Developer's Journal 3:1

Hey everybody!  To all of my wonderful supporters who helped me get Episode Two out, thank you!  You guys are awesome.  I hope you've all had a chance to play it and I hope it was worth the wait.  For all of my new supporters, welcome, and whether you're here for awhile or just popped in to get the update, thank you!

Episode Two was a long update.  My playtime estimate for all branches and the bonus scene is about three hours for a relatively fast reader.  (If you're the type who likes to actually look at the renders and find all of my clipping mistakes, then you may have spent longer on it.)  My estimate for Episode One was about two hours, so Episode Two was a good 50% longer.

Looking ahead through my outline and script, I think that Episode Two will be the longest of the eight episodes.  Hopefully you can see why I chose to cram everything that I did into one release instead of breaking it up into two.  So much of what was presented would have lost its impact if this update were split up.  Going forward, each episode will be structured around a particular plot point which happens at the end of the episode.

I do have some great content planned for Episode Three, but Episode Three will be significantly shorter than Episode Two, and will probably be even shorter than Episode One.  Without making any precise predictions or promises as to when it will be ready, I am confident that Episode Three will not take another nine months to make.

Episodes One through Three are all important to lay a foundation for the story.  Episodes Four through Six start to really get the plot moving.  And then in Episodes Seven and Eight the momentum of what's come before will hopefully escalate and climax with a very satisfying ending.  (Wow, that was so awkwardly sexual.)

I'm going to share this with you now so I face less anger about it if/when it comes, but I am thinking very strongly about releasing Episodes Six through Eight all within weeks of each other.  That would mean a long wait after Episode Five is released, but as I think about what's ahead, there is so much momentum built up after Episode Six and again after Episode Seven that it would be a real shame to let that all be wasted just so I could meet expectations for a quicker release.  Episode Five has a really good ending, but it's the kind of ending that I think players will accept waiting for the next part of the story.  Whereas if you have to wait months after Episode Six, well, that could be frustrating for you.

I recognize I'm rambling here and you have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about, but hey, this is my journal, right?

Okay, that's it for this week!  Thank you for your support!

--Monk

PS--I posted this render of Emmeline on my Discord this week, in case you missed it.  4K file is attached.