Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #105

Hi, hi, hi!

First of all--I'm really sorry for how late in the month this first November dev log is. I've been pretty out of it in recent days due to some things mucking up my sleeping schedule, so have been feeling like a zombie while working on other aspects of the project, and didn't quite feel up to writing out a lengthy dev log until now.

Buuuut--hopefully the fact it's one of those rare, mythical video updates might make up for that fact? At least I hope so!

This small little video preview showcases one of my more favourite moments from the current content that has been done so far--briefly showing the end of a 'date' between Matt and Ren as they finally part ways for the night. But not before one last little bout of mischief from the Super Ultra Royal Spy~ It's even partially voiced at the most important part of the event--because I felt it really needed the voice for dramatic impact, haha.

I won't spoil too much of what happens during the 'date'--but there's at least a couple of clues as to how crazy it was in the dialogue featured here, haha. I'm sure alpha testers can attest to how fun it was, though!

I felt that this moment at least was a fun little showcase without spoiling anything too important, and gives a glimpse into what Matt can get up to while exploring Rhan! I'm also quite fond of the little bits of narration here and there as Matt slowly falls for her the more they interact--to give a deeper sense of intimacy between the pair!

Would you like to see more video updates in the future? I probably can't make them too frequent a feature or would risk spoiling too much, but I'm sure from time to time it'll be okay to showcase some goofier moments like these!

And beyond the video tease--I've been working on a whole host of new events/scenes for the next build, hopping between all sorts of fun characters and moments. Some are smaller, silly interactions that help you bond with characters, and others are focused on a mix of h-scenes and crazy CG moments, with unexpected ways of unlocking them and stumbling upon them! I have the feeling this is going to be quite a substantial bit of content and give a lot of time in the spotlight for lots of characters, so it's been really exciting to work on! And while daunting--it's also convenient at the same time since if I feel stuck on one scene at any given time, I can simply move to the other one pending completion and slowly add to them so that before I know it, they'll all be finished~ (Or at least that's the plan!)

More art of chibi Matt for the part-time mechanic has been finalised, too--and I finally think I have a good amount of art of him working hard and earning his pay to start adding in all of the jobs into the game properly once I get a spare moment in between the writing. I'll probably have a simple implementation at first where the options are just there from the start--but my ultimate goal will be to contextualize each job he can work and have them add to the list at various intervals, with intro dialogue and narration for why he might choose the job that he does. Just to add that little extra bit of flavour to things!

Beyond that, I've been doing a lot of thinking on how I want to handle this eventual public early access build I've been talking about recently. I still want to aim for an end of the year release with all of the content I've finished thus far, I've just been fretting about how to go about it. Since naturally when I release it to far more people, I want it to be as polished as it can be--in terms of writing, sound and voice. There's less pressure when I release alpha builds as they are because I know people are more accepting of a product that's still in development--but somehow I feel like even though early access implies the same thing, people will be expecting something of far higher quality. So I begin to wonder just how polished I should be aiming to get things before that day--or if I should delay it to avoid rushing out something I feel might be looked down upon as shoddy. I'm mostly just rambling to myself of course--and I think the closer I get to that day the more stressed I get, haha. I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get to it--and hopefully everything will turn out okay!

Anyways, that about wraps it up for this week's ramble log! I hope you enjoy the little sneak peek into the game so far and I can't wait to share more of the new events I've been feverishly writing up lately! (One even includes some loving from a familiar slimy gal~)

Until next time~