Progress Report (Patreon)

Yet another week that I spent looking at variables. 

The more decisions and choices from Book One I come across, the more the Summary grows. I also understand now why Hosted Games only implements a save system when the sequel is submitted — I've been updating so many variables and numbers in Book One! I have a feeling that, until at least half of Book Two, I'll keep changing and rearranging things. It's really good you don't have save files yet because otherwise, they'd be completely broken. 

Speaking of Book One, I'm baffled at some of the choices I made. For example, there's a hidden counter to how many people you kill through the book — that's how I track the Black Heart and the Golden Heart achievements — and for the life of me, I can't understand why I made it hidden. Why not tell the reader? 

There are a couple more baffling choices like this one, but this is the biggest one. I'll have to push a patch through at some point, but since these aren't vital issues, I'll wait until I can dedicate more time and effort. I have the twin's descriptions to tweak, change Chouriça's appearance, add the Pirate to the Character page, and delete a few useless variables. I'll also try to add saving checkpoints throughout the book — I hope I can do this! I want to have checkpoints in Book Two because it'll be even bigger than the first, so I need to learn how. I'm forever gutted that COG doesn't allow a save system like on DashingDon 😭 It's so easy to use. 

But I'll make a list of all the changes to Book One when the time comes!

I got derailed, but concerning Book Two: Editing and coding are still undergoing! Right now, I have around 250 Word pages to finish translating into Choicescript. Because I'm editing and testing as I go — so far, I've erased about 1.5k unnecessary words — I'm going at about 15 pages per day. That rhythm isn't bad, but I'll admit that it can be a bit frustrating to be seemingly moving at a snail's pace. 

But, all the *line_breaks and *page_breaks are tested to see that the page looks good and the paragraphs work and there isn't some *goto sending you to a wrong *label. 

Coding is, by far, my least favorite part of making an IF, but it is very satisfying to see the game slowly become playable. 

The goal for next week? Try to go through 20 pages per day. This week I had a little less time to dedicate to the Rose than I'd liked since I had a few meetings at work, but next week, those should be clear. So, I really want to up my speed. 

A cold front has hit my corner of the world, but it affected the north, so my winter is still mild and blessed with a few sunshiny days. My sister, up in the UK, walks amongst the snow, however, and the mountains in Switzerland that make up for my brother's window view are all coated in white. 

I envy them while they envy me. It really seems that the human being is never satisfied with their side of the grass. But, for what is worth, I hope you're satisfied with yours. Have a lovely weekend! 🌹