Progress Report (Patreon)

Friday already!

Time goes by too fast, especially when one is busy. And busy I've been! I managed to write, again, every single weekday — Wednesday was dedicated to the Patreon scenarios for next month, however. They were honestly so fun to write. Right now, I'm writing fast-paced, high-stakes scenes in the game itself, so it feels great to take a creative break from that and just write a bit about the ROs. Try a few different atmospheres, and play around with some dialogue.

Although Hadrian's part took me by surprise xD It started so sweet...

But, regarding the rewrite, it's going so well! I know it's the third time I say this, but it's the truth. As I said, I'm writing a sort of action scene right now. The chase scene is ALMOST over. I had too much fun with some of the choices that I... got carried away. 😋 But, I think it's so worth it!!!!!

I only need to fill the last branch where you manage to avoid a confrontation — if, of course, you so desire. I think most Romanus will choose not to avoid it, but that'll remain to be seen.

For those of you who saw the Lingering Glance post, I just finished writing each of those major choices — three very different, very intense moments. One of them... I love it so much xD That was the scene that made me re-write this last third of the chapter. That was the image that rose to mind in the middle of the night and refused to let go of me until I promised I'd make it a reality.

But I'm worried it may be a bit too brutal? I hope Hosted Games doesn't ask me to tone it down when I submit the game, but that's a problem for the future. 😄

From Book 2 onwards, I really want to explore the consequences of your choices, not only externally but internally too— how they affect you. There's a price to be paid for being brutal and ruthless, and there's a price for being merciful and compassionate too.

After that, I need to go back and write a branch I purposely left behind. There's a choice where every option corresponds to each of the Skill stats: Combat, Influence, and Reason. In that context, Combat is the most obvious and useful one but the option for a high-Influence Romanus is exciting too. I'm very happy with it.

The problem I'm having is with the Reason route. I have a scene in mind, but I fear it isn't half as satisfying or fun as the other two. Sometimes, not all stats can be used in all situations. During Mist's meeting, for example, a high-Reason Romanus will have an advantage and be able to find more information about a couple of dangerous criminals (👀).

On one hand, I don't want players of a specific build to be "doomed" as it were, just because they chose one stat and not the other. But on the other hand... is it really better to have a weaker route? Wouldn't it be better to "fail" on the other options but get a better experience overall?

Ahh, I'm so conflicted 😩 That's why I left this as a placeholder. Right now, I want to finish the big "chase" scene and tie the endings of the Chapter before I return to it, so I have time to figure it out.

And that's the goal for next week! I'm working hard to be ready to upload the new link on the 10th of March with the complete Chapter One. I also have some revisions to make to the content that's already there, especially at the end of Hadrian's conversation.

I wish you the best of weekends! ❤️🌹