Extended Writing Update

I spent the whole week working on the assets for the game's marketing materials. I thought I had more done originally than I did, so it ended up being a lot of work >_< But the good news is it's pretty much done!

If you're curious about what it entails, the full list can be found here. But the tldr; is it's a lot of taglines for the game, larger descriptions, tons of art/images, coding out screenshot scenes for images of gameplay, and a few other things. I had plenty of it done already but somehow, like I said, I missed a bunch of pieces in my first pass. But I triple-checked my work this time, and aside from final proofreading/editing of my various descriptions, I think we're good to go.

I mostly focused on the art, which was a nightmare for someone like me. (If you want to skip me complaining for a paragraph, jump to the next one with my full blessing 😂) I am not an artist. I love art - but I love appreciating it, not making it. Making it makes me want to rip off my hands so I can't be forced to make art. Have I mentioned I hate it? I'm really hoping I did it right - I can practically see it now, getting an email back telling me "actually, the way you formatted this-or-that image makes it unusable. You'll have to create it again." But don't worry! I'm only worried about that happening because I have no idea what I'm doing and am 100% winging everything to do with image creation! 🙃

😂 Anyway, it cracks me up that I've never wanted to quit while making this game - all 400,000+ words of it - but seventeen art images has broken my spirit lmfao. A friend of mine pointed out "a picture is worth thousands of words, though! So that's like 1.7million!" Lol but honestly, I think the pics turned out in the end. They're simple and catch the eye pretty well (or so I hope!). Thank goodness for Harihta (the artist who created resizeable versions of my base art for me, and also cleaned up the design to look more professional). I think I would've just died without that help.

I will be So. Glad. to get back to writing this week, though. I'm going to work on another of the RO bonus stories, though I haven't decided which one yet. The idea for Rin's Night Season story came to me instantly all the way back when I first thought of the theme, so I wrote it first. I really like it, and I feel like I'm getting better at writing these little vignettes. I edited some of the old ones while I was in the neighborhood (specifically all the ones in The Welcome Pack collection). I could really see the quality difference between those and the more recent ones, and it was nice to come full-circle by bringing the old ones up to the quality of the newer stories.

The voting on which demo to release next month is currently tied, so here's a preview from each option, because I think that's fun ^_^

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Apotheosis:

"If this is a prank, it's not funny!" I call as we run.

"Beg to differ," Kira lets out a breathless laugh. "But it's not a prank. You're blessed and cursed by stars to live today, you lucky thing."

The fae minigame chapter:

A bright desert morning blooms around me. I learn the season when a bee darts past me and dances above two flowers. It hovers by the white, but the pink smells sweeter. I feel the moment it decides between them, as it remembers - and then I remember - that scent comes only in spring.

The world shifts, and another year begins.