up the main game loops is on.

Most likely the holiday events will not be active in the remaster version until the each holiday happens; then it’s back to normal afterward.  Also the Russian translation will be delayed for a bit as new text will require new translations to be made.  However, pushing some graphical elements to text elements (based on Haulin’ Oats design) will allow localization to be easier.

That’s it for this week.  There should be much more to show next week thanks to a crunch session and quarantine!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 5/1/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Why hello.  Here again for another quick rundown of things that happened during the game development process?  Surely.  So let’s get to it.

Haulin’ Oats

This week was more revamping menu stuff because who doesn’t love fixing what ain’t broke, a new guest character, and more Steam Game Festival prep.

As pictured above, Maury is the new guest character; normally the guest characters have not been shown but eh.  This shows his achievement icon, playing card, and character avatar.  I’m sure you can guess who he is a parody of.

Some brainstorming was done on the game’s trailer, since it should probably be ready for the store page when that launches; which should also be up for the Steam Game Festival.  Including a demo which will be based on the next alpha update and also updated frequently on the road to release.

The Dope Game Remaster

Credits were tinkered with and more under-the-hood stuff.

This work-in-progress shot above shows the lovely dialog avatars from the current version of the game reworked to be character / actor icons for the credits page.  That title clearly isn’t going to be in the final version, nor the background.

Also coding for the city loop and Stashware were worked on but no cool pictures of that stuff.  It was mostly tweaking things and making it more efficient; also cutting out all the old 32-bit INT code and making sure it still works.

That’s it for this week!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 4/24/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey there, folks!  Time for an even shorter version of the weekly dev diary.  But wait, shorter you say?  Yes, I didn’t get much done at all this week due to a very tall pile of projects, both digital and in real life.

I’m hoping this week is more productive on the game development front but nice weather and quarantine definitely detracted from that.  For those that don’t know and might care, I live in the country so there are tons of outdoors things to do.

That being said, here’s some brief blurbs about what was done and some pretty pictures to go along with that.

Haulin’ Oats

Coding itself took a backseat to some drawing and set-up for Steam’s Game Festival this summer.

The warning screen that shows up when the game starts was modified a bit.  The banner is new the the text is more readable.  Not a super important thing but hey.

More stuff was done for the Steam Game Festival, mostly in the Steamworks back-end.  The store page needs to be active soon and a demo needs to be produced.  Luckily, the next alpha version will be trimmed down into the demo; which I might have mentioned last week.

The Dope Game Remaster

What very little time there I had for the remaster was spent on finishing up some character models.

As seen above, Pinky the gun shop owner, got finished.  I also got the hospital nurse and bartender done.  Sadly no additional code was finished this week, but most of it is just porting and minor changes from Godot 2 to 3.

A major one being the use of 64-bit INTs which did not exist in Godot 2 and was a big fucking headache when it came to any kind of financial transaction... which the whole damn game is based on.

Well, that’s it for this week.  Hopefully next week will have more!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 4/17/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey there, folks!  Time for another week of the seemingly ever-lasting development diary updates.

Haulin’ Oats

This week was more under-the-hood multiplayer coding as there were some unexpected bugs in the lobby system as well as bug in my GodotSteam module.  Nonetheless, that took up a lot more time than one would expect.

This week’s screenshot is of five unused character avatar assets.  Unfortunately I didn’t have a good way of contacting any of these folks and I am rather unknown myself to be reaching out to folks with such clout.  However, there are some guests that I was able to get a hold of and will be appearing in the game as locked characters.  They will not be announced and you’ll have to find out who by playing.

Also, Haulin’ Oats will be part of the Steam Game Festival so those of you who aren’t in on alpha access can give the demo a try.  The demo will be comprised of one go-around and locked to one regular character; and obviously no multiplayer.

The Dope Game

More work on getting single-player ready for the beta branch?  Yes.  That mostly included getting all the code ported over from Godot 2 to Godot 3 and various performance changes made.

Last week you saw a work-in-progress of the loanshark’s crackhouse which has been completed.  As I am working through each area, there are minor tweaks being made to interfaces which are borrowing some functions from The Dope Game 2.  Those are mostly suggestions from the community about things they’d like to see added.

New features for the loanshark include paying down heat for each section of the city or everything all at once.  Also the amount of money you get from new loans will depend on how many you paid back prior.  The more you pay off, the more Sweaty Mike will let you borrow.  Makes getting a certain achievement easier too.

That’s all for this week!  See you again soon!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 4/10/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Good evening.  Time for yet another dev diary update for both Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  So take a seat by the fire but please sit at least six feet away.

Haulin’ Oats

This week was more multiplayer code and interface work.

Sub-menus have been moved into the menu bar, this is also true for all other areas like stats, leaderboards, credits, etc.  More graphical assets have been created for the multiplayer sections too.

The code underneath should be done up to the point of actually playing with other folks.  That will be the focus of this coming week as well as polish to the existing game loop.

The Dope Game

This week was getting more of the scenes completed so that a working build of single-player was, well, playable.

As you can see above, the loanshark’s crackhouse is all updated and pretty much ready to go.  This screenshot also showcases all the new assets in one place, as far as the dialog and HUD are concerned.

So far everything seems functional so I’ll be moving on to other areas where the NPC’s are and get those out of the way.  Once all of them are done and the basic city area, a single-player test will be made available in the beta branch on Steam.  Then I will move on to the multiplayer.

That’s about it for now.  See you next week!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 4/2/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hey there!  Time for yet another weekly update on what the hell is going on.

Haulin’ Oats

Networking, networking, networking.  All that was done this week was getting the net-code added in; all Steamworks stuff.  Even put together some crude interface for multiplayer.

Right now lobbies can be made and joined.  Player avatars get pulled from Steam and displayed.  Servers can even be joined.  There are more tweaks, beyond the visual, that need done plus a lot of testing.

The next beta version is basically waiting on this to be done before it is uploaded, thus modes will not be changeable at the time.

The Dope Game Remaster

This week I got side-tracked on working on multiplayer for The Dope Game and got bogged down in redoing all the Steam and Itch.io assets.

Here you can see the new capsule and game icon.  Also had to go through the wide variety of capsules, titles, and icons for everything.

Also, I am aiming to release the remaster version on the fourth anniversary of the game (May 30th).  That should give enough time to get it all done.  I think.

That’s it for this week.  Hope to have something more exciting next week!

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 3/27/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

A few days later than late but here nonetheless.  Time for another weekly update.

Haulin’ Oats

Mostly another week of graphical tweaks but there was also multiplayer...

You can see above, the main menu has some letter shadowing added to make it more like the newer logo.  Also makes thing pop a bit more and easier to read.

More importantly, multiplayer stuff has been added in.  A lot of the Steamworks functionality is in but nothing has been tested just yet.  The first test, lobbies and servers, will probably be next week.  Then there is a bunch of overhaul to make the game work with it.

The Dope Game

More drawing this week.  A never-ending onslaught of art assets to be converted.

As you can see above, the Sweaty Mike’s lair got a facelift this week; though the shading isn’t don’t yet.  While the list of assets that still need swapped over is long, it is probably time to get the multiplayer up and functional too.  Hopefully next week’s update will be more about multiplayer!

See you then.

[coaguco]

Dev Diary - 3/18/20 - Haulin’ Oats And The Dope Game Remaster

Hello there.  It is that time again for another weekly update on what’s going on with Haulin’ Oats and The Dope Game remaster.  Enough introduction to a thing you may or may not read, let’s get into it.

Haulin’ Oats

It was yet another art asset week and fixing up some minor bugs in the character selection process.  Even hooked in the Steam username functions.

HUD trays were also updated; though in this screenshot they show up in their debug state.  Now they will only show what items the player has and slide back under the top portion like they did in pre-alpha.  There is a little animation where the slide back out when an item is received or taken.  And, of course, can be toggled at any time.  Granted there is a reason I switched it before, and surely that’ll come up again.

Now that the character selection process is fixed up and redesigned, all attention this week is to updating the last of the squares and testing them for bugs.  Then on to adding in another win condition: placed wins.

The Dope Game

The art just never stops.  This week was more redrawing character set-pieces for each interaction.

As shown above, each character was redrawn with a lot more detail and some changes made; mostly because up-scaling never really works.  Surprisingly, these character set-pieces take a lot more time than one would expect and will probably go on for the next two weeks of updates (surprise, surprise).  The environment shots take even longer.

Nonetheless, everything is a 1:1 drop-in so no code needs changed out for any of this thus saving some time down the road.

Well, that’s about it for this week.  Join me next week for another rather uninformative update on where things are at!