Next public release: August 16th.



Now I want to share my concerns about game's development, or, more specifically, the main plot. As you know, I've spent last weeks working mainly on the gameplay and visuals, and I believe there's been some considerable improvements with lots of progress. On the other side I get more and more discouraged about plot parts for multiple reasons.

Firstly, plot has mostly been written on the go: characters were introduced to serve gameplay more than the story, and its fairly noticeable. As I really never had to write out the entire plot from start to finish, I mostly made some rough sketches on every part and only developed what was needed to be done right now. Now, as I proceed, I realize how... disconnected this all feels (kinda weird to criticize my own work, but I hope explaining what I had in mind will be beneficial to everyone). Out of all that, sidequests are probably least troubling as they hardly intertwine with each other, and somewhat entertaining on their own.

Originally, I planned to make whole plot better themed and flow more naturally, but I don't think it would be possible to achieve without some extreme rewrites. As my excuse, I can only say, that working over so many developing aspects in the same time easily distracts and drag your attention into multiple directions.

I planned to finish main story line in about one more arc, which would feature the ending, but right now I'm severely discouraged about it, as I feel like it will be mediocre at best. So I want to take some time and work over gameplay aspects and side things for now. Perhaps, after another release or two, I'll feel like I could do at least something I would not be ashamed of and then finish it right. In either way, it's a valuable experience for me and next potential projects I'll sort plans and priorities in a better way.

 So, for the next update, I want to try to fill some gaps: firstly, I wanna add the long postponed tattoo system. Maybe even make it impact gameplay. Secondly, GUI will have additional improvements (or at least I hope so). There's a lot to be desired, but I think we get somewhat better with each step. Lastly, I wanna readjust beauty mechanics a bit. Originally, I thought about having two 'beauty' stats: a permanent beauty which would only change slightly, and 'cosmetic beauty', which is temporal, but could be adjusted with make-up and hygiene. Not sure how it will be suited for the game, but this will certainly make 'beauty potions' less of nobrainer.