Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #114 (Patreon)

Heya there! I hope everybody is doing well!

I've been a little quiet on the Patreon front lately--and while I believe I've already apologised beforehand, I wanted to apologise again for how staggered updates on the game have been. I truly appreciate your patience and support on the matter, and hope to have plenty to show soon!

Because, really, the main reason I've been so quiet is just because I've been so wrapped up in writing. Which is always a good thing, right? Once things quiet down with the new alpha update that is on the verge of being released, I'll be treating you all to a bunch of fun content throughout the month beyond just dev logs--just to make up for lost time!

Multiple instances of bonus art, and maybe even a new audio scene if I can piece it together in time--since all of the voice clips for that have come in!

Also--I realise lately my posts have just been "awesome stuff is coming guys, just wait a little longer" which I feel quite guilty over--and don't want to feel like I'm just endlessly spinning my wheel and hyping you guys on a loop of things to never come. I never intended for things to end up like that, it just kind of overwhelmed me at times as I run this one-person show as best I can. It's jus tthe panic that comes with the pending release of each new alpha build I think, which really takes a lot of energy out of me, mentally and physically. I really have to learn to pace my productivity a little better, I think, haha.

Buuuut--enough about poor ol Frosty! Let's talk Quest Failed!

As I say, the bulk of my work in the last few weeks has been aimed at wrapping up this segment of the script for the alpha build. I don't know normally discuss just how much has been written, as I don't want to let expectations run wild, or give false ideas about how the script is coming along--but recently I've just been so proud of how much I've achieved! So as of right now, the script is rapidly approaching 350,000 words. (For reference, the original build of Chapter One was under 90,000 words I think, if not even less.) This is split between a variety of side events, main events and branching choices between each event--and I've been trying my best to not have any scenes feel too brief or 'lazily' done. If you're familiar with how Quest Failed is typically structured, this means for each event or scene, I am for a balance of both dialogue and descriptive narration, to really help paint the story.

Admittedly the descriptive narration can be draining to get right, and describe the scenes exactly as I imagine them, but ultimately I'm happy with how a large amount of scenes have turned out, and really feel like there's a fun, exciting story to be told across all of these. Acclaimed fantasy author I am not, and even I'm aware of my own shortcomings as a story teller sometimes--but it's been quite a fun challenge to tackle moments and scenes I never once thought I'd write about in my life! You can consider Chapter Two quite an experiment on this front I think, and I'll be interested to know just what people think of the writing when they finally get their hands on things.

Secondly, I've been doing a lot of thinking on the navigation menu for Chapter Two. At the present moment in time, it's a simple set of choice menus, with no real differentiation between dialogue choice boxes and navigation boxes, at least in how they look. While I wouldn't tackle this just quite yet, with writing taking up all of my time so far, I've been mulling over whether or not I should overhaul how these menus look. For those that have played the demo of Chapter Two, what do you think? Do simple choice boxes work best--or would something a little more visual work? Picture something a bit like Utawaraemono--where places are represented with visual boxes, previews of their background for example. This might give things a little more personality--but then might get really cluttered quite quickly too, which is always the worry. Sometimes less is more after all, right?

In between writing and planning things out, I've also been dealing with several issues in the background too concerning Quest Failed that have cropped up and have been a little stressful to sort out. I won't say too much concerning those just yet, until I'm sure I have everything sorted out, but it doesn't affect the project too much in the grand scheme of things. I just think it'll be something I'll have to write about sooner or later for the sake of transparency--and I hope you guys will be happy with the solutions in place. (Again, don't worry, haha--I'm making things sound way more dire than they are.)

So, with all of the above in mind, this has pretty much been me for the week or so. Constantly writing, constantly planning, and constantly stressing! The real indie dev life as it were~

After all of this build-up, I truly hope 0.10 is worth it for all those eagerly anticipating it! And for the rest waiting patiently on the full version, keep in mind that this 0.10 update marks a very large milestone in Chapter Two's development. I'm inching towards that finish line that I once thought was impossible to cross on my own--and I'm super proud of the product I have at hand!

Thanks again~ And if you have any lingering questions, comments or concerns regarding anything brought up today, don't hesitate to send me a PM, comment, or even email! I tend to respond to everything quite promptly. Admittedly my replies have been a little slow while I'm bogged down in script work--but rest assured you're never forgotten, and I usually type up a reply gradually through the day before sending it back.

Until next time~ Where I'll have some really cute art to share!