Progress update #3 - work on Chapter 1: PII and more

Hey everyone, 

first of all, there will be a brief delay on the delivery of the HD artwork from CH1P1 (reward for tiers 'Elven stranger' and above). As before, the batch will include a selection of art from the episode in higher resolution with 3 edited nude pieces (2x Anasteya, 1x Sunny). The reason for the delay is that the nude pieces require a little adjusting before they're OK for shipping and I've admittedly been feeling very inspired by the prospect of the next episode (CH1P2), so I've spent the last few days working on its script and extra art for some additional side stories instead. But rest assured that I have not forgotten about the artwork!

Now, about CH1P2 itself...

Potential spoilers in the separated section below!
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I've decided to throw in the beginnings of a couple of side storylines into CH1P2. One of them will send the protagonist on an unexpected, albeit very brief journey to the southern farmsteads that are protected by the soldiers of Myrstone. The other will be available only if the protagonist opposes Amaya (or makes a final decision to oppose her), to provide a counterbalance to the content that staying on Amaya's good side will entail. It might not be a perfect balance, but it should at least give the players who went up against Amaya something of a reward for clearing their name in the eyes of most in Briarstead. And like I said, it is just the beginning of each storyline, so expect them to continue in varying capacity in future episodes.
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On another note, there are a few new characters coming up in the next episode - and there is yet many more to come. Between the characters who appear and the names that are mentioned, I realize that it will get increasingly more difficult to keep track of who everyone is, especially if their screentime is limited (+ they might not even appear every update) and if it takes months between releases. I am not sure how to approach the problem, and maybe some people do not even consider it a problem, but it's been suggested to me that I make some sort of a codex that would help jog your memory if a name comes up and you are not sure who the character in question is. 

The possible options would be an in-game sort of glossary that gives a quick overview of basic names, including characters, locations and such. Another option would be to make a wiki page - which I think would be a great idea down the road as the lore is gradually built up, especially for later reference when I make more games in the same setting after Elvensang is completed.

So, a wiki page will definitely come at some uncertain point in the future, but I might as well start thinking about creating some sort of an in-game codex for Elvensang right now. Definitely not for the next episode - but maybe for Chapter 2. Let me know what you think about the idea!

That being said, it currently looks like Chapter 1 will have 3 parts to it. Honestly, it does not mean a whole lot to separate it in such fashion and I might as well have called them episode 1, 2 and 3, etc., but Chapter 1 as a whole has a very specific ending set in stone, and so pushing that conclusion to later means throwing in more setup to get additional storylines rolling early. Keep in mind that many of these storylines are essentially 'side quests', so hopefully they do not make the 'main story' convoluted, but rather provide an alternative perspective on what struggles some less important characters must face in the world.

As a last note, I'd mention that for now, these side storylines are 'seamlessly' integrated into the continuous narrative (i.e. same format as the Prologue and CH1P1), but later on they will be navigated with the promised map feature. The execution of the map feature itself is a bit of an experiment, but what it essentially means is that you can access side storylines at your own leisure within a certain timeframe of the main story (which is progressed with a "button" of its own). I wrote out a little more info as well as a demonstration of how the map would work in Progress update #1, so have a look at that if you are interested. One issue that the map feature will face is concentration of side quests in certain areas - if you have five side quests in Briarstead, you would have Briarstead clogged with quest icons. A solution to this could simply be to actually make these locations with concentrated side quests open up when you click on them, and then have a separate screen with every available sidequest listed. However, I am still letting the map feature marinade in my mind while the story has time to develop - and I am not averse to drastically reworking it, or just scratching it entirely if I figure out a better alternative to provide access to stories disjointed from the main plot.

So, let me know if you have any suggestions or thoughts when it comes to the codex/wiki, the map, or anything else. If you haven't already done so, feel free to join my discord (https://discord.gg/nGsfYhB4WP) and we can have a chat about it!

And that is all for now. Thank you for reading!

Love you all,

Worlaix