Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #110

Hiya there, everyone! I hope you're doing well and enjoying the new year!

It's the first dev log of 2020, and it's time to get back into the swing of things!

So, what has been done since the last dev log? You'll be happy to know that I've been off to an incredibly good start this year, and have been powering through with a lot of writing. From morning to evening, I've been nothing but focusing on the giant script laid out ahead of me and it's been the only thing on my mind, even when I'm taking breaks from the writing. It CONSUMES me. It does take its toll at times, but I'm determined to try and get everything typed up within a reasonable timeframe, since 2020 is late enough as it is with Chapter Two's arrival and that just fuels me to keep pushing ahead!

I decided to tackle and continue the main story portion of the script in recent days and I've been really proud of everything I've put into it thus far. One of the biggest issues people had with Chapter One from what I gathered was a lack of choice/agency in a lot of situations, so I've been trying to rectify this in some of these larger stretches of main story dialogue in fun and surprising ways.

Beyond just simply adding some more choices here and there that let Matt interact/say different things at different times, there's also an entirely new layer to how the main story can differ and branch--and this is by taking in your choices from the side events. So not only do choices you make potentially affect things, but even just the characters you know/interact with can have surprising results! This makes me incredibly glad I put so much work into the optional moments before tackling some parts of the main story, since it gives me an entirely new perspective on the city and what might happen if Matt had already known other people when going by.

But there's also layers to these layers. In that certain little things from side events can create a large chain event of different scenes depending on how you handle your options.

To give a vague example without spoiling things:

Say you meet someone through side events/quests. You become friends with them. When you start a main story portion--this person you became friends with will bump into you, and maybe wish you luck on the journey ahead, and give you a gift/item. You accept it and move on.

And then later on down the main story, as a result of having this item, which was a result of befriending the person in a side event, a new dialogue event opens up in the main story and offers up a new branching choice. Depending on what you select in this branch, you can then unlock a new event even later down the line. So events are branching off of one another and all stem from the catalyst of simply becoming friends with someone!

I understand that this probably all sounds needlessly complex...and in some cases, maybe it is...so I'll try not to load the game with too many of them, just for the sake of avoiding making playthroughs feel too daunting--but if I ever feel inspired along the way as dialogue and narration comes together, you can bet I'll challenge myself to try and integrate them as best I can!

Though at the same way, while my initial outline for the events in the main story was sparse and more straightforward, I'm really happy with the new ideas that come to mind as I flesh out the scenes and link them to one another. I still get to the original point A and point B I had planned from the beginning--but now there's a lot more fun in between!

My only worries for this current segment is that it focuses a lot on the Queen's military forces, and with Matt marching along with them, as they all prepare for battle. Admittedly, these sorts of larger conflicts aren't my strong suit--but in this case I decided to challenge myself, and see how it goes. Since while I do feel my strength fits largely with smaller parties of characters, rather than big epic wars, I feel it's only appropriate for this stage of the story. I just felt I'd warn you in advance that this isn't where I'm 100% confident, and to maybe not be too harsh if my ideas of how armies work is equivalent to a child's imagination, haha. B-be gentle!

I still want the story to be able to stand on its own and feel like something exciting to be experienced by its own merits, and not just propped up by the lewd scenes. (Though don't get me wrong, there'll still be plenty of those and risque moments, haha.) I just have to avoid getting crushed under my own ambition. Which has been a fine line I've been treading since I started Chapter Two I think!

Beyond all the progress on the main story, a number of h-scenes have been fleshed out, alongside some not quite h-scenes, but still have a fun little CG to accompany them.

Alongside all the UI changes in recent days to the options and save/load screen, I'm confident that this will be one of the largest alpha updates I've put out, and am excited to share it with people soon. For it marks quite a significant chunk of progress, especially in the main storyline.

Please look forward to things~ I've been feeling really happy over the last few days with my writing, and want to keep up this pace if I can!

Until next time!