Dev Update! 1/22/24

Hey, friends! Hope you're all having a swell week so far.

I've been focusing a lot of my attention on writing over the past couple days, fleshing out and tweaking a couple scenes I'd already written. I think I arrived at something better than I began with -- but only time will tell!

On that note, I recently had a supporter/fan ask why I plan to redo the first chapter of the game, and I think this is a good time to talk about it. One thing that's a bit challenging about this whole project is that fact that everything I do is, essentially, a first draft. I just don't have time to waffle around too much! My normal process is basically one where I write and code a scene at the same time, and then as I begin rendering it, I might tweak dialogue and narration to make it work better with the art. One thing I've been working on is trusting the art and dialogue to carry the story, instead of overdoing the narration -- which I think was definitely a problem in the early chapters.

I'm always tweaking things here and there, and usually it goes unnoticed and unseen. >_> Usually that means fixing some borked-up art. But, sometimes I'll have a certain story/character arc that was planned for a character, and then ultimately changed. Which may necessitate me tweaking dialogue. I've only had to do that on a couple of occasions in the early chapters, but it has happened. I think I tweaked a bit of dialogue in Britt's first on-screen appearance, to make her come across as less of a 'mean girl.' She was originally slated for more of a villain role in Gabby's story, until I got to know her a little better. See, sometimes change is good! :D

Speaking of Gabby, I'm currently running a poll for all $5+ patrons, determining which dress we'll see her wear in the next chapter. You can see the options above, and currently the dark purple/blue with the frilly sleeves is winning. I'm already dreading dealing with those sleeves clipping into her torso, but I dug my own grave on this one. :'D By the way, I'm just so pumped to have Gabby back in the story. I absolutely love writing her, and the next few chapters will have a lot of content with her.

Over the weekend, I also put up a set of three high-res wallpapers featuring Ashe, Brittani, and Gabby. You can see a little crop of Ashe's up-top. Let me know if you folks like these, and I'll do more. I'd originally planned to have a new short story for a certain character, but I wasn't ready to pull the supplemental art together in time. Look for that soon, though.

Besides all that, no news is good news! I'm working on a new playtest build for $15+ patrons, which will contain the first scene of the next chapter. Still have some art to finish for it, but it's getting there. I plan to have that out by the end of the month, so I need to get my ass in gear a bit.

So on that note, I'll wrap this up and get back to work. As always: take care of yourselves, and thank you for your support!