Progress Report

Hi everyone!

It's been one week since the release of version 0.40. I hope you all enjoyed it, despite its narrow scope. We're moving on to more ambitious things with version 0.41, though, so the updates should get more interesting before we reach version 1.00 soon.

If you are unaware, version 0.41 will be the first half of Sister Agnes's route, and it will be exclusive to New Game Plus. I already laid the groundwork for this storyline while writing Callie's route but never fully committed to anything specific with it, leaving me lots of options. Let me tell you, it is quite the shift to wrap my head back into the mind space where I design entire storylines, puzzles, and narrative arcs again. It has become abundantly clear to me how much recent updates have been about reinforcing existing content instead of creating new stuff.

In the case of Agnes, she will most likely end up with two secrets; one large, one dark. During this first design stage, the challenge is to pick decent secrets to use and reveal them in a satisfying narrative that makes you feel clever for figuring it all out. Easier said than done. I have no lack of secrets for Agnes, but I want to make sure I pick something that is satisfying to solve and that I feel will make the most impact when you figure it out. 

I know the rough outline of how these two updates will play out, so it's all about the details right now, particularly for the puzzles. These will be the final two puzzles of LLtP, so I need to make them work. Not only that, but for most players, they are also the last puzzles they are likely to encounter due to them being NG+-exclusive. As such, I can't make them too straightforward or easy. As you can tell, I'm juggling a lot of balls here. Still, I'm confident it will pay off.

There have been no new renders or any coding done since last time. I know this is all design work that can feel insignificant to someone who is consuming the story instead of writing it. But trust me, this is the most crucial part of these two updates. If the design is poor, Agnes's whole route will become a disappointing mess, and that's the last thing I want to happen.

So that's where I am at right now. My attention is squarely focused on getting Agnes right. I won't start making any renders or coding anything until I've landed 100% on a design that I feel good about. I'm close, but there's still a little bit left.

Until next time!