Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #75

Hiya there, guys!

First of all--I want to say I'm really sorry for how long it's been since the last post! Like, super sorry--since it's been eating away at me more and more as the days went by and I kept getting more and more anxious about not making a post, as I usually pride myself on keeping to a fairly strict schedule with them. Initially my plan was to hold off on making a post until I got the alpha build out, just so I remained focus and felt like I had gotten back on track before resuming our regularly scheduled broadcasting.

But as the days went by and I continued to under-estimate the work I had left before putting out the alpha, alongside several other factors that kept me from doing as much as I would have liked, I decided I should put out a new post just so I have one less thing eating away at me and I can keep you guys informed!

To reiterate on the alpha, since I know a good number of you are eager for it--it's releasing tomorrow. This is a definite now. I've done almost all of the groundwork save for some testing and a couple of error checks that need to be done to ensure the script doesn't break anywhere. It's going to have 2 h-scenes, an extra CG scene and a couple of new event scenes where you can meet a new character and get to know an existing one a little more. Admittedly I'm fearful that this might not seem like much for a much awaited build given the time it took me and feel a little anxious about that--especially with most of the content being concentrated into one area. (And with one of the scenes being something a little extreme that I'm expecting some shocked feedback, haha.) But I really do hope you enjoy it and will push myself to do more.

After the alpha releases I'll be holding a poll for you all to decide what aspects I focus on more for the next build--be it actually continuing the story itself (less focus on h-scenes), or adding in more quests/events (that equals more h-scenes!) or striking a balance. We'll have to see, I suppose!

Regardless, thank you all for your immense patience and support. I truly am lucky to have such amazing people supporting me and feel so bad when I know I'm falling behind and letting you all down. If anyone has any questions pertaining to the delays, or the alpha itself, I'm all ears and will answer everything as honestly as I can so there's no secrets being kept!

Alpha stuff and never-ending apologies aside--let's move on to the main bulk of the post, namely the pretty sketch art you see lining this dev log! Before I talk about that though, a little bit of backstory is in order.

As unfortunately, I've parted ways (amicably!) with one of the artists who was responsible for a large amount of work in Chapter Two--whose contributions really pulled me out of a tight spot and helped shape the game into what it is today. Without them I really would have floundered for a while! This was due to the artist wishing to pursue their own goals--and of course I wish them the best in their future endeavors and hope the game they're working on really is a success! But don't despair, as thankfully, they did keep up their commitments to Chapter Two and finished all of their art required for it, so nothing has been left unfinished save for the planning and initial designs we were doing for Chapter Three. So Chapter Two's development isn't in trouble!

But given that I like to plan ahead and have lots of great ideas and a scenario laid out for what happens in Chapter Three, I felt it was best to continue to forge ahead with that and have a number of artists working with me on those things and bonus/special art for Patreon. This prompted me to begin a search for new artists--usually something of a trying ordeal to find people who match QF's style and can consistently meet deadlines while maintaining great quality--but after a bit of searching around and trialing several artists, I believe I've found someone promising as revealed by the sketch they did of our lusty demon friend up above~ I want to stress that the content you see above is not indicative of any scene in either Chapter Two or Three, but simply a test piece I chose for them to do with an existing character to get a feel for how they handled things. Admittedly there are things I would tweak about the sketch to ensure it met QF's style and standards, but with one initial sketch I was really pleased to see how enthusiastic they were about things!

How do you guys feel about the sketch above? Do you feel it'd be a good fit for QF and are excited to see more of what they might contribute to the project down the line, or are there any concerns you may have regarding new artists coming on-board? Let me know~

Alongside headhunting new artists, I've been wrapping up the alpha build as stated above, and planning my next area to focus on after it's launched. I have so many scenes and ideas scattered about in bits and pieces that I've been working on incrementally--it's really just a big puzzle to link them all up to Chapter Two and get it all running within its framework and script out the triggers and variables needed for each scene to work. And that's been something of an adventure the more complex the game becomes. It's like a winding labyrinth of checking affections, the time of day, if you've met other characters before this one for small comments regarding them, and then events that trigger after that--some with limited time windows that you have to act on, or they then turn into even MORE events in response to that.

It feels less like a visual novel I'm working on sometimes and more like a full fledged adventure game--but I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Naturally alpha testing will help me decide if things are getting too complex, but one thing I know for certain is that after Chapter Two--I REALLY want to work on a small, more linear game in between it and Chapter Three, just to refresh my frazzled mind, haha. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, as I want to primarily deliver content that you guys want to see first and foremost!

Anyway, development ramble aside, I hope you're all looking forward to a nice Christmas this month--and I hope to some special Christmas surprises to share with you all soon!

Until next time~