Does the presence of Quinn with Sage, Isabella, Jill, M&J in the banner means something? Has she been promoted to "official Li", or something? Or that banner with 6 girls has been used before?
Yes, Quinn was on the banner during the status update of episode 8.
I've been thinking February for a while. He seems to be using his time wisely, or at least his machines wisely. at 40-60 minutes i'd say that is 15-20% the size of the last couple of episodes. He took some time off before beggining work on 8 and then also had the season 3 save system to develop, as well us upgrading the version of Ren'py the game used. I think we'll see episode developement time return to closer to 6 and 7 for the next 2 or 3.
So here's some sums for fun. Episode 8 took 30 weeks to develop (Week one the first Friday after 7 was released). 15% of the time for this would be 4.5 Weeks rounded up, 20% would be 6. That would be the 24th-31st December. We end up with the same time frame for 15-20% of content.
- On average he produced 358/30=11.93 animations per week.
- On Average he produced 4158/30=138.6 static renders per week
- 15% of statics would be 623.7, 20% would be 831.6
- 15% of anaimations would be 53.7, 20% would be 71.6
So that means to produce the statics it would take;
- 15% - 623.7/138.6= 4.5 weeks
- 20% - 831.6/138.6= 6 weeks
So that means to produce the animations it would take;
- 15% - 53.7/11.93= 4.5 weeks
- 20% - 71.6/11.93= 6 weeks
Yes, this doesn't take into account writing or coding, however, I think it would be reasonable to expect Interlude to arrive in January or early February. At a 40-60 minute production any longer wouldn't make sense. I'm going to go with February 4th. In turn i'm going to predict July 22nd-29th for Episode 9.
I would like to add that the forecasts are
always86 accurate! He predicted the exact release time of episode 8!
I would also add that apparently, since the episode simultaneously performs a technical function, namely, it should check the operability of the saves of the 2nd season, several scenes of the MС with the selected LI will probably appear in the interlude. For example, MC could talk on the phone with Josie, and then Rusty comes to him and says that he has guests. He is surprised and sees Zoey in the room.
Apparently, a "fresh" look at the game involves focusing on the plot and characters. The developer himself is tired of coding complex scenes of free roam and a large number of variables and wants a simpler and linear story. Perhaps the whole episode 3 will be more linear (one way or another, we have already made a choice, and the affinity system is no longer so important).Of course there will be сhoices, but they won't be as confusing as in seasons 1 and 2.
Apparently, he has already finished with the script and animations, and has started static renders. I'm afraid of getting burned, because when I read the update, my mood dropped, but on reflection, I decided it wasn't so bad.
1) A positive option. Interlude release in late January - early February - Episode 9 release in July - Episode 10 release by mid - late December.
2) A pessimistic option. Interlude release - in early - mid-February - Episode 9 release - in late July - early August - Episode 10 release in January.
In fact, the difference between a positive and a pessimistic option is 2-3 weeks and it's not that much. Yes, the chance to get one (technically one and a half) updates is quite large, and the only chance to fit 3 episodes in one year is small-sized episodes 9 and 10.