dev diary: syrup 2 build progress!

first of all, happy birthday gumdrop! and second, sorry i'm writing this pretty late today! i've been playtesting syrup 2 for the past 3 days straight... i mean, i've been working on it every day for ~2 weeks now, but it took 3 full days to play through the entire game from start to finish (fixing bugs and adding things as i went along).

i uh... had planned to write more today! like explaining some of the cool features i added since the previous version. but i think i have to save that for some other time... let's see if i can give a good overview of what's new off the top of my head.

• current word count is 51k! this is the most ive ever written for one game, and it rocks. it's all extremely good, by which i mean, i personally love it very much.
• recipe count is 50, total item count is 92. almost everything you synthesize has a little scene attached and they are such a joy. you really get a sense those two are working together every day... it's so sweet... so glad i made it like this.
• there's 11 enemy types, and 7 bosses. i'm still adding unique incidental behavior and missing animations but they're all looking good so far!
• the story is split into CHAPTERS now!!! you can reach up to chapter 7 in this build. there will be 8 total, plus postgame epilogue (just like treat! funny coincidence.)
• ingame hint system!! in the demo build there was a big checklist in the menu of all the scenes you could find--now the game actually directs you toward events so it's a lot easier to find everything naturally. there's still a guide in the menu as a backup, but i'm hoping to remove that for the final game... i don't want people to miss out on anything this game has to offer!!!! omg i love the character that gives you hints too. cannot wait for you guys to meet them.
• safety features!! this is one of the things i want to write a longer post about someday, but i added some options that will help more people access parts of the story without feeling unsafe--namely, a "stealth mode" that shows a subtle warning when something gay is about to happen (for people stuck in queerphobic environments), and an ingame content warning feature that lets you read a summary of the more emotionally intense scenes and decide whether you want to skip or play through them. there's nothing so intense that should stop anyone from playing, but i didn't want people to be blindsided by my gut-punches in this otherwise very friendly and cheerful game.

SO.... i would say this is like......... 75% of the final game? there's a lot here!!!!!!! my god, the spoilers. i've been sitting on the spoilers so long im about to explode.

the patron-only WIP build is coming AFTER CHRISTMAS but before new years. i want to give myself a bit more time crushing bugs and finishing out the only rough assets left in this thing. my close pals are helping playtest atm so the patron version should be super stable :)

I HOPE YOU LOOK FORWARD TO IT!! i'm completely obsessed. getting similar feelings to when i was finishing starry flowers, and not just because there's a lot of good peristille scenes in this game. (or maybe it is? i just love pastille so much and he's so good in this) alkdgkjsgj anyway that's all!! bye!!!!

<3 nami