Progress Report

We meet again! 

It turned out that the game patch required much more work than I (naively) assumed. I worked on it pretty much all week, adding around 10k words to the game — which, in a million, I know it's not much — and countless corrections and improvements.

I also had a lot of fun coming up with achievements. If I'm honest, I forgot about achievements halfway through writing the game, so there were a lot of special parts and hidden paths that I forgot. But now, with 44 achievements, I think I have them all covered. 😅

It was a lot of work, but I managed to finish it this morning, and Hosted Games has already updated the game! It feels good.

I'll leave the game patch notes here because they turned out to be longer than the previous progress report!

Game Patch Notes:

• Fixed typos and grammatical mistakes.
• Fixed Alessa's relationship page bug.
• Fixed the error where it wasn't acknowledged the MC already knew of the Ministry Building in the Market and the Cathedral paths.
• Fixed Juturna's coin continuity errors.
• Fixed the MC forgetting Aurelius' name at the Gates.
• Fixed the MC not remembering seeing Neia's initial at the Gates.
• Fixed Hadrian's cross being silver in Chapter One.
• Fixed the siren continuity error.
• Changed the description of Lance's coin box at the square.
• Added Lance's crossbow.
• Tweaked the Devil's guardian dialogue to make it clearer what she means when she calls you "one of us."
• Added a small exposition about Latin in Chapter 1.
• Changed the description of the Devil's Bridge in Chapter 3.
• Added the Pirate to the relationship panel.
• Adjusted Hadrian and Alessa's relationship descriptors.
• If the MC has high enough Combat, they're now able to hurt the Theers' spy in Chapter 7.
• Added the option to be grateful to Salina for treating the scar.
• MC recalls seeing a certain white spotted horse before.
• If the MC has enough Lore, they recognize the word 'Tablinum'.
• Added a different version of Lance's conversation outside the Inn based on a past choice.
• Chouriça now reacts if you have high enough Corruption.
• Added the option to keep Aurelius' cross without wearing it around your neck.
• Added the option to tell Hadrian he's your first kiss.
• Added the option to tell Alessa she's your first kiss.
• Put the 'A Templar's Heart' and 'The Flame Beneath the Ice' achievements in their proper places.
• Added 'A Sight from the Deep' achievement.
• Added 'Fearless' achievement.
• Added 'A New Champion' achievement.
• Added 'A Noble Parade' achievement.
• Added 'The Title before the Name' achievement.
• Added 'Gold Handkerchief' achievement.
• Added 'Green Handkerchief' achievement.
• Added 'A Promise of a Date' achievement.
• Added 'You'd Rather Not' achievement.
• Added 'A Sweet Treat' achievement.
• Added 'It Grew' achievement.
• Added 'Record Keeper' achievement.
• Added 'Human After All' achievement.
• Added 'Head in the Clouds' achievement.
• Added 'A Sparrow Soaring Too High' achievement.
• Added 'A Tight-Lipped Confession' achievement.
• Added 'Through the Haze of Embarrassment' achievement.
• Added 'The Noose Tightens' achievement.
• Added 'Ancient Word' achievement.
• Added 'A Bit of History' achievement.
• Added 'A Tight-knit Group' achievement.
• Added 'No Point in Clustering' achievement.

I've said this before, but now I mean it: Book One is done. Barring typo and bug reports, I won't be adding any new content or wondering about ways to improve it, or cringing looking at the writing on the early chapters where I know it's in much worse shape. It is done.

I also finally sent the prologue to my wonderful alpha testers. Most have already sent me their feedback which... I haven't opened yet! 😆 I was hyper-focused on the patch update, and when I'm like that, I can barely concentrate on anything else, so, knowing myself, I thought it best not to look.

The goal for next week is to go through the alpha feedback and continue writing Chapter One. I'll probably wait before editing the prologue because I need a break from editing — this patch had so much of that.

I also have a beautiful art piece commissioned that should be ready... soon? I'm not sure. Art takes time, and artists need it, but I've seen the sketches, and I am so excited to share it!!!

And this is it. A barren report but, I like to think, an important one. One that marks an important milestone. Did I complain about the heat last week? You may be happy to know that it has subsided a little bit. It even rained the other day.

Rain during late nights in the middle of June. There's something nostalgic about that, although I can't name exactly why.