Maids & Masters (& Some Real Progress On v0.19)

Right when I was on track to have basically everything except the new story bit done in time for a test build on Friday, I get sick. I am still aiming to have a test build for Patrons on Friday, but this head cold has still slowed me down just enough that I'm not sure when a full early access release will actually become available. I really want to get it to Patrons before Christmas, but I'm not in a place where I can make that promise.

As for what I have gotten done - all the existing Maids have all their chat options for the new Maids, the new Maids all have Freeze versions, and the vast majority of that type of smaller interaction is done. There's still a little more left to do, but I've been working at it from multiple angles. Vicky, for example, is almost entirely done, only needing renders and animations for her event, but some non-characters (like the snowman and teddy bear) I haven't touched and still need updating.

That, unfortunately, is really as much as I can say about that. Everything being as in-progress as it is, there's not a lot for me to talk about.

In the interest of full transparency, I'm honestly not even totally sure I'll have a test build worth sharing come Friday. I might be able to manage it, but it's certainly not going to be as complete as I want. Plus, it is the holidays, so I'm busy with things besides work, which really only leaves me tomorrow to try and get more done before Friday.

I won't say anything else about possible release dates in the hope that I can still manage something reasonable.

Hopefully this cold passes quickly and I'm able to pick up the pace. It's frustrating wanting to get work done and not having the energy to actually be productive.

Maids & Masters (& A Little Progress On v0.19)

It still isn't a lot of details, but I think I've made enough progress that I'm comfortable talking about the cult segment leading into the Freeze. This one is a little more complicated than I'd have really liked it to be, and at the same time not as complicated as I really want it to be. I know that's contradictory, so bear with me.

This cult segment needs two versions. One where you won the election and are now leader of the cult, and one where you lost and are not. The trouble with that is that if you're the leader of the election, you should probably have some agency in what you do with that position. So, I set up the usual four choices plus the hidden choice, but if I'm going to do it right, that should be four completely different paths, giving you the option to do the most obvious things that the story might have led you to believe you'd be able to do once you finally got here. The trouble with that being that the story still has somewhere to go, so I need to find a way to somehow collapse all these different outcomes into the same conclusion so I don't entirely derail the story.

This is why this has taken me so long to reconcile. As burnt out as I've been, my brain just refused to process what I needed to do to make this any kind of coherent, much less as satisfying as I want it to be regardless of the direction you choose to move in.

I've finally reached a version that I think I'm happy with, though I haven't tested it very thoroughly. That'll come during the week, hopefully along with some meaningful progress on the Freeze events for the relevant Maids.

Because on top of this cult segment being unusual, this Freeze is also unusual, because it has some narrative that needs to happen during the Freeze to move the story into Act 3. 

Exactly none of which I'm ready to talk about in any more detail just yet.

Though one thing I am ready to talk about are the results of the winter bonus render poll. All those renders are done, but you'll have to wait until Friday to see them all. If you want to know the results (and see a preview), head over to Patreon (or Subscribestar). Also keep in mind that Patrons (and Subscribers) get bonus sets that I can't post publicly. Look forward to those on Friday.