Chapter 1 is finished, and it goes out tomorrow

Chapter 1 of NOIR: Skin Deep is done. Tomorrow the build starts going out, beginning with the $25 tier, which gets early access first as it always has. The other tiers follow from there, and I'll post here as each one unlocks so you know the moment it's yours.

Getting the chapter into your hands fast was the priority I set above everything else this stretch, and I want to be straight about what that cost. Anything that could wait, waited. The main item on that list is the interface. It works, it's stable, and it won't get in your way while you play, but it hasn't been restyled for this game yet. It doesn't carry the look NOIR: Skin Deep should have. I'll adapt it to the game and improve it more broadly across the coming updates.

Then there's the Deluxe edition, and this one needs a real explanation rather than a quiet change. In my previous game, Deluxe meant two things: renders at higher resolution, and an in-game walkthrough. The resolution carries over exactly as before. The walkthrough is the part I no longer have a use for, and the reason is how this game treats your decisions.

NOIR: Skin Deep doesn't score your choices. There's no correct branch and no wrong one, no path that ends well set against a path that ends badly. The game has different endings, they differ in ways you'll feel, and what you decide along the way genuinely changes what you get. What's gone is the idea of the game punishing you for deciding. By my plan, nothing that follows from a choice sits there as a penalty. Every consequence is the visible result of what you chose, and my goal is that you're glad you chose it. A walkthrough exists to steer you away from the bad outcome and toward the good one. Built this way, there's nothing for it to steer toward. So the walkthrough is out, and I'm still working out what else the Deluxe edition should carry instead. I'd rather take the time and add something worth having than pad it with filler. For now, honestly stated: the only difference between the editions is image quality.

You've probably also noticed that the page you're reading this on still describes the old project. It does, and it needs rewriting from the ground up. I know what it should say and it's on the list. It just wasn't the thing standing between you and a finished chapter, and that was the call I made on everything this month. The people who have been funding this whole stretch should get the chapter first, not a better looking page. I feel the weight of that support, and shipping is the most direct way I know to answer it.

On timing ahead. The next update will most likely take me three months. After that I want to move to a two month gap between updates, and here's why I think that's realistic rather than just hopeful. The groundwork for the entire game is already behind me. Every location exists. Every character is modeled and ready. I have the full story laid out from the opening scene through to the endings, and the first version of the code is in place and running. What each new chapter needs from me now is writing, rendering, and assembly on top of that foundation, which is a far shorter job than building the foundation was. The extra month on the next one is for exactly the small things I didn't get to this time, the interface included. Once those are cleared, two months is the cadence I'm aiming for. I'm calling that an intention, not a promise, and if a chapter needs three months I'll tell you it needs three.

One housekeeping note: the $5 tier stays closed to new members for now. I'll probably open it up again later, possibly in about a month, and I'll say so here when I do.

One more small change. In 24 hours from this post, my three finished games move to the $25 tier only: Going Rogue, With Eyes Closed Season 1, and With Eyes Closed Season 2. If your tier includes any of them and you want the files, grab them inside that window. All three stay available on Steam.

Thank you for the support that got this chapter finished, and I'm looking forward to hearing what you make of it.