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November 18 Update (Patreon)

Published:
2018-11-18 19:34:46
Imported:
2021-07

Content

This week we have two updates in one. First stuff about the launch of the novel, then a conventional update.


New Game Minus #1: Changing Faces 

My new book is out! Since the price is $3, I've sent it via message to all $5 backers - hope you enjoy if you're into this sort of fiction. Longtime $1 patrons, you may qualify as well, so message me if interested.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping the launch will go well. Compared to Steam, which throws you into the ocean and gives you a short chance to swim, Amazon starts you at the bottom of the ocean. It's less stressful, in a way, but you have to claw your way up to getting any real attention. I'm trying to do a few things to help, so if you like clicking on things, read on.

Right now I have one mediocre review on Amazon.com and two good reviews on Amazon.ca, oddly enough. The first step is to get a decent number of reviews via Amazon - anybody who reads this sort of book, I'd be incredibly grateful for a review if you're so inclined!

A patron has actually posted a public review on r/fantasy, which is a pretty big subreddit. I'm going to cross my fingers and hope it stays visible for a while:
https://old.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/9y6u59/review_changing_faces_by_sarah_lin_an_excellent/ 

I've also advertised in the relevant subreddits:
https://old.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/9y08yi/changing_faces_new_game_minus_1/
https://old.reddit.com/r/haremfantasybooks/comments/9y0cx9/changing_faces_new_game_minus_1/

So yes, fingers crossed that the book will do well. As I've said, at minimum I'll finish this experiment, but if you enjoy what I've written so far, let me know. ^-^


Scattered Work 

I try to always be as transparent as I can be, which means that some weeks I have to say that things didn't go as planned. I reorganized my notes for the second part of the Gawnfall Council, fixing things based on recent changes, and rebalancing based on everyone's detailed feedback. But when it came time to start executing it... I hesitated.

This is going to be another densely interwoven section that requires a ton of focus, and I've been feeling heavy lately due to some personal issues, so I didn't feel like I had enough focus to give. So instead I found myself spending most of the week on myriad tasks that are less intensive. I'll get into those this post.

Novel: It got released, more info above.

Desecration of Wings: Valve allowed me to submit trading cards, finally, so it'd be unwise not to get them finished in time for the autumn/winter sales. They haven't been approved yet, but hopefully I've finished the majority of the busywork for these.

Don't Save the Princess: I spent a while looking through public sound libraries to find SFX for the whole game. Also took a bit to give Santy the last commission instructions he needs. Once these are implemented, the game should feel more complete and be closer to the beta stage.

Once Ever After: Ever since I set this aside in favor of TLS, I've struggled to regain my momentum. But I've been enjoying working on this lately, though I don't anticipate too much more time spent on it in the near future. I'm not going to finish it this month or this year, but the game is closer to the stage where I'd consider letting you guys play all my work so far.

I feel good about the work I did this week and a bit refreshed overall. I can't promise I'll be able to dive into TLS, especially since there are some big unknowns, but I hope next week I'll be able to report that I startled tackling the rest of the council.

Comments

Desertopa

Is there any non-Kindle format available for Changing Faces? I think I technically have a Kindle somewhere, but I literally never use it; I just find the format physically unappealing. Maybe a learned sense of attachment to the feel of actual books. I'd pay the same access price for a format I could read directly on my laptop. Or can I already do that with the Kindle format? I don't know, because I've had so little interaction with Kindle publications.

sierralee
>>17268266

I sent out pdf and epub along with mobi, if you prefer those. But Amazon has a cloud reader now that lets you read books directly in your browser, so that might work for you as well.

sierralee
>>17275584

It should have gone out to all tiers above $5! But the messaging system changed recently and the result looks weird - do you not have a message? If so, I suppose I should resend. Anybody who didn't receive it, let me know.

sierralee

Okay, I just tried something different. All $5+ patrons should have received their links! Tell me if anything else isn't working properly.

Wrath

Just wanted to say: I loved the most recent TLS update. The council decisions felt genuinely impactful (although I still plan to go back and min max with secret stats). In most games (and the previous council section), you just sort of do some random task to convince a single person to vote how you want, rinse and repeat. I thought that there was a lot more player agency in this section: what arguments would Simon/others make? What arguments would actually be compelling, coming from him/others? What can you do or say to manipulate your harshest opposition into doing what you want? My favorite example is bringing up the leadership/authority that would need to be determined for a unified church... Annah and Bertricia ruin the idea without you doing much of anything. This kind of thinking-oriented gameplay is (I assume) difficult to make, so take as much time as you need! Quality over quantity. As a side note, I am reminded how much I would like an alternate version of TLS where you aren't required to be a good guy. Future future project maybe?

Darthjake

Cool, I'll have to replay Desecration once the cards get approved / put into the system.

Grey Wolf

I really appreciate how 3.9 turned out and just how sophisticated the Synod is, I see why working on the foundation for 4.0 would be time consuming and the prospect of articulating a meaningful resolution to it all daunting. On a loosely related tangent I missed out on giving feedback for 3.8 and I felt like saying that I really appreciate the idea that Wendis would need to leave something behind to not arouse the Anak's suspicion because if he got an inkling of what's going on from his point of view Simon had one job and is screwing it up as badly as possible. It just made sense for her to not be able to move on, even being rescued by Simon, because snapping back after 29 years in that hell strained suspension of disbelief. I enjoyed her conversation with Janine with her terrible visage being the worst thing Janine's ever seen it highlighted how relatively distant and sheltered from all of this tower stuff Janine and the other non combat girls are. Her and Orilise's apprehensiveness provide a nice contrast with Uyae and Wynn's elation.

sierralee
>>17279935

Thanks, I'm glad to hear your response! Trying to break up the usual mechanistic model of votes was indeed something I was trying to accomplish with this section. It's hard to do well, and obviously I failed in some ways, but I'll try to keep executing that idea through the rest of the council. >As a side note, I am reminded how much I would like an alternate version of TLS where you aren't required to be a good guy. Future future project maybe? It isn't likely.

sierralee
>>17281082

Cards should be distributed automatically based on past playtime, but hope you enjoy!

sierralee
>>17281415

Thank you! The synod was a tricky bit of the game, so I'm glad people appreciate it. ^-^ I'm also glad you liked the developments from the past update. I try to use a mix of happy and bittersweet that I hope makes the story work, within a certain level of suspension of disbelief. Look forward to more with Wendis through the rest of the game!

Anonymous

On page 38 of the book there is a slight typo where there is two (to) when talking about his up

Seil

When can we expect a 0.40 release, btw?

sierralee
>>17312997

Fixed, thanks! I actually have a version 1.4 with a number of errors fixed, but I don't know about resending it to everyone...

Desertopa

So, I just finished Changing Faces. I was expecting to enjoy it, as I have with all of your work, but it honestly exceeded my expectations. I started reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss around the same time, after hearing it recommended and spoken highly of for years, and while I can see why it's highly regarded, alongside Changing Faces it honestly feels clumsy and padded. One thing I've been a bit worried about as a sort of foreshadowed eventuality- Bloodwraith's appearance has been changing as his stats increase, going from apparently looking pretty feeble at level 1 to looking musclebound and intimidating at level 10. Even at level 9, a sudden jump in stats is immediately visible to Danniah, suggesting his actual physique hasn't hit any sort of plateau yet. At this rate, what's he going to look like by level 20? By level 30? I can't help but be a bit afraid that his pursuit of power is going to leave him looking like this dude. <a href="https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/noAAAOSwBmpbRR5E/s-l640.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/noAAAOSwBmpbRR5E/s-l640.jpg</a> Hopefully, the Box Gods will at least ensure that he doesn't handicap himself by becoming too swole to fit into armor.

sierralee
>>17338765

Oh, that's very high praise! I was aiming for a light and fun book, so I'm glad for any enjoyment readers get from it. As for Bloodwraith's physique, I had in mind that it approaches a limit asymptotically. So he's pretty close to it at the end of the first book and won't run the risk of getting too huge for armor, haha.

Pete

Have read it now, the beginning is the weakest part imo (which is unfortunate since that is where you decide whether to continue reading, but others might disagree and it is not like the beginning is terrible or anything), Bloodwraith is a bit annoying to read about at the very start. Otherwise an enjoyable book, better than most llitrpgs. Though I noticed two instances where you you called Danniah, Meara (one when he is changing into the armor set and forgot where the first was.) (Though you can just declare it a glitch in the Matrix!)

Troqu

Ok so I've been letting the game gain a few updates before playing again and finally got back in. Apparently I hadn't quite finished whatever update I had been on last because I was in the middle of the Ardoheim succession. Let me tell you, that was a confusing mess coming back after a few months with no idea who half the players are. I had fun with it though and liked the outcome. What I didn't like was the Fucklord tower invasion. I had a real rough time with the Riala, Uyae, Vhala section. I've been doing my best to keep people equipped well but they all seemed to be at 2-3 shot levels for the 5 group of Erosian fighters even if I abandoned all attack equipment and just gave myself as much def/mdf as possible. I accidentally hadn't changed slots when saving and also accidentally told Genasta to leave so maybe it would have been better not to do that, but going back through all the other stuff for that section didn't seem worth it. Eventually I decided to just cheat and gave myself 25 sacred revive potions as well as boosted all of their levels from around 55 to 72 (was going to be 70 but i pressed 2 instead of 0 on the numpad and went wth why not) which eventually helped me win. I know I possible missed some characters since there is apparently an elf named Min I don't have so maybe it was possible to have a 4th member for the fight that would spread damage out and make Uyae's aoe healing more efficient but I just couldn't do that one. Almost every other section of the game has had relatively easy fights because I can complement the characters in some way and usually have at least one buffer or debuffer. After that though the rest of what was in really got me. I can't wait to see where the currently open threads go. Also I just want to hug Wendis even though her eyes would probably eat through my chest if I tried.

Grey Wolf
>>17383129

Min is an economic/story opportunity, not a party member. Did you have Varia's custom weapons? Only way I could do that fight personally was blade dancing repeatedly and praying it hit/oneshot the correct target and your save sounds a bit weaker so it may have been impossible without crits so probably a dozen tries for the right rng. Going with Ginasta is the way I would say unless you have a nearly optimized save.

sierralee
>>17381923

Sorry to hear you didn't like the beginning, but I'm glad you enjoyed it overall. If you think it's worth it, please leave a review on Amazon! (I believe both of those mistakes are fixed in the most current draft.)

Dmitry F

Finished reading the book just this morning. Never read a litrpg and this book introduced me to the genre. As with the other comment I thought the early part was the weakest, becoming much more interesting when the protagonist talks to Meara and they decide to work together onward. I didn't notice any errors, but there were missed opportunities for cool reference like making one of the failed potions have a durability of 11/the max signed 32 bit int (2,147,483,647) rather than a random big number. Overall I enjoyed it and will write a review when I have the time. Always happy to see experimentation, good work.

sierralee
>>17388033

I'm glad you enjoyed it in the end! My goal with Meara's failed potions was to have them be gibberish, but that's not a bad idea. Anyway, I will be very grateful for your review when you have the time. ^-^

Decanter

Happy Thanksgiving!