Devlog and status update (Patreon)

Hello everyone,

What can I say... It has been a trying couple of months for me. And that is putting it mildly. Aside from dealing with loss, it's the holidays and I have a very 'holiday-busy' family. And of course, due to the losses we've suffered, some family members need more attention. If that wasn't enough, my regular job is a real pain in the ass at the end of the year.

Over the last week or so, I managed to get back to writing 1.3. And with all the back and forth between trying to do that and dealing with work and everything else, I found myself getting things mixed up. Friday night, I read what I had written so far and well... I just didn't like it. Too many mistakes... The story didn't feel like "Serenity"... It was just missing that feeling that I know people have come to expect from Serenity. I need to get back to that.

Even though I am very much WAY behind my usual schedule, I am rewriting it. I can't release this half-assed. Now, I've seen some devs take quite a lot longer to release updates. But I am not them. This update, at least... is going to take another month though. It can't be helped. I was hoping to have a nice Christmas update but if I've learned one thing in doing this, it's that you need to plan way ahead for special events that coincide with any holidays. And you simply can't account for major life events.

Now for some better news. Last night I had the house to myself and several hours of quiet time. I played through the last update with music and everything. And then I outlined the story for the next update with my head still inside the world of Serenity... fresh from playing through it. I scrapped what I had written completely and began again. NOW it is starting to feel like Serenity again. I managed to write (code) all of Day 14 and part of Day 15. I debated on removing the choice to "leave Serenity and go back home" (which is done purely for the fun of seeing what would happen) - but I decided to keep it in. 

I am hoping to complete the coding by next weekend... and begin rendering the art immediately after. There will of course be around 1000 images and that can take some time. So, obviously it isn't going to be ready before the end of the month. I think by now most of you are fully aware of the time it takes. I'll have several family Holiday events to visit between now and New Year's. And in January, things should get back to normal.

Alright, it looks like today is very slow for my regular job so I'm going to take advantage and get some coding done. By the way, thank you as always for the messages and comments. Serenity has a great core group of fans, I love you guys. :)

...Fire