dev diary: oops this chapter is too long

SO... i'm considering (publicly) releasing treat 8 in 2 parts.

half because i don't want to keep people waiting forever, and half because there's a really good place to cut off the story so people can have fun speculating while i make the rest :)

i think doing it this way gives me a little more room to finish the chapter in early 2024 if i need to take a break to work on other things, BUT i'll do my best not to delay it too long. i want to finish the epilogue/do the full release in 2024 anyway... the sooner i do it, the sooner i can get back to finishing syrup 2...!

anyway, it's basically a decision to make myself worry about it less and avoid feeling like i'm disappointing people by keeping them waiting forever. everyone's been so kind and patient, i just want to hurry up and give 'em the goods!!! at least in part :)

spoilers ahead!

the WIP build is coming along nicely!! it's looking like i won't get to finish the first bad ending by next week, but i'll still try to. mostly i don't want to rush it since it's gonna be cool... we'll see if i get to a good cutoff point with it, or if i'm able to finish it after all.

last time i made a list of things i wanted to include in the upcoming build, so i'll just go ahead and update that list now!

• greimori (DONE)
• flashback to after the ending of chapter 4 (DONE)
• krem (DONE, except for face art)
• major setpiece area (DELAYED TIL NEXT TIME)
• bonus places to visit from the insterail in krem (DONE)
• the first bad ending (still about halfway, focusing on this part rn!)

i also designed some IMPORTANT CHARACTERS last week, which helped me figure out a lot more details about the latter half of the game. knowing the scope of what's left helped me decide to release in 2 parts, since i'm making the bad endings at the same time, and those are turning out to be PRETTY LENGTHY...

so basically, there's gonna be A TON OF CONTENT compared to the size of a regular chapter. but i don't need to keep justifying it at this point... i just hope everyone looks forward to the rest of this wild ride, hehe.

i'll end with a little plot-related teaser:

thanks for reading!