Idrelle Games

Progress Report 2021-02-22

Added 2021-02-22 19:17:56 +0000 UTC

Hi friends,

Not too much going on this week. I’m focused on getting the Viridian Lady sequence finished, but since it’s more complex than the other areas the MC can explore, it’s taking some time. I’m about 12,000 words into it and only have one half of one route written.

I’m trying to clamp down on variations a bit so it doesn’t spiral into another 50k section like the Route A boss fight did, but variations inflate the word count quite a bit. It’s difficult to keep track of how much new writing I have actually done and how much of it is me copy/pasting previously written text and then editing it to fit 2/3 variations that sync up with alternative player choices. Dialogue trees also inflate the word count; I like to give the player 3 dialogue choices in most cases since it feels like the right balance (2 is too few, 4 creates too many choices I have to write unique dialogue for, especially if it branches further down the conversation).

(That sounded like a jumble of nonsense words… hopefully that makes sense!)

I’ve finished Aeran and the MC’s cliff-climbing adventure, which has some fun game mechanics which I’m excited to code. I’ve essentially pulled off a text version of what happens when your stamina wheel runs out while climbing in Breath of the Wild and I think it’s quite neat.

I also had to write a little map of the Lady’s villa just to help keep my descriptions straight:

(The MC and Aeran’s cliff-climbing path is the yellow line.) (Also sorry this is sideways, Patreon does not want this image to be displayed vertically for some reason).

I do this kind of thing every so often. Because of my theatre background, I think very visually and I tend to map out the exact placements of objects and things within an environment.

I’ll be taking a few days off later this week, but I’ve got my fingers crossed for finishing the VL sequence by the end of the month. I’m still undecided as to whether I’ll code it and add it to the alpha build right away once it’s done, but we’ll cross that bridge later.

Hope you’re all having a fantastic week!