Let's try something new: Chapter 7 will be released in two parts - the first one tomorrow; the second in about a month
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The initial plan was to make a shorter chapter and released quicker, but that's not easily done when there are a lot of different paths. At this point of the story, I can't just skip some paths - every relationship needs to be developed, every path needs to progress, so that everything reach the finish line at the same time.
And that all players, no matter which path is their favorite, have something to look for in an update. It sucks when your favorite LI/path is just ignored.
In the past, when I needed to hurry up with a release, I'd just postpone a scene to the next chapter.
Bri, for example, didn't have a scene in chapter 5 because I thought the story didn't warrant it; it was just the easier one to push to the next chapter and not further delay chapter 5's release.
Or, Lea, in chapter 6, while watching her sex video, there's just an option to do it while she gives the MC a bj. That was never the case before, I've always tried to give the player a more "male submissive" option if they so desired... but chapter 6 was already late for release and that was the easier scene variation to just skip (I might still add it before the game is finished, together with a few more variations that I'd like to had added to some other scenes).
Or I wouldn't do any animations. And then had to do an update just to add all the animations that the previous chapters didn't have.
I don't want to keep doing things like that. I mean, I don't think I even can at this moment, without screwing too much with the story.
So, this chapter kept getting bigger and being delayed. And that's annoying for everyone.
So, like the tittle says, let's try something different during this release and see what is everyone's opinion about it.
Instead of yet another delay, I'll release half of chapter 7 tomorrow, and the other half in about 4 weeks, when it's finished. You'll then tell me if you like it that way, and I may keep doing it this way in the future, or revert to releasing full chapters per update.
Advantages:
- More frequent updates; most patrons appreciate more updates. It's also better for me since that allows me to promote new updates more often in store fronts.
Disadvantages:
- After half a chapter is published, it's kind of set in stone and it's harder to change it. While developing a full chapter, I often go back and add choices (or even new scenes), and/or make changes to older scenes after writing newer parts of the story for everything to make more sense and be properly interconnected. This will be much harder to do without screwing up save files. But it just takes better planning, I guess.
- The mid break will be randomly in middle of the chapter, coming out of nowhere; I usually end the chapters in particular points that make sense storywise and are impactful. But the first half of the update will just end abruptly and that might feel off.
- Less content per half-update; your favorite LI/path may will most likely not have new scenes in both halves, which might feel like one of the half-updates is wasted for you; This is less of a concern if you have several saves and paths you like to explore.
Of course, it's up to you to decide if you play each half or just the full chapter. If you choose the second way, there's the risk you might get spoiled, though.
So, how small is this first half then?
- ~8000 lines of dialogue;
- ~650 renders
- ~30 animations
Of course, this is divided by a bunch of the current paths, some of which are mutual exclusive, and a single player won't see all of that.
Which means that, if you play many/all paths, you'll have plenty of content to entertain yourself with. If you focus on 1 or 2 LIs/paths, it might feel kinda short.
For comparison:
Chapter 1: 7000 lines, 680 images, 30 animations
Chapter 2: 7300 lines, 625 images, 13 animations
Chapter 3: 9700 lines, 560 images, 11 animations
Chapter 4: 16000 lines, 1140 images, 25 animations
Chapter 5: 14000 lines, 830 images, 25 animations
Chapter 6: 19000 lines, 1200 images, 50 animations
So, this first half, if you see most paths, will be more or less the same size as the first couple chapters.
I expect the second half of chapter 7 to be roughly the same size as the first, which will put chapter 7 full size somewhere in between chapter 5 and 6.
I hope this helps everyone decide if they want to play this half or wait for the full chapter.
In about 4 or 5 weeks, once the full chapter is fully released, I'll make a poll to ask if the majority prefers to keep releasing half-chapters more frequently, or full chapters with more wait in between. There's 2 or 3 more chapters before the end of the story.
After releasing the first half tomorrow, I'll wait around 24h to fix all the bugs you may find and then upload the bug-fix version to itch and Steam. In the meantime, I'll send a few new batches of
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keys to anyone that has supported with a total amount of at least €15. If you have done that, you can also ask me for a steam key if you want to.
Itch and Steam keys will give you access to all future updates in the respective stores, so you don't need to keep being a patron to get the future updates.