May Newsflash #1 - Chapter 10 is in the bag! (Patreon)

I'm so pleased that this is the first newsflash in quite some time where I've not been saying something like "I've not done as much as I'd have liked..."

I've had improvements in energy, focus, and back pain - hooray! Yesterday I finished drafting Chapter 10 of Honor Bound - double hooray! And today I playtested Chapters 8-10 more times than I can count - triple hooray!

I've been listening to the Disco Elysium soundtrack a lot while writing this fortnight. Not because it makes me think of Honor Bound particularly, but it's a lovely album.

Sometimes I skip doing an in-depth playtest once I've finished a chapter (I did for Chapter 8), and I always regret it. You just can't get a real sense of how a game feels until you playtest: the flow and feel are so different to reading through on the page. Among other things, I found a bunch of bugs and transitions between scenes not reading smoothly, tweaked a whooole lot of wording and paragraph spacing, and added an extra scene to a Raffi storyline where one branch didn't feel satisfying enough when failing (I failed when playtesting. A lot).

The outline for the secret project has come back with feedback which isn't too hard to get done - I think that'll be sorted early next week. Then I need to plan and start coding Chapter 11! My goal is to get a decent headway on the code before the last week of May, in which things become busy again as it's a school holiday. Fingers crossed!

Current wordcount: 418667 words

Fortnight wordcount: 13358 words

Average playthrough wordcount: 84827 words

The playthrough length is not only a novel, now, but is also getting to be a chunky novel! It's a longer playthrough than Royal Affairs at this point, which is exciting...

Other business: 

Royal Affairs now has the ability to save at the end! It's starting to feel more real as I get closer towards the end of Honor Bound... I hope it won't be too long before the official full beta test begins!

Honor Bound is also going to have a cheat and hint add-on, in the same way Creme de la Creme, Royal Affairs, and Blood Money do!

Thank you as ever for your support and feedback. I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Sneak peek:

This is from a little communal hangout scene from late in the game. I enjoy writing the characters just chilling out and shooting the breeze every so often, between the various dramas!