Development Update – What I’m Changing Going Forward

I’ve had a fair amount of feedback since Episode 2 released, both positive and critical, and I’ve been thinking about which parts of it are actually useful for improving the game.

I’m not changing The Stowaway into a different kind of game. The darker sci-fi tone, mystery, characters, choices and ongoing story are still the core of what I want to make.

That said, I do think the balance can be improved.

Going forward, I want to cut down on some of the longer stretches of dialogue. There will still be plenty of character interaction, but I want more scenes where something is actually happening while people are talking — moving through the ship, working, exercising, investigating, dealing with problems — rather than characters standing in one place talking for too long.

I’m also going to bring the adult side of the game forward more consistently. That means more sex scenes, more fetish content, more sexual tension between scenes, and less waiting for the adult content to come back around.

The plan isn’t to turn the game into pure porn with a few lines of story between scenes. I still want the sex and fetish content to come from the characters and their relationships. I just want the balance to better reflect the fact that this is an adult game.

I’m also going to loosen the tone slightly in places. The serious moments will still be serious, but I want a little more dry humour, sarcasm and characters taking the piss out of each other where it fits. The crew should feel like actual people rather than everyone speaking like they know they’re in a serious sci-fi drama.

So for Episode 3, the main targets are:

• tighter dialogue

• more visual and active scenes

• more sex and fetish content

• better pacing between story and adult scenes

• more sexual tension outside of explicit scenes

• keep the mystery, atmosphere and serious tone intact

I’ve also started working on a new character for Episode 3. She’s still very much a WIP while I tweak the face, hair, materials and Blender import, so don’t treat this as the finished version just yet. 😄

Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to give feedback. I’m not going to follow every suggestion, but there’s definitely useful stuff in there, and I think the changes above will make the next episode stronger without losing what I want The Stowaway to be.