Dev Update 11/13/22 (Patreon)

Hey, friends! How's everyone feeling this fine Monday? I'm personally feeling pretty energized. Life drew me to Chicago early last week, and I stayed there for two nights and three days. Caught up with a friend I haven't seen in years, drank too much, ate too much, and tried to navigate some profoundly hostile traffic. Still -- fun little trip! I'll have to visit again, soon. But, the entire time I was there, Friends in Need was gnawing at the back of my brain.

So as soon as I got home, I chained myself to my PC and got to work. To that end, I finished the rendering for Ashe's reintroduction scene, clocking in around 100 renders, total. That brings my current completed renders for Chapter Four, to just under 400. This little Ashe scene was a big hurdle to clear for the update, as it contained three fairly distinct routes. But, now it's done and I feel like I have some momentum. Which is fortunate, because I'm moving into the long-awaited Brittani scene! :O

This scene is going to be beast. I'm anticipating somewhere between 150 and 200 renders, honestly. I'm going to be as judicious as I can be, but it's a photoshoot scene, and you folks want to see a bunch of photos -- right?! So yeah, I'm going to hit it hard this week, and see where we are this time next week.

Now, this being November, that means I should ideally be releasing another Chapter. But, I can tell you now, it's just not going to happen. I've got too much story left to cover, to do it all before the end of the month. But, there will be an update all the same. My goal is to the Brittani scene done (as well as a short scene following it), bug-check the whole thing, and then package it all as kind of a Chapter 3.5, containing roughly the first half of Chapter 4.

Once it's done, I'll roll it out to patrons on the usual schedule.

I know some people would rather just wait for the longer update, and I respect that. But, I think it's also important to give folks the option, since you're all supporting me monetarily. The amount of content I'll be putting out for the "3.5" version will still be sizable at 600~ renders, and contain a good chunk of story. It just won't be the full thing. Here's a rough breakdown of the chapter by character, showing what I have done.

X = written

XX = written and rendered

• Nicki and Guy Intro, three paths. XX
• Nicki, Guy, and Alex, exposition and intro with small path differences. XX
• Nicki and Guy with small path differences. XX
• Guy, Nicki, and Carolina brief scene. XX
• Guy and Pepper, some choices, two main paths. XX
• Guy and Ashe, with some exposition at the start. XX
• Guy, Brittani, and Jamie photoshoot, with multiple choices/paths. Big scene. X
• Guy alone at condo, brief exposition scene. X
• <<v.3.5 would end here>>
• Guy and Ashe date, two main paths, with multiple choices/variations. Big scene.
• Guy and Mason, brief chat. X
• (Spoiler-y scene.) mostly linear with alignment variations. X
• Guy, (spoiler), and Ashe, mostly linear with variations for Ashe's relationship.
• Guy and Ashe scene, with alignment variations.
• Guy, Gabby, Madison, set-up/exposition, mostly linear. X
• Guy and Gabby, with variations for Gabby's relationship, and a few choices.
• Guy and Madison, two paths.
• Guy and the Barron family, mostly linear.
• Guy and Gabby, two paths with choices.
• (Spoiler-y scene.) X

As you can see, there's still a ways to go. But, outside of Ashe's scene, I expect most of these to move fairly quickly, as they're basically linear conversation scenes. *knock on wood*

Alright, that's all for now! I'll leave you with this fun little image I did of Chapter Four newcomer Alex, alongside Gabby.

Until next time! Have a great week, and as always, thank you for your generosity and support!