Development Update May 29th

Why hello there! It seems like it’s time for our regularly scheduled development update. So sit back, grab yourself something to drink, and let’s go over the details.

First things first, as you all know, I’ve gotten the first demo out. The feedback has been largely positive, I fixed some bugs and typos, and things seem to be going well so far. With the launch of the demo out of the way, I can now really hunker down and get Chapter 4 written.

While the first three chapters were largely an introduction to the characters, the setting, and the conflict, Chapter 4 is going to be a bit more open. There will be more branching paths and choices that shape the plot going forward. For me, that means a lot of work, but it’ll be worth it.

The first part of Chapter 4 will feature the opportunity to spend time with a romance option of your choice, so that’s what I’m working on right now. I want to sprinkle these opportunities naturally throughout the story, and I’m kind of thinking of them like social links from the Persona series, if you’re familiar. They increase your relationship with the character a little and reveal something about them without necessarily being plot relevant, so you don’t feel like you missed any crucial info about a character if you didn’t choose to hang out with them. I don’t want to force anyone into picking who they want to pursue right off the bat when we’ve only just met the cast, so you can spend time with whoever you want.

So far, I’ve gotten started on writing the intro scenes to Chapter 4 and some of Vynn’s hang-out path. Of Chapter 4, I’ve now written about 5,000 words, which includes code. Just so you can put that into perspective, the first three chapters all together were around 110,000 words. Chapter 4 might not seem that much longer, but because of more branching paths it’ll effectively be twice as big as one of the other chapters. That doesn’t mean it’s going to take me all that long to write, though. I’ve already outlined everything in great detail, I have all the macros I need, and I know all the variables and such by heart now, so I can breeze through the coding (which used to take me ages of double and triple checking before).

I will never make any promises I can’t keep, and I’ve witnessed enough other IFs fail to know that it won’t be easy, but the entire reason I started this project is because I was fed up with waiting half a year for a tiny update on some of the other IFs I follow myself. I’ve got the work ethic and the writing experiences to not only keep this project going, but actually finish this in a reasonable amount of time. How many free, quality IFs are out there that are actually finished? Not that many, and we need to get that number up!

These update posts will be a great way to keep me accountable. You’re paying money for this and I’ll make sure it’ll be worth your while. So thank you again for all of your support!

This next part will be a tiny bit spoilery, so if you want to go into Chapter 4 completely blind, just stop reading here. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions about what kind of info you would like to read about in the next update post.

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So, let’s talk about the intro scenes for Chapter 4 a bit. The chapter starts a week later, on Sunday, the day you’re supposed to meet up with Meave. It’s also your day off, hence the hang-out opportunity. At first I wasn’t sure whether to let you play through that week off following Az’Lean around and stressing out about being a changeling, but I thought it would get old real quick. I think the internal conflict is clear enough, and it would be sufficient to gloss over the week while establishing that this is now MC’s everyday life. 

In terms of increasing and decreasing tension, my plan is to always start a chapter off with low tension, increase it throughout, and include some sort of emotional climax near the end. That way, whenever you get to play a new chapter, it'll feel like a complete experiences. Kind of like an episode of a TV show.

So, things pick back up on Sunday, and you’re supposed to meet Meave at midnight. Before then, you can spend time with Vynn, Az’Lean, Thianne, Lester, or you can take a nap - this will allow you to spend more time with Meave at night. I’m not going to spoil what fun activities you’ll be doing with each of these characters, but those are the scenes I’m writing right now.

I thought about adding the option to spend time alone or with your mentor maybe, but I wanted to encourage the player to get to know the five main characters a bit more for now.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve been working on this week. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and feel free to ask questions or make suggestions about what kind of info you would like to read about in the next update post.

I hope you have a wonderful day!