Free roam sequence takes its toll.
Added 2023-09-20 00:22:28 +0000 UTCA lot of things. Let's try to go through it point by point.
The update is growing. As well as my anxiety. I can't do anything about it, so I won't even try to hide it. I only ask you to be patient and hope for your understanding. Yeah, it's about a desirable deadline. Again. Sorry.
The update is complex. In many aspects. Not only because of that free roam sequence... It has a plot transition between this episode and the last episode, new lore injections, an exploratory/investigation part, a drama/danger part (someone might die), and sex scenes.
Yes, sex scenes. Plural. I didn't originally plan on them in this episode at all. They didn't really fit in here and it seemed too difficult to do from a story standpoint. But then I added one to the Cadonis branch. And now there are three of them because I added +2 (different ones) to Iolanta's branch. One of which is pure girl-girl... I didn't plan any more scenes like this at all until Chapter 3. And yet, now there's another one. I guess at least one person will be happy...
Things are even worse. Sex scenes can be interconnected (on the Cadonis branch). The biggest choice would be for a bisexual Selene dating Cadonis. This doesn't work with the Iolanta arc in reverse, for obvious reasons. But there's an insanely complicated scene transition on her arc (straight option) with all the possible options from the last update, and each one has its own branch of dialog. When I coded it, my head was melting from the tension. But now it's already in the game. And it even works. My head melted the second time when I was testing this madness of possible variations...
Ah yes! It's also all inside that free roam sequence, where in some instances I need to consider and code different variants, depending on the sequence of your (player's) actions. Should be fun to play (I hope). Alas, it's not so fun to code and test it. But don't mind me, if I can't complain to you, who else can I complain to? I'll do it. I'm more concerned with the "when" than the "how".
Overall the update will be 1.6 complex and quite variational. I'll see how much I can get done in the next 10 days and give the update release date at the end of the month.
Comments
Yeah, to be honest, I doubt it will be finished by the end of the month too. Nevertheless, the degree of readiness is already quite high. Unless external factors intervene, it won't take another month, I'm sure. Plus a week, at worst two.
Defiant Explorer
2023-09-20 21:57:42 +0000 UTCThank you but it isn't today, end of the month and from this one it seemed like chances of update to be ready by then seemed low to me.
mrengineer
2023-09-20 21:50:48 +0000 UTCFirst of all, happy birthday! Second thing, I'm sorry. I'm trying to push myself but not overdo it. It'll only hurt my work. I wanted to release this update by September 15. Just because... September 15 is the day I put Inner Empire out to the public a year ago, sort of the birthday of the game. But this update is complicated and even a bit capricious in places. Requires more work in parts where not expected at all. I want each update to be more or less a completed episode. Yes, I could release "chunks" every month, for example. But I'm not sure that's a good choice. First and foremost for you, the players. So I need to get the story to a point where the current episode can be considered finished. Alas, I haven't reached that point yet.
Defiant Explorer
2023-09-20 21:46:50 +0000 UTCI was hoping to play the new update on my birthday. :(
mrengineer
2023-09-20 15:28:54 +0000 UTCDon't exhaust yourself. Take the time its needs.
DamnedFrog
2023-09-20 03:12:27 +0000 UTC
