May 19 Update (Patreon)

(Pre-post, check out the new fanart! This is another one from Annikath and Argo the Ratfolk, showing two of the characters in modern clothing. This one is a lot of fun!)

Alright, I am "back", which actually means putting less time into TLS and more time into things like writing posts and responding to comments. I'm glad people enjoyed the comic and other things while I was busy. ^-^

Also pleased to report that we are over the hump. There's always a big surge of work in the middle of an update where I'm carrying so much stuff in my head or notes and there's the risk that if I get interrupted or thrown off, update progress could be severely damaged. Well, I'm glad to report that it didn't happen and is no longer a risk. We are getting closer.

However, I also have to report that we have now hit the point where I'm faltering a bit (also part of why I stopped my focused work period). Not that my enthusiasm for the game has lessened, but each update includes various pieces I'm not as interested in as the characters, variables, or battles.

For example, the quest log continues to be the absolute worst. >_< I realized that entering the final battle should fail optional quests that were in progress, which means a huge set of conditionals first checking if the quest has been discovered, then if it's complete, then failing it if so. Not difficult, just tedious. I'm on the other side of that ordeal, and any omissions or typos will have to come out in bug reports.

There's other stuff too. I'm adding new tracks and trying to choose appropriate music for everything. I can never get motivated here, because no matter how much or little work I put in, some people will like it, some will hate it, and many will assume it's all RPG Maker music anyway.

Also doing something I've done relatively rarely in TLS: putting work into animations. It's the final battle, I figure it needs some new/unique combat/scene animations to make things seem suitably climactic. This is another case where all this work will no doubt be assumed to be default presets (T-T) but I hope even in that case, the people who have enjoyed the game this far will feel the animations are appropriate and sell the story.

So yes, we've moved from "working on the update" to "finishing the update". But given the sheer size of this one, that stage will take a little while, especially because it's hard to predict if the final pieces and testing will come up with any problems.  But we are getting there!