10/04/2021 Patreon Devlog (Patreon)

Hi everyone! Time for this week's patreon devlog.

This Week's Summary:

• Edited up to Maggie Chapter 7
• Fully play tested Ari's route
• Updated the alpha build (more below)
• Set up Jack's chapter files
• Line edited up to and scripted up to Jack Chapter 7
• Minor flow chart redesigns
• One new BG
• One new BG sketch
• Finished a new Lance CG
• Changed the in-game font (again). It's a little thicker and the capital I and lower case l now look slightly different (which I've heard helps readability a lot). (This is just the font for the text box and glossary. The rest of the UI still uses the old font which I think is fine for buttons and the like.

The Ramble:

This was a busy week. For the first time in a long time, there's a long list of STUFF instead of just "I wrote stuff."

It's so refreshing!

SO let us break it down!

I have spent a lot of time alternating between doing a structural edit of Magnus' route and doing a line edit of Jack's route, then scripting the chapters.  What is the difference between structural and line editing?

Structural editing is just a more macro process. I look at the plot as a whole, how things flow, scene placement, branching, continuity. And I sometimes make pretty major changes.  This part of revision is about smoothing out the story and making things work better. I look at characterisation, romantic development, etc.

Line editing is much more focused on grammar, spelling, and style. I always do a full line edit before scripting the route. Then another round of editing when I do my own play through to check that things work.

Beyond that, I fully play tested Ari's route (woo!)

I also updated and changed up the way the alpha version of the route is accessed. This was largely due to the issue with plagiarism I've mentioned before and patreon not allowing me to revoke someone's access to the beta testing project. To (hopefully) ensure that people who may not have the best intentions don't have access to the unfinished routes, I had to move the alpha testing entirely to a new project page. And I've decided to change how the access to that page works so that I can hopefully prevent itch.io from automatically updating the project for people who shouldn't have access to it anymore.

Many of itch.io's project controls are designed around who can access the project page. That's not really helpful when what I need to control are the game *downloads* - which can be done automatically through the app if someone is using it.

Itch.io seems to have given very little thought to how to revoke access to the project itself if needed.

I'm hoping the new method will give me more control over downloads themselves.

If you are in the alpha/beta testing tiers for GS, you'll be getting a note shortly explaining how to access the page so you can look at Ari's route.

A few other minor changes - I have been working with someone on some changes to how the flowcharts are set up and designed in the hopes of streamlining the process for me on the coding side of things.

I changed the in-game font. Though the new font doesn't match the UI and "theme", I think it will be a bit more "readable" for people, which is more important.

Art wise, I set up Jack's chapter splash pages (though they aren't coded yet) and finished one of Lance's CGs (which I can't really show off because it has a spoiler in it).

I also received one new BG and a BG sketch (which is the last one from this newest batch and is technically needed for Ari's route but that's okay).

Sneak Peeks and Previews:

Just a few screen caps from Ari's route. LoL

New BG which is just a close up of part of Lance's yard.

This is about as much of the CG as I can show off. LoL!

Upcoming Week:

I definitely want to try to finish editing Magnus and Jack - and get Jack's route fully scripted.

Beyond that, I'm not 100% sure what I'll be working on. Maybe more art - I might try to get some of the simpler CGs out of the way now. Nearly every route has at least one CG of "the guy" by himself. And some of the bad ending ones also involve just one character. Those tend to be easier than CGs that involve character interaction.

So I may start sketching them out and getting them prepped for completion.

Not really feeling like doing sprite work but I may surprise myself and start getting some of the side character sprites drawn.

I guess we'll find out what I worked on when I post the next update! LoL!