Update and Devlog: 10/19/2023 (Patreon)

“But that’s the boring answer. Maybe I’m just concerned you won't be able to handle seeing me in my true glory.”

Sieghardt chimes in, “should we be concerned about you turning into a swan and flying away the moment we need you?

Medea pauses for a second before laughing, “what? A swan?”

Hi First time doing a devlog on Patreon! :) It's going to be a long one.

I've been hit with the dreaded writer's block for the past few days...er weeks and it's been kind hampering my progress this month. But looking back, I'm kinda pleased with all  the stuff i've put out so far, from the Maeve and Lugh sidestory, to Thea/Rollo & Alberich's art and then the bonus RO sidestory coming at the end of the month.  It makes me feel like I haven't been completely wasting my time staring at the wall.

Chapter 1 Part 2...now probably part 3. 

I'm slowly hacking away at this second half of the Chapter. I originally broke Chapter 1 down into two parts because I had an inkling that it would take too long to develop it all in one go and I was right. ; w; Everything has been roughly outlined so far, but it's still feels like a monster to write, which I think is why i've been struggling for the past few weeks to get it right.

In it's current state, Part 2 is already 13k words long and I haven't even reached the midway point yet. (For reference, Part 1 alone was roughly 23k words long) To be productive I've been jumping ahead and writing the main/key points of the plot, laying down the most important lore/world building bits as I go along. Afterwards, I'll go back and write reactions/branching paths and so on. This method has been great in being productive, but when I think about the amount of work I'll have to do when I go back...it makes me want to cry, haha!

If Part 2 passes 20k words again (which is likely), I'll probably push out a early alpha build for patrons only and will keep it private until the Part 3 finished. Then I'll push out both parts for the public build. ^A^ There's quite a bit too look forward to in Part 2! We get to spend some time with Medea, tell some folk tales, learn about the Wastes and the Old Capital and maybe...have a little boss fight. 👀👀

RO Sidestory:

I'll be closing the RO sidestory poll tomorrow, after that I'll throw up the poll for next month's bonus side story.

Since it's rather obvious that Medea is going to win, I already jump started half of her sidestory. It' s going to roughly be about 500 words long- give or take, and take place right before the MC and Sieg meet her in the tower.

Medea and Helios in particular at hard character to write atm since they are so removed from the MC since you only meet them after the timeskip and are complete strangers. They also have very spoiler-y motives and just being shady people in general, but I do find them enjoyable characters and am very excited for when they take center stage in the plot!

Additionally, I do plan on making all the sidestorys (both bonus and RO) playable in the future, but I'm going to wait until I have about 4-5 more stories until I do it.

Additionally...a new RO.

There's been so much on my mind lately both good and bad- the bad is that like all things in this game, the story is becoming much more than I expected- but the good is...well I'm very excited to write it.

While I've been avoiding to write Part 2, I've been doing a lot of worldbuilding and outlining the rest of the story. I know all the major players and how all the major routes end, but I've also been hinting  on tumblr the emergence of another RO and today I'd like to announce , I've finished plotting and developing the framework of that RO and their ending. ^A^ 🎉🎉

The final RO will be the gender-selectable Daria/Darius,  Eirik's bastard sibling who was born shortly after the war, making them only slightly younger than the MC.

Dari was created for those who wish to ally themselves with Eirik without fully committing to the yucky incest route so their route will follow Eirik's with the most varied deviations coming at the end. I knew going in that I really needed a Eirik-loyal character that doesn't fade into the background like a normal NPC would and one that is genuinely likeable, who also genuinely adores their older brother as well. It gives plays to see Eirik in a different light when they aren't romancing him and gives a bit more of that drama, some more depth to Eirik's faction and  it makes the interpersonal relationships between the MC, Eirik and Dari some spice. And I love spice! Also I think there'd be some interesting parallels to disect when it comes to sibling relationship/dynamics from Eirik-Dari to MC-Alberich-Sieghardt.

I'm only announcing this on Patreon until we get closer to Eirik and Dari's introduction into the story (which is probably going to be either the end of Chapter 2 or the beginning of 3!) Now that you have that knowledge, I'll let you use that as you please. 😈

Im currently at my older cousin's place right now, cat sitting once again. I'm treating it as a writer's retreat so I can get ahead on all the writing I didn't do this month. I'll be going a little radio silent on tumblr because of it!