v0.13 Update - Status update, day 2 continued, party arc is starting, technical updates, save function overhaul, and more !

Status update

First off, to begin with, I owe you guys a bit of an explanation - and an apology. This release has been deleayed, for reason I address mostly in the second section of this writeup.

Basically, the gist of it is that I got sidetracked on a lot of different tasks for this release - android development, code refactoring, tehnical revamps, etc. I ended up hitting walls for some of those tasks, got really stuck on some blocking issues, then I struggled to switch between the different development tasks and my creative process got really disturbed by this stuff.

I ended up kinda burning myself out this month, and to take a small break to restore some balance and reevaluate my priorities. Solo project management is a harrowing task and for someone like me that can struggle with organisation/focus, losing myself in a billion different tasks took a toll on me. I need to take care of my mental health !

Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere ! This project is still the only thing I'm working on and I have big ambitions for it, so I just need to improve on defining the scope of each release, and adjusting the release cycle accordingly.

I will make another post on the next few days to follow up on that, as I really value transparency. So expect more updates coming up regarding the update cycle !

What's new ?

I've worked on a bunch of stuff !
I've tried to prioritize addressing the many feedbacks I had : little nitpicks or actual bugs, they are all important to me and I made them my priority.
Therefore, all the problems regarding the save function should be resolved, and no more softlocks should be encountered.
Furthermore, it's now possible to have several save files per session, for players that wanted to easily test out several paths.
I spent a lot of time refactoring (improving the code), as a big part of my codebase was written when this was just a tiny side project, a lot of features have since been added and it had become kind of a nightmare to maintain, it was limiting the design possibilities and it was causing some bugs. This big refactoring is complete for the main and oldest part of the game, i.e. the messaging system, which is good !

A bit of character customization : you can now change your name and gender and see those changes reflected in the dialogues.
Returning players rejoice, it is now possible to skip the individual tutorial sections through dialog choices if you don't need them !
Some new hints to be found, as I'm paving the way to another story arc with the roommate which you'll be able to discover.
I've also reworked the flow of the different scripted events in the story to make it more consistent, for instance, the ManyFans stream is now only accessible during a limited portion of the story and turns offline afterwards. Don't miss it !
The ManyFans app have been improved, I've added the technical framework to include hints and clues all over, and some posts now feature comments.
And of course, the story continues, with a bunch of new dialogue with both characters, some branching paths and a few pictures to unlock !
I have a lot of ideas for this story arc and what's already been implemented should tip you off on where this will be going.
And as usual, a lot of bugfixes, keep the feedback coming !

Regarding the Android development

I worked a lot on this for this release, and unfortunately I lost a lot of precious time trying to solve annoying, blocking issues. The UI stuff is easily worked out but there's a lot of other issues to address, more than I anticipated, before being able to release a seamless, multi-platform software with minimal forked code (that's the important caveat !).
I really wanted to be able to deliver a working Android build for this one and got really sidetracked, and kind of burned myself out on this stuff, which frankly is not the most interesting part of the development process. That's part of why this release took a bit longer that I expected, as I also allowed myself a brief hiatus to reevaluate my priorities.
Going forward, I really want to focus on new content as that's what is the most appealing for you guys, the players, so content will be the main focus of the following releases.
I however do not abandon the Android development, this is still very much part of my backlog, but I will try to better evaluate the amount of work needed for it and allocate my time accordingly.
Managing a game development project by yourself is a huge task, and this game is still in its infancy so I'm learning, bear with me !

What's next ?

As I said, I want new content to be the main focus of the next releases.
I got sidetracked and too many different things for this release and ended up losing time, and not producing as much content as I would have hoped. I'm releasing now to try and realign the release cycle with what I originally had in mind !
The party arc will likely be the subject of the next couple of releases, depending on how much I will cram into it.
I have a lot of different ideas for what's to come, but storyboarding/drawing/writing/coding takes a loooot of time, so the actual development does not really follow the pace of the creative process, which can be annoying !
I try to hint at where the story is going towards and I hope you guys like it.
Once again, I really appreciate feedback so please, keep it coming !
In parallel to the android development, I will investigate the feasibility of a web release. Several technologies are possible so I'll try to look into it, as targeting several platforms is a must.
I always try to improve on the management aspect and will keep fine tuning the extent of the scope of each release.

Thank you so much for your support, as always.