Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #54 + 2nd Anniversary

Hiya there, guys! How are we all doing?

It's come to my attention--and I almost overlooked it completely with how busy I've been, ahhhhhhhh--that today is a very special day! Namely, today, the 4th of June marks the second anniversary of the FrostWorks patreon, and today we celebrate two years of monster girl goodness, while still going strong! Let's hope for many more years to come~

I'm not going to get too sappy with things or I could be here all day, haha, but seriously, I just still can't believe my small little project has evolved into something that so many people enjoy and play today. It still doesn't quite feel real, and I don't think I'll ever get used to this sudden, dramatic shift in my life--going from writing and making things purely for my own entertainment, to suddenly making products enjoyed by thousands of you!

The only regret I have is that Chapter Two has proven to be a slightly bigger undertaking than I anticipated. But given the immense amount of content packed into it, I really do hope it will be worth the wait and you'll all enjoy what's to come~ Along with all the future projects I have in the pipeline afterwards, including the horror game and the prison project I've teased you all with before.

A dedicated fan that goes by the username 'blih' took it upon themselves to create this super cute fanart to celebrate the occasion, with Jilly finally taking the spotlight. (The slime halo is a nice touch, haha~)

In a sense, it's a continuation of the fanart that blih also did to celebrate last year's anniversary, too. I guess Jilly finally had enough and slithered in to show everyone just who was the real star of things here~ (Don't worry, they're all still friends. No hard feelings.)

I really do love them, haha.

But celebrations aside--I'm not one to rest on my laurels--let's get straight to business--namely the subject of this dev log!

Truthfully, I've been showing you all a lot of scenes from the game, and feel maybe I need to start to slow down a little, or there might be very few surprises left for when you finally do play. Which has been the dilemma of recent weeks I think. Do I keep showing you all the fun CG images I've amassed for Chapter 2, or should I start to keep things a surprise so you have more to look forward to when the game launches? Let me know what you think would be best for dev logs! As I certainly don't want to suddenly just zip my mouth shut and not share anything with you. You're all along on this crazy ride with me and I want to give you as big an insight as I can into the development of things!

For now, I'll share that I've been been doing a lot of writing on a quest so far that introduces a neurotic merchant you may know and love~ It's been hinted in a few areas that a store has been closed mysterious for a few days in Rhan, and no-one was quite sure where the owner had vanished to. But our young adventurer-to-be finally sets out to find this missing merchant who seems to have a knack for getting herself into all kinds of bizarre and dangerous situations. A lot of voice acting for her scenes has been finalised as well (don't worry, she hasn't been recast, for anyone wondering, haha) and the VA has shown incredible range with the emotions that Claire can cycle through in the span of a few seconds. They make the scenes both silly and entertaining at the same time, while maintain erotic aspects too. But is it even possible to imagine such a clumsy merchant in such situations? One has to wonder how her and Matt would even end up like that to begin with...

This quest has also proven to be one of the longer ones I've written while not being a two-parter like a certain lamia's questline. I got a little carried away with the split choices and alternative paths you can take throughout it, to really nail in that adventuring aspect of it all. For example, if you've already met a certain someone who resides within the forest (and considers it her domain, ohohoho~) you may be able to ask her for help in locating the missing merchant. Otherwise, it will be up to Matt's keen instincts to track her down. It's a small little thing, but leads to lots of unique dialogue and scenes you can find if you're diligent enough. I'm super proud of how it's all coming together, actually!

Also, because I didn't want a dev log without any image attached--have something completely irrelevant to what I just typed up a wall of text for! These cute little chibis are going to be used for a fun feature at the start of the game--a sort of recap of the events of chapter one, but told in a cutesy, storybook manner. Poor Matt just can't catch a break...

What do you think of things brought up in this dev log? Are you happy with the current pace things are being developed? Would you rather a game be put out sooner with a smaller scope compared to how long Chapter Two is taking? I'll just throw a bunch of questions out there and see what sticks, since I always love hearing from you guys~ <3

Until next time~