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Extended Progress Update: February 17 2023 (Patreon)

Published:
2023-02-17 13:30:01
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Hello Everyone!

I hope you’re looking forward to a rejuvenating weekend.💚

  • If you haven't already, please be sure to see this post about adding my email address to your contacts so you can enjoy the RO character portraits.
  • If you joined TFS Patreon before 28 January 2023, please be sure to check out this post. I set the post so only those joining before that date will be able to see it. :D

We celebrated our first Valentine’s Day 💘 together on the TFS Patreon not too many days ago, though I did want to gently reassure you all that the themed festivities/writings will be continuing through March in case your beloved(s) hasn’t had a chance to shine yet. (I’ve learned that many of you like multiple routes, so I’m sure you have your eye on someone else next month too.) There will always be six themed writings, possibly more if I’m feeling inspired, for these holidays/seasons.

Also, I wanted to share the inspiration behind the R Valentine's gift writing! This is a picture of my cat, Midnight, nosing at some flowers. He always likes to do this. 💐

It’s only the 17th, but I’m enjoying planning March’s Content Schedule. I’ll post it later on.

Let’s shift back to Book Two’s progress!

I realize there is one important aspect I forgot to mention when I was talking about all the prep work that was necessary before going full speed at the writing. Some of you will enjoy hearing about it now rather than when you import your characters later on. ‘Normalization’ or ‘stat scaling’ is what I’ve taken to calling it; it’s math, which isn’t necessarily an interesting aspect of the IF process, but it’s important for checks and triggered scenes. This math should let me keep the current soul of your character intact while still giving me wiggle room to let you shape them.

It’s important because I don’t want MCs with astronomically high stat values like 99% sincerity walking around Fernweh in Book Two. (They can't get this high in TFS: One) 

Imported MCs will be put through certain ranges of code that will carefully compress their stats; you can think of it as shaving a little off the top to allow for future growth. (Some values may be too low and will then be left alone for the MC to build up, if they want.) These hurdles were designed after I studied dozens of beta reader numbers while also making some assumptions about what number reasonably fits a moderately sincere MC versus a highly sincere MC. Again, I don’t want to bore you with this coding thing; however, I’m actually really excited about it!

(No, I was not excited when doing all the calculations and cross-referencing. 😌)

This ‘normalization’ at the start of each book will allow your MC’s character to be better tracked! I’ve already tested it by coding in MCs who just finished Book One. For instance, if I played an MC, Daphne Blake, whose highest personality stat is Friendly followed by being moderately Merciful and a little Snarky at times, I needed to make sure she is still herself after being put through those ranges that can compress the numbers. She was. 💅🏻✨ I may have done this with the whole Scooby Gang in addition to my beta reader data sets to make it fun.

The main takeaways are: 1. Your stats won’t be super high. The series won’t allow it, or it may come into play towards the end. 2. I now have even clearer ranges to call on rather than simply catering to the high end all the time like some other IF series might do. 3. It allows for future growth; this is true within the narrative, but I know a few readers like to see those colorful bars/numbers moving as they progress. 4. I believe it will improve your playing experience.

I went into that a little more deeply than I intended to, haha. In terms of writing, I worked on a very variable scene with the MC and A that not only calls on your past history with them, but also the abilities that were introduced in Book One. 👀 I’ll tease more in a future update, but they naturally will come into play during the story as you all uncover Fernweh's secrets and your own.

[Spoilers Ahead!]

Here’s an excerpt from Book Two:

"Fernweh's roots run deep, and they are more gnarled and twisted than you can imagine…"

I wonder who is saying this, and what they are referring to? 🌲😊

Best wishes! 💚

Comments

dasburnfrau

Do you have to prepare the math for each novel separately as you go, or is the math repeatable?

lacunafiction (edited)

Comment edits

2023-02-25 00:29:27 That's a great question! 😁 I will need to perform the 'normalization' or 'stat scaling' at the start of each of the books in the series. This is because I'll be adding stat gains/minuses within each novel, so they will need to be accounted for when I re-create those coding bands to pass your Book Two MC through to get them all ready to go for Book Three. I'll then need to re-evaluate my assumptions, but it's kind of like a stepping stone kind of model with each novel building on the last. That's just to get your MCs ready to face Fernweh and its trials. The more common type of math within the novels will be setting ranges that relate to triggered scenes, such as a Merciful check of >= ## to get a tailored scene. The key thing is ensuring those values have some solid logic behind them along with giving me indicators (e.g. what is slightly Merciful versus moderately Merciful versus highly Merciful) I can confidently call on to give a responsive reading experience. 💚 My hope is that this makes the game more rewarding and fun!
2023-02-17 22:14:46 That's a great question! 😁 I will need to perform the 'normalization' or 'stat scaling' at the start of each of the books in the series. This is because I'll be adding stat gains/minuses within each novel, so they will need to be accounted for when I re-create those coding bands to pass your Book Two MC through to get them all ready to go for Book Three. I'll then need to re-evaluate my assumptions, but it's kind of like a stepping stone kind of model with each novel building on the last. That's just to get your MCs ready to face Fernweh and its trials. The more common type of math within the novels will be setting ranges that relate to triggered scenes, such as a Merciful check of >= ## to get a tailored scene. The key thing is ensuring those values have some solid logic behind them along with giving me indicators (e.g. what is slightly Merciful versus moderately Merciful versus highly Merciful) I can confidently call on to give a responsive reading experience. 💚 My hope is that this makes the game more rewarding and fun!
>>102137873

That's a great question! 😁 I will need to perform the 'normalization' or 'stat scaling' at the start of each of the books in the series. This is because I'll be adding stat gains/minuses within each novel, so they will need to be accounted for when I re-create those coding bands to pass your Book Two MC through to get them all ready to go for Book Three. I'll then need to re-evaluate my assumptions, but it's kind of like a stepping stone kind of model with each novel building on the last. That's just to get your MCs ready to face Fernweh and its trials. The more common type of math within the novels will be setting ranges that relate to triggered scenes, such as a Merciful check of >= ## to get a tailored scene. The key thing is ensuring those values have some solid logic behind them along with giving me indicators (e.g. what is slightly Merciful versus moderately Merciful versus highly Merciful) I can confidently call on to give a responsive reading experience. 💚 My hope is that this makes the game more rewarding and fun!