Since this update was just a huge free-roam. Has Dr.P mentioned anything about the next update or the future of the plot in general?
DPC said in his update last week that we will hear from him again after the new year. So that means next Friday (January 6). Based on how this has gone down previously, he won't provide many specifics about the story, but may offer some general hints as to his approach for episode 10. He will also do his (now annual) Q&A with Patreon supporters, who will submit questions to him. He'll pick the ones he wants to answer and answer them, probably the following week. Again, based on previous Q&As, he won't give any spoilers or anything, but he may address questions about lengthening development times and other potential concerns, as well as answer very broad questions about the future of the game.
My speculations: the next episode is likely to be 8 or 9 months away, give or take a month. The next episode is likely to be more story-focused. DPC spent a lot of time and effort to develop the party planning minigame, so it is a safe bet that we will see it again, but we probably won't have another party (at least not a big one) until episode 11 or even 12, perhaps as some kind of season finale.
DPC has said he doesn't know how many total episodes the game will be, though he estimated 4 seasons. Whether that is still the best estimate is hard to say, but he has also said that he keeps expanding the episodes to include more and more ideas that he has. For this reason, I suspect we are not as far along in the story as DPC expected to be when he first answered that question. So either the game will require more episodes or he will need to start paring down the story to be able to conclude it after 7 more episodes.
Anyway, it's interesting to think about what he's thinking and planning, but ultimately my only hope that is that the game gets completed. If DPC is making as much money as it seems he is, he could come to the conclusion that he just doesn't need all the headaches and hassles and retire.