ShoH Poll and Update (March #1)

Hi everybody, thank you for your patience as I was out of town with my family!

I got back just yesterday and am feeling a little worn out--there's some health stuff that my mom and I are dealing with, but other than that, I'm very glad to be home! We also celebrated my birthday on Tuesday, which was nice, and we are getting our second COVID shot next week, which is definitely a relief!

While I was out of town I managed to get a few things done on ShoH--I tidied up the day off in Capra, so that will be functional by next update, and there are more updates to the Journey tab in the stats screen. Just a few quality of life things!

This week I'll be posting last month's Q&A, which we missed because I was out of town; Halek's short story will be moved to the 30th of this month, as well! I am also working on the goodie for this month, which I hope you will like! :)

While I work on all of that, I'd like to present you guys with your next game development poll!

I've mentioned this before, but it looks like I'll be needing to add an additional main story chapter to the game for pacing purposes. I'm hoping to keep it a smaller mission than the rest, and I'm still letting the idea percolate for a bit, but I do know 2 things:

1) It will take place in the Shepherd headquarters, and 

2) It will be spooky!

I have a tidy system of keeping track of who's gone on what missions: this is to ensure that all characters have as equal an amount of screen time as possible, barring Riel and Shery, who, as non-combatants, couldn't be included on many missions for logistical reasons. 

However, because this extra mission will be taking place at home, they'll get their place in the spotlight as well!

I'm considering adding a third team member in the mix just to keep things spicy (Caine will also be there if, you know, he's alive and recruited), and if I do this (I may not in the end, so no promises), I'd like to give you guys the opportunity to vote on which character gets that little bit of extra attention!

Here's the breakdown: 

Blade (features as a 'main' team member in 5 missions total)

Trouble: 4

Tallys: 4

Shery: 2

Riel: 3

Red: 4

Ayla: 4

Halek: 4

Briony: 4

Lavinet: 4

As you can see, pretty much everybody but Blade has an equal number of missions. As such, he's automatically out for this extra chapter (Chapter 9). However, his "extra" mission is the one in the Reach, and I don't really count it mentally, because he's not actually there for, like, 90% of the chapter, lol? So it's like... 4.5, really!

Riel, Shery, and Caine will already feature in Chapter 9.

If we add in another character, that means they'll be tied with Blade for having the most "main" appearances in the game (wherein they play a significant role in the mission: think Red, Ayla, and Halek on Briony's chapter, Chase, Ayla, Red, and Blade for Capra, etc). 

[SPOILERS BELOW]

The tentative roster right now (if we want to reduce repetition) is:

Chapter 1: Trouble or Tallys

Chapter 2: Blade, Trouble, Riel, Chase

Chapter 3: Blade, Chase, Red, Ayla

Chapter 4: Blade, Halek

Chapter 5: Halek, Red, Ayla, Briony

Chapter 6: Briony, Ayla, Tallys, Lavinet

Chapter 7: Blade, Trouble, Red, Chase

Chapter 8: Tallys, Lavinet, Briony, +1 secret character

Chapter 9: Shery, Riel, ???

Chapter 10: Lavinet, Halek, Shery, Riel

Other chapters = secret

So, who do you think should be added into the mix in Chapter 9? Who do you want to see? Again, all candidates below currently have an equal number of missions right now, and I may end up changing something or not putting an extra member at all due to spoilery reasons!

But for now, you'd like to see, Shery, Riel, and...