Looking ahead to Mid-2021

As I'm currently away for this week doesn't seem sensible to do a normal Fortnightly. So what I'd thought I'd do instead is to share my plan of what I aim to get done by end of June of next year.

To get the usual stuff out the way.

Yes, seen all the deeply concerning reports about disappearing characters in the hotfix. Could do with more confirmation of what's happening with that so keep them coming. Especially if it's specifically happening due to taking on the slaver from the Ensnared Rose, or just due to them showing up, or if it's happening anyway even if you entirely ignore the letter.

Aiming to get that fixed along with getting the extra content I've promised specific patrons by Thursday next week so by the end of 2020.

This is the current standings of the commission poll.

As you can there's a single vote in it between the corrupted Shadow Outcast, her not-unicorn, and her deluded followers vs. the unlikely alliance of a Nymph getting busy under a table, the Wisp her brought her there, the Troll who is appreciating her efforts, and also a Icewyld Harpy who is doing her own thing with an ominous bell. Six days to go if you haven't voted yet or want to change your mind. Also really lovely when these polls aren't a blow out with the winner obvious after like the first day.

In regard to commission updates most amount of progress has been with the Lago'Mae vs. Trollop battle to see who truly is the most Insatiable. I might actually include the first sketch when it's done as not just me and the Discord deserve to see the highly amusing placeholder orc blob. Seen a couple of different versions at the sketch stage and it's going really well.

I mentioned that I was trying an artist who I haven't been able to use since near the beginning of me doing commissions for No Haven for the Asanei Duellist. Well it really is happening! Seen sketches of the before and after and it's looking great.

In other commission news I've finally been able to get the mysterious Veil started. Seen some sketches and they're looking rather promising. All goes well you should be seeing them before the end of the Year of the Rat which seems highly appropriate.

Another race that hasn't got art yet is the Legion. I basically gave up getting them through the polls and figured I'd get them done off my own back. For doing something so different with the imp archetype took a lot of discussion and working out with the artist. Thankfully we've managed to get through that and this week I've seen an early coloured version of the art. With a Savage Orc portrait that's now mainly done, and just waiting on the other different versions, that'll be every race in the game having a commission done for them which is dang lovely. Next goal is to get the missing genders, more of the Demi-Angel/Succ/Fallen variation, and to get a dominant and submissive version for every race.

Right now to the actual looking ahead...

I'd like to get at least five updates out for No Haven. We got more updates out this year compared last, but still not where I want to be in terms of delivering regular content.

I've got a bunch of outstanding paton commitments to fulfil including new uniques, new assignments, and more. By the end of June I'd very much like to be further ahead with these than I currently am.

The big one for me is outstanding commissions that need using for more than examines. Glimpse of Paradise and Thornheart Nymph took around a year to make it in which really isn't ideal. To be fair there were mitigating circumstances with those two. There was issues with Glimpse the artist said they'd fix, took several months to change the background, and then disappeared to the point where I just said sod it and edited the hair myself. Took about twenty minutes by the way. As for Thornheart Nymph that was more it turned out so good (which is a bloody nice problem to have!) that I wanted to do more than just have it be a one off assignment. Which ended up having them become a full race which really needed them having a full update to mostly dedicate to them due to the amount of implementation involved, even more so with that racial, and then ended up being the most recent one.

So that means I absolutely want to have by the end of June the following commissions in the game that have already been waiting far too long. In order of when they get done and so when I'm adding them:

• Icebreaker - Will be a Rare Great Plains assignment and will be part of the Biomancy quest line of assignments.
• Burning Passions - Will be either a Rare or a reduced rarity Uncommon Ever Forest assignment dealing with a Dark Elf with Elementalist: Fire whose been making a nuisance of herself.
• Gorgon - Will be a new race first unlockable via Artistry in Flesh in the same way Nymphs are from the new Weald assignment. So once you find them once they'll start being discoverable elsewhere. With the two commissions that Eladaer and Starli did so well all three genders will be available to them.
• Basic and Advanced Maid Training
• House of Ill Repute - A Common Deep Mountains assignment which will serve as an alternative to Pillow Talk.
• Neko Protection League / Neko Training - An Uncommon City of Aversol assignment with the second part also being used as new form of Training in the encampment.
• Taggerfolk - Will have an Uncommon Great Plains assignment, they'll also be available from the start and be fully playable with all three genders. Also going back to patron commitments there's a patron whose been wanting a unique from that race for yonks now. 
• A Deeper Foray - Will be an Uncommon Deep Mountains assignment though you will need to have done A Brief Foray once to be able to find it. 
• Explore Abandoned Mine - A Common Great Plains assignment.
• The third and final part of Lesbian Training
• Hot Springs - A Common or Uncommon Deep Mountains which will serve as a much nicer alternation mountain destination to Hold Back the Dark. 
• Deeper into the Infestation - An Uncommon Ever Forest assignment though you will need to have done the first Infestation to be able to find it.

So quite a few to do but doable I think. Say Icebreaker and Burning Passions next update, Gorgons, Maid Training and House after that, Neko double bill and Taggerfolk following, then Deeper Foray, Abandoned Mine, and Lebian Training, with the rest polished off together.

There's also these commissions I have available that I've got from patrons, were funded by patrons and I arranged, and ones I arranged myself as a bonus. So these I feel I'm under less pressure to add due to not being part of the polls, but also do want to add as they're all good commissions that should really be used to add extra content.

-Chained Melody - Will be an Uncommon Dreadsea Coast assignment where you'll be trying to bargain with a Sea Elf so a village of commoners can get one of their own back who has been lured into his service as singer.

-Kestrae - This has been used already as one of the uniques from Shadows Take Flight. Still got a Uncommon Ever Forest assignment that I originally had in mind to get through the polls and she'd be perfect for.

There's also three of the older commissions I've got off patrons that I've had for yonks all three would fit in great in the City of Aversol. One for a Common version of Decadence, one for an Uncommon equivalent to Pillow Talk and House, and one I've got the least ideas for, but it's such a nice piece that'd fit so well for some kind of decadent high class club I'm sure it will make it in sometime.

The other big deal is getting back to ten hours a week streaming. Will be doing the usual big stream on New Year's Eve as always. Then after that I'm aiming to get back to the regular hours.

Due to this I'm seriously hoping that the Twine conversion will be in some way playable by the end of June 2021 even if it's only an early very rough testing version for the Discord. That's probably the thing most up in the air due to the vagaries of puzzling out how to get everything to play nice from RAGS to Twine. Theoretically it's basically all done in terms of the conversion, and yet there's a lot to yet to solve to ensure it doesn't break. Accentuating the positive, the really huge hurdle and the one I was most concerned about is the UI has been cleared.

Looking even further ahead... there's the Advanced Races to think about. Races that will be limited to a single representative due to their power and added complications. First up is certainly going to be Vampires seeing as I've got a great lady and futanari lady ready to go. Just got to get a guy sometime and I'm thinking it'll be similar to the 'Cityborn' and Marlsune so I can knock two other examines with their undercover version. 

There's the Biomancy assignment chain of course. That's going to need at a minimum a commission for the assignment that will follow up the information revealed by having the Icebreaker along with the Lago'Mae High Priestess aka Bio-Bunny. That like Icebreaker will be their own thing outside of the storyline. Then there will be commission I'm planning to keep game only for the outcome. I may also add some other assignments in between. Main problem I've had with this is that I've always had the opening stages nailed down, the ended fully written, but the connecting bit between the two has been rather iffy. I think I know what I'm doing now though there's space for some other parts like a former long abandonned Lago'Mae village that's been taken over by a cult of other beastkin looking to follow in their example. 

There's all the missing crafting that I've definitely been putting off for the Twine conversion given how much of a pain menu construction can be in RAGS. So that's fully fleshed out Alchemy, and adding both Enchanting and Devices. 

Other than that there's more regular races like Sirens, Fen Lords, and Sphynxes for a certain speaking of the word 'regular'. There's a bunch of corruptions I planned but never got round to adding as it was felt that corruption was getting too much love at the time. Updating assignments you can't currently go on like Into the Depths and Board the Crossbones so that they will work like Quick as You Like. Aspects for all the traits that don't have an attached one along with more combos and special text for level up traits. Further fleshing out for the Marshlands both in new stuff and the existing stuff you can already find. Establishing Mines, Farms, Temples, and other such profitable locations that you'll need to parcel a bunch of characters off to set up for an ongoing reward which will then generate the odd assignment/dilemma to keep them going/improve them. There's more training paths, mantras, events, dilemmas, lore unlocks, unit barks, and so on along with a bunch more things in my notes that I haven't got round to mentioning here.

So plenty to be looking forward to, and just got to find the time to do it all.  

As always I hope that was worth the read, and thanks again for your support! I also hope you're enjoying whatever you might be up to at this time of year, be that holidays or whatever, and if not, well hope it gets better!