Welcome to Wayfarer’s 2022 Roadmap!
This is an outline of my project goals for the coming year. It should hopefully give you some insights on how development is going to go this year.
I do all of Wayfarer’s writing, narrative/gameplay design, and coding myself. I have previously vastly underestimated my workflow, which lead to me pushing myself too hard...
2022-01-30 18:21:45 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s hard to think of a gameplay element more beloved in story-driven roleplaying games than romance. When gamers discuss a new RPG, there’s usually two questions that that come that come to mind first, two questions that dominate the discussion and are talked about with more passion and excitement than any other: 1) who is your favourite character? and 2) who did you romance?
Reviews...
2022-01-29 04:08:47 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
It’s been a pretty busy few weeks. If you missed it, the alpha build was updated on January 19th with new content, new mechanics, and some UI refreshes. Since then there’s been a few patches to fix bugs and continuity errors, among some other things. You can read the patch notes at the bottom of the pinned alpha build post.
The most exciting part...
2022-01-25 20:31:57 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
The next alpha build update is here! This is a massive update; in addition to new content, it is also a UI/Gameplay patch, so I highly encourage everyone to check out the patch notes below so you know what’s changed and how it affects your save files.
Because of the addition of the autoname save function and the status effect system, you must either: 2022-01-19 18:03:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi friends,
Happy January! I hope everyone had a good holiday and a good New Year’s.
The month is really flying by for me. I’ve been a bit quiet since getting the alpha build update out as soon as possible is my number one priority right now. I finished drafting the party sequence a few days into January. Since then, I’ve done most of my personal edits, th...
2022-01-11 19:07:56 +0000 UTC View Post
This month's bonus content is a process video for the map of Velantis. I decided to change it up a little and try a "speedbuild"-style video with a voice over explaining my different tools and strategies for mapmaking.
I use Wonderdraft for all of Wayfarer's in-game maps and this is a quick look at how I got from this:
2021-12-28 17:30:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hi friends,
Happy holidays!
I hope you all have had a relaxing, stress-free time. I took several days off around Christmas to rest and spend time with family and friends (over Zoom and phone calls, as the current Covid situation isn’t that great in my area). I haven’t taken any proper time off from game development for a while aside from a few sick days here and there. It’s be...
2021-12-27 23:56:39 +0000 UTC View PostHappy holidays!
Due to Chapter 1’s complexity, the official walkthroughs will be divided into different sections. Because I think Patreon posts aren’t the easiest way to showcase a guide, once the full chapter is covered, I’ll either put all the walkthroughs together into a downloadable PDF with a table of contents or create a Patreon-only webpage that has a navigation.
You’...
2021-12-25 01:34:05 +0000 UTC View PostI've been thinking about the way I'm sharing WIP snippets (excerpts from the current in-progress section of the game that haven't been coded and added to the alpha build). Previously, I have occasionally tacked them on to the end of progress reports, but recently I've been sharing these on the Patreon-only section of the Discord server. Discord is a much easier platform for engagement and react...
2021-12-21 23:00:07 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
A short update for today. The past two weeks have been incredibly busy (balancing life things with work things, as you do). While I’m not where I want to be with the chapter, I am still getting parts of it done every day, so progress is happening!
To recap from the last few progress reports: I’m currently working on Chapter 2 Scene 2, which is the largest and most co...
2021-12-13 19:31:59 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
Just a quick update to round out November. It’s been a bit of a tough month; I did have to take some time off earlier as I was feeling under the weather and my province is currently in a state of emergency due to severe flooding. While my area is safe and relatively unaffected, I have family and friends who have been flooded and the whole situation is a tad stressful.
Spoilers for Calla's backstory, but no spoilers for the major points of her character arc. If you want to go into his character arc completely blind, I suggest skipping this post.
Calla is the disinherited scion of House Tormond, a wealthy Faran family now living among the Faran diaspora in Velantis. She was born in Varthrandir, the capital of Farandor, shortly before the family ...
2021-11-20 20:13:21 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
November’s a little bit of a weird month. Fall and winter are very dark and dreary where I live. It’s hard to get anything done when you don’t see the sun for weeks on end and everything is damp (we just had a historic amount of rainfall that was twice as much rain in two days as we normally see in the whole month of November; our area thankfully hasn’t had to be evacu...
2021-11-16 18:06:58 +0000 UTC View Post
I shared the map of Velantis earlier in Wayfarer’s Discord server, but I thought I would cross-post it here as well, along with notes on the various important locations.
This map is still a draft. I am relatively happy with it, although there are some things that I am still not 100% on (there are a lot of important locations that would be informative to include, but it runs the risk of ...
2021-11-13 21:02:10 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
As I'm progressing through Chapter 2's content, I wanted to get an idea of your preferences for updates. I've always approached the alpha build with an "update when a major story section is finished" mindset, but that does mean that there are long breaks between updates.
Since I do finish individual story beats relatively quickly (i.e. a dialogue branch, a si...
2021-11-11 06:57:25 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
It’s November!
This month I am continuing development on Chapter 2. The alpha build was updated on November 1st, so if you haven’t checked out the new content yet, see this post here (also pinned to the top of Patreon). This will give you the link and November’s password...
2021-11-03 18:48:49 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
The first part of Chapter 2 is finally here! From now on, the alpha build will always contain content not available on the public build. 🥳
Please note that some unlockable content is in development. There are a couple o...
2021-11-01 07:01:07 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
Just a quick update for the end of October. I have finished drafting Chapter 2 Scene 1. This is quite a hefty scene (“scene” doesn’t really cover it), which means there will be a lot of material to explore when the alpha build updates. The whole thing clocks in just shy of 60,000 words, which is definitely on the long end for a Wayfarer section (oddly it’s around the s...
2021-10-28 01:22:06 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
October has been a pretty challenging month. I’ve talked about this on some of my progress reports before, but I have pretty severe chronic dry eye syndrome, which impacts my ability to write and code the way I want to. I’ve been in and out of the optometrist’s office over the summer and fall for various treatments, and I’ve been in different levels of eye pain and fat...
2021-10-20 16:45:33 +0000 UTC View PostLittle is said publicly about Velantis’ seventh—and hidden—district. Located beyond the harbour slums and the factories of the industrial quarters, the Undercity is among Velantis’ poorest regions. By virtue of its geography, it is cut off from the rest of the city. Without the watchful eye of Velantian officials, it has become a breeding ground for organized crime and other underworld ...
2021-10-16 20:57:50 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
This is just a quick update about what I’ve been working on. I am (unsurprisingly) behind schedule from the one I posted on Sept. 16th—I am still pretty bad at estimating how long things will take me and also how much space each plot beat actually takes up.
Even though it’s not done yet, I am very pleased with where Chapter 2 S...
2021-10-06 17:26:33 +0000 UTC View PostSome details and names are WIP and may change as the game develops.
Of all the ancient organizations in Rhesainia, the Meissandium is perhaps the oldest and most powerful of all. As the dominant religious organization on the continent, Meissandic temples appear in all countries and its clergy are respected members of society. Though religious belief has shifted and changed over t...
2021-09-28 20:25:49 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi friends,
My partner and I are here to answer some of your burning questions about Wayfarer! The podcast is divided into two sections--writing and game development, then worldbuilding and character questions.
Spoiler warning for ALL of the Prologue and Chapter 1's content.
(Tried using transcription softwar...
2021-09-26 23:50:51 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
The game’s been out for a week! It’s been a pretty wild time, and I’m overwhelmed by the response it’s gotten. The game has stayed in the top 10 for all of its major tags and has been averaging around 1000 browser plays per day, which is incredible. Gob-smacked doesn’t even reach what I’m feeling right now. 😅
I wanted to say a big welcome to all the new Pa...
2021-09-16 22:30:45 +0000 UTC View PostWhen we talk about characters, the idea of a story being “character-driven” is often raised. Character-driven stories are intended to be the antithesis of plot-driven stories. The story is about the characters, their lives, and their relationships, rather than the characters being tossed around willy-nilly by a series of pre-determined events.
I’ve never been one for the character-d...
2021-09-14 00:30:42 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
The public build launches tomorrow! 🥳 It’s been a long road to get to this point and, if I’m being honest, it feels a little surreal.
Alpha Build 1.0.9. has been patched three times since it released on September 1. This is mostly fixing minor bugs and unclosed HTML tags. I will be updating the alpha build with one more patch tomorrow before the public build goes ...
2021-09-08 17:21:10 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
This is the final version of the alpha build before the game's public launch! This update includes:
New assets, new visuals, new look for every page! You will need to start a new save file as I updated the Inventory as part of the redesign and your inventory will break if you use an old file.
...
2021-09-01 22:07:22 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
Sorry for the radio silence this month! The UI update has taken a lot longer than I originally anticipated. The design work is completely finished (aside from a few minor tweaks here and there that I fix as I go), but the process of actually implementing it is quite time consuming and tedious. Basically, I have to edit every existing passage and edit the HTML individually to g...
2021-08-27 20:29:55 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
The alpha build has been updated and Chapter 1 is now complete! Wooo! 🥳
Due to changes in variables, you MUST START A NEW FILE. Proceeding with a previous save will result in continuity errors for Route B. Also, MCs with they/them pronouns will not use the correct grammar.
Please note that Version 1.0.8. is not a stable build and v...
2021-08-14 22:36:56 +0000 UTC View PostHi friends,
Happy August! The start of the month has been pure chaos, I’ve barely registered that we’re onto the second week.
The new content for the alpha build is really starting to come along now. I’ve finished (most of) the edits and coded about 2/3s of the material. The fight branches are all complete and I’m just finishing up the (multiple) variations of the end sequen...
2021-08-10 16:23:16 +0000 UTC View Post