Progress Report 2022.06.14: Am I Once Again Asking Myself to Figure Out How to Estimate Deadlines

Hi friends,

Happy June! The month is flying by and I am running out of time to finish all the things I planned before my hiatus. Because development is shaping up in a different way than I had originally planned, I have made some adjustments to my original 2022 roadmap.

Episode 3 is moving along steadily, but it will not be finished by the end of the month. Though I have been trying to make up for the month and a half I lost to writer’s block earlier this year, it is now time that can’t be made up as I can’t work on the game at all during July.

Originally I planned to launch Episode 2 when Episode 3 was finished so the alpha build could stay one chapter ahead of the public. Since Episode 3 likely won’t be finished until the end of August or early September, sticking to this plan would push Episode 2’s public release back much farther than I want. While I could delay the public launch until September, I don’t really want to do this because it would mean there is a whole year’s gap between public releases.

With all that in mind, my new goal is to get Episode 3 Scene 1 drafted and added to the alpha build by the end of June, then launch Episode 2 publicly before I leave on my trip. This is still a lot of work and I am taking things day by day, but my fingers crossed for this plan working out!

Game Updates

Patch 1.7. released on June 7. This was a small but important patch that fixed a lot of continuity errors and a major bug with pronouns. The patch notes go over in more detail (see the alpha build post pinned to the top of my Patreon), but here are the most important bits:

• You can now change your pronouns at any time from the Journal. You need to click the [+] icon next to your pronouns to open the menu. Once you’ve selected your new pronouns, they will change in the Journal. You need to progress to the next passage for the update to take effect in the actual game text.
• If you were playing with xe/xem or ze/zir pronouns, you will need to start over from the beginning OR use the journal to update your pronouns. There was a bug with the reflexive pronoun, meaning it printed as “emself” rather than “xyrself” and “zirself” respectively.

I will likely do another patch in the next week or so to fix additional issues. Thank you to everyone who voiced their opinion in the poll about the Wayfarer story logs! I am likely going to be cutting the detailed break down and keep the episode summaries to save myself from many, many coding headaches.

Episode 3 Scene 1 is currently at 41,000 words. I still have multiple branches to work through (the consequences of all those possible ending in Episode 2 🤣). As mentioned earlier, I am going to try my best to finish drafting in the next couple of weeks, get the material through the editing/proofreading process, and add it to the alpha.

July Hiatus

I will be on hiatus from July 2 to August 2. I will have little to no internet connection for most of my trip and I will not be actively working on the game. During this time:

• The alpha build link and password will still function as normal.
• I will not be doing patches. Any bug reports will be collected and processed when I return in August.
• I will be slow to respond to any messages in my inbox. I will also not be active on the Discord server.
• Sneak peaks will be on hold for the duration of the month.  
• There will be a special content extravaganza! Episode 2 character lore posts will be posted throughout the month for patrons of all tier. 
• For the Wayfarer tier and up, there will be a bonus content vote, as per usual.
• For the Apprentice tier and up, whichever topic wins the bonus content vote will be posted later in the month when I have internet access.

Other Updates

Episode 2’s Creator Q&A is on its way! I unfortunately have not had time to sit down and record it yet, but that will hopefully happen sometime this week. A transcript will be available shortly after it goes up.

I did an interview with Interact-IF for Pride Month! In it, I talked a little bit about queer interactive fiction, game mechanics, and how asexuality has influenced Wayfarer’s romance structure. You can read it here.

And finally, Wayfarer’s public build has reached 100,000 browser plays! 🎉 I was going to do something special to celebrate, but I think my June is stuffed a little too full at the moment. 

I can’t thank you all enough for all the support you’ve shown me and my game over the past year. Thank you so much! 💕