Alpha Preview Update (April) (Patreon)

Play the alpha here

Password: bring_may_flowers ⬅ ❗️

Report bugs here

View bug reports here

Incomplete routes guide ⬅ ❗️please check if you suspect your game ended early :)

What's New:

• 12,000 words of new content to Chapter 8.5
• What's going on in the Elven Quarter?
• Flirt with Lavinet, Tallys, or bully Halek
• Doggy....... 🥺

Developer's Notes: 

Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well and that your April is drawing to a peaceful close! It's already starting to grow warm here in good ol' AZ, so I'm trying to make the most of spring while I can before it dissolves into the hot air like mist. 🥲

I had a lot of fun with kicking off this new mission, especially exploring more of Tallys's life outside of the Shepherds and what Elven culture is like! This chapter definitely plays a little different if you're Elf-raised versus not, so hopefully those differences have a noticeable impact. And of course, if you're someone who vacillates between romancing Lavinet and Tallys, it's pretty funny to watch their approval drop any time you do something nice for the other one, LOL. Halek's just in the background trying to make himself small and unnoticeable even at six-feet-mumble-mumble tall!

I get the feeling that this chapter won't be as branchy or sprawling as the past few chapters and is more of a return to form: it will be more like earlier missions, like Chapter 1-3ish, which was my original intention with Senua's half of the chapter, but that didn't really pan out the way I thought it would... But I think keeping it tighter and cleaner will be more fun to read as well as right, as well as more befitting of our first true 'back-home' mission since Chapter 2! That doesn't mean the stakes won't be just as high, though; I mean, how about that cliffhanger?...

In other news, weapon art for the goody, secret art for the game, and music composition has been moving along at a nice clip! UI for the game should be completely done now, as I was able to use the earlier part of the month to finish up everything that needed to be polished and rigged: interactive maps, room stuff, quest board, newspaper, music, trading cards, shop/inventory, and everything else galore! I'm very proud and pleased with the results and can't wait to show you all. The port of ChoiceScript content is completeish, too, currently needing to catch up from the end of Trial 1 of the Crystal Tournament, which shouldn't take more than a day or two. But I still have to go through all of that code and make sure it's as bug-free and polished as possible, editing and tweaking some prose on the way, which is much more time-consuming than you'd think. But this month I completely cleared Chapter 1 along with all of the day off stuff, so hopefully now that all of the UI stuff is done and my attention isn't so split, that process, too, can progress at a better pace until we're caught up! And then it will be time for the unveiling...

Because I mentioned it last month, I figured I'd give you all an update on the personal side of things: [CONTENT WARNING: death of a relative] my grandma did end up passing away earlier this month, and I was AFK for about a week to attend the funeral and help my family handle things. It was all pretty brutal at the time, for various reasons I don't need to get into, but I am okay now, so please don't worry about me! I am thankful for the loving support network I have, both in my friends, partner, and family, as well as in all of you, and for all of your kindness and patience. There were a few days where my thoughts and energy were low, and it was tough for me to get online, but honestly, writing and working on Shepherds has been a balm, and having your support always means the world! I feel recharged and back in fighting form, at peace with things and ready to tackle next month with renewed vigor! :) (Though first, I've got to turn my sights on poor Chase and what's going on with him in the latest serial story!)

On another personal note, I made the decision this month to delete most of my personal social media apps (TikTok, Reddit) except for Tumblr because I noticed that browsing on those was probably not good for me in the long run, lol. I've replaced the habit with short bursts of reading on my phone's Kindle app whenever I feel the urge to mindlessly scroll, and I've noticed it has really improved both my writing ability and stamina! I just got through a four-book series about the zombie apocalypse and it just reminded me how much I love zombie media. 😮‍💨 It also made me realize my mistake with Some Kind of Virus: I think I felt too hemmed in by only having MC's POV, as well as the difficulty of introducing all of the characters one after the other fairly quickly. But what if I switched to their POVs, too? 🤔 I think that would free me up to do some really fun stuff, but it would also necessitate 1) canonizing Brightburner's gender and appearance for that story, most likely, as well as 2) rewriting the whole thing from the beginning, which I'm not sure I have the gumption to do yet. I'll give it more thought! How would you all feel if I put Brightburner's character info to a vote and let you all cobble them together? Maybe even vote on a romance (or several??). I'm getting more excited by the idea even as I type it, lol!

Anyway, I think that's all I have for you this time! I hope you enjoy this latest update, and have a great rest of your week! 💖

Total wordcount: 957,195 words without code

What's Next:

Continuing Chapter 8.5! I'm 99% sure Guard-kun will be in the next update. Sorry to keep promising him, but I had to lay out the red carpet for him before he'd deigned to reenter the story! Hopefully you can see why once you read this update! XD

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!