Progress Report 2023.01.09.: Pushing Onwards

Hi friends,

I hope you are having a great start to the year!

I have unfortunately been a little all over the place. December was very difficult because of the burn out; I’m not happy that progress has stalled, and though I am picking away at bits and pieces, what progress I do manage to get done is very slow. I’ve been sick twice in the past month, and I’m still recovering from my second cold. My time off wasn’t very relaxing, but I’m hoping to put that behind me, pivot, and come up with a new plan that will make this stage of development easier.

Alpha Updates

I’ve realized that not having new alpha content out is weighing on me more than I thought. While I would like to have the next update be complete (in that everyone can play it, regardless of their choices), I’m now re-evaluating. The issue with Episode 3 Part 1 is that it pays the consequences of so much player choice at the end of Episode 2. It’s not just where the MC ends up at the end of the episode, it’s also whether they got fired from the mission or not and the many varying ways their relationship with Aeran can land. Part 1 is the culmination of many different variables, and it has been very difficult to give each one the same weight while also allowing for roleplaying.

The material has branched enormously to account for this and I need to reel it back in a bit. When you play Episode 3, you may find that if you made certain decisions, there may be no way back from them. There are already a couple “this is it” actions in Episode 2 that do irreparable damage to the MC’s relationship with Aeran. There will be more in Episode 3. From a mechanical standpoint, this is to keep a level of control over branching. From a narrative standpoint, this is to keep the MC’s headspace consistent. While I strive to give as much flexibility as possible for roleplay, some options have to be closed off.

Moving forwards, it’s no longer feasible to finish all of Part 1 before an alpha update. I think a huge part of this hump I’m struggling to get over is related to blowing all of my deadlines and estimations. Having some kind of alpha content out is going to help with that. And so, the plan for January is to finish the Veyer branch. I can’t estimate how long this is going to take; the end of the branch is extremely tricky to write and I’ve been struggling with it for over a month now. Once that is complete, I will code both the Aeran branch and the Veyer branch and release them on the alpha build.

This means that when the next update comes you may not have content to play as half of Part 1 will be under construction. I will go over the specific routes available and how to access them at a later point.

2023 Roadmap

I’m undecided whether I will do a 2023 Roadmap like I did last year. While I think it’s nice to lay out my plans for the year, I did a very bad job at estimating how long things would take (or leave room for delays caused by illness and surgery) and I didn’t meet any of my goals in the back half of the roadmap. I think I either need to reconfigure how I do roadmaps so I feel less pressure to meet specific deadlines, or set them aside until I learn how to estimate development time properly.

Bonus & Side Story Content

For Apprentice+ and Wayfarer+ patrons, there likely will not be any bonus content or short stories posted this month. My priorities are on finishing the Veyer branch, which is going to take all my time. I’m sorry for not delivering on these. I’m hoping that once Episode 3 Part 1 is finished and released in its entirety, I can take some time off from game development and draft bonus content/short stories in advance so there won’t be gaps in the posting schedule.

Other News

If you haven’t checked it out already, the Wayfarer 2023 Pin-Up Calendar launched on January 2! It is available until March 2. We’ve raised $840 CAD since its launch, all of which will be donated to the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, a public foundation that supports LGBTQ+ communities and movements worldwide.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. As always, thank you all so much for your support. 💕