Dev update 10th Dec

Hey folks,

If you don't want to read everything, please skip to the Summary section below.

So… late last night I got another demo to the QC team… and since then I have added a few more things.  Other than the game night scene, episode 25 is now fully complete. All art is 100% complete (including game night), and other than game night, all writing is complete.   And when I say everything, I mean everything… All scene transitions, pathing, endings, wedding, etc.

I plan to get game night complete over the next 2 days while also doing plenty of testing in parallel, so we are still on track for the release this weekend,

The episode is currently 58,000 lines long, which is over 2.5 times bigger than episode 24. And 36 times bigger than episode 1.  So, yeah… I should have spread the game out over 35 episodes, not 25, but no point looking back at this stage.  We also have 5400 items of art (renders & animations) in this episode alone, so this has been a massive undertaking.

I was planning on releasing episode 25 really late, like just before midnight (GMT) on the 13th, but one slight change to plan is that I am now aiming to release it really late (GMT) on the 12th December instead. Although this might seem like good news, I'm doing this out of necessity, because I have some personal shit happening on the 13th that is unavoidable, so I won't be around for portions of the 13th. It's shitty timing and has only popped up now, but if there was any way around it, I would try to get out of it, but I can't… It's a big deal, so no avoiding.

So, I don't want to release the game on a day where I won't be around for huge chunks of time, and rather than push out the release date to the 14th (which is a Sunday), I'm going to try to pull it in by a day to the 12th and that is achievable.  So the plan is to release on the 12th (night) get some sleep.. And if through some disaster, there WAS an issue with the game… I can resolve it on the 13th before I need to head off for a few hours, rather than just release it on the 13th and then go AWOL.

Honestly, I could do with another two weeks to add more stuff, tweak stuff and do more testing (there are literally 1000s of paths to check), but at some stage, I just have to bite the bullet and release it and I honestly think it will be 99.9% of what I wanted to get into episode 25, so I'm pretty sure it will be a satisfying conclusion for most people.  My need to add/tweak, etc. isn't unique to episode 25, it's the way I feel about every episode! :)

So, I'm aiming for a release on the 12th.  Support / response from me on the 13th will be pretty light (I'll be around all morning to fix any issues, but gone from the afternoon). From the 14th I'll be back in the saddle to fix any new errors / bugs, etc. that come up once people start playing. I don't foresee any game breaking bugs, game crashing, etc. as we have extensively tested it, but there might be the odd typo or two that we miss (although our proof-reader** doesn't seem to miss much) or maybe a single line of dialog that may seem out of place on a particular less travelled / less played path or unlikely combo of characters & events. So far, through multiple iterations and playthrus, the QC team and my proof-reader have only found minor anomalies like these and zero major game-breaking issues, so that does look promising and that's why I'm optimistic that the release will be 99.9% there.

Speaking of support… normally I get back to everyone's general queries and comments very quickly, but this week, please expect my responses to be slow as ALL of my focus is on episode 25 at the moment, so if you have questions about previous episodes or Steam Season 2 or you're having issues with an old download link from an old episode, don't expect a quick response. :)  And even after release… for the first few days, I will be spending all of my time dealing with questions / issues specific to episode 25 release, so response to other stuff will be slow.

Release schedule:  Normally, the game is released to $10+ patrons immediately and then one week later for $5 patrons.  However for those of you who are currently $5 patrons, but you have been multi-month subscribers or have been around a while, I don't expect you to have to up your subscription as a long-term supporter… So for those folks, you won't have to wait a week. I'll aim to get it to you before then. But obviously, that is a little bit more manual for me, so please allow some grace period to make sure everyone is looked after.

Also… This release WILL require you to run a tiny little authenticator to make sure you are a valid patron and to stop people just immediately uploading the release onto pirate sites.  This won't stop piracy (like everything it's hackable), but it will (hopefully) slow them down for a little while, just so it's patrons only that get to enjoy the release immediately. This might piss a small number of people off, but since I quit my full-time job, this is literally my livelihood, so I am going to try to protect it.

For any of you that don't agree with this and no longer want to subscribe to a creator that doesn't want his work pirated, let me know before the release and I'll refund you. And we can also agree a plan where you can come to my house and work for free for a year doing whatever it is you do for a living! :) :) I'm joking about the working for a year, but I'm serious about the refund. Let me know if you want out.

Basically, I will send you an authenticator. It will look/feel exactly like any other WTHI episode, except it will be really small (easy download). I will also send you a unique password.  These will be unique to you, so it will be easy to track who the leaker is if you share it (I have your patreon details :) ).  You run this tiny file, put in your password and then you'll get a "success" message to confirm you have been authenticated.

That's it. It shouldn't take more than 30 seconds. But you will need to do this before playing episode 25. And then once episode 25 is released, for those who are valid authenticated patrons, the game will run with no problems. For those playing an unauthorised / pirated version…they will have problems.

I'll send the link, password / instructions soon, so don't worry if you're not sure exactly what you need to do. It's easy, and I'll send you details.

So, for anybody who is planning on upping or reducing your subscription tier, please do so now, to ensure you get all required info / passwords, etc.

And lastly… I just wanted to say thanks a lot to ALL patrons. I really appreciate the support, the patience and all of the positive messages over the past 12 months while I worked on episode 25.

Once episode 25 has been released, I'll be in touch with all of you next week to discuss next steps and get inputs on what you want to see next (DLC / epilogues, Season 2, New games) as I have lots of plans, but want to make  sure it aligns with what you folks want.

Thanks,

CG

**Just as a side-note: Speaking of our proof-reader, he has also completed a full overhaul of the first 18 episodes to remove any typos / grammar issues, etc. that were missed during those initial releases and we'll continue to get episode 19-24 up to the same standard (after episode 25 release), so there will be a few updates / iterations after the fact. He also caught an issue back in episode 20 (the day after the beach house scene with Katie / Debbie / Lily) where it was not possible to pursue a relationship with Katie & Lily (without Debbie) OR Katie and Debbie (without Lily). This was a an error that was previously unreported and slipped through the net, but it's now been noticed and corrected.

Summary:

Episode 25 will be released on the 12th December (late GMT).

Patrons will need to  run an authenticator and enter a password (unique to each patron) before running episode 25.  Details will be sent to you via Patreon message very soon.

Thanks a lot to all patrons - Your support and patience has been amazing and very much appreciated.