Dev Log #62 - Poll review and progress update on E2:E!

Hi all! This week's dev log will be slightly meatier, as I dive into the responses gathered from everyone regarding your thoughts and opinions on how Episode 2 has been for you, as I will discuss the results as well as my thoughts moving forward.

Of course, if an old man's tale is not what you're here for, feel free to scroll down to view what my current progress on E2:E is as well as on other matters such as the walkthrough, roadmap, and a global tier adjustment that have gone live several hours before the posting of this dev log (and no, no prices have been adjusted/increased!).

An episode in review (all poll results discussed!)...
To kickstart the polls (whose results have been accounted for on both platforms), it would seem most of you have enjoyed the episode's pacing and scene content of Episode 2 as compared to previous releases. This is good news and feedback as it reinforces my mindset that the story and content feel more coherent when released as a full episode instead of in parts such as for Episode 1! I will continue to do this for all upcoming releases including Episode 3!

In terms of mainline story arcs which is the follow-up poll, it seems it is a close finish between Stanford vs Alexis, Twins/Cara, and Cara/Sarafe/Tia'Lana, with Twins/Cara coming out on top just by a sliver of the total votes, followed by Cara/Sarafe/Tia'Lana and Stanford vs Alexis. These results do let me know where the interests of everyone lie, but of course, all of these storylines will have their respective continuations and ends as Episode 3 continues them all, so this poll was mainly a gauge of interest!

Next, a poll on your most preferred free roam out of all the free roams present in Cara in Creekmaw, with E2: Marie's Home (Night) coming out on top! In hindsight, I should've probably put a "No Preference" choice as the fourth option. That aside, this free-roam was indeed the most fleshed-out out of the three, having taken about a month of development time back in July-August 2023, and although it wasn't without its bugs or issues, it helped to maintain the intrigue riding off of the opening of Episode 2. This will be the free-roam style I hope to implement and improve on for future episodes, adding more of that level of intrigue as well as the uniqueness of the locale!

In another poll that I probably should've added a "No Preference" option for as well, the experimental storytelling poll does see the majority going for the usual lewd scene storytelling aspect. To be fair, this result was pretty expected on my end and was the reason why I only ended up implementing it for one scene. Of course, moving forward, I will still heavily rely on the usual storytelling method but I will also continue to experiment and build on alternate methods of scene storytelling to keep things fresh and exciting!

Finally, for everyone's favorite new Episode 2 character, the one that comes out on top is Tia'Lana! Maybe it was her unique introduction paired together with her unique traits, or maybe it was her exotically-colored tongue. Either way, she is the clear favorite of Episode 2, followed by Cassidy and finally, Rachel! It is always a challenge to develop and characterize new characters that stay relevant and to have them keep up with the cast already introduced, but overall, there will only be fewer and fewer of them as Cara in Creekmaw heads towards its climatic episode of Episode 3!

Progress and updates!
E2:E
With production ramping up this week, it is time to give a sneak peek as to who the main stars of E2:E are!

That's right! Whether you chose Tiffany or Trinity as the... ahem... well-endowed twin... you will be playing as either of them for E2:E, which will explore and detail a slice-of-life story of the twins, as they go through several unique situations and circumstances concurrently with Cara going about her own business in Episode 2!
Walkthrough and roadmap
The first version of the detailed walkthrough will be available sometime before next week's developer log and will be in both a flowchart format and a detailed text format.

Regarding the roadmap, it will be much more simplified than what I envisioned when first announcing it, and will mainly detail a very early breakdown of the release dates for E2:E and Episode 3, which are by and large not easy to nail down at the current stage of development!

Without creating a huge image just for 3-4 milestones, this is the current planned roadmap for 2024 (highly subject to change):

• Episode 2: Enhanced is slated for release in late February 2024 to mid-March 2024.
• Episode 3 will be slated for release in September 2024, but this is highly tentative at this stage (bug testing is not accounted for in this estimate).
• Slice-of-life/what-if mini-episode slated for mid-November 2024 to mid-December 2024 (similar to E2:E but focused on a different character/characters).

The roadmap will be updated in the future but these are the planned events as of this dev log!

Tier benefit updates!
As hinted in the previous dev log, there will be an adjustment to the benefits of all tiers regarding the window of release.

Head of Family: Will now receive the latest Alpha game copy when it is ready, notified via the platform and on Discord. This version may contain bugs or issues.

First-rate: Will now receive the Beta game copy one week after the Alpha, which will contain fixes and patches to issues discovered in the Alpha.

Supporters and Donators: Will now receive the Final game copy one week after the Beta (or two weeks after the Alpha), which will contain all fixes, patches, and improvements made since the Beta.

Why these changes?

• As Cara in Creekmaw becomes bigger in scale as each successive episode is released, there is a need to space out the Alpha, Beta, and Final releases (from one week to two weeks).
• This is because there is a bigger likelihood per episode that there are bugs that slip through the cracks. You hate them, and I hate them, so this extended two-week window is for me to crack down on the bugs and eliminate them before it reaches your hands!

What does this mean in the big picture? It means that there will be a bigger emphasis on the "ready when it's ready" mindset, where previous releases (E2 included) worked on me setting myself a deadline (usually to the game quality's detriment), I will instead be targeting a release month where I'm confident about the game's quality, where in that month, the higher tiers will be receiving the Alpha copy once the new episode is deemed ready!

Overall, these changes are not to incentivize the need to be on a higher tier but instead, it is to ensure the quality of future releases. Cara in Creekmaw will never be paywalled (in terms of its content or scenes). I don't believe in such a model and I don't intend to add such things to this or in any future project that I am a part of.

Phew! Okay, now that we're done with everything, let's end it off with our traditional progress breakdown!

---------------------------------------- E2:E PROGRESS BREAKDOWN ------------------------------
Story: 80% done. The scenes are detailed and written except for a few scenes. Require additional linkage and to be completed next week.

Renders: 15% done. 89 new renders for E2:E, the number should increase over time as production is ramping up.

Dialogue: 15% done. Slice-of-life dialogue has begun and will continue to be written over the weekend.

Game Playability: 0% done. Mainly focused on rendering and dialogue.

------------------------------------------- END OF BREAKDOWN ----------------------------------

That is all for this week's meaty dev log, I thank you for sticking around until the end and for reading that giant wall of text!

A costume poll will be held next week and there will be no poll for this week.

Thank you and stay safe!