Alpha Preview Update (September)
Added 2024-09-25 22:59:38 +0000 UTCPassword: doyouremember_the21st ⬅ ❗️
Incomplete routes guide ⬅ ❗️please check if you suspect your game ended early :)
What's New:
15,000 words of new content!
New Ayla character interlude
New Trouble character interlude
Participate in a bizarre contest with Ayla
Let your chaotic gremlin side take over or act like a mature adult in the face of fierce competition
Surprise guest appearance by a fan-favorite character (...)
Take in the sights with Trouble, with plenty of Ashtown (mis)adventures to spice things up
Juicy progression for both Aylamancers and Troublemancers!
Developer's Notes:
Ciao, bellas! As with the last few updates, here are some more character interludes for you, hot off the press! I think both interludes show significant progression for slow-burners Trouble and Ayla, and I find that very exciting!
I had a big revelation about Ayla while writing her character interlude (which is quite chonky) this month. She really opens up when there's an activity for you both to partake in! Face-to-face and in an intimate, solitary setting, she kind of shies away from vulnerability and puts on more of an aloof facade, like when you're talking to her alone on the rooftop or at the bar. But distracted by some overarching activity to do together, however, she almost becomes like a different person, which is why you'll really see your relationship with her making leaps and bounds (platonically or romantically) this time... that is, if you play your cards right!
On the Trouble side of things, this interlude is also important for his character progression, though the effects here are more subtle. If you're romancing him, though, you can see him slowly starting to put certain pieces together if he got jealous over Cordy last time, lol! It's sort of like watching one of those ravens slowly put a stacking ring puzzle together, tilting their heads and eyeing the pieces calculating like... you can do it, buddy, you're almost there...
But we are RAPIDLY approaching the point he's at in the swamp in Chapter 7, and it won't be long after that before things hit a breaking point... 🤔
That's about all I have for you this time! I wasn't able to work on my novel this month, for various reasons 🥲: we were visiting family at the beginning of the month and have been dealing with sickness and career stresses on top of that, so I've just been trying to keep my head above water these last few weeks! We're all better now, but it was just one of those months! I don't think I'll be able to keep up doing all 3 things (Twine conversion, novel writing, and Shepherds stuff) at the same time, so I'll either have to resign myself to not being able to push out the full Twine version before the end of the year (which I really randomly decided I should make my goal), or the novel will have to take more of a backseat again until I can get the Twine version done. We'll see which route I end up picking! Or maybe I'll just keep spinning all these plates at the same time and just seeing what happens!! 🤪🥴 I'm at a weird crossroads with the novel where it feels uncomfortable to keep flying by the seat of my pants and just cranking out totally unformed, unedited "zero draft" stuff and just seeing where it leads, but going back and polishing things up from the beginning also feels somewhat scary and unproductive and like I might get lost in the weeds... 🤔 You always have to wonder, which is more important? Building a complete (albeit sloppy) skeleton of a house first, or going back and laying down the foundation much more slowly and neatly, though at the risk of becoming so perfectionistic about it that you may never move past the brick-laying stage because you just keep resetting the bricks over and over again...
(... 🤔...)
Also, this month also marks the 18-month mark before our wedding! That sounds like a lot of time, but I'm honestly TERRIFIED... There's so much to do! 🥹😨 I probably look like a crazy person, emailing photographers and whatnot a whole 18 months out, but it makes me feel in control to check things off of the list lol! 🥹 But I've got to tackle one thing at a time...
Anyway, I very much hope you enjoy!!! 🙏 We broke 1.2 million words this month!
Total wordcount: 1,204,470 words without code
What's Next:
More character interludes! Riel, probably, and perhaps Lavinet or one of the others! We are QUICKLY approaching the point where we'll be ready to tackle the Ascendancy Festival and other holidays, and all that that entails... 👀
Thank you for reading, and I hope you're having a spectacular slide into fall! 🍁🍂
Comments
Im rly sorry to bother u with this but im having trouble finding the answer on how to beat ch2 faceless demon using only magic at the party with riel? Like stat requirements? Im stuck! Please help :(
MissMitsuko
2024-10-30 07:27:19 +0000 UTCLMAO mainly i made the highly questionable decision to have the wedding directly after i finished undergrad, which was also midlockdown, so one of those things was predictable and one of those wasn’t. so it was very very small, and we were able to jettison a ton of stuff you’d ordinarily expect for a bigger party, but also i really should have not put off replanning lmao. but now we’re married so it was definitely worth it :)
emeraldgreaves
2024-10-02 22:26:50 +0000 UTCi love her so muchhh 😭😭 and the trouble scene was adorable!! i remember u posted smth like two years ago that was that exact smoking scenario w trouble, and it’s so cool to see it as a real scene!!
rachael
2024-10-01 12:40:37 +0000 UTCAhhh I'm so glad you enjoyed the interlude!!! Trouble becoming aware of his feelings is almost too powerful, we've only seen a fraction of his power so far... 😈 Thank you so much for reading and enjoying, I truly appreciate your support and hearing when people like these little interludes! <3
Lena Nguyen
2024-10-01 00:53:56 +0000 UTCAhhh good look with grad school em, remember to rest and take care of yourself!! And you've clocked Trouble and Ayla perfectly, as always! 🥹 They are very similar to each other, including in their demeanor and the type of people they like the most, though they both deal with the 'damage' from their pasts in very different ways! Also OH MY LORD I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU DID IT IN SIX WEEKS LOL I WOULD DIE! I will definitely *try* to pace myself though lol, the perfectionist workhorse in me sometimes surges eagerly forward and threatens to snap the reins lol!
Lena Nguyen
2024-10-01 00:53:01 +0000 UTCEMAAA I'm so glad you enjoyed this interlude!!! Also everything you said is 100% correct, including the part about writing the skeleton first, so I just wanted to let you know that insight really helped! XD And I'll take everything you said to heart, I'm resting!! 🙏 Thank you so much for reading and enjoying!! 💖💖 "My everything partner" should be on a shirt imo lol!
Lena Nguyen
2024-10-01 00:51:20 +0000 UTCI know, she's actually so wonderful but so hurt by the past 🥺
Lena Nguyen
2024-10-01 00:49:57 +0000 UTCHe sort of did, but he also somewhat didn't! XD
Lena Nguyen
2024-10-01 00:49:37 +0000 UTClena… lena… that trouble interlude killed me… i can’t take aware!trouble!!! too much for my heart 😭😭😭also i can imagine mc/trouble using the ‘my everything partner’ for a part of their wedding vows!!! thank you for delivering such enjoyable updates every month to us, even with everything on your plate! i hope you’ll be able to take a breather soon…
Audrey Y
2024-09-29 08:00:53 +0000 UTCayla that broke my heart oh my god!!!
rachael
2024-09-26 22:09:05 +0000 UTCgrad school is out to get me so i don't have a particularly coherent comment, but wow i love trouble and ayla so much. they seem to gravitate towards similar kinds of people--someone steady and reliable, but with a sense of humor. it's very much a 'oh hey this person is my friend and they've slowly woven themselves into the fabric of my life and now suddenly the thought of them not being there bothers me for reasons i can't or won't admit', and that dynamic is *so* good. also also: it is very reasonable and sensible of you to be lining things up 18 months out from your wedding, especially for a bigger event!!! future you will be grateful when you are not scrambling to get things together last-minute. but also don't be afraid to pace yourself, especially on the smaller random stuff. signed, person who had to pull together a tiny wedding in like six weeks LMAO
emeraldgreaves
2024-09-26 03:38:18 +0000 UTCLENAAAAA I OWE YOU MY LIFE 🙇♀️ this trouble interlude was so perfect!! the two of them reminiscing about being married and having a family and trouble is SO CLOSE to figuring it out and!! MY EVERYTHING PARTNER! CAN'T SAY I MIND AT ALL!! those words took me OUT which is also what i'll do to you if you don't get some REST!! that's what i think you should do! work on RESTING and maybe things will be easier when you're not burning the candle on ten different ends!! THOUGH honestly i think having a skeleton of a book will make it easier to go back later and refine it--what if you're struck with inspiration that causes you to change parts of the book, and you'll have wasted time refining something you ended up changing! maybe if flying by the seat of your pants in this current draft is too much, you could try focusing on an even rougher timeline? just a brass tacks of where you want the story to go, so it doesn't feel like this draft is just wandering in the wind? that's just my thoughts though, i've never written a book! either way my #1 suggestion would be to not overwhelm yourself!!!
Ema
2024-09-25 23:55:37 +0000 UTCMy Troublemancer Shepard and Trouble have one braincell between them, so them taking years to work out their feelings is perfect honestly. Seems Trouble will be having the braincell this interlude!
Cattro
2024-09-25 23:10:56 +0000 UTCNEW AYLA INTERLUDE‼️‼️
rachael
2024-09-25 23:03:45 +0000 UTCI'm a simple person. I see Ayla content, I immediately run towards it as fast as I can
Sierra
2024-09-25 23:01:55 +0000 UTC
