Past and New chapter

Hello there!

Let’s start with some personal news: I’m finally going on vacation! Yes! It’s been over a year and a half since the last one, and I swear, I need this.
Coming up: sea, sex, and sun! A full week in the South of France with my wife, our kid, and the rest of the family. It’s going to be amazing! You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to this.

On the health side, things are looking up too! It’s been almost six months (since I started long-term treatment) without a major gout attack. And we’re about to start biking together as a family, so yeah, things are definitely improving.

We’ve had a heatwave and some trouble with hail (all our shutters got wrecked...), but hey, it could be worse. And it definitely is in other parts of France right now.

So, all in all, I’d say things are going pretty well!

Now back to game stuff, starting with Chapter 6. From the feedback I’ve seen, it’s been really well received! I can’t say exactly what made the difference this time:

• The pacing : slower at the start, but ramping up fast by the end

• The 60FPS animations, which turned out pretty nicely

• The sound design

• The story, which is starting to head toward the end of this first book, so stakes and intensity are rising

Honestly, I think it’s a mix of all those things.
But feel free to tell me what you think in the comments!

Also, with the summer sales and the launch bundle with Mythos, sales have been doing quite well. That gives me a bit of a buffer to keep going comfortably over the next few months.

So yeah, I’m happy! And at the same time... you have no idea how much pressure that puts on me for the next chapter!

Speaking of which (smooth segue, right?), Chapter 7 is underway! The rough writing is almost done. Obviously, there’ll be tweaks, improvements, additions, etc. as I move through rendering. But the core is there, and it's solid.

Part of this chapter will focus on characters who, based on your feedback, might not be the most popular... but I hope this will give you a chance to get to know them better.

Story-wise, we’re still moving steadily toward the big finale. And actually, I can already give you the chapter title (unless I change my mind... but I probably won’t, it fits really well):
Chasing the Storm.
Feel free to start your theories about it, here or on Discord!

As for progress numbers, nothing concrete yet. But as of now, there are about 2,600 lines of raw dialogue written, without counting the naughty scenes (or at least, the naughty parts of those scenes). I rarely write those ahead of time since they depend heavily on the visuals.

For comparison: at this point in the process, Chapter 6 had around 2,400 lines. So this one might end up a bit longer... but we’ll see!

I’ll leave you with a little visual here. There’s no background, so clearly it’s not a final in-game render, more of a test shot.
And yes, I love turtles. They’re just way too cute! 🐢💚

Thanks again for all your support, and see you soon!