I'm a little surprised with myself. I actually managed to treat my vacation like a vacation. Of course, I did still continue checking my socials and responding to comments on itch and Patreon, and I spent one day working on a scene for a special project that may or may not ever see the light of day, but still. I got some good sleep, I eliminated a couple distractions, and I spent some time away from my computer. I don't feel quite as refreshed as I was hoping to, but I don't feel like I'm dragging myself forward anymore, either. I'd say that accomplishes the main goal of stepping away from work for a while. I'm going to need the energy.
While I didn't exactly specify this anywhere, the Bancroft Estate segment is a big one. Attached to the Estate itself is Magach, one of the two "cities" on Commorance. It was built during the war against the slain Queen as a sort of refugee camp for the Folk that were fleeing battlegrounds, but Masters being Masters, it ended up being actual homes instead of something more temporary. It's Magach that gave Farquhar the idea for Roich, as the previous Master Bancroft used the city as his "recruiting grounds" prior to his death. The difference being is that Magach is significantly larger, and has a standing population of Folk, rather than being filled exclusively with Folk that are technically Servants on paper. It's this that led to the current Master Bancroft, as well as all of his half-siblings, and having so many potential heirs led to the recently resolved succession crisis.
And it's not just the physical size of Magach I have to worry about. While I've tried my hand at writing a murder mystery before, I've never presented one to the public for critique. On top of that, since MnM is the ongoing experiment that it is, I want to try layering the "whodunnit" underneath other mystery tropes, like the locked room murder, red herrings, twist reveals, and of course, the big reveal at the end that lays everything out, all balanced in a way that gives you, the player, the option of solving the whole thing yourself. The trophy for the segment will be solving the mystery correctly just between you and Melissa, but I know that not all of my players can wrap their brains around all of my puzzles, and I don't want to leave anyone behind because they don't know what they're looking for. That's what the mind maze was, and I don't intend to do that twice. At least not within MnM.
Phoebe will play the "easy mode" role, from pointing out evidence and connections to just doing all the work for you - if you choose to call on her. I'm less worried about that part so much as I am Melissa's part, who will play a role closer to your Watson, simply reminding you of what you've already done and giving you the opportunity to run your theories by her to make sure you're not missing something that should be right in front of you. The combination of player agency, the limitation of only having a set amount of actions that can be taken, and the complexity of what I want to do here will be quite the challenge.
Which makes me wonder if a v0.12.1 might be a good idea. Before I get to all of this, I need to make sure the cult segment works as intended and finish building that. While that would make the new update fairly small, it would allow me to get something out during September, which won't otherwise have a release (unless you count v0.12, since that released on the 1st). I fully expect the Bancroft segment to take 6+ weeks to create, so having a smaller update that takes a smaller step forward might be a good idea. I've also got some work for another project to catch up on before I get too lost in working on MnM. We'll see where the next two weeks take us.
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