Dev Blog #112 - Course Correction (Patreon)

Greetings everyone!

Before anything else, I really want to thank everyone for all the support following the last devblog. I'm not going to come out and tell everyone that everything's getting better (in fact it's the opposite) but the overwhelming support from the community both in the comments and in Discord has meant more to me than I can possibly communicate, and for that I am eternally grateful. Seriously, if not for you guys I likely wouldn't even be writing this devblog right now, and I certainly wouldn't have been able to throw myself back into development this week. Thank you all so much.

On that note, it's high time I hunker down and get back into the game, so let's jump right in!

Chapter 4 - Part 1

It should come as no surprise (both for obvious reasons and because I said as much two weeks ago) that Update 4.0 will be delayed, and will delayed rather significantly. That being said, I think we can still get back on track for a reasonable release schedule. Looking at how far behind we've fallen and what work is still ahead, I'm looking at December 31st as a tentative release date for Update 4.0, which will contain the first part of Chapter 4 as well as various new ways to interact with existing characters.

Additionally, expect to see the first dev build for this update release THIS WEEK which will contain the first few story events of the new update as well as the start of the new text messaging system, allowing the player to send messages to the contacts and receive responses the following day. It's a relatively simple feature, but should give the player a lot more agency in terms of how they interact with other characters in the game. Of course, these interactions will change based on current dosing states for each character, and may potentially open open up some new content (and images!) for those characters!

Following that, dev build testers can expect to see the new serum system for characters in The Pit start to take shape. This includes a certain over-eager redhead, and potentially the "husband" of our favorite Chapter 2 antagonist! Moving forward, more and more characters will be added to this system, though Chapter 4 - Part 1 will launch with just the one... or maybe two? Seriously, complete your in-game tasks!

Improving Communications

While, yes, I've been going through a bit of an ordeal (and no, it has nothing to do with the election, guy who you know who you are...) that's still, to me, not a good enough excuse to have withdrawn as much as I have from the community. There will be no more missed dev blogs, no more long absences from Discord, no more sending you a text at the last minute that "something's come up" on bowling night.

I need to be able to start getting back into the swing of things, which you all certainly deserve, and I'm sure the various Discard channels have been *cough* suffering greatly in the absence of my razer sharp wit and undeniable charisma! Or, you know, something like that. Either way, I'm intent on getting back to business as usual, and hopefully within the next couple weeks I'll be able to get there without a large bottle of butter-infused rum next to my desk. Don't judge, it's amazing, and if you think I'm drunk NOW... you might be right. Bottle of demerara syrup to take any remaining edge off and... mmm... what were we talking about?

Anyway, all I'm saying is that- OH MY GOD! Eat an Andie's Mint before taking a sip and it's practically a Christmas-infused rum Old Fashioned!!! Okay, my ministry of public relations (my cat) is telling me I need to stop drinking until after I finish writing this shizz, so... Hold on... Okay she's asleep again, bottoms up!

No But Really. Really?

Right, so , back on track... Unfortunately, there's not a lot of meat to today's devblog on account of the fact that not much as changed between now and the last time the game was under active development. As that has now changed, expect next week to illuminate, which is to say shed some light on, which is to say, new Scrabble word, the new text messaging system as well as, potentially, the new training room serum functionality!

To wrap things up, which is to say conclude, which is, again, to say, another Scrabble word, I want to apologize again for the impact that my personal life has had on the development of this game that so many of you have helped to shape. I'm taking the new month to dive back in headfirst and take the opportunity to earn back your trust and respect and OH MAN this is a strong cocktail! I should stop at three... I can't feel my throat...

Thank you all for your continued support and feedback and so much more than that. Here's to another impending update!