VN Ren'Py Our Red String [Ch.13.2 Full] [Eva Kiss]

[Canto Forte]

Jeremy does not do relationships, the guy shags and forgets,
so interest is just a shag and bye.
Bartender shag a lot love you not.

You can't have a relationship with Lena if she showed interest in Jeremy.

Would it be the end of the world if we wouldn't get something in a chapter

Too late for no content: Dev has already finished half the content already,
we will get a continuation for the adventures, that is for certain.

 

[Amahl Farouk]

This huge delay was predicted right from the moment it was announced that there would be 2 playable protagonists
Eva is maybe the best, or certainly very close to it, developer currently making games.

I wish she would just split the game into two pieces, one for each character, I really feel for her in this situation because it is turning into a witch hunt, if the majority of folks had any idea just how hard it is to put this together and keep it working they would be a whole lot more patient, but in the end the concept is flawed and it is this that is making the development time go insane

 

[Doppelgang]

I talked about the major scenes because they are driven by the major choices of the game. Of course there are other variables that slightly change the tone and the dialog of a scene. They were present in each chapter ever since chapter 2. It's not like in chapter 6 we got this mindless sex scenes, that were straight forward and easy to write, while in chapter 9 we got something completely different. I won't try to do in depth comparison between the two. What would be the point? Just to write this incredible and detailed post that will be forgotten in a day after another page of "any news?" and "happy to wait" comments appears.

Also I don't choose to ignore the fact that in chapter 9 there are more variables available. It's normal to have more, but not all of them are used. Some are relevant in the next chapter and after that are completely forgotten. Or not forgotten. They are replaced by something else. Someone pointed out to me a while ago, and rightful so , that there is small to none chance that a decision made in chapter 2 will have a great impact on something that will happen in chapter 12 for example.


How do you know that I can't do that? As a general rule, it's better to not assume things about people that you don't know. Anyway. Let's think at a scene that will most likely be part of the next chapter: Ian x Alison x Jeremy. I said most likely because it could also be Emma. How would you manage this scene ? I would proceed like this: I would write the first variation, where Ian and Alison have a serious relationship. After that I will go back and change a few thing here and there for the casual relationship scenario and so on for other stuff (creampie in ch9, Ian relationships with other character Lena, Cherry, etc.). You always go back and change some things without overdoing it. Usually it's one extra line there, 4-5 someplace else.

This is an example for a larger scene, but what about the others. Why do you think that you can't ignore the deal with Seymour in the next update? A phone call between the two or some inner thoughts are enough. Same can be said about other characters. Lena could go to a movie with Robert in chapter 10 and only that. There is no need to have a sex scene with him in each chapter. Same can be said about Ian and Holly or Cherry or even Lena. I know that they are the MCs, but with the exception of the park scene, the others are more or less the same. Would it be the end of the world if we wouldn't get something in a chapter, just so the workload can be managed? Keep it simple! (p.s. simple doesn't mean mindless)

One last thing, you view chapter 9 as a chapter that opened so many other paths without taking into consideration that it closed some of them too. You can't have a relationship with Lena if she showed interest in Jeremy. You can't have a serious relationship with Cherry if you are with Lena. Or with Mike, or with Cindy, or with Holly... Danny is pretty out of the game, or that other guy. List goes on. Eva did a great job to make sure that she won't have an endless list of scenarios. Why would it be a nightmare to keep track of things ? Especially when you have the previous experience of doing exactly this.

I'm all for Eva being pragmatic and keeping things as simple as possible within what's reasonable, but I think you're oversimplifying a bit here. Not everyone needs a scene, that's true. And it's easy to either not include Robert or give him a scene that doesn't impact any of the other paths. (That, however, depends on whether Eva keeps to what seems to be the plan, that Robert is out of the picture if Lena and Ian are in a relationship. And I think it's generally better if some of the sex scenes are mutually exclusive, which makes our choices more important and impactful. But yes, he can be kept out of the episode, or he can have a sex scene that doesn't significantly affect the rest of story.)

But what about Seymour? Eva can limit his interaction with Lena to a phone call and some interior monologue on her part afterwards. I don't think anyone is arguing that every character needs a scene in each chapter, but still it would just delay things until chapter 11. And in that case Eva will probably also have to tip-toe her way around the issue when writing chapter 10, because of how important it is to the story—which could eventually lead to more work than if she just starts dealing with it now.

The thing is that Lena's deal with Seymour doesn't just affect the relationship between the two of them. It also affects Lena's relationship to all the other photographers, and her job at the café, the restaurant and on Stalkfap. And Seymour's threaths also involve Ian and his career at the magazine and the writing contest. And if Lena rejects the deal, it will probably open up some other work related options that won't otherwise be available. (How could she otherwise afford a tramp stamp, nipple piercings and more horse sized dildos? )

Also it will probably affect the relationship between Lena and Ian. Does she tell him about the deal with Seymour? And if so, how does Ian react? Will it differ depending on whether the relationship is open or exclusive? And if Lena doesn't tell him about it, will he eventually find out? Or will Seymour even tell him about it, to show his dominance and clear away one of the obstacles that stands between him and Lena?

It's not like all of these issues have to be handled in chapter 10, but eventually I think they will, and to me that sounds extremely complex, and something that demands some serious planning on how it will all play out, in which order, and how one thing affects the other. Looking at the variations of a particular scene is useful, but it's not even close to illustrating the overall complexity of putting everything together.

 

[Deleted member 1255551]

Seeing the discussions about probable censorship and taming the content to adapt to Steam's rules reminds me of when I saw some people asking for rape in the early days after the game's first release
I think the reason GGGB didn't have any rape (and ORS likely won't have any either) is because Eva's games are somewhat realistic (as realistic as a sex VN can get without being boring), and realistically, rape isn't sexy
inb4: "real apha sigma chads rape women"

 

[dolfe67]

Seeing the discussions about probable censorship and taming the content to adapt to Steam's rules reminds me of when I saw some people asking for rape in the early days after the game's first release
I think the reason GGGB didn't have any rape (and ORS likely won't have any either) is because Eva's games are somewhat realistic (as realistic as a sex VN can get without being boring), and realistically, rape isn't sexy
inb4: "real apha sigma chads rape women"

If she likes it in the end, it's not rape. Source: japanese games

 

[_Zebra_]

I'm all for Eva being pragmatic and keeping things as simple as possible within what's reasonable, but I think you're oversimplifying a bit here. Not everyone needs a scene, that's true. And it's easy to either not include Robert or give him a scene that doesn't impact any of the other paths. (That, however, depends on whether Eva keeps to what seems to be the plan, that Robert is out of the picture if Lena and Ian are in a relationship. And I think it's generally better if some of the sex scenes are mutually exclusive, which makes our choices more important and impactful. But yes, he can be kept out of the episode, or he can have a sex scene that doesn't significantly affect the rest of story.)

But what about Seymour? Eva can limit his interaction with Lena to a phone call and some interior monologue on her part afterwards. I don't think anyone is arguing that every character needs a scene in each chapter, but still it would just delay things until chapter 11. And in that case Eva will probably also have to tip-toe her way around the issue when writing chapter 10, because of how important it is to the story—which could eventually lead to more work than if she just starts dealing with it now.

The thing is that Lena's deal with Seymour doesn't just affect the relationship between the two of them. It also affects Lena's relationship to all the other photographers, and her job at the café, the restaurant and on Stalkfap. And Seymour's threaths also involve Ian and his career at the magazine and the writing contest. And if Lena rejects the deal, it will probably open up some other work related options that won't otherwise be available. (How could she otherwise afford a tramp stamp, nipple piercings and more horse sized dildos? )

Also it will probably affect the relationship between Lena and Ian. Does she tell him about the deal with Seymour? And if so, how does Ian react? Will it differ depending on whether the relationship is open or exclusive? And if Lena doesn't tell him about it, will he eventually find out? Or will Seymour even tell him about it, to show his dominance and clear away one of the obstacles that stands between him and Lena?

It's not like all of these issues have to be handled in chapter 10, but eventually I think they will, and to me that sounds extremely complex, and something that demands some serious planning on how it will all play out, in which order, and how one thing affects the other. Looking at the variations of a particular scene is useful, but it's not even close to illustrating the overall complexity of putting everything together.

Even after reading your message twice, I am still unable to see the impact of Seymour as something more than just moving the story forward. There are 3 options: "ignore him", "there no other choice work with him" and "yes daddy". Some dialog will be different, but I bet it won't be by much. Only time will tell, I will check the scripts once ch10 will be out.

I really tried to think of a reason why the development time evolved the way it did. The most basic comparison shows me that chapter 6 has 18 460 lines, while chapter 9 has 21 781 lines. The development time of chapter 6 was ~2 months but I will say 3 because some stuff was added later on. The development time of chapter 9 was ~5 months, but again I will say 6 because some new art appeared after the remaster. Now I will be a bit lazy, chapter 6 has 279 image files, while chapter 9 has 400. There a lot of overlays and images that might have been created in previous chapters (stalkfap content) so I will cut everything in half 140 v 200. Beside this data, I already talked about how an equal amount of paths have content. Basically a period that was twice as long generated 25% more content.

Chapter 10 is not out yet, but if we look at chapter 5 we can see that it had only 12 245 lines, but in two days we'll reach the 4 months of development mark. If you also add the months in which the remaster took place (5.5 months), in which you could plan ahead at least 2 chapters, we end up with some strange numbers.

So what happened ? It's a mystery, but for me, the complexity argument is not the answer. Maybe I just need to find something else to do, instead of popping around here every other day to see if there is any new "weekly" update. Even the communication has changed. In the last 8 weeks, there were 2 "weekly" updates.

 

[ekroniuk]

The complexity is pretty obvious explanation. With every chapter you are adding more choices and you have to take them into account later. So story automatically becomes more complicated (anybody who ever tried to write CHYOA knows that it's very hard to write and it's getting harder and harder with every added choice) while it grows. In case of this game it's even more complicated, because choices of one protagonist affects the other.

The only option to escape from this trap is to make story more streamlined to create closed "routes", so to speak. I think Eva started doing something like that in last chapter, when Lena loses all Will points after submitting to Axel.

 

[Canto Forte]

Seymour is a prime idiot with money and the ego to buy people.
Lena is on the menu for many guys, most of which are way better looking and mannered
than Seymour, the blackmailer rapist who thinks a dumb photographing a beauty
and buying her charms makes him a proffesional.

Remember their talk: He will pick up photo-pornnography especially for Lena.

That is one creepy American Psycho threat if I ever heard one.

Still, players want to forget it and push Lena into the idiot,
forgetting the fact she has way better suitors than that wanna be photo blackmailer.

I'm all for Eva being pragmatic and keeping things as simple as possible within what's reasonable, but I think you're oversimplifying a bit here. Not everyone needs a scene, that's true. And it's easy to either not include Robert or give him a scene that doesn't impact any of the other paths. (That, however, depends on whether Eva keeps to what seems to be the plan, that Robert is out of the picture if Lena and Ian are in a relationship. And I think it's generally better if some of the sex scenes are mutually exclusive, which makes our choices more important and impactful. But yes, he can be kept out of the episode, or he can have a sex scene that doesn't significantly affect the rest of story.)

But what about Seymour? Eva can limit his interaction with Lena to a phone call and some interior monologue on her part afterwards. I don't think anyone is arguing that every character needs a scene in each chapter, but still it would just delay things until chapter 11. And in that case Eva will probably also have to tip-toe her way around the issue when writing chapter 10, because of how important it is to the story—which could eventually lead to more work than if she just starts dealing with it now.

The thing is that Lena's deal with Seymour doesn't just affect the relationship between the two of them. It also affects Lena's relationship to all the other photographers, and her job at the café, the restaurant and on Stalkfap. And Seymour's threaths also involve Ian and his career at the magazine and the writing contest. And if Lena rejects the deal, it will probably open up some other work related options that won't otherwise be available. (How could she otherwise afford a tramp stamp, nipple piercings and more horse sized dildos? )

Also it will probably affect the relationship between Lena and Ian. Does she tell him about the deal with Seymour? And if so, how does Ian react? Will it differ depending on whether the relationship is open or exclusive? And if Lena doesn't tell him about it, will he eventually find out? Or will Seymour even tell him about it, to show his dominance and clear away one of the obstacles that stands between him and Lena?

It's not like all of these issues have to be handled in chapter 10, but eventually I think they will, and to me that sounds extremely complex, and something that demands some serious planning on how it will all play out, in which order, and how one thing affects the other. Looking at the variations of a particular scene is useful, but it's not even close to illustrating the overall complexity of putting everything together.

Seeing the discussions about probable censorship and taming the content to adapt to Steam's rules reminds me of when I saw some people asking for rape in the early days after the game's first release
I think the reason GGGB didn't have any rape (and ORS likely won't have any either) is because Eva's games are somewhat realistic (as realistic as a sex VN can get without being boring), and realistically, rape isn't sexy
inb4: "real apha sigma chads rape women"

If she likes it in the end, it's not rape. Source: japanese games

Even after reading your message twice, I am still unable to see the impact of Seymour as something more than just moving the story forward. There are 3 options: "ignore him", "there no other choice work with him" and "yes daddy". Some dialog will be different, but I bet it won't be by much. Only time will tell, I will check the scripts once ch10 will be out.

I really tried to think of a reason why the development time evolved the way it did. The most basic comparison shows me that chapter 6 has 18 460 lines, while chapter 9 has 21 781 lines. The development time of chapter 6 was ~2 months but I will say 3 because some stuff was added later on. The development time of chapter 9 was ~5 months, but again I will say 6 because some new art appeared after the remaster. Now I will be a bit lazy, chapter 6 has 279 image files, while chapter 9 has 400. There a lot of overlays and images that might have been created in previous chapters (stalkfap content) so I will cut everything in half 140 v 200. Beside this data, I already talked about how an equal amount of paths have content. Basically a period that was twice as long generated 25% more content.

Chapter 10 is not out yet, but if we look at chapter 5 we can see that it had only 12 245 lines, but in two days we'll reach the 4 months of development mark. If you also add the months in which the remaster took place (5.5 months), in which you could plan ahead at least 2 chapters, we end up with some strange numbers.

So what happened ? It's a mystery, but for me, the complexity argument is not the answer. Maybe I just need to find something else to do, instead of popping around here every other day to see if there is any new "weekly" update. Even the communication has changed. In the last 8 weeks, there were 2 "weekly" updates.

The complexity is pretty obvious explanation. With every chapter you are adding more choices and you have to take them into account later. So story automatically becomes more complicated (anybody who ever tried to write CHYOA knows that it's very hard to write and it's getting harder and harder with every added choice) while it grows. In case of this game it's even more complicated, because choices of one protagonist affects the other.

The only option to escape from this trap is to make story more streamlined to create closed "routes", so to speak. I think Eva started doing something like that in last chapter, when Lena loses all Will points after submitting to Axel.

Like some players will remember, Lena has actual proffessional photographers to go to,
so falling in a trap so slimey and exaggerated is just one more dumb move to dumb her down as a character.

 

[Moiraine™]

Chapter 10 weekly status report (11)
Hey guys,

I'm writing this post for the second time because Patreon excellent website decided to erase it as I was about to publish it

After seeing the result of the last poll and reading your comments, the choice to make is obvious: Chapter 10 will be released when both Ian and Lena's parts are completed.

I really wanted to give you guys something to play this summer, and I'm feeling the need to release some content asap, but I'll have to be patient and keep working consistently until the full chapter is done. As weeks go by the pressure of development gets hard to handle, knowing I'm keeping you waiting for new content, and being aware of the amount of work and multiple tasks that are on my to-do list before this next chapter is completed. That's the main reason I've been staying away form work-related social media lately, since it helps me manage the anxiety and focus my energy on developing the game. I apologize if that causes some of your messages or answers to go unanswered, but I'll keep posting these weekly updates and answering your comments down below.

This week I've been thoroughly play-testing Ian's part, revising texts, choices, game logic and creating finishing the needed artwork and graphical assets. Normally I hate going over my work, but in this case I'm even enjoying it, so I think the chapter so far is coming along rather nicely, and hopefully you'll enjoy it too when it's out! I wanted to try some new things, scenes and game mechanics, and there are some new character interactions you haven't seen thus far. Also, some new characters will make an appearance, and you might be familiar with some of those...
View attachment 1.webp

 

[Reaurt]

View attachment 1999655
Chapter 10 weekly status report (11)
Hey guys,

I'm writing this post for the second time because Patreon excellent website decided to erase it as I was about to publish it

After seeing the result of the last poll and reading your comments, the choice to make is obvious: Chapter 10 will be released when both Ian and Lena's parts are completed.

I really wanted to give you guys something to play this summer, and I'm feeling the need to release some content asap, but I'll have to be patient and keep working consistently until the full chapter is done. As weeks go by the pressure of development gets hard to handle, knowing I'm keeping you waiting for new content, and being aware of the amount of work and multiple tasks that are on my to-do list before this next chapter is completed. That's the main reason I've been staying away form work-related social media lately, since it helps me manage the anxiety and focus my energy on developing the game. I apologize if that causes some of your messages or answers to go unanswered, but I'll keep posting these weekly updates and answering your comments down below.

This week I've been thoroughly play-testing Ian's part, revising texts, choices, game logic and creating finishing the needed artwork and graphical assets. Normally I hate going over my work, but in this case I'm even enjoying it, so I think the chapter so far is coming along rather nicely, and hopefully you'll enjoy it too when it's out! I wanted to try some new things, scenes and game mechanics, and there are some new character interactions you haven't seen thus far. Also, some new characters will make an appearance, and you might be familiar with some of those...
View attachment 1999659

Now that's a teaser.

 

[lockerxx]

View attachment 1999655
Chapter 10 weekly status report (11)
Hey guys,

I'm writing this post for the second time because Patreon excellent website decided to erase it as I was about to publish it

After seeing the result of the last poll and reading your comments, the choice to make is obvious: Chapter 10 will be released when both Ian and Lena's parts are completed.

I really wanted to give you guys something to play this summer, and I'm feeling the need to release some content asap, but I'll have to be patient and keep working consistently until the full chapter is done. As weeks go by the pressure of development gets hard to handle, knowing I'm keeping you waiting for new content, and being aware of the amount of work and multiple tasks that are on my to-do list before this next chapter is completed. That's the main reason I've been staying away form work-related social media lately, since it helps me manage the anxiety and focus my energy on developing the game. I apologize if that causes some of your messages or answers to go unanswered, but I'll keep posting these weekly updates and answering your comments down below.

This week I've been thoroughly play-testing Ian's part, revising texts, choices, game logic and creating finishing the needed artwork and graphical assets. Normally I hate going over my work, but in this case I'm even enjoying it, so I think the chapter so far is coming along rather nicely, and hopefully you'll enjoy it too when it's out! I wanted to try some new things, scenes and game mechanics, and there are some new character interactions you haven't seen thus far. Also, some new characters will make an appearance, and you might be familiar with some of those...
View attachment 1999706

a new character?ok for who Ian or lena

 

[doctor13]

Now that's a teaser.

Sounds like someone from GGGB is turning up but I think the silhouette is someone all new.

 

[BorgiaBou]

I really wanted to give you guys something to play this summer

Awww that's so sweet of her but the bad patrons didn't let her...

 

[John Doe Jr.]

After all this complaining people still voted to wait even longer instead of playing the povs separately and getting content earlier. So, will all the complaints of waiting be put to rest finally?

 

[BlandChili]

After all this complaining people still voted to wait even longer instead of playing the povs separately and getting content earlier. So, will all the complaints of waiting be put to rest finally?

You know they won't

 

[selberdreher]

people

patreons, this means paying people.
Opposed to a lot of leeches who just profit of the work and engagement of developers and their supporters, and in return exercise their freedom of expression to belittle those supporters and rant about the devs.
Even if their self-righteousness shouldn't really surprise me, i'm often dumbfounded by their brazenness.

You know they won't

You're right, they won't.

 

[lipe2410]

View attachment 1999655
Chapter 10 weekly status report (11)
Hey guys,

I'm writing this post for the second time because Patreon excellent website decided to erase it as I was about to publish it

After seeing the result of the last poll and reading your comments, the choice to make is obvious: Chapter 10 will be released when both Ian and Lena's parts are completed.

I really wanted to give you guys something to play this summer, and I'm feeling the need to release some content asap, but I'll have to be patient and keep working consistently until the full chapter is done. As weeks go by the pressure of development gets hard to handle, knowing I'm keeping you waiting for new content, and being aware of the amount of work and multiple tasks that are on my to-do list before this next chapter is completed. That's the main reason I've been staying away form work-related social media lately, since it helps me manage the anxiety and focus my energy on developing the game. I apologize if that causes some of your messages or answers to go unanswered, but I'll keep posting these weekly updates and answering your comments down below.

This week I've been thoroughly play-testing Ian's part, revising texts, choices, game logic and creating finishing the needed artwork and graphical assets. Normally I hate going over my work, but in this case I'm even enjoying it, so I think the chapter so far is coming along rather nicely, and hopefully you'll enjoy it too when it's out! I wanted to try some new things, scenes and game mechanics, and there are some new character interactions you haven't seen thus far. Also, some new characters will make an appearance, and you might be familiar with some of those...
View attachment 1999706

Well, just my opinion, but for me the last thing this game needs is more new characters that will result in more variables, branching and so on. Especially charactes from another games that already were worked while there is a lot of ORS's characters that need be more flesh out.

 

[JustAUser89]

View attachment 1999655
Chapter 10 weekly status report (11)
Hey guys,

I'm writing this post for the second time because Patreon excellent website decided to erase it as I was about to publish it

After seeing the result of the last poll and reading your comments, the choice to make is obvious: Chapter 10 will be released when both Ian and Lena's parts are completed.

I really wanted to give you guys something to play this summer, and I'm feeling the need to release some content asap, but I'll have to be patient and keep working consistently until the full chapter is done. As weeks go by the pressure of development gets hard to handle, knowing I'm keeping you waiting for new content, and being aware of the amount of work and multiple tasks that are on my to-do list before this next chapter is completed. That's the main reason I've been staying away form work-related social media lately, since it helps me manage the anxiety and focus my energy on developing the game. I apologize if that causes some of your messages or answers to go unanswered, but I'll keep posting these weekly updates and answering your comments down below.

This week I've been thoroughly play-testing Ian's part, revising texts, choices, game logic and creating finishing the needed artwork and graphical assets. Normally I hate going over my work, but in this case I'm even enjoying it, so I think the chapter so far is coming along rather nicely, and hopefully you'll enjoy it too when it's out! I wanted to try some new things, scenes and game mechanics, and there are some new character interactions you haven't seen thus far. Also, some new characters will make an appearance, and you might be familiar with some of those...
View attachment 1999706

Im a bit sceptical about the new character but I believe Eva has a special reason to bring a character from gggb to ors. Lets not judge before we see.

 

[mr.hong]

View attachment 1999655
Chapter 10 weekly status report (11)
Hey guys,

I'm writing this post for the second time because Patreon excellent website decided to erase it as I was about to publish it

After seeing the result of the last poll and reading your comments, the choice to make is obvious: Chapter 10 will be released when both Ian and Lena's parts are completed.

I really wanted to give you guys something to play this summer, and I'm feeling the need to release some content asap, but I'll have to be patient and keep working consistently until the full chapter is done. As weeks go by the pressure of development gets hard to handle, knowing I'm keeping you waiting for new content, and being aware of the amount of work and multiple tasks that are on my to-do list before this next chapter is completed. That's the main reason I've been staying away form work-related social media lately, since it helps me manage the anxiety and focus my energy on developing the game. I apologize if that causes some of your messages or answers to go unanswered, but I'll keep posting these weekly updates and answering your comments down below.

This week I've been thoroughly play-testing Ian's part, revising texts, choices, game logic and creating finishing the needed artwork and graphical assets. Normally I hate going over my work, but in this case I'm even enjoying it, so I think the chapter so far is coming along rather nicely, and hopefully you'll enjoy it too when it's out! I wanted to try some new things, scenes and game mechanics, and there are some new character interactions you haven't seen thus far. Also, some new characters will make an appearance, and you might be familiar with some of those...
View attachment 1999706

Who is this new girl?
Ashley, Eva, or Natasha from GGGB?
Iris already appeared in BBC porn, obviously Jasmin is not.

 

[dundun]

Seeing the discussions about probable censorship and taming the content to adapt to Steam's rules reminds me of when I saw some people asking for rape in the early days after the game's first release
I think the reason GGGB didn't have any rape (and ORS likely won't have any either) is because Eva's games are somewhat realistic (as realistic as a sex VN can get without being boring), and realistically, rape isn't sexy
inb4: "real apha sigma chads rape women"

EvaKiss wrote very early on that there wouldn't be certain things in her game, like forced sex.

But what about Seymour? Eva can limit his interaction with Lena to a phone call and some interior monologue on her part afterwards. I don't think anyone is arguing that every character needs a scene in each chapter, but still it would just delay things until chapter 11. And in that case Eva will probably also have to tip-toe her way around the issue when writing chapter 10, because of how important it is to the story—which could eventually lead to more work than if she just starts dealing with it now.

The thing is that Lena's deal with Seymour doesn't just affect the relationship between the two of them. It also affects Lena's relationship to all the other photographers, and her job at the café, the restaurant and on Stalkfap. And Seymour's threaths also involve Ian and his career at the magazine and the writing contest. And if Lena rejects the deal, it will probably open up some other work related options that won't otherwise be available. (How could she otherwise afford a tramp stamp, nipple piercings and more horse sized dildos? )

Also it will probably affect the relationship between Lena and Ian. Does she tell him about the deal with Seymour? And if so, how does Ian react? Will it differ depending on whether the relationship is open or exclusive? And if Lena doesn't tell him about it, will he eventually find out? Or will Seymour even tell him about it, to show his dominance and clear away one of the obstacles that stands between him and Lena?

It's not like all of these issues have to be handled in chapter 10, but eventually I think they will, and to me that sounds extremely complex, and something that demands some serious planning on how it will all play out, in which order, and how one thing affects the other. Looking at the variations of a particular scene is useful, but it's not even close to illustrating the overall complexity of putting everything together.

But it doesn't have to, also there is no need to limit his interactions at all.
Ian? Lena doesn't tell him about Seymour only maybe about doing 'a photoshoot'. In fact there is a non-disclosure agreement in the contract so she is not allowed to hell him And strictly speaking she isn't cheating on him as she isn't having sex with Seymour (at least for now).
Other photographers? First, nothing is impossible, Seymour just has to agree to it. There is one photoshoot with Danny in the last 9 chapters, not doing any more is no big loss. Stan is no problem as long as he doesn't publish her photos. Billy, the Wildcats and Instagram are already optional so disabling them adds no complexity at all.
Her jobs? She got fired at the restaurant and why can't she continue to work at the cafe. If she is modelling in the cafe, the contract is a bit vague about it, it forbids 'all modelling work' but only for 'other photographers'. But, yes, she will probably have to stop it. Which already is a path in the game so, again, no added complexity except one or two conditional texts.

All this complexity talk ignores that there is not a completely new path after each decision, there are several paths (cafe gets saved by Lena modelling/singing; cafe goes broke) and later decisions just change to an already existing path. For example Lena can lose her job at the restaurant early on except if she sleeps with Robert. Now she lost the job anyways. Both ways she is now at the same spot, so what were the differences? All restaurant scenes after she can lose the job the first time were optional and she got less money. I can't remember any scenes blocked by still working. That is not that hard to write. EvaKiss is aware of that and she limits the amount of possible paths not allowing certain decisions to simplify the paths.

I really tried to think of a reason why the development time evolved the way it did. The most basic comparison shows me that chapter 6 has 18 460 lines, while chapter 9 has 21 781 lines. The development time of chapter 6 was ~2 months but I will say 3 because some stuff was added later on. The development time of chapter 9 was ~5 months, but again I will say 6 because some new art appeared after the remaster. Now I will be a bit lazy, chapter 6 has 279 image files, while chapter 9 has 400. There a lot of overlays and images that might have been created in previous chapters (stalkfap content) so I will cut everything in half 140 v 200. Beside this data, I already talked about how an equal amount of paths have content. Basically a period that was twice as long generated 25% more content.

Chapter 10 is not out yet, but if we look at chapter 5 we can see that it had only 12 245 lines, but in two days we'll reach the 4 months of development mark. If you also add the months in which the remaster took place (5.5 months), in which you could plan ahead at least 2 chapters, we end up with some strange numbers.

So what happened ? It's a mystery, but for me, the complexity argument is not the answer. Maybe I just need to find something else to do, instead of popping around here every other day to see if there is any new "weekly" update. Even the communication has changed. In the last 8 weeks, there were 2 "weekly" updates.

Well, we don't know. I agree the complexity doesn't explain it. While it does make it harder, it nowhere should double development time. Maybe the 'rework' is a hint. She was unhappy with the quality of the writing. EvaKiss wrote in a Q&A that she doesn't go over her writing at all, that what we get is the first draft. So maybe that changed, maybe she now is redoing her writing. That could explain the more than doubled development time we see now.