Weekly Devlog: 12 - 18 December 2022 (Patreon)

Hello Patrons!

It's another week which means another weekly devlog. This week has been mostly spent on writing the romance scenes which were especially important for those who spent a romantic moment with their RO during the banquet. I can happily say that I finally completed the RO scenes. It took a bit longer to write these scenes because I had to account for different choices in the banquet - whether you shared a kiss or not, who you spent your banquet with and then write more kiss/cuddle/hand-holding options. It's not very fleshed out, but as it is the first draft, I'll expand it once the full game is completed. This is basically how the scenes look:

Next on the agenda is writing the scenes of departure - I'm not focussing on massive goodbyes, because the time has come for the plot to move on. The trip to Ishari will let the MC spend more time with Irus much like in the early chapters, but also increase their desired stats (politics, leadership or warfare). I was hoping to write the scene for these like in chapter 3, but I realised that it's pointless to expand stat-increasing scenes when it's not as relevant to the plot. Again, I might come back and expand it when the game is over but to meet an end-of-month deadline, I'm hoping to skip what's unnecessary and focus on what needs to be included.

The other ROs who are staying behind will pitch up about halfway through the chapter again, so rest assured if you're worried that you won't see them again for a while. Depending on how much support you got from the councillors, there's also going to be some consequences for specific cities in Vinia as well - but that's really only going to be an issue in later chapters.

As I said earlier this week, I have been toying with the idea of increasing the number of chapters for the game and I think I will be going to 12 instead of 9. There is a lot that needs to be unpacked for Part 2 and I realised with the way the plot and pacing have been, it won't be enough time for the MC to spend time with the NPCs while trying to help win a war, so I suppose, yay? There will now be a Part 4 - if I realise it's not needed, I'll let you know but for now, I am heavily leaning towards a Part 4.

This means that Part 3 is no longer going to be the lead up to the final showdown but a more political-based in earning allies and being able to explore the relationships that the MC has developed. It will also give players more time to spend with Anu so help solidify the relationship there. This makes more sense plotwise and with pacing, because I'll be able to flesh out the different factions and allies needed to help win the war - including the Nomad Tribes and the Southern Islands.

So each Part will essentially explore different areas mentioned in-game:

• Part 1: Cyre + Vinia
• Part 2: Vinia + Ishari
• Part 3: Ishari + Southern Islands/Nomad Tribes
• Part 4: Ishari + Cyre

That's it for now, Patrons 😊 As Christmas is approaching in seven days time, I will be posting my next weekly devlog after Christmas and hopefully will be able to share even more progress by then. Thank you so much for being so kind and patient with me as I write this behemoth game 💖