For anyone that missed it, I posted the quick and dirty about what happens next
here.
I've played through the new content, and it's not too long, so I think Part 5 will become r3.9 instead, and contain both the 3.9 scene and the ending part 5. This does mean the release date will push back a bit (maybe a week or so?). But, I have to talk with
aaronminus to decide how far. The other option is Part 5 on Feb 5th and r3.9 on Mar 5th.
In just a bit I'll update the future plans post with a condensed version of below (if you hate reading (and are playing a VN for some reason?)).
First, while Ferdafs appears to be back, nothing in the info we have (as always) assures this is the long term case, or when the next update will arrive, or... well, really anything to help me plan. Just like before, I'll treat his return the same way, expecting updates on a roughly 3 month schedule, if nothing for 6+ months, consider the Unity game abandoned once more.
The new content from Unity 3.9 will go into a past day (right now I'm thinking
the end of day 29, as this is before Wild Summer arrives, so I don't have to write around her, plus other things).
Next, the tricky part. What do I do about the ending? First, it
IS NOT going to be removed. I try very hard not to cut content, and I'm not going to throw away stuff I've spent hundreds of hours on. It might have to be "moved" to a new day in the future (and possibly content adapted to fit that new time frame), but mostly I built the scenes to be moveable if needed (with maybe one/two background(s) needing to be altered).
And then there is the rest of the ending, what to do with it? Well, for now I'm going to keep working on it as I have time, but in a much less aggressive push. As ending parts are completed, they will be ADDED into future releases, but will no longer be their own release (after Part 5, depending on how that ultimately works out). In short, things will go back to how they were, I'll put out a game update ONLY if I get new content from Ferdafs.
It's not an OR, both will be added to the game, it is more a question of when. Part 5 is nearly done, just waiting on the final dialogue revisions right now, then it is ready. r3.9 has nothing just yet, I have to start the whole process on it, which takes time. So, delay and add r3.9 to part 5, or release part 5, then r3.9. The answer is I don't know yet, because aaronminus needs to weigh in first.
Oooo, neat, I've added the MOD to post #1 (haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but I want to).
The current ending scenes will stay in the game. If I need to "scoot" it to fit new content I will (try my best to) do it in a way so as not to break saves. While I do plan to finish up the ending, I'm no longer sure of the time frame for it. But I also don't want to just leave the story (and players) hanging, as the intent was to provide closure.