Progress Update [20 December 2024]

Hello, I hope your week went great and that you're enjoying the winter days while waiting for the upcoming Christmas and the New Year!

What was done last week?

Stats distribution [contains mild spoilers!].

Over the past week, I reviewed the files and redistributed the stats more accurately because Chapter 3 Pt. 2 will have more moments depending on the stats [including approval].

Also, one of the hidden stats wasn't mapped out properly, so I made sure to add it in the right places, as it will be used to activate a special moment in R's scene. This one:

However, there will be an alternative way to trigger it in R's scene, but it will be a choice rather than a stat check [since I try hard not to force readers into a "choose your author's adventure" scenario, avoiding situations where readers are compelled to make a specific order of choices that don't align with their MC's personality just to see this moment].

Upcoming changes [main story].

As I was answering some asks on Tumblr and going through the files while checking the stats [and correcting a few more grammar errors, because, of course, I keep finding them 😔], I decided to make some changes to certain points in the main story.

Specifically:

Chapter 2: The option to read messages from L, which was previously only available to players who disabled L's romance [by choice or gender preference], will now be accessible to everyone.

Reason: This change means that the scene won't force readers to directly ignore L in Chapter 2 and can make the reasoning for choosing L's scene in Chapter 3 Pt. 1 feel more natural.

Chapter 3 Pt. 1: The scene where the MC injures their hand will now depend on a hidden stat [unless you had Morgan's, R's, T's, or I's morning scene].

Explanation: The scene with the MC injuring their hand has a certain importance [depending on the reader's choices], but it's also significant because it provides more insight into the CID team members and Morgan for readers interested in pursuing them.

Therefore, if you chose Morgan's, R's, T's, or I's scene, the moment with the injured hand will depend solely on the choice [as it currently does].

For the other ROs, the moment will depend not only on the choice but also on a hidden stat to access it.

Originally, this scene was meant to rely solely on the stat, but I reconsidered because of the ROs' POVs that follow afterward, which are important for certain routes [I wanted to reduce the likelihood of readers missing it].

Only now have I figured out how to handle it better, and logically, it makes more sense. I can't explain why because I don't want to spoil what the abnormal stat is linked to, but this decision aligns better with the story's progression and lore.

I'll implement these changes after finishing the Winter Special Collection. Yet another thing to tackle on my break! 😅

And lastly, Morgan's Winter Special will be released tomorrow!

Thank you for your support and for reading to the end! I hope you'll have a great time this weekend and in the upcoming week as well! ♥