Saturday Update!

Hello again friends! I'm happy to report that I had another very productive week! 

I'm getting so excited about working on the audio and the game that I'm really having to fight against the workaholism LMAO I admit I pulled a couple 'worked for too many hours' days near the end of the week 😅But honestly I'm just having a lot of fun! [ and I actually worked less hours on Monday and Tuesday because I had a headache that could drop a horse and I was also getting my parents' cat settled in to my apartment for a week of babysitting ]

This is Gorgo by the way! My parents were on vacation for the week so I took her in! [ this was the best selfie with her I could manage LMAO ]

And here she is doing some yoga!

She really brightened up my week and made it special <3 I admit it was a little difficult emotionally at first [ for anyone new around here, my cat Aeris passed away last year and it was really hard for me, still is tbh ] and I had to wrestle with some past trauma- but it WAS worth it. I had a smile on my face constantly while she was around [ she just got picked up to go home this morning ]. And Gorgo is an absolute sweetheart- she's so different from what I'm used to, but she's a wonderful little angel [ and she has the softest, quietest little meow ] I'm missing her already ^^; but I can always see her when I visit my parents :D

ANYWAY, I suppose I should actually talk about the work I did x'D

I think I made an enormous amount of progress. I finished Celia's path on Tuesday- probably could have had it done on Monday if it weren't for the headache, but it is what it is.

Then I went into fuckin' turbo mode for the rest of the week and slammed out all of Mason's path - it's actually done now too!

I know I completed it quickly, but I really think Mason's path came out great. Like, not to shit on Celia's path, but I personally think I have a favourite LMAO I feel like the music and sound choices went so easily and I actually really got it to sound how I wanted. His path is structured in a more 'atmospheric' way, and I think the music and sounds really helped it get there. I'm actually genuinely quite proud of the completed product.

I was able to find exactly what I wanted for almost every sound! There was ONE weird concession but I think it's for the best honestly. I wanted the sound of a deer screaming, like actually distressed, but of course that wasn't available [ nor would I want to be a part of anything that ACTUALLY caused an animal distress ] but I actually did find a sound that worked for me- an owl! Apparently some owls make absolutely awful shrieking noises, just hanging around. Honestly I think it was a pretty good substitute 😂Thank you bastard owl!

I also managed to catch a few subtle bugs in Mason's path and fix them. Very satisfying. 

So, as you can see above, even though I've completed 2 paths, the general progress is only just above half. This is because Derek's path is huge. I never wanted to use 'quotas' or force myself to make the 3 paths even- I wanted them to flow however felt right. So, they are somewhat uneven. Derek's path ended up with more content mostly because there are so many characters, and there's content surrounding all of them. [ Even though Derek is the 'star' of the path and the 'main antagonist', the other hunters with him all have multiple endings of their own as well ].

I think Derek's path will have quite a bit less 'atmospheric sound' simply on account of it being a desert rather than a forest, but the real kicker will be music, because I like to have music when an 'event' is happening with a character. And I take a lot longer choosing music than sound effects, so I'm anticipating a lot of work up ahead.

I think Derek's path will likely take me all of next week, but possibly a little more if I get crazy hung up somewhere. Hopefully not though! 

Then, after I finish the sound on Derek's path, I have a short list of tiny tasks that all shouldn't take more than a week:

• Designing the final Main Menu background [ I know what I want to do now and it doesn't involve a lot of extra art, just programming and fiddling. ]
• Adding a Splash Screen [ the screen that comes up while the game is loading, which will pretty much just be a big obnoxious warning page ]
• Redrawing the background and sprites for the Auction Sequence at the beginning of the game [ the sprites are silhouettes so they are very easy to draw ]
• Paying Steam $100 to create a developer account and creating the TPOF page
• Generating Beta Access codes for all you guys <3
• Preparing a Discord server for you guys to use while Beta Testing and a spreadsheet for myself to log bug reports

Phew! But that's all gotta wait until after I finish the sound of course. One thing at a time. Very exciting to see things finally fully come together! I'm still feeling pretty nervous about it, but I'm also feeling a little more confident too. I really do like Mason's path a lot. I know I shouldn't pick favs but I can't help it 😂

Anyway, thank you guys SO much for your incredible support!!! Can't believe how close we're getting to release! It feels so surreal after years of only thinking about it conceptually. Everything is suddenly changing and it's wild. But I finally feel like I'm ready you know? I'm ready for life to change again.

As always, it's an absolute pleasure to work for you <3 Stay safe and have a fun weekend! ^o^