Upcoming Tasks And Review Of The Past Week
Good evening,
I have just finished fixing the test version and would now like to talk about the past week and the things I want to do in the coming days.
Let's start with the elephant in the room, which is that the update has now taken another whole week. I didn't like it at all, but unfortunately it didn't go any faster. There were still more construction sites open than I thought at the end of the week before last. I only realized this during testing, so I still had to find solutions for many interactions. Even the test version, which was finished on Friday, was still very bumpy although I did some more tests the same evening in addition to the previous ones.
At this point again the info that the hotfix is now available in the releasepost and a reupload is done as well (at least on mega), all links have been updated.
Before the end of Penny's quest, I decided to add an additional decision point regarding the ejection of Henry. This also caused a few minor problems, but when writing the story I couldn't help but include it.
Another point I already mentioned in the release post is that I want to add more content for Lilly after all. Simply because the way it ends now is not satisfactory. I had already worked on more animations for her last thursday, but I didn't edit and add them on friday because I knew that if I did that the update wouldn't be ready Friday night and more likely early this week... I just didn't want to write another "it takes longer" report, so my solution was to release the testversion without the scenes and I will do another update in the coming days that include these scenes.
So now let's talk about the update in general. I'm pleased with the story I was able to include and the revelations I was able to build into it. Also that the new maps have been added and the mechanics with the chicken and cattle farming are working well so far (even though an option to sell cattle is missing right now, will be added in the future). The calculation of the defense of the mill area that I have implemented will also be addapted for the mine and the trade route in the future. Since this is happening in the background a short explanation: the strength of the troops deployed there is relevant (unlike the previous calculation which was implemented for the trade route). The strength of all deployed troops is then added up and when an attack happens the strength of the attackers is a random number that will range from low (so that a single guard would be enough to defend), to a little above what is maximal possible. If the strength of the defenders is greater than that of the attackers, the attack is repelled and the loot is collected. Otherwise a merc is killed (weakest first), if there are still mercs left there is still loot, otherwise the attackers take over the area.
I will add notifications for that in the next update, so that the player knows that something has happened.
So much for what I liked. What I didn't like:
Firstly, that it took so damn long to get it all in. I actually wanted to complete the update within 2 months and grossly underestimated the workload. On top of that, I actually wanted to get a lot further with the story. Yes, there was no point in rushing the whole thing now and it was the right decision to say: “ok, the renovation and expansion of the farm was the core topic, now something else is starting again, so let's make a breakpoint”. But actually I wanted to get to the point where Penny's pregnancy update can come directly after this one and the story is finished. Now that Lilly's story isn't finished yet, at least that will be part of the next update, which again raises the question of whether I should split it up so as not to make another mega mammoth update like this one. To be fair, at least I wouldn't have to add new characters and areas + daily routines for all of them like I had to this time, but it would still be more than just focus on pregnancy and marriage. This is something I will have to think about.
Back to present
Now that the fixes are done I will first focus on getting the extra content for Lilly in, that means editing of the images I made and then expanding the existing events to include them. After that I will directly update the Walkthrough (long awaited) and then I will start working on new maps for the mine & models for the new characters.
As said before we will be going deeper underground and Bianca will join you as a party member for that (her new outfit for that is ready thanks to her last bonus scene). I will work on a settlement for the goblins and some other enemies that you will face underground. There will also be female goblins and I hope I'll get them right. I can't promise anything, but the first model designs could be ready by Friday so that some discussion about them could happen on discord.
A new content poll will also go live in the coming days to determine the content of 0.6.1.0.
I'm looking forward to work on the new content and hope you all had a good start into the new week!
