Weekly Progress Update [06/JUL] (Patreon)

Hey everyone, hope your week has been going well 🌻

I took a break that was a couple days long after releasing the chapter and working on fixing reported bugs, but after that I picked up work again for CH14! I'd like to keep up a pace of consistent writing off the back of this release, since whenever I take an extended break after finishing a chapter I find that getting back into the rhythm of it gets much harder.

Most of my time this week was spent building an outline of CH14, specifically the beginning of it. There are a lot of variable scenes that I'll need to account for, both in terms of LI variations as well as plot variations:

A scene relating to R's belated birthday present before the gang leaves for the expedition, with a special variation for R romancers

Variation depending on whether your Crown met with Kham or with Eshkar

Variation depending on whether Yekbun is alive or not

Variation depending on whether Ishrah was sent to spy on Bazo or not

Special, minor variation for X romancers only

Variation depending on whether your Crown got the citizens in the city killed or not in CH9

Variation depending on your choices made during the public petitions last chapter

And that's all at the beginning of CH14! Basically it's tying up all the remaining loose ends before the Crown and their companions set off on the pilgrimage. I expect that all these variations will add up very quickly in terms of word-count, but depending on how it all mixes and matches in each playthrough, you might only get like 10 pages at most haha.

Then the bulk of the chapter is spent on what I lovingly call the Road Trip portion of the story. I've been very excited to get to this part (and not only because I won't have to worry about plot-related variations as much). We're gonna get a break from courtly intrigue and venture into the adventure genre instead, with loads to see and uncover in Rojan's wilderness.

The Crown will also get to focus on building their romances and friendships with the cast, which will make a great opportunity for a lot of relationship development. I'm anticipating that CH14 will cover one half of the journey, while CH15 should cover the other.

As for actual writing, I did make a start on the chapter! At the beginning, you'll get the choice to shape some of the Crown's hobbies/interests, and that will impact some minor scenes throughout the Road Trip. The Crown possesses survival skills no matter which option you choose, but you can decide whether they actually enjoy doing that or whether they have more fun in creative or intellectual endeavors instead.

I think I planned something like choosing the Crown's hobbies ages ago, but I didn't get a chance to implement it until now. Here's what they'll look like, as a little preview and so you can start thinking about what kind of Crown you have:

You can choose whether your Crown is skilled at fiber arts/needlecraft, such as weaving, knitting, embroidery, etc.

Regardless whether the above is a yes/no, you can then select another category of interests that the Crown also likes:

Creating other things, through woodcarving, pottery, gardening, and cooking

Physical activities, like hiking, fishing, foraging and hunting

Mentally stimulating pursuits, like reading, writing, drawing and playing music

I thought about what skills the Crown would most need while living on the run and then later on their own, though I also accounted for the education that their parents would have given them. Being overly specific with hobbies would be limiting, so I went for a slightly broader approach instead. It gives enough space for the player to fill in headcanons, while still giving me the specificity I need to write scenes for it during the Road Trip.

The planning stage of CH14 is done with, so next week I'll be focusing on writing for it going forward!

Hope you're having a great weekend 💖