Demons Within Update 9 devlog: We're getting there!

Hey hey!

Time for another devlog of the progress of Update 9! I'm happy to report that the writing for Update 9 is pretty much done and closed. There's some reviewing left to do, but it closed at around 15k words which is... a substantial update size! I think our largest one has come around 20k and the average is around 10k, so I think people can expect a fair amount of content.

The content itself

Most of the new content is centered around what happens in the baths scene. As I said before, there's a branch of variation there that changes the last uh... abou 1/4th of it, and THAT has a little branching as well, all through infusions. I hope people will find it fun. ;)

The rest of the content moves forward in time as it leads to the events we'll be seeing in Update 10. I won't spoil it, I'd rather leave people wondering! THAT piece of content, however, also has a lot of variation. Remember the earlier choice in the game? The meat of the last piece of Update 9 will change whether Resnick has spent the day with Edwin at the tavern a few weeks earlier or with Ludwig. And, if it was with Ludwig, it will also change depending on what book he ended up bringing home in that playthrough. As usual for Demons Within, it's not a MAJOR change, but the scene overall will adapt to your choices. I hope it'll be fun!

The progress

Aside from content previews, I'm also happy to report that Blain and I successfully managed to make the big CG from Update 9 work as intended. It was, honestly, our biggest and most complex CG yet. I feel like every new CG we make ends up being the new most complex so far... At any rate, though, I hope it'll be worth it! The gimmick will be cool, hopefully, and there'll be a lot to look at. ;) It's coming soon!

With the writing pretty much done, my sole focus now will be to code everything up. Between coding the visuals and implementing all of the new things, I don't think it's gonna be our fastest coding phase yet, but though my checklist of things to get done is big, I believe I can get it all done in a good handful of nice and productive days! I'll keep you all updated, as usual!

What else?

Aaaaand, alongside all of that, we have a few more things I've been sprinkling the previews tier for. New minor character sprites coming (although I'm not sure which will make it to Update 9 and which will end up in Update 10). They'll be retroactive updates for now though, so I guess when they're done, I'll put them in there! One of the pretty cool new updates we'll have in Update 9, however, is some interface upgrades. Blain and I have been working on revamping the settings and save/load screens to bring it more in-theme with the game. I know that's not a super relevant update, but I think it'll make the game look better and cooler overall and that's always a win. :) When I have it working, I'll shoot some previews of it as well in Patreon and etc!

Oh, and this update will also include a new tease for something else. You'll know it when you see it... :3

I think this is it for today. I'd also like to thank all of you for being awesome! Many of you have made a lot of incredible fan art in these almost-two-months of development of Update 9! We have so many! I literally can't wait to display all of the goodness in the credits of this incoming update. It's gonna be awesome! Huge, huge thank you <3

Cheers, good people!