Update 1.8 Announcement.

So, work on 1.8 has already started and has been going on for a while, but before that, I want to tell you about something else...

In the attached files you will find the “even more polished” version 1.7. The thing is that I decided to change my main save and replay the whole game with a different character again. And got pretty angry with myself, because I fixed a few dozen things again (purely in dialogs, no bugs). Every time I hope to play through the game and just, you know, play instead of edit, edit, edit... Not this time. Again. There's always something to fix. Dammit.

Anyway, this version will not be posted by me anywhere but here. A small gift to reward a subscription, even a free one ^^. The corrections are from the first chapter, mostly along the lines of the bisexual Selene (all of Iolanta's scenes), as well as Meralion's branch (and all scenes with him). So, if you plan to replay in the coming months (before 1.8 is released) without ruling out going more or less down the same path, you'd better download this “even more polished” version.

I didn't make any changes to the changelog or whatever. Just edits on the part of the game where I went through it until the end of 1.7. So if you find any bugs in previous versions, you better download and check if they are not fixed in this “even more polished” version, because until the release of 1.8 it will be considered the most recent.

And now to the point.

Work on 1.8 is in progress. The first and, traditionally, the most difficult question for me is when will the update be released? Well, from experience with past updates, I can say roughly the following:

• For an update to be worth playing (without being too short), it needs to have about ~100k words in it. Given the “one-shot” presentation of non-repetitive scenes in my game and the various variations in story flow, that's the amount of content that's needed.

• 100k words is not just about writing. It also includes all the necessary support - arts, translation, editing, coding, testing. Together with all that, 100k “costs” me about ~3 months of work.

• If an update has an exploration part (“free-roam sequence”), then, in my experience, it increases the work time by at least ~50%. Fortunately or not, if there is such a part in 1.8, it will be short. Or I will do without it at all. Right now I'm leaning towards the latter option.

Based on the above, I think that the work on 1.8 will take standard “about 3 months”. Naturally, if I can do it sooner - I will do it sooner. I'm more interested in that than anyone else. But, I always hope for it, and in the end I finish updates for 12-16 hours in the last days before the deadline. And that's because I can't break the bad habit of setting deadlines too presumptuously early. So I'm sorry, but I'm afraid to give clear dates, especially too far in advance.

As for content (no spoilers).

Well, the upcoming episode is going to be pretty rich in lewd possibilities. Some of the plot “hooks” were already scattered in 1.7 and it makes sense that these “hooks” will develop into opportunities. And some things will probably surprise you in that sense.

But, of course, it's far from everything. The story must move forward and, rest assured, it will move forward. Especially since I have 3, maybe 4 updates left to the end of the current chapter, and I still have so much to fit into it to bring the story to the next chapter... Which will be quite different, including in its structure. So enjoy this unhurried “road movie” of Chapter 2 in a green background. It won't last forever. The big city is getting closer.

But back to 1.8. Usually, I end episodes at, figuratively speaking, the “bottle neck”, sort of bringing all the lines down there. Which in the next update, spread out wide again, depending on your choices. But with 1.8 maybe (maybe!) that won't be the case. I'm tempted to end it in two different places. Which will consequently change the starting points of the next update, 1.9, as well. There are definite narrative reasons for that, though it's not a given that I'll do exactly that. But if I do, you might want to have 2 saves if you're the type of person who likes to explore absolutely every possible scenario.

P.S. Yeah, I intentionally don't want to add any specifics to avoid even hints of spoilers. I hope you understand, it's for your own good. And wish me luck.

P.P.S. And of course, there will be no secret scenes in 1.8. None at all. Don't look for them. They won't be there. Nope.