Public DevLog Update: Chapter 7 Status

Yo.

Sup, all. Hope everyone is well.

Today I wanted to check in with everyone on the status of the v14 Revamp update. I'm also making this a FREE public post. Reason being is I know many of you only sub during update releases and I wanted to transparent that v14 may be slightly shorter than previous updates (not by much). But I did want people to know that as it could affect whether they choose to sub or not.

For those of you that want details: keep reading.

If you don't like details, just skip to the Summary at the bottom for the TLDR version.

Chapter 7

So I've already mentioned in a few places that Chapter 7 is pretty big. For those of you that don't normally see the DevLogs, I usually report on my what plan is to tackle each of these chapters after I get an outline setup and the chapter 7 outline was pretty intimidating.

Chapter 7 is not only long but has 4 new environments. For the Revamp, I've really spent some decent time redoing these old environments to include new backgrounds and lighting and that takes time depending on how much work is needed.

Having 4 new environments in one chapter means a lot of extra work and so far I've only looked at one of these.

My original plan was to keep splitting each chapter into 2 parts-- thus, each update is half of a chapter. However, with all of the new environments, a lot of action shots, plus outfit changes in various environments-- I found myself pretty intimidated in trying to squish all the needed elements into 2 parts.

Many of you frequently urge me to take care of myself and take breaks and I always reassure you that I'm good. And I am good. I'm decent at listening to my body, and having enough sense to walk away and take a break. I'm also pretty good in recognizing my personal weaknesses and adjusting when needed.

That being said, this is one of those cases where I could already feel myself making excuses to take shortcuts just to get the work done.

That was a warning sign that I needed to change strategy.

So I listened.

The Plan

So in the wake of some early warning signs at the workload-- I'm changing gears a bit. Instead of splitting Chapter 7 into 2 halves, I'm going to split it into 3 parts. This should basically take a larger goal and split it into 3 more short term goals that will be easier to manage and wrap my head around. It will also result in you getting the product faster but it may be slightly smaller than previous updates just because it's about ~1/3 of the chapter rather than 1/2. That being said, those of you that played the original game know these chapters get progressively longer. So realistically, v14 is still going to cover a lot of ground and many of you may not even notice that it's slightly shorter.

I think it's also worth noting that this will not slow the development down. I'm not working any less on this and Chapter 7 will still theoretically take the exact same amount of time to develop. I'm just going to release it in more manageable chunks because that's what my brain is telling me to do so that I don't get burned out and end up getting careless on things.

v14 will still be a decent size and will still end at a reasonable part in the story without feeling like it's abruptly cut off. It will not feature any of the new environments but it still takes us right up to where we would be ready for the first of the new environments.

After that, i'm thinking that v15 would feature the new environments and then finally v16 would finish out the remaining part of the chapter.

(Something like that)

Current Status of v14

So... now that I've discussed what the plan is, it's time to update you on where things actually are.

The good news is that I've been working this entire time so things are sitting pretty good right now.

I just released the first set of teasers in a slideshow or the full video version. This means we're only going to get one set of teasers for v14. I'm currently working on the last scene now. As of today, I have around 260 new CGs completed and 4 new animations completed. I have a fifth animation created, I just need to render it (probably around 30 hours or so but that can happen while I'm sleeping). So right now, the visuals for v14 are on par with all the previous updates we've seen.

v14 will also feature the updated water textures that I recently shared. I do plan on releasing a pack with those in it prior to the update so that the community can get a good look at them and see if I missed any shots.

So what I have left is this last scene, editing, music/sounds, then I'm done and I'll be ready to release the first part of Chapter 7.

v14 Release Date

Right now I'm not going to confirm a release date just because we're halfway through October. I don't know if I'm going to get this out in October-- it would really surprise me if I did. If not, it should be really early November. It's just really going to depend on how things look once I get it all stitched together.

Hopefully, all that stuff makes sense. I just wanted to be really clear on what my plan is and why I'm doing things this way. I think I do pretty good at this stuff but I also know the limitations of my concentration and tackling this in 2 halves was not going to be the quality that I wanted. My brain was full, y'all, lol. But, this plan should have consistent results and not slow me things down at all and you'll actually get faster updates.

As always, thank you so much and I appreciate the support.

Thank you for being here and reading this thing and for being interested in this story and these crazy characters. I'm grateful for every one of you and I couldn't think of a better group of people to join me on this journey.

v14 shouldn't be that much longer.

-- Aaryn

Summary

• Chapter 7 is long and has 4 new environments that need some Revamp love and that equals time

• Instead of splitting the chapter into 2 updates like the previous Revamp releases, I'm going to break it down into 3 more manageable sections so that I can pace myself more appropriately and focus on each element without getting distracted by how much needs to be completed.

• This means each update will be released earlier but may be slightly shorter than what you're used to in the Revamp. This should help me better tackle each of the update requirements without burning out from the workload requirements.

• This will not slow down development. I'm just releasing sections at a different pace that works for me.

• I'm currently working on the last scene of v14 and still have to do music, coding, and editing. It has over 260 new images and 5 animations as of today.

• Release date will probably be early November unless something crazy happens then I'll have it out in October.