Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #156 (Patreon)

Heya there, everyone! How are we all doing today/tonight? Your eyes do not deceive you! I'm here at last with a dev log! THE dev log. You know, that one I've been promising for so long, and hope I haven't disappointed people by failing to produce it in all this time.

So, why the delay between dev logs in recent months? What's going on there? Why am I asking myself so many questions?!

Well--there's no singular reason that I can easily point to. It's more just a variety of factors the closer I get to completing Chapter Two, and the more I show off in previous dev logs, the less there is to show in terms of visual progress, characters, or scenes. It's sort of the curse of a game's development going on for so long, where there's really only a finite amount of resources I can showcase--unless I want to spin the development into a never-ending thing. Which, despite what it might seem like, haha, that isn't my intention either!

That's not to say I've shown off every character, and every big CG scene there is in the game already in dev logs alone before you ever even get your hands on the game! But rather, I've made a conscious effort to keep a good few characters, their respective scenes, and of course a lot of big story moments shrouded in mystery outside of a few teases here and there to keep you speculating. And as I hit the limit of 'safe' material to share, the temptation is always there to bust out the big guns and start posting spoilers left right and center just so I have something to show along the weeks, haha. But I'm sure nobody wants that, that, and you'd all rather be pleasantly surprised when you delve into the actual game.

So I thank you all for your immense patience on that matter, as I know I've been asking a WHOLE lot of everyone over the months and years that have spanned Chapter Two's development. And I want to assure you that there IS an end in sight!

Perhaps something that is cementing this for me in my current writing endeavours is that recently, I've been writing a lot of 'final' scenes for characters, in that I've finally reached the end of a lot of characters arcs within the scope of Chapter Two, and the subsequent h-scenes that ensue. I think that really does become more apparent than ever when I realise I'm sending out a script for the last batch of lines for a character to be voiced and wrapping up their role! And I can't tell you how good that feels, after writing so much and starting from a tiny little thing of a script, to the absolute giant I've ended up with simply by chipping away at it day by day, word by word. I'll admit, sometimes it's felt hopeless, and that there's never been an end in sight no matter how many scenes I've written, or how many builds I put out, but when I take a moment to step back and look at just how far I've come, it really does put it all into perspective.

One such final scene for a character is previewed above and attached as the main image of this post, sporting everybody's favourite royal spy getting up to some mischief with Matt!

From the fact that Ren has her swords out, and that she seems a touch more...aggressive...than usual, one can only wonder what poor Matt did to get that shapely, spats-clad rear planted firmly on his face. Oh, the horror!

This is a special sort of scene I'd say--for two reasons! One, is that this is a rare face-sitting sort of scene, of which I don't write many of, though they certainly lend themselves well to a femdom style environment, don't they? And two, the triggers for this particular scene are the inverse of what you'd be expected to do to see almost all of Ren's other scenes. The decision for this being because what you're seeing here is a crueller side of the super ultra spy. Not necessarily evil, but more just, if you've done nothing to earn her favour in the past, she isn't going to hesitate to do what the situation demands in this specific instance. And given this seems to take place in Rhan, in broad daylight no less, one can only imagine the events that transpired leading up this!

There's also a few other elements that will factor into whether or not this scene happens--so I guess you could say it's a rare side of Ren you have to be determined to see, OR be extremely lucky. (Unlucky?) I hope this doesn't end up being too frustrating for people when trying to unlock all of the scenes, and that in most cases, scenes are very straightforward to see and just involve spending as much time with a character as you can! I suppose I've just always been a fan of some elements in visual novels feeling like a puzzle. That being said, depending on how I feel once the entire main script has been written, I do potentially have plans to include an in-game help system that would guide players on how to unlock scenes they may be missing, to avoid the need for looking externally for guides that may or may not exist. I wouldn't want to add to the immense workload I have already, though, and will need to see if my hands even still work after I reach that mythical finish line!

The second 'final' h-scene for a character I've been writing! Featuring my beloved Anna~ I've previewed this scene before admittedly, so didn't want to make it the main focus of the dev log, but felt it'd be nice to bring up again just as a fun visual example of everything I've been working on in the past few months!

As a fun fact, this was one of the earliest scenes I ever had commissioned for Anna, and then ends up being one of the last scenes she has, which worked out in a funny way! I think this works best as the last scene for her, too, because as you can imagine given how she's so happily riding atop Matt, this is where they go all the way, with Anna's previous scenes more being about varying degrees of lazy foreplay using her hand and chest in manners that still get Matt gushing, but at minimal expense to her own efforts. So, does Anna still have it in her old age, when she gets 'serious' about making love? I guess we'll find out soon~

I've had a lot of fun writing this scene, with everything surrounding the scenario building up to it, and Anna's own dialogue, given her rather casual, laid-back approach to all things sexual in nature. She's not one to blush, stammer, or mince words, and isn't afraid to crack a joke or two in the midst of things. It makes for a refreshing change of pace sometimes when I get to write for her, compared to some characters that just absolutely lose themselves in the heat of the moment. Because I think it's important, even in h-scenes, for characters to retain their identity. I've seen many erotic games where characters sort of just become piles of submissive mush once the sex starts, or the main character just becomes an emotionless pumping machine until the deed is done. Which, I know definitely has its own appeal too--so I'm not knocking it or anything--but since I've been given the chance to make my mark on the world with my own brand of eroge, I really want to try and do it the way I've always envisioned it should be done, haha.

So, yeah! Anna, fun. Matt, in for a good time. Bed, potentially broken. It's been a lot of fun to write her in full 'action', and I'm equally excited to see how the VA sounds for it, as she has a lot of choice lines here I think!

As a fun bonus of adding this scene in late, it's actually allowed me to get back in touch with the artist and add in a few more expressions of which I hadn't planned beforehand, to add some more variation to the whole thing, so that's always fun!

The last 'final' scene I've been writing, for now! Grumpyboobs and Matt in a most intimate and heartfelt moment, I'd say. And given the context of this scene, I'd say it's also a rare glimpse of Cynthia's more vulnerable side, if which she often keeps a shield up over in most cases. You have to really work hard if you want Cynthia to open up to you like this and share a tender moment with you~

It's quite an important scene not just for Matt, but for Cynthia too, and helps develop her character in ways I hadn't first anticipated when starting the writing for the game, but along the way, it just felt like a natural progression, and doesn't take away from her strong, confident side either. More just, sometimes even those that are strong need to rely on others at times, and have to be honest with how they feel, or it's only gonna eat you up inside and you'll be worse off.

Granted, I don't know how well I've stuck the landing with this particular sort of thing, so it'll be up to you guys to decide on that, as I'm not sure how many people come to QF for the more serious writing, but I'm definitely trying to stretch my wings in that regards--both in the scope of h-scene styles, and emotional story beats. And it's with going out of my comfort zone that the difficulties can kick in from time to time, where I end up doubting my abilities, doing re-writes, or sometimes just outright hesitating on specific lines of dialogue, questioning if they sound natural, fit the character, and such! I do end up overcoming these hurdles eventually, but as someone that takes a lot of pride in what they're making and treating it as more than just a simple 'smut' game, getting it right is really important, and I hope this shows in my work!

Beyond these final h-scenes for each character, I've been also doing work on continuing along with the epilogue. Of which might be a slightly deceptive term, because while it is winding down the story after it hits climax in the events previous, there's a good few days of winding down to be done, with plenty of cute and fluffy moments with various characters. And I've had a lot of fun writing these, feeling I can lean more into the humorous aspects a little more as Matt gets familiar with residents of Rhan and the monsters camping outside alike, and feels he doesn't have to be quite so guard around them. Because even he's been known to joke around a little bit here and there when he feels comfortable!

All of these unwinding days serve a purpose and act as a last chance to see character events you may have been missing, along with letting you take a breath before being plunged into the absolute final story moments before the credits roll, of which it's a fairly hefty event in itself with a few h-scenes lying in wait depending on if you've favoured specific characters or not. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I think super emotional for me to finally see these LOOOOOOOONG credits roll. Because when I finally wrapped up Chapter One, and was sat there watching my scripted credits roll in sync to the music for the first time--I'm not gonna lie, I did get teary eyed. Knowing that after all the hard work, I'd finally done it. And I'm hoping to achieve that again with Chapter Two, provided I don't keel over of natural causes right before I can write the final lines. Aaaahhh.

Those that have worked on any kind of project themselves probably know the immense amount of relief that comes when you put the final touches on it. It's hard to even put into words. Satisfaction? Pride? I think all of those can apply!

I'm also planning to make the credits more dynamic than before given there's a potential you could go through and not see specific characters depending on your choices. Not sure HOW I'm going to script it just yet, but it's been on my mind!

So, yeah--to summarise a long ramble: I've been writing the main epilogue, along with some side event h-scenes, a few of which are the final events for these characters and wrap up their respective arcs.

I think for the next alpha build, I want it to extend all the way to the end of the epilogue and the credits roll, and then subsequent builds after will be a lot easier to focus on fleshing side events out that are left, without a huge main story hanging over my head.

I have a rough idea of everything left to write for the epilogue, including some fun moments of characters who don't normally interact, interacting in special ways, and will add little events here and there as I go, but generally the remaining days before the BIG event aren't gonna be too jam-packed, because I gotta save some of my writing energy for what will be the end!

Thanks again to all those that have stuck around and kept their faith in me, because I promise it's all leading somewhere! All I ask for is just a little more time so I can stick the landing here, and deliver something I'm truly proud of. <3

Oh, yeah! One final thing I wanted to note--which tangentially relates to development of QF--is that I finally upgraded my computer, too, with my previous one dating as far back as 2014 with some parts. Woof. The addition of an SSD on top of a more modern processor has really made certain things a breeze, and has streamlined what was typically a clunky process of developing and testing certain things before. And I've FINALLY started using a more modern version of GIMP--which has had its challenges and a new learning curve, but has also helped in how I go about arranging and exporting scenes and their many layers. You don't even wanna KNOW how I was handling the exporting of scenes before, believe me. You'd cry. I'd cry. I DID cry sometimes. Anyways, this is a less of a flex and more just a 'hey guys, I'm part of the modern era now, did you know SSDs are really fast? Because I sure didn't!'

Until next time--and hopefully the next dev log won't be so far away! I'm not sure if weekly updates will fit, unless people just want briefer updates on what I've currently been writing, because I can manage those, if it works!

I could also supplement these posts with discussions on erotic games in general and my thoughts on those and how they've inspired me in my own creations, if that kind of thing interests people? Otherwise, I'll keep it strictly to my own projects, don't worry!

And, of course, if I haven't covered something you wanted to know about in this particular dev log, feel free to leave a comment, or message me, and I'll answer whatever I can!

I'm away now. For real!

Whooooooooooooosh~