Dev Log #35 - Speedbumps

Dev Log #35 - Speedbumps

Hi all! Yet another week passes as we venture into the halfway point of 2023. It has definitely been a fast year and I'm hoping everyone is doing well! Onto the updates!

Writer's block
Currently, the game and dialogue is written up to the last scene of Day 5. Admittedly, this is slower than expected as I'm having bouts of writer's block for this scene as I'm incorporating the dialogue together with the renders.

This is further compounded by some speedbumps I'm experiencing outside of the game's development, but I'm looking to have the scene written in full and have it finished before the end of the weekend and subsequently move on to Day 6!

Pushing it out
In terms of rendering, I'm currently halfway into the first major scene of Day 6, and am taking more care in its execution and output as it is considered the "big" scene of Day 6. I will then move on to finishing the one other major scene (of a slightly 'smaller' scale) and the minor scenes, as well as the story progression shots.

I plan to be done (as in, posed AND rendered) with Day 6 by the next dev log and get started on Day 7 during that time, so there will be lots to do and I aim to be done before the first week of June rolls along (i.e. the 9th of June) before proceeding with refinements and additions of dialogue for gameplay elements and journal entries.

Release window revised
With so few days before June, I would like to share the revised release window of E1P2, which will now be slated for release between 16th June to 25th June, so it's not far off now, and I hope all of you are as excited as I am to play the newest installment of Cara in Creekmaw!

What is the release structure like?
Other than a few name changes, the idea of the release timeline is the same as E1P1's release, where:

• Alpha version is released to Head of Family and above sometime between the 16th and 25th of June. The Alpha is story and gameplay complete but may have bugs or crashes present. If you encounter any, do let me know and I'll work to resolve them for the subsequent version.
• Beta version is released to First-rate and above 3 days after Alpha. The Beta seeks to deliver a better overall experience by resolving existing bugs from the Alpha and will also add the Walkthrough functionality. This functionality will be in its early stages and can be toggled on or off in the settings. When turned on, choices within the story that players are presented with will show their respective outcomes and results, before the scene is played out later on.
• Gold version is released to ALL tiers 4 days after Beta. This release will seek to resolve most, if not all, bugs encountered from Alpha and Beta. This version also plans to add one new sub-ending as well as one new minor scene.

Exciting news all around, but the work I have left to do means I will have to get myself in gear to finish the episode strong!

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In summary, here's a quick breakdown of progress so far:
Story: 100% done. No further additions.
Dialogue/Gameplay: 60% done. Halfway into the final scene of Day 5. Up 10% from last dev log
Rendering: 65% done. Day 6 is underway, with the 'big' major scene taking slightly longer than expected. Up 10% from the last dev log.

Alright, and with that, I'll be going back in for another productive (hopefully!) week of some quality content creation!

Thank you, stay safe, and stay tuned for more!