Alpha Preview Update (September) (Patreon)

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Password: summerstorms ⬅ ❗️

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Incomplete routes guide [NEW]

What's New

• 21,000 words of new content
• Continuation of Chapter 8
• Shenanigans with Shery, Riel, Mimir, and Chandry
• Lavinet's first day off interlude

Developer's Notes

[EDIT: Dashingdon's file size limit meant the day off file didn't upload to your end, so I ended up having to split up the enormous file into several different smaller ones, divided by character! If you're not seeing Lavinet's day off interlude available on your end, please follow these steps:

• Type /scenes/ after the alpha build URL in your address bar at the top of your browser
• Refresh until you see the list of files update with "ayladayoff.txt" at the top
• Navigate to the "dayoff.txt" link and click on it
• Refresh until you see the text change slightly. The first line of the file should now be "temp cardsthistime 0"

Exit out of all of this and go back to the game. Your game should reflect the new changes (i.e. you should see the option to hang out with Lavinet on your day off in Chapter 7 or 8. If it's not selectable, it's because you did something to make her hate you, but the option should still be present!). 

If it still doesn't work, try restarting your game entirely, starting from a fresh save file (not reloading from an old save), or, as a last resort, clearing your browser cache of cookies. But so far the above steps have worked for me without having to resort to that! Thank you for your patience!]

Hi everyone, it's finally here! I'm genuinely surprised I was able to write so much for the update this month! I was really struggling with writer's block earlier this month, to the point where I spent multiple days staring blankly at my screen and the stupid blinking cursor of my writing program like 

It was honestly brutal: I haven't dealt with writer's block like that in quite some time! Most of the time it's "I know what's supposed to happen next, I just don't feel like writing it right now" so I just putter off and write something else until I feel excited about the thing again. This time it was literally "??????? what is supposed to happen here? What... Huh???" I was completely panicking!

(I had the whole chapter outlined extensively, as I do all of the chapters, but something about my original plan for this first mission just didn't feel right, so I scrapped it entirely and then just sat there in a complete confusion for a while and lost a lot of time because of it! So kudos to me for finally figuring it out (even if it means uploading the chapter on the literal last day of the month lol) and actually feeling insanely excited to write what happens next! Mild spoilers if you haven't read the update yet, but I am soooo excited to explore this new culture and all of the different groups that are going to be a part of it: I haven't written about this "aspect" of Blest before yet, so it'll be really fun to just play around and go crazy with it!)

But yeah, there were definitely a scary few days where I thought I was going to have nothing to deliver to you this month, because it was taking so long for me to find my way to this first mission. So I ended up working on Lavinet's first day off interlude in the meantime, just in case I didn't wind up writing anything for the main story, so that's done too (even though I told an anon like two weeks ago that I wouldn't be writing it anytime soon lol... 🥲) So considering all that and other story complications (skipping the festival/day off interludes is starting to confuse me, because I'm not sure which characters are actually going to be in official relationships at this point, which will alter how I write their scenes together... I'm just going to draft it out by gut instinct first and then go back and adjust things once I write all of their day off scenes and see how they fit into the main timeline), I'm very happy with the progress I managed to make!

On a less triumphant note, along with the writer's block, this month brought its share of unexpected stresses that sort of threw me for a loop. On the professional side of things, my film agent tragically passed away unexpectedly, and my editor also stepped down from her duties due to health concerns, so these were among just some of the things that blindsided us these last few weeks. (In the end, it will all be okay--my new editor is lovely and I'm so excited to work with her! It was just a few unexpected losses, one after the other, that caught me unawares, especially after losing a family member so recently.) 

On the health side of things, if you've been following me for a while, you might recall that last spring I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder (go ahead and skip this next bit if you'd prefer to skip health stuff). In as brief as terms as possible, I was discovered to have Graves disease (a kind of hyperthyroidism) as well as possessing the potential genetic markers for Hashimoto's disease (a kind of hypothyroidism). I've been on medication since then, which has helped immensely and all but cleared up my worsening symptoms from last year, which has been great! But because the medication essentially suppresses my overactive thyroid, I'm now starting to trend towards the hypothyroid (underactive thyroid) side of things, and am now experiencing symptoms related to that. This isn't a really huge concern for me personally--the solution being to scale back on my medication and hope my thyroid doesn't become hyperactive again--but until that starts to kick in and things stabilize, my most disruptive symptoms this month have included what seems to be sleep apnea. I haven't been able to sleep for much more than 3-4 uninterrupted hours a night this past month, and that took an immense toll on my work productivity! 😭 I had intense head fog, couldn't concentrate, had difficulty remembering basic things, and would start to feel fatigued or even doze off after about an hour of trying to write, which are all fairly new sensations for me. I mean, I've felt burnout and fatigue before, but having a several weeks of low-sleep nights not of my own accord is definitely new. So along with the writer's block (which would have happened regardless of my health), I was really struggling to get work done and battling my own body and its exhaustion, which was really quite draining!

All of this is to explain that, while I thankfully managed to break through my writer's block and get the update to the alpha build done, I didn't have the time nor the energy I needed to finish this month's short story as well. 🥺 I am very sorry for this and feel so bad!!! I always really hate when I'm not able to get everything for the month done in time (the workaholic/Riel in me gnashes her teeth), but for the sake of my health, I decided not to push myself past my limits and have made the choice to update the short story next month. Again, my sincerest apologies! I am very optimistic that I'll start to feel better as my body adjusts to the new dosages, so I look forward to updating Some Kind of Virus next month. Until then, thank you so much for your patience and understanding! 🙏 You all are so incredibly kind and supportive and have never made me feel guilty over things like this, so I just really appreciate your kindness and compassion in all things. Thank you very much for everything you do: I'm so grateful! ❤️

Final note before I wrap things up: if you're having trouble progressing through Chapter 7 (or any other incomplete route in an earlier chapter), be sure to check the incomplete routes guide linked above! It will answer many questions you may have about proceeding through the alpha build if you're looking for solutions on how to proceed!

P.S. Oh, and have fun with the awkwardness if you play Lavinet's day off with Prihine either being dead or romanced! 🥹👍

Total wordcount (without code): 860,007 words without code

What's Next

I'm already very excited to write the next part of Chapter 8 now that I know what's going on: I've even already started outlining the next few scenes! 😝 It was originally going to be spooky (I think when we voted on what characters were going to be a part of this mission, I said it was going to be all scary and dark), but Chapter 7 was already so spooky that I had my fill and decided to make this one just really weird and kind of funny instead, lol! So that's going to be what's in my sights next, especially since all of the major characters now have at least one day off interlude under their belt (woohoo!!!). 

That's all I've got for now! I hope you enjoy the update, and I look forward to seeing your thoughts! Have a great weekend and a great start to your October! 🎃