Plans for the next update of Hypnosis (Patreon)

Hey everyone! 

I want to go over my plans for the next update. I'll split this into two sections because of spoilers. 

First, we'll talk about where we're at in terms of progress. 

Second, we'll go over the scenes planned for the update.

Currently, the update is still in the writing stage. I've been working on a few background tasks like fine tuning the walkthrough, creating a phone system for text and picture messages, and creating a new path for Episode 10 to lead into the new content, but I've been doing my best to keep it limited to things related to this new update. 

I have the entire update outlined and about half of it written if I'm including side paths. My goal with writing lately is to first write for one path all the way through, as I've found it makes for a more productive process when I'm not constantly stopping and starting in order to add each variable as I go.

Next, I'll finish going back and account for all the variables. I mentioned it before, but I'm attempting to reign things in a bit. I set myself up with hundreds of different variables to account for, and part of the point in giving the girls control of their own physical attributes was to bring things back to being manageable. 

Several of you mentioned you actually prefer when growth is uncontrollable, which was part of the fun of the broken watch branch by taking away the control from both the MC and the girls, meaning they wouldn't blame him for their predicament, but it also made them all continue expanding.

Now, the girls are generally going to be more active in making their own decisions, but they will still be able to be influenced by the MC and the girl's competition with each other. The girls will continue growing from here, it's just that there will be more variety. 

In the writing process, I was also able to scout out locations. When I spent more time figuring out Honey Select a few months back, I was able to unlock something like three times the assets. This made for all sorts of new environments to use, such as diners, restaurants, parks, a beach house, and all kinds of different locations to bring the game to life.

We've seen a lot of the same places throughout the game, so I'm looking forward to bringing new locations for the MC to sneak off to with the girls, along with places to take them. 

In a future post I'll bring back the progress tracker to show the full scope of where we're at, but currently it's mostly about the writing and setup for the game. Once that's complete I'll begin visuals.

Something I want to try differently is by releasing smaller versions of episodes. Instead of the full Episode Fifteen, I'll probably split it up until two in order to get the new content out sooner. This way, if you would rather wait for the full update you can, but it will also be there if you wanted to see it smaller chunks.

Traditionally, the reason I stuck to full updates was for a few reasons. I always wanted to end an update on a "what happens next" moment. Not always a cliffhanger, but often some kind of new information that would both shed light on the story before it and build some excitement for a future update.

The other reason is in making it feel worth the download. I enjoy playing other games, and there is a balance a lot of developers struggle with. Either the update is too long  where you end up sitting down two or three times to finish, or it's so short you get to the "end of update" page and think, "I spent more time downloading, unzipping and loading this game than actually playing it".

The goal is to make the update justified, and to do my best to make the player satisfied with the effort they took in playing it.

However, each update I've come out with has been longer than the last. I try to give a little screen time to each character in the game, and as that list of characters grow, so do the length of updates. So splitting it up by saying, "in this update, you'll see Leah, Aera, Ashley, Jenn, Haley, and Tiffany", you're still getting a decent amount of content, but you don't have to wait another month or two for me to add Grace, Brittany, Laura, Daphne, Beth, Cory and Rachel.

Episode Thirteen was longer than the first three episodes combined, so I figure it makes sense to split up Episode Fourteen. Although, technically, the update for thirteen ran into about 1/4 of 14, so I'll only have about 3/4 of it left. 

So, once I'm close to having enough content for you to play, I'll give a heads up. Until then, I'll keep you updated on what I'm working on currently. And that's it for the relatively spoiler free info!

The rest will be my basic outline for the next update. If you have been curious what kind of scenes to expect, read on! Otherwise, thanks for reading.

Spoilery part of this post:

The next update brings us back to Episode 14. Compared to the Broken Watch Path, the girls are all relatively small. They also have a happier outlook on their place in life. The threat of ever growing tits is no longer looming over them, and they don’t feel trapped with the MC in the same way. They aren’t as worried about him dating other girls yet, because they are still relatively fresh into their relationships with him. After all, even the MC’s longest relationship is still less than two weeks.

Episode 13 ended with the MC hypnotizing the girls in the gym to help them with their concerns, with Laura showing up to hijack the situation. Episode 14 continued with the MC taking Leah and her sister out on the town and ending up at Ashley’s house to spend the night.

This update will pick up the next day, and his main goal on his to do list will be to confront Laura.

First, he’ll have a conversation with Leah who is concerned for him. She’ll ask if he’s been upset with her, since she feels like they haven’t had the same level of intimacy since she had been commanded to be angry with him. She’s also worried Laura will be up to her old tricks, trying to figure out how to manipulate him somehow, so she wants to go with him out of sight to make sure nothing happens.

Next, the meet up with Laura. The MC will go into it on his toes, but also with his mind made up. Screw her, after everything she did. Her disappearing for almost a week was a welcome break, and he wants to get back to it.

However, she’ll do everything in her power to convince him to keep her in his life. You'll still have the ability to kick Laura out of the game, but I have some fun plans for her, so she'll be doing her best to get you onboard with giving her another chance and keeping her around.

Next, it’s time for a reunion with Cory. Sure, in game, the MC and him saw each other a week ago. But with the MC no longer living in his friend’s house, their friendship is tested. Cory confides he wants to take the MC’s example by dating multiple women at once. Dinner plans are made, and a double date is planned. Cory wants to get to know Brittany’s friend better, so naturally Brittany will be coming along.

This will be a chance for the players who aren’t already on Brittany’s path a chance to possibly bring her into the game. It will also be a way to get to know her better in general, with the topic of her fiancée and whether they have a future being brought up.

Next, we reap the rewards of Laura’s bribes. She had bought plane tickets for herself and Grace to go visit Daphne. If the player chooses, she’ll give the MC the tickets for him to take Grace instead. This gives us a quick chance to catch up with Daphne while Grace gets to spend time with her friend.

This I plan to release earlier as a comic, at least in part. This assumes the player went to Laura’s house in Episode 10 and had the chance to get to know Daphne better in the bathtub.

When the MC returns, it’s Halloween, and time for the costume contest. This will feed into the haunted house scenes with Jenn and Haley, with additional scenes with the other girls. There will be small scenes in between where the MC gets to spend time with other girls, but this will allow for a scene with each of the main cast to catch us back up to the main plot.

So that’s a summary of all the events planned, ideally giving us time with each of the girls. I’m doing my best to stay away from extra work on the game. For example, I’ll probably test out the new concept for hints as a walkthrough I mentioned before and see how you like it in this update before implementing it in the rest of the game.

The one extra piece I’ve been working on is in dealing with Laura back in Episode 10. This is for two reasons. First, I know a lot of people absolutely hated having to be under her control in order to confront her, so this will give the option to come out ahead while still keeping the watch. Second, the scene with Daphne and Grace made a lot of character work with Daphne, so I want to give the option to play those scenes for the players who didn’t want to play through it.

What do you think? Is this about what you expected, and is there anything you're excited about in particular?

Also, I assume you noticed the gif at the top of the post of Leah growing. If you haven't played it already, it's from the last scene in the holiday update. 

See you next week!