June Newsflash #1

It's been a funny, busy couple of weeks. I'm sorry for the lateness of this progress update - the end of last week was a bit hectic.

I'm moving towards the finish line. Not sprinting, yet, because I was on holiday in Portugal for one of the weeks this fortnight, but I've coded Chapter 12 and have almost finished coding Chapter 11. My freelance client has asked me for some extra work over the next few days so I'll be prioritising that, but I hope to finish that pesky Chapter 11 section and start writing this week.

Among other things, I've been doing a few small edits to Chapter 9 and done some quiz fixes - it won't have been visible, but there were some bugs related to the Royal Affairs PC and their romance life/engagement/marriage that would have had nasty consequences for referring to the events of that game. On my radar is adding a Denario scene to Chapter 7 which will trigger when appropriate, and possibly putting back a Denario branch that I cut when writing, but that will probably get done later rather than earlier - I want to keep momentum going on the final chapters!

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Current wordcount: 441645 words (longer than Creme de la Creme!!)

Average playthrough wordcount: 87114 words (much longer than Creme de la Creme, and longer than Royal Affairs!)

Fortnight(ish) wordcount: 10518 words

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I've caught up with some games recently that I wanted to recommend! I really liked Love Undying: A Kiss Before Dawn by Lauren O'Donoghue, which is about being a Victorian vampire in a Cornish village, dealing with human and vampire politics, and finding love. The characters and PC felt very grounded - it helps that I'm very fond of the part of the world in which it's set! And I enjoyed Silverworld by Kyle Marquis, having played the demo when it first came out and entirely failed to finish it at the time. It's a pulpy alternate-history time-travel romp, full of action and bizarre characters. The very end felt a little bit abrupt, but overall it was a great ride.

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I'm writing a prize for the Interactive Fiction Raffle for Palestine - there are 50+ authors and artists creating prizes and you can enter until 21st June by donating 5USD/5€ to one of five verified fundraising campaigns.

If you win my prize, I will write you:

An interactive playable date scene with an RO or polyamorous duo of your choice from one of my released games or WIP. Non-explicit - please specify if you’d like a kiss and/or fade-to-black included in the scene.

More information about the fundraising here and the other prize contributors here!

I hope you have a lovely week!