Progress Report

Hey, everyone!

It's been a hot minute since my last check in, but rest assured progress is being made and we shouldn't be far off the next update now. I'm hoping to have this in your hands in the first half of November sometime. Thanks for your patience!

This upcoming build has easily the longest changelog of any update in recent memory. Content-wise, it of course contains the conclusion to Tai's Route as well as the reworked Kyrex sequence in Diego's Route Day 14, both of these additions including brand new artwork. There are also a bunch of new backgrounds and illustrations, a roll-up of the recently released bonus materials (Russell + Halloween Axel + Halloween Tai), the finished gallery rework, some technical improvements and more besides.

Something I'm interested in seeing is how people take to the conclusion of Tai's Route. In preparation for the remaining two routes, I've been making some significant changes to my writing process and my approach to most sequences. I've also added some new tools to my workflow that are allowing me to produce stronger and more structurally and grammatically correct material earlier in my writing process which shows promise in both accelerating the process all the while producing stronger material from the get-go. It's also helping to break a number of my bad literary habits and I'm certain those in tune with those sorts of things will notice this right away.

The new Kyrex scene was written using the old process, but the final chapter of Tai's Route incorporates these changes (with some restraint in the interest of consistency,) so I'm hopeful that you will all notice an improvement!

Once Tai's Route is officially in the rear-view mirror, I'll go more into detail on how the writing process will differ from how it has been previously, but to give you a vague idea, we'll be condensing things down considerably, significantly reducing content that doesn't relate to the main story being told, spending less time 'in-the-moment' and employing more timeskips to minimize boring and/or redundant moments. We'll also be limiting chapter counts per day and working with approximate wordcount targets to avoid individual chapters growing more than what is necessary. The final chapter of Tai's Route isn't subject to these restrictions per-se, but some fat has certainly been trimmed which helps the important moments to stand out, and I think it's a good if more subtle glimpse at the general trajectory our future content will be going for.

That's pretty much all I have to say right this moment. Thanks again for your patience, the build won't be far away now! Until then!