Alpha Preview Update (June)

EVERYONE. Everyone. I worked so hard... 😭 and I did it! I kept my promise! Chapter 6 is done!!!

Play the alpha here 

Password: eternalsummer

What's New:

• Chapter 6 is complete! See notes below on what needs some touching up, but I kept my promise and did not have a sip of bubble tea the whole time as I toiled away at writing it... that was torture... but I powered through and finished the damn thing!!! It's sitting at a whopping 95,000 words for the chapter, 15,000 more words than the previous longest chapter, Chapter 5! 
• You can now decorate your room at the Shepherds compound! I was inspired while playing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (pls no spoilers--), so now you can visit your room on your days off and rearrange things as you wish, especially with the souvenirs you collect throughout the game! You might even have a furry friend come visit you from time to time...
• Related to that, you can now buy a litany of new items and decorations from Chandry (check the miscellaneous section)! Some of them made me LOL so I hope you enjoy them--you might catch some Easter eggs to stuff we've discussed here on Patreon... :-) Some characters will comment on specific items you buy, and there is even a 🐟!

Developer Notes

• I've just got to reiterate again how hard it was not to drink bubble tea for the whole month lmao. BUT it worked! Look at the results! I kept my promise! Buuuut I'm not doing that again unless it's an emergency. 
• [CW: blood mention] ...On a slightly related note, a few days into the promise, my doctor told me my blood was looking a little "sweet"--aka high glucose levels--and after these last 30 days, suddenly my blood results look really great... 😳😳😳 So keeping my promise to you guys and just concentrating on writing actually made me healthier! 😂 I've learned how to cut back thanks to you!! 😂😂
• I went back and looked at my past update posts, and I realized that pretty much every time I finished a big chapter (especially in a short amount of time), I always said that I feel like its pacing is rushed/wonky and that I absolutely hated the writing lol... and this time is no different! But I always end up coming back and thinking the past chapters are actually quite good, so I'm hoping that's the case this time! I'm just so sick of looking at this chapter that I'm excited to put it behind me for a bit and move forward until I'm ready to come back!
• I do think the pacing might feel a bit rushed in certain endings and slow in others, but as long as the gist of the story developments are there, I'm happy. This chapter was a unique struggle because I'm used to ending things with the climactic "boss battle" with the Faceless Lords at the end of the chapter--this is the first chapter to not only lack that, but also the first chapter to focus so heavily on politics, talking, and negotiation, so I agonized a lot over how I was writing things. Oh, well! As always, I will go back and revise when I've forgotten the chapter a little and am not totally sick of looking at it!
• Pretty much all of Chapter 6 is done except: 
• The route where Lavinet gets kidnapped during the Elemental battle. I will be changing this in the future so that she gets grievously injured rather than kidnapped, resulting in huge drops to reputation and relationships, but not necessitating a completely different second half of the chapter. 
• The other investigation routes prior to the battle are also not done yet, but you get the gist of them just by playing the one that's already there. 
• And this chapter is missing most of its planned achievements! Again, I will go back and finish it all someday, but I'm happy with where we're at now...
• New: there is a small typo where, if you take a certain route, Briony will tease you about having a passionate reunion with [whoever you have the highest romance flags with] if they are not currently in your party. The typo reads something like "You'll be having a passionate reunion with redromanceflag, I'm sure" (but with the character you're romancing, not necessarily Red). This has been fixed in my version, but it will not be in yours until the next update! Regardless, there's no need to report it since I'm aware of the issue. :)

What's Next:

I am SOOOO excited for Chapter 7, you don't even know. I've been scribbling down all sorts of notes and snippets, and there's going to be lots of romance fodder for those who care about that, and lots of scary fodder for those who care about murder. 👀 I'm rearing to go on that, so I'll definitely be tackling the start of the next chapter very soon! (Like, within the next few days/this week!)

Total wordcount: 597,117 words without code

I'm still stunned by how big this chapter ended up being--95,000 words alone! And we are so close to 600,000... over halfway done now!

Thank you for your patience and support as always, and I hope you enjoy!