End of November Update

So, it's been a while since I made one of these all encompassing updates and the game is now officially public. I'll be posting in various forums and may even start an itch-io page, but I haven't decided on that latter part, yet. Going forward, I expect to update alpha 1.0 once or twice more as I fix bugs and patch the game. After that, the game will go back into a development phase with patrons being given special access to dev builds.

Going forward, I plan to expand more on the story and, of course, everyone's favorite, more content.

I have a path forward that will take the player out into the red garden, to the patio, to Sanctuary, the grass jungle, and the Gazebo, all while progressing the story and upping the stakes. I also have a side story involving the little settlement behind the bar that I would like to expand upon.

This also means reintroducing old characters and expanding upon newer ones. Midnight Murder Hobo, as some of you have affectionately referred to her, will get more interactions. I'd like to bring back some of Olivia's older, more lewd scenes. Tisephone and Annalise will also be returning in a big way.

Ha... Get it? A big way? 👀

Ahem... Anyway, there are some other things I have planned that I don't want to spoil too much. Perhaps a certain groundskeeper character, perhaps Joanne's bestie makes an appearance... Rene also has big plans with her working closely with the player to make them a better little bottom.

Some of the mechanics need to be changed. I currently don't like the way the affection system is set up and would like to simplify it. Basically, the thought is that affection should only ever go up, and under the right circumstances the player can incur a grudge from a patron that would cause the giant to act just as they would if you had reduced their affection. This means the player won't necessarily need to micro-manage a bunch of saves or go through as tedious a process of raising and lowering affection to see all possible scenes. This mechanic is already in the game and is demonstrated by Nemara, it just needs to be widely implemented and all instances of affection being lowered in dialogue and after events needs to be removed.

Okay, so... obviously that is a LOT. I don't want to over-promise, so I'm being intentionally vague here. The key things here are focusing on story, tweaking more mechanics, and introducing some more content. Those are my goals going forward and while I acknowledge there's a lot to deliver on, here, I don't think it's impossible to expect all this within the next 6 months or so.

I also have to make another announcement. I'm tired, y'all.

I've been working on this version of this game for nearly a year and a half. I can't even believe it's already been that long. That obviously doesn't include the time spent on the quest version. So, in light of that, I'm taking a month off. The holiday seasons basically leave me with no time to myself anyway, and I think the game will be better off if I take a step back for a moment and return with a clear head.

I know this is gonna alarm some of you, and I get it. Whenever a game dev goes on hiatus they tend to not come back. 😅

But I'll be around and you can still follow me here and on discord. I put too much time in this game to give up now. So, if you want to suspend your subscription for the time being, do it, I understand and I encourage it.

That's all for now! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out and ask me.