Haruspex, For Those Who Will Never Play It (Script Preview!)

Hey y'all, Ruby here! Hope all's as well as can be. Want to swing by and give a quick update on where we're at:
The final draft of the Haruspex script is done and you can see it right here, right now!

I also think it's the best thing I've ever written, if I'm fully honest.

To sum up the past month of work as briefly as I can: I ended up cutting around 10k words, but then ended up adding a roughly 25k more, which means the final form of this beast will be coming out at a total of exactly 76,000 words (i didn't try to get that exact number and page count i promise). I've read and re-read the script on my own around a half-dozen times, including a couple table reads with friends and collaborators, which I like to think has served to sharpen this to a razor's edge, but nonetheless took considerable time and effort all the same.

Needless to say, this has been a bit of an endeavor to edit, admittedly longer than I was hoping it would take. Perhaps that's on me for thinking that a novel sized script would be simple to edit. Rookie move, really.

As mentioned before, I had been hoping to write this in a semi-episodic style, get Day 1 down and begin production on that as I continue working on the script. However, as I worked, it became clear to me that approach wouldn't work for the kind of interconnected structure I wanted to have for it with different parts consistently referring back to earlier ones.

I'd get deep in the script, realize there was some thematic point I NEEDED to unpack, but then realized that also called for foreshadowing and/or set-up earlier in the script so I'd need to go back and change the start of it, and thus I found the issue with trying to approach the script in this way. It was basically the same as trying to write a novel on a chapter-by-chapter basis: Not impossible, but ill suited for my style.

Also, I won't leave it merely implied: I quickly remembered that my creative attention span tends to work best when I'm able to get really hyperfixated on an individual element of a project such as writing. Getting lost in the sauce has as many perks as there are drawbacks. Hence, I opted to focus first and foremost on the whole of the script rather than take it part-by-part.

With that said, I still wanted to make sure y'all had some kind of concrete proof that I've been working as hard as I keep insisting I've been while giving you a taste of what's to come, so sharing this felt like a natural choice. I've also been sure to leave on viewer commenting for anyone who'd like to share their thoughts.

This comes with all the disclaimers one might expect here: Things are still subject to change as production and on-going research demands (particularly in the final analysis), some bits which might feel confusing on the page will make more sense in execution, and given the sheer scale of it there is a decent chance some minor oversights and errors snuck through. In this way, it really is more of a shooting script than a stageplay.

All the same, I fully expect this version of the script to look about 98% the same as the final product. For whatever issues might still exist within it, I can still, at last, after several months of exhaustive work on it, say that I'm finally really happy with where it's at, and excited to see it become a reality.

For now though, hope you enjoy~

So what now?
Now production starts in earnest.

Actors are already being contacted, art has already been commissioned, and gameplay footage has already been recorded. My number 1 goal for this month is to get every part of the production rolling and get you all a rough edit of Day 1.

Next time you see me on here, it will be with a YouTube link.

As ever, thank you all for your support and patience on this. I wouldn't have been able to give this script nor the research around it the diligent care and time it deserves, but because of it, I can now finally say this with the most sincere kind of confidence I have to offer:

This will be well worth the wait. The next Pathologic video is going to be something truly special, and I'm excited to make it happen.

See y'all again real soon,
Peace~

Ruby <33