June 27 Update (Patreon)

I had an above average week, but it should have been better. I maintained a high level of enthusiasm, it's just that events ganged up on me and ate into my productive time.

There's a lot more dialogue/choices/branching in the game now, but I had really wanted to be able to announce that it was all done. Instead, the best I can say is that I've written through the most branched part and I'm closing in on some of the more concluding segments. For this update, at least.

If this had been an amazing week, I wouldn't have much to say here. Instead, non-productivity has manifested as a miniature essay on choice in narrative design, which will hopefully be of some interest.

Branching narratives are fundamentally difficult for a number of reasons, which I can't outline in full here, and developers choose different ways to use their limited resources. Look at the flowchart images for this post, part of a breakdown of The Walking Dead series. Telltale Games largely decided to fake it: give the impression of major branches while keeping the content essentially the same.

Given its length, TLS clearly can't do true branching, as the game would collapse under combinatorial explosion. I've tried to balance cutscenes and choices to give clear promises about what sorts of changes the player will be able to make. Modular results are one effective technique, but they limit the ability to build narrative on top of them.

I didn't include those flowcharts to criticize Telltale Games... it's actually a bit of the opposite. As I spent the last week on alternates that most players won't see, I renewed a visceral understanding of why you'd want to structure a game that way. This next update, though telling a central narrative, will have a bit more branching than that. Some of it significant, some of it simply alternate scenes. 

I hope that the end result is a sequence that balances a sense of chaos and a feeling that the player's choices matter. Since I know some players will aggressively replay, I hope they appreciate some of the little touches I'm including. But whew, it's a lot of work. ^-^

Potential Crimson Gray Translation: I occasionally receive offers of translation services, which I've generally declined based on the economics. Recently I received an offer to translate both Crimson Gray games into Portuguese for an unusually low amount. Suspiciously low? I'm not sure. I could sort of check the translation through Spanish, but I wouldn't be capable of truly judging it's quality.

This is something I didn't expect, and I'm still not entirely sure what to think. Offering more languages feels like a nice thing to do, but having just English and Portuguese feels a bit odd. Anyone have thoughts?

OEA Maps: First, we finished up the frozen maps, then we headed into Frieda's Tale. As you can see, it has new colors and a glowy aesthetic. Finally, two different rough drafts of the volcano map, which I'm really not happy with for reasons I'm uncertain about fixing. Let me know what you think of the different versions, but all feedback is welcome.

Other stuff:

First, we have fanart from A Hollow Mountain! You can see it above or on the subreddit.

On a similar note, there's another TBS lore post up on the blog. This was a big one.

Podium has officially moved forward with the AHM audiobook, with both a release date and a pre-order page. Check it out if you're one of those waiting on the audiobooks!

Similarly, the third book in The Weirkey Chronicles just completely finished posting over at the Sarah Lin Patreon. You could read it there if you wanted, but as my supporters, you're also due free copies... just a little later, when I've compiled proper ebooks.

I intend to publish the finished books in TWC, since I might have resolved the cover problems, but this is being put off until I finish more work on TLS.

Likewise, this would be the optimal time to make a Newgrounds demo for OEA, since I need to ramp up wishlists, but I don't have the energy for that now. Eventually, likely scheduled between other updates.

Annikath actually did a fun little animation of various TLS scenes, but I forgot that it was an mp4 and can't be uploaded with other files. I'll show everybody at some point, I'm just mentioning it so that it doesn't slip my mind.