Extended Writing Update + a lore tidbit ~

(Lore about the Guardian fae in the bottom paragraph for those interested 💞)

Chapter 12 is at the 2/3 point for beta-prep! I was hoping to get it finished this weekend but reality hit when I realized I was exhausted from doing the whole first half in a day yesterday. So I got as much done as I could today, and I'm still pretty sure I'll have finished the chapter by tomorrow night.

This chapter's been interesting to edit. I forgot how deeply fae-heavy it is, and how tied it is to the overarching plot of the 3 games. There's a lot that gets alluded to that doesn't fully make sense (intentionally) and a lot of hints MC gets as to who you are in relation to the fae. But I think it raises a lot more questions than it answers. I'm hoping people will be okay with that lol but I guess we'll find out in beta testing! I see chapters 12 and 13 as very inter-dependent. For 12, we get all these "macro" hints that aren't exactly clear and for 13, we actually start dealing with the here and now of the magic, the MC's opposition, and the plans going forward. I think ultimately I just have to hope that's enough to temper the vagueness of chapter 12. When I playtest it myself before launching the beta, I'm going to pay special attention to this part of the story to see if I think it needs to be simplified or made clearer. It's a little difficult to tell at the moment because the code branches in so many places. When that happens I sometimes have trouble gauging things like this because there's so many spots I have to pause at, and go find where the next block of text is >_<

This isn't super related, but one random thing I've noticed is I always feel weird removing a choice from the game. Sometimes I realize I've thrown one in and it's more disruptive to the flow than actually interesting or useful, and I cut one like that this evening. It was the right call and I'm fine with it - still weird though.

I also broke my own heart rereading my lore about the Guardian fae from chapter 6 (the big caterpillar one with the unnerving face). His name was Velo, once upon a thousand years ago, and he was a kind of weaver. The wind carried memories of things it'd passed through, and he'd weave those scenes into illusions to play through the solstice celebrations. It was an important part of the yearly cycle of the forest, and that's a big part of why he wants the MC's memories in chapter 6. Although I don't think he fully knows why he does it at this point - it's been so many centuries and he's grown so corrupted. I'm going to write a chapter on him in the fae mini-game when I eventually go back to that.

Here's this week's preview. A little spooky this time, since I'm in the Halloween spirit after working on Flashpoint last week! ^_^

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The last of the petals fall from their eyes, and buds grow in the sockets. They unfurl into a pair of moonflowers, a single, solid black eyeball resting at the heart of each.