Extended Writing Update

So remember that time there was a map for this game?

Cue the spongebob "we forgot his name" scene 😂

So yeah, I gotta get on finishing that and adding it in. I'm cracking up at having forgot it this long. I finally remembered it this past week when I was working on art assets. On the upside, the existing map looks so much nicer than I remember it.

In writing news, I've had three beta testers request a codex, so into the game it goes! At first it felt like a pain to add, but as I work on it I'm finding it helps me double check that I've communicated everything I care about lore-wise in the game. It's actually been a very useful exercise. The rest of the beta continues to chug along. I got a bunch of new feedback in the past three days from three separate testers and have been working on incorporating the doable suggestions. I'm trying hard to stay on top of things, because it's so easy for to-do items to pile up. I really want to make my self-imposed end-of-month deadline. So far I'm on track, but gosh I'm working hard between this and Flashpoint 🫠

Speaking of Flashpoint, here's what's new on the Halloween Jam game front:

For stories I write myself I'm usually very anti-having-a-RO-preference. I don't want to accidentally favor anyone, so if I notice I'm less interested in an RO I just rewrite them. Which is a lot of work given how often I already rewrite ROs for plot-related reasons, but I digress. I'm making an exception to that rule today, though, because it's only sort of an exception. In terms of whose first impression I like the best in Flashpoint, I have to say I'm really happy with how Harper and Ari come off - they're exactly the vibe I want them and I enjoy both introductions a lot. But Cash is just... *sighs dreamily. 😂 Idk, they're just so effortlessly secure in themself and I love that. Plus there's that car they drive. Overall I still like all 3 ROs equally - otherwise, like I said, I'd be doing rewrites. But in terms of first impressions, I think Cash wins for me lmao.

I've also been drawing Keo/Harper comparisons in my head this weekend. Actually, I've been making a lot of random Leas-Flashpoint observations, so here's a few of them:

Romanced Keo: MC is their childhood best friend and they take that history so deeply seriously in the romance.

Romanced Harper: MC is their childhood best friend and they take that history so deeply unseriously in the romance.

😂 I also think Harper has the vibes of someone Wren would've dated in their teenage years before inevitably breaking up. It would be a mutual thing, although I think Wren would be the one to initiate the breakup.

Meanwhile, I've never written an RO who is so obviously suspicious the way Ari is. With Leas I think Rin's definitely got hints of that, but there's at least the common thread of MC and Rin both being Den agents. There's some common knowledge between them where, like, MC can feel comfortable assuming where a lot of Rin's information comes from and understand why Rin is evasive at times (having loyalty to another city). But with Ari it's like... dude, what the heck is going on with you? 😅

I hope I can give a decent resolution to that question, but I already know it's not a chapter-one revelation. If I expand Flashpoint into a larger game we'll get all the juicy details, but for now my goal is to solidify exactly where Ari's loyalty lies by the end of chapter one. That way, hopefully players will feel like they have enough info to decide how they feel about the character, even if not everything's been revealed.

Here's this week's preview!

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"I missed you. Where you been, huh?" Harper said with a smile gentler than I was used to from {harper_himHerThem}, leaning in so close I could feel {harper_hisHerTheir} breath on my lips.