0.5.4 Devlog - Act two low point ...

You know that part of the movie where the characters hit a real low point, where things aren't going quite the way they hoped and they need to regroup and summon all their strength before the final battle? Well, honestly, in a way that feels like me right now ...

Don't worry, this isn't some hand-wringing post about how I'm gonna put things on pause for six months or give up on this game entirely, but jeez. Game dev is hard, especially when you're cramming it into the gaps around a full-time job. Basically I'm super frustrated with myself that I'm not as far along this month as I'd have hoped. I do plan to have something to share with you all before the month is out, although it's looking like it won't be a full test build of both branches (Heather and Jennifer), unless something magic happens this coming Sunday (which I have mostly blocked out for game work).

I guess a part of me is kinda frustrated that I don't have more time to work on this; I'd dearly like it to be my full time, 9-5 gig, but then I guess that just makes me and about a billion other aspiring developers and I just need to push on as best I can, under the present conditions. And if you feel like this month you didn't get your money's worth - I know I've been lacking in game updates too (urgh) - then I'll totally understand if you wanna cancel membership before the bililng cycle or whatever.

Now with all that doom and gloom out of the way, here's some more positive things:

- I've got the makeup fully up and running, with four different 'looks' in the store currently

- you can now wear stilettos (and socks!) and trust me, this was honestly ridiculously convoluted to get working - as the player image needs to switch out depending on what kind of shoe you're wearing, otherwise the toes poke out the sides

- I'm almost done with the Heather branch party scene

- the Jennifer version is planned out (because guess what, you're gonna be attending the party in that version of the story too)

- i've been testing out a really cool visual flourish, where the whole UI switches to pink (rather than blue) whenever you're in full femme mode

And just as a little summary of the above, here's a bonus screenshot of my 0.5.4 Jira board - to prove that I'm still trying my damndest to work through all this mess in a methodical, ordered way (as opposed to the "total chaos" technique I'd used in previous early versions of the game!):

Okay, I think that's all from me for now, but I dearly hope you all have an awesome weekend, I'm so so grateful for all your support, and hopefully I'll be back on Monday with *something* to share with you before the month is out!

Dana x