Hi everyone! Like last month, this is going out a little early. This time to coincide with the release of the Early Access of Episode 3/Chapter 5 to Patreon!

Keep reading for more info and a cross-promo at the end!

Summary:

• Finished the flowchart code
• Completed 4/6 CGs
• Released the beta
  • An insane amount of bug fixes
• Released the Early Access version on Patreon

Early Access

Early access has been released to Patreon backers "Yellow Tea" and above. EA contains all the content for Chapter 5 except two CGs that remain to be completed because of things described below.

Right now I am planning to have EA last for three weeks. 

I'm hoping I can get the remaining CGs done in time to release Chapter 5/Episode 3 in Mid-April. There are only two and I'm working at a pace of about 1 CG a week at the moment.

Early access contains up to the end of Chapter 5.

Chapter 5 is about 63,000 words of content, and contains the scene where the route gets locked in.

This chapter brings the total content up to 213,000 words. 

Art

I was really hoping this time around I'd get all the art done in time for EA but unfortunately my ability to do so was hampered by my hand deciding it wanted to rebel. This happened a couple of weeks ago and it's improved but still hurting enough that I am limited my drawing time - which means that I'm drawing at a rate of 1 CG per week. (And I also had a week where I didn't draw at all).

Frustrating but...that's kind of how it is. I know everyone will tell me not to overwork and not worry about it taking longer. And I really do appreciate that. But I'm not overworking. I'm not worried about delays or taking too long. The reality is that I'm frustrated about not being able to work at the pace I want to work at. I'm frustrated I can't do the thing I want to do. And I'm frustrated because I like drawing but right now drawing hurts.

This is life with chronic pain. Sometimes you just...can't do things.

Anyway, I have four out of the six CGs for chapter 5 complete and I'm really glad that I decided on no CGs for chapter 6 because that gives me an entire episode to rest my hand (though chapter 6 does require at least two new sprites.)

We did get one of our trailers since the last update and if you haven't seen it, check it out!

Unfortunately I was completely ghosted by one video editor for the main trailer. I mentioned this last time briefly when I mentioned one commission fell through. This was frustrating but not too bad since I hadn't been invoiced yet and hadn't paid anything (thus didn't lose any money) but it was frustrating to miss that trailer as I commissioned it back in August of last year and was hoping it would be ready by the release of Episode 2, which did not happen. 

Sometimes people missing deadlines can really throw off marketing and other things.

I am hoping to get the replacement trailer by the end of this month (and in time for the public release of Episode 3.

The person who ghosted me is someone I know multiple other devs have had issues with (but I sadly didn't know that when I commissioned them.) And they've ghosted another dev friend entirely - except she had already paid them several hundred dollars nearly a year ago. And she has no trailer, no budget for a new one, and someone who has stopped responding to her messages entirely.

This has nothing to do with the development of my game but I'm posting about it because it's frustrating to see a good friend in such a bad situation and knowing that there's nothing I can really do to help. =w=

Anyway, I'm hoping our second trailer comes through before Episode 3 has to release as I'd like to have the game start getting more visibility since a substantial amount of content will be available at that point.

Coding and Other

I managed to get all the flowchart stuff coded. The flowchart is insane and there were  a lot of errors with it because there are so many branches that it's just hard for me to test those all on my own.

Some of the branching flags were not set up right because different characters have slightly different scene structure and I had changed, at several points, what certain branches were doing and honestly...it was a chaotic mess.

✨ 💖 So thank you to my diligent beta testers who helped me work through all of that. 💖 ✨

I really appreciate you all.

Upcoming Month

The upcoming month is going to have a couple of different things in store for me. I will be working to finish the final two CGs and getting them pushed out to the early access Patrons.

I will (if all goes as planned) be releasing the chapter publicly in mid-April. 

And I'll be writing again. Chapter 5 doesn't come with any bonus scenes but I intend to release a couple of new ones along with Chapter Six. This are outlined but not written.

I really want to get some PoV scenes for the contents of Chapter 5 and release those with Chapter 6.

Chapter 6 is shorter than Chapter 5 by a lot even though it's critical for the plot. So I think having the bonus scenes go out with Chapter 6 will round it out nicely when it releases in a couple of months.

But that is far in the future and for now I'll be focusing on the CGs for Chapter 5.  I only have Raif and Yren left. Both are sketched out but need to be fully rendered.

Cross-Promo (Infinite Stars)

Some of you may have noticed that in the amare and otome space there's a dearth of science fiction. There are SF projects but fantasy and slice of life are the bread and butter of amare and otome.

However, there are some really solid SF projects out there. So if you've completed the available content from WSC and are waiting for the early access of Chapter 5 to go public, consider checking out the new content from Infinite Stars. I'm doing a cross-promo with my friends from over there. 

And the cool thing is that Ari and Asher have cameos in that game as potential MC portraits. 

Infinite Stars is a amare science-fiction visual novel with rich worldbuilding, deep lore and a cast of very smoochable love interests. With inspiration from things like Mass Effect, The Expanse, and Star Trek, I feel like this game has a lot to offer science fiction fans. 

If you like When Stars Collide and Andromeda Six, Infinite Stars is in the same vein.

You can get the game for free on Steam or follow them on itchio for the latest updates.

They've been working on Infinite Stars for a while now, and if you like what they are doing, consider supporting them on Patreon.

That is all for this month. I will hopefully see you in a few weeks with the public release of Episode 3!