July 11 Update (Patreon)

Large sections of the update are playable, but they aren't contiguous or well-tested. This is because I'm lacking maps... unfortunately more maps than I expected at this point. I'd anticipated saying that this was a weird week but I was ready to push forward, but I'm still missing three entire maps.

I have been frustrated at my own progress over the past weeks, but it seems that didn't matter, because the mapping commissions are proving the bottleneck. And I finalized plans and requested them so early, too. T-T

Working out of order is unpleasant and makes the process more prone to errors, but I didn't see an alternative, so that's what I've been trying to do. Unfortunately, there are some events that jump between multiple maps that just aren't practical to finish without having the missing maps. I've taken on some of the minor maps myself, in some cases to little loss. But the tileset for one of the new areas is misaligned and I just don't want to deal with it, so the map I've made is garbage. >_< You'll notice it when you see it, but the important thing is that map can be easily replaced later. That's not true for the more significant dungeons with plot events.

I've been working on other stuff as I run out of eventing I can do. The sex scenes are written, edited, and implemented (not that there are many). I've set up the battlebacks, at least for the finished maps. Several new music tracks for this section are selected. There are about 16 new illustrated scenes to do, and I haven't integrated those yet, but thanks to some help from Lamsey it should be easier. The enemies/battles are about half done and that's what I'm working on today.

I wanted to say that I was aiming for next weekend, but even if I had nearly all the maps, it would have been tight. Even if I get all the maps fairly soon and have everything else ready for them, there's a certain amount of irreducible dev time after receipt. The longer I spend on one update the more stressed I get and the more likely it is that things fall through the cracks. This update has passed my preferences, other tasks are crowding in, and I am exceedingly displeased.

In brighter news, look at the teaser of a new scene. $10 patrons just got an art post with the third whole set that will be in the upcoming update. Yes, Simon should have a black cloak there.

Meanwhile, we have some more OEA maps:

The underground half of the Labyrinth Tale was aiming for partial ruins, including basements of buildings on the surface.

Next we have Fenris and Hood's Tale, which has some more custom tiles like the roses. You'll see a Fenris in the trees, which is to show how visible he'll be on his cutscene path. 

Their house interior is more straightforward, but I asked for more details specific to the couple.

Finally we have one of the last regions of the game. It will be black and white, like in the placeholders, but I thought the encroaching darkness at the edges added some flavor. Objects from outside the core are in color.

That is all for now.