Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #82

Hiya there, guys!

it's been a bit of a hectic start to the month with Patreon's processing woes and rewards going out late (and I'm still not sure if some people are trapped in processing limbo)--but I'm gonna try and get back into a sense of normalcy with things and forge on ahead with the regularly scheduled dev logs!

So where do we start? I'm sort of all over the place with my writing at the moment, going back through the script and filling in gaps I had left here and there when they initially stumped me and felt my writing could be focused elsewhere for the time being. There aren't too many gaps--namely transitioning scenes during the morning and nights at the inn, where Matt rests for the day. It could have been easy and saved time if I just have a generic message that played, describing him going to bed and waking up in the morning--but I wasn't happy with something like that, and felt if I took the time to better flesh out the inn and how it begins to feel like a second home to him, you'll feel just that little bit more immersed in the story and world! Plus you'll also get to see the more motherly side of Anna, who makes sure Matt has his breakfast in the morning, or else he won't grow up to be big and strong! (Well, that might never happen, given the focus of the game--but it's nice to dream!)

Interactions at the inn will range from just chilling with Anna at the bar, to meeting the patrons that come and go each day. No single in-game day will have the same text--so you'll always have some fun scenes to look forward to. Whether it's catching up with Ren or Cynthia, or even a multitude of other patrons that might only appear if you've met them previously. (Such as a certain nervous merchant!) This does begin to complicate matters just a touch, and with the word count already as immense as it is, I do realise that I'll have to draw the line somewhere and unfortunately not be able to make a game that's infinitely long. But so far, I'm incredibly proud of the project I've put together, and it's been one of the largest single games I've ever put together--both in terms of word count and assets. Which of course, I owe to you guys for giving me the chance to get this far--I really hope the game meets your standards and is what you're looking for out of the genre!

So in a sense, Matt will have two places to go to when he wants to meet friends--both the monster camp, and the inn. One for monsters and one for humans! How convenient~ It's just a shame we can't bring the monster girls in to drink, or that would make for quite the lively party! One can only wonder how they would all get along...

Writing aside, I've also been taking the time to go over some of the CGs included in the game, and reiterate upon some of them that I felt could do with a new coat of paint and some extra little additions here and there. Some changes are minor such as tweaking expressions and faces on some characters to better match sprites, and others are a bit more drastic with full redraws, hence the sketch above!

As you can recall, I may have shown a similar CG of Cynthia and Matt together before--but I feel it didn't quite have everything I originally wanted for the scene. (Some intense training~) Don't worry, though--I'm not going to be going every CG redone in an infinite loop while writing gets completed! Only the ones that stand out to me, and may have been originally completed in less than ideal circumstances at the time. This is sort of expanding on how I had some character sprites redone, too, to better reflect what I had in mind for them and ensure you all get as high quality an experience as possible when the big day comes! (And it will, really!) This is probably the last CG I'll be having redone, while the others will simply have some little tweaks regarding facial expressions and small additions. I know some CGs could probably benefit from an increase in semen, lol. (There's a sentence I never thought I'd type!)

How do you guys feel about how things are moving along? Happy with the rate of development? Frustrated? Perhaps feel I should have aimed my sights lower on a shorter game with a quicker release date? These are genuinely things I consider myself sometimes and am interested to know how you--my dedicated patrons--feel, since you are funding the game of course and I want to make sure I'm developing with your best interest in mind. Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments below and don't hold anything back--I won't cry! Much, anyway.

Until next time~