Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #155 (Patreon)

Hiya there, everyone! I hope you're doing well!

I just wanted to stop by before we ticked over into the next month to give you a brief update on progress--because I didn't want things to go by for TOO long between updates!

I'll start by saying that unfortunately I didn't get as much as done I would have liked this month due in part to suffering from a persistent pain/ache in my mouth from the middle of the month that made it frustrating to concentrate on anything for any prolonged amount of time, followed up by running into a bit of a writing block once the pain finally subsided a couple of weeks later. And so I do apologise for that, as I don't want to feel like I'm just endlessly giving excuses, and will take full blame and responsibility for the lack of progress across this month!

That's not to say I didn't do ANYTHING of course! I have been chipping away at what's left for this current build before I can post it up, which includes a number of smaller scenes and a fair amount of the last story-related scene I want to include in this build. In the last few days I shattered past a mental block I'd been repeatedly ramming my head against, and am optimistic about completing the writing and being able to move to the scripting phase to add in all the sprite cues and such! It's just been a bit of an uphill battle, and I really do hate when I get into these states where it feels like I forget how to write at all, haha. Sometimes you have your good days where the words will just flow endlessly, and sometimes you question if what's on the page is even comprehensible English.

I think some of it might just be a mental block more than anything, though, and that what I'm writing isn't actually as bad or as illegible as I think--and so I'm trying to get over this hurdle and put what I have wrote in the hands of people far better suited to judge it, instead of trying to self-edit and questioning myself every step of the way.

It's often tough to write about this in dev logs, too, because I want to be as honest and upfront with you guys as I can about how development is going--but at the time, I don't want you to lose faith in me! So it might all sound like doom and gloom sometimes--but I assure you that not a day goes by where I'm not thinking about what else to add to the script, or I'm working with VAs, or editing some other aspect of the game, like the images or scripting, and so on. It's a large undertaking for one developer, and I do sometimes feel the weight of it on my shoulders as my poor scrawny little legs threaten to buckle under it--but I don't give up, and I'll keep soldiering on so long as I have an audience waiting for me that I don't want to disappoint!

So--a lot of my time has been spent this month wrapping up a small Bella scene, and then tackling the a rather large story scene that will cap off this build. I've posted a small preview of this cute chibi you'll see in Bella's scene in a couple of other places, so I'll post it here too in case you missed it!

As you can see, the Queen of the Forest is quite worried about something... As for what that might be--I'll leave you to speculate on that! It certainly is rare for her to express such outward fear, though! Whatever is happening must be quite dramatic!

And for the story scene I've been working on, it involves a lot of back and forth between a lot of characters crammed into a very confined area. I've been doing my best to balance between keeping the dialogue entertaining, but at the same time informative as well, as lots of various plot things are finally explained, along with a brief delve into magic and how that works. Striking this balance has been one of the reasons I've been struggling I think--and have had to rework it several times over, to the point I'm only JUST about happy now--but for the sake of getting the build out at all, I'll leave it as it is and then let everyone else decide if it's striking a good enough balance or needs further tweaking!

Alongside this, several more voiced parts have come in, one of which completes a duo h-scene and I'll be really excited to put that all together--as I have a lot of fun writing those even as difficult as they are, and then hearing two VAs talk back and forth in a h-scene really adds a lot, too! And you get fun instances where you can join two of the moaning loops together for a truly sensual moment! The duo h-scenes are rare, but gosh do they leave an impact.

And so, as a result of everything that's happened this month, the release of the next alpha build is being pushed back just a little bit I hope. So long as no more roadblocks pop up while I finish writing this last story exchange, I want to say it'll be up in a week if all goes well--maybe earlier--but if anything else comes up, I'll keep you guys posted. Sorry again for this--I really didn't want to turn this into a habit of there being such a lengthy period between builds, as it stresses me out more than anyone else, I think, haha. I want to try and find ways to make up for this--and will explore more options to keep the Patreon fresh and exciting as we move along!

If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please don't hesitate to reach out! I'll always be but a PM away!

Until next time~ Whoooooosh!