April 21 Update (Patreon)

First, look at Skater Yarra! This is more unexpected fanart from Annikath's twitter. ^-^ But aside from that, this post is a good news and bad news sort of situation.

Bad news: The TLS update still isn't out, despite how much effort I've been plowing into it.

Good (?) news: I've decided against splitting the final battle into two updates. When TLS 0.74.0 releases, it will be an extra large update resolving the entire battle - the majority of plot threads, the "end of chapter" card, and even one ending of the game.

There are a number of reasons I've made this decision. One is that I've spent so long focusing both conscious and subconscious attention on this that the idea of setting all that down to go through the release and bugfixing process just sounds exhausting. I want to do it all now, while I'm most excited about it. I'm fairly sure this will be fastest overall.

Another is that I don't think the mid-battle break would have likely benefits (other than supporters getting content sooner). It's not like I would pivot much based on feedback: everything has been leading up to this, so most of what happens in the final battle is locked in.

Whenever I take a long time on an update I always experience some anxiety that I'll hype up players too much, but in this case after so long, I'm not sure another month can really increase hype all that much.

Nevertheless, I ask that you temper your expectations. I'm making the best final update I can, but it's not like it will be a ten hour experience featuring a dozen dungeons and a hundred sex scenes. Now, obviously in a game this long, the final battle shouldn't be just 30 minutes, so it needs to have some heft to it, but there is only so much I can accomplish, even working all out for this long.

In past weeks, when doing fundamental planning, I found myself reflecting on this on a design level. There's a temptation to make this battle insanely long, with dozens of different variables and mind-boggling complexity. But the goal of TLS has never been length or complexity for its own sake; the goal is for everything to feel substantial and consequential. I want the gameplay to feel like the summation of the player's choices, the narrative to fulfill all the promises I've spread across various plot threads, and the two to intertwine meaningfully.

So anyway, the final battle is coming. I can't promise it will be a perfect update, but it will be the right conclusion, so far as I'm capable of creating it.

EDIT: This post has been made public so that more are aware of the announcement.