Shepherds of Haven Update (July #2) (Patreon)

Hi everyone, here's the update for this week!

I haven't gotten much done on Chapter 2 where the alpha leaves off, but I have written ahead to some scenes. I've decided that one mission in the future is going to be an all-girls mission (not counting MC, of course, and dependent on if you've recruited the requisite Shepherds) and one mission is going to be an all-boys mission. I've never done that kind of dynamic between the characters before, so it'll be fun to see how Ayla, Lavinet, Tallys, and Shery all get on as a group, etc. etc., haha. 

I'll be sharing screenshots of some of those scenes later in the month, but this week I wanted to share with you something I've been seriously contemplating for the last several days.

I'm thinking of taking Mimir out of the recruitment pool.

Mimir is an older character and near and dear to my heart, but unfortunately I've always struggled to keep her relevant to the Shepherds' storyline. She is critical for one (really big) important plot point in the story, which is why she will still be in the game, but after that plot point, I've never been able to come up with a satisfactory way to keep players coming back to her. She isn't able to participate in missions because of the way she thinks, sees, and communicates; even her day off scenes are more of a function (fortune-telling, sort of like in Persona, where she can help raise stats or relationships or provide hints about future decisions) than a compelling storyline of her own. She does have goals and motivations, but MC wouldn't be able to help her accomplish them until after the game was over, unlike the other recruitable characters. And although I've written out the fortune-telling sequences, I just struggle a lot in writing her character in a way that doesn't come off as simplistic or vague. 

So, that's sort of where my thoughts are at right now. You will still encounter Mimir and she will play a role in the story, but whether she stays on with the Shepherds after her mission is something I'm torn on. 

There's also something that's been niggling at me, which is that there's an uneven number of full ROs: 5 male ROs (Blade, Trouble, Chase, Red, and Riel) and 4 female ROs (Tallys, Shery, Lavinet, and Ayla). I've been counting a fling with Prihine as the fifth "RO," but she doesn't really get any dates or storylines of her own, so it doesn't seem quite fair. You don't even get that scene unless you make very specific decisions during a particular mission, so it's sort of gated, hidden content rather than a real RO. 

I won't go into massive spoilers here, but there is room right now for Mimir's mission to produce a separate female RO who could join the Shepherds in Mimir's stead (likely a Changeling, but I'm not 100% on this yet either). Or another female RO could join the crew on a later mission, though this would mean her relationship arc would be shorter. Either way, adding a "full" female RO like this would balance out the numbers, though it would take a lot more work. I'm still thinking about it, though!

If we were to do it this way, it would become:

Recruitable Characters:

1. Blade

2. Trouble

3. Tallys

4. Shery

5. Chase

6. Riel

7. Halek

8. Red

9. Ayla

10. Lavinet

11. ??? (Female RO)

5 Male ROs, 5 Female ROs, 1 Halek

DLC would have +1 Male RO and +1 Female RO, and Prihine and Caine remain bonus relationships (the former being a one-night stand (probably no special ending though) and the latter being a sort of half-recruited character with some day off scenes but no particular character arc like the rest). 

That... shakes out to about even, right? Maybe I should make Halek gender-swappable to his twin, Haleka lol? (Just kidding...) 

Anyway, that's where I am with the game development at the moment; any decision I make would require some rewrites and outlining, but it's not as if I'm not already doing all that every day anyway, haha! If you have any particular thoughts, please let me know below! And have a great week everybody!