Dev Update #49

Hello patrons! Knotty here to give an update on the latest news regarding. It's been relatively quiet here as I've not had much that can be shown off in the way of previews. That's because I've been prepping and writing the outlines for the the final week of Element-174. This is because I want to make sure that all the variations to the storyline are in order before I begin writing full scenes, making renders and animations, and other such time commitments. So let me break down exactly how the last part of the game will be released here on Patreon.

As most of you know, Element-174 Part 2 ends with 2 different endings based on which route was chosen: order and chaos. What this means is that for each character (16 in total) there will be 2 ending "weeks" for each character (32 ending routes total). The reason that weeks is in quotes is because the actual in-game days may vary. Some may follow the individual day-by-day flow, whole others may take place over weeks and months. In the case of the latter, those characters scenes may focus on only a single day or couple days. The last part of the game really breaks out of the gameplay mold that preceded. In a lot of cases, the main character will no longer be going to class daily and performing the usual 3 branching choices per day. Some days in the ending routes may have no choices, others will have several. The final bit of info I'd like to share is that each ending "week" will be composed of 5 "days" per route. This more-or-less follows the week 3 structure where each girl had exactly 5 main scenes focused her. The "days" in this instance will be around the same length of content as a single morning/afternoon/evening scene in week 3 (probably a little more). In other words, each girl will have 10 full days/scenes split between order and chaos. Scattered in these days will additional scenes based on which subroutes were still active when the main girl was chosen on day 21. Each subroute girl will have 2 subroute scenes on both order and chaos routes.

Now that an outline of the planned content structure is laid out, I'd like to explain how this content will be released. Rather than lump all of the "day 22" (or the day that follows the choice) content into a single update on Patreon (which would be 32 scenes), I'm splitting the updates between order and chaos, alternating between the two. So here is an shortform example of how the next few updates will look.

• Day 22 (order) [we are here]

• Day 22 (chaos)

• Day 23 (order)

• Day 23 (chaos)

• Day 24 (order)

• ....

• Day 28 (order) [final update]

This way each girl receives content every update, and the time between updates won't balloon by grouping order and chaos for an entire day. The scene outlines have been fully mapped for all of day 22, and some scenes coding/dialogue are also done. It's been fun and a bit of a mess trying to figure out which subroutes are possible/active for each ending route, as well as any choices made that could influence the upcoming stories. But this game has never been simple. Originally, I only wanted the subroute girls to be active for the ending route that they provided points towards, but I've since decided the game might be better if I include subroute scenes even for the opposing side.

Thanks for your patience, but I wanted to lay out the development cycle ahead so there's no misunderstandings. Preview renders will begin soon once all the scenes are written for day 22 (order). Below I'll provide a TLDR of the important bullet points. Until then!

• The final week will be composed of 2 separate routes for each girl (order and chaos).

• Each "week" will be made up of 5 days for 10 in total for all 16 girls.

• Each day will be about the same length as a main scene for a girl in week 3.

• Active subroute girls will also have 2 scenes across these weeks for 4 in total (per subroute girl)

• The next Patreon update will be Day 22 Order.

• The update after that will be Day 22 Chaos. Then will be Day 23 Order, alternating until the end of the game on Day 28.