Jolly Good: Tea and Scones

Choice of Games games CoG Works In Progress
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The lure of having the chance to play all of chapter two of the demo eventually proved impossible for me to resist as well, so I joined your Patreon today. However, I can’t figure out how to access the Patreon demo, even after trying my best to find it. It’s likely an obvious answer to that which I’ve just missed, but as of now I can’t figure out what that would be and how to access that special demo. Could anyone help me figuring it out?

Yes, I did get that email, but either because I thought it was just an ordinary welcome email or because I confused it with the second email asking me to confirm my email adress, I didn’t read it until you mentioned it containing that link just now. So I guess I did miss something obvious, by looking in the wrong place. Anyway, thanks for your help, I will get to the premium demos quite soon.

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Patreon has a Chats function; the link and pass is in a group chat titled “Pilcrow’s Secret - How to access the Beta”

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Yes, exactly: you should have gotten an email that tells you that–did you get that email? I hope you’ve been able to access it!

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By the way, I’ve just opened up (on Patreon) the first look at Chapter Three–a taste of things to come, but more importantly, this slice of Chapter Three is the first time I’ve shown a scene with Starling anywhere, and I’m…well, I’m ever so slightly Starling-anxious about it, because I feel like there’s been a bit of a buildup.

I’ve also just crossed the 500 Patron mark, which is nuts, and I feel all sorts of feelings about it which I wrote about here in a free post.

If you end up trying the demo, I hope you like it and like Starling. (Or dislike Starling, but in a good way.)

This week has been non-stop grading for me with another barrage of essays coming on Tuesday. I hope to sneak in a day of writing on Monday, because I have some serious romance scenes with Fitzie that I’m working on in Chapter 7e that I want done! Updates to follow.

Update: The public demo of Tea and Scones now has a hearty taste of Chapter Two available for your delectation. Spread the word!

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If we bought the DLC in Cakes and Ale, will that transfer over to Tea and Scones, or will we have to buy it again?

Hope it’s fine to post here even though it’s been longer than a month, since I know the game is still actively being developed.

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The DLC in Tea and Scones will be a little different, and it will be its own thing. I’m planning to have more granular stat-shifting, so instead of just changing all of the relationships, you can slide each of them individually.

I’m also planning to have more of the hidden stats adjustable like “look” (your character’s physical appearance) and “suspicion” and “maturity” and things like that. So yes, you’ll need to get the DLC for Tea and Scones if you want it.

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December Update: At 3.1 million words

I am forging ahead in the Fitzie version of Chapter Seven, which is now officially the longest Chapter Seven at 325k words so far. There are a lot of Chapter Sevens.

I have just come off a seven or so day writing jag because my academic semester ended and I was largely alone in the house all day, leading to many days in a row of 8-10k words. Long story short–actually, I don’t think I should be allowed to use that idiom–I have about 60k words that I didn’t have last week.

I’m increasingly happy with Fitzie’s chapter, which was tricky at first, but which I think you will like a lot. It’s full of interesting thematic elements and a lot of opportunities for romance and adventure. It’s also full of chapters within chapters–which I just wrote about in this tumblr post at length, so I’ll just point you to that.

I feel…pretty good about my progress, and think that I may soon see the end of the Fitzie chapter. I have a few side adventures to write and the big chapter climax, and then I can start tackling the Starling chapter. That is, if I resist the temptation to add additional embellishments and filigrees to this chapter. We all know how likely that is.

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I physically cannot wrap my brain around the number 3.1 million, I just can’t, just, wow

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The sheer physicality of it is the main thing that I’ve come to understand. Those who have written long stuff can chime in here, I suppose, but at least for me, the toll it takes on one’s back and shoulders and neck, and the amount of hours looking at the screen, and the whole finger situation–that’s the main thing. Maybe that’s just a 51 year old talking.

That, and when you spend so long with the same narrative, it creeps into your dream-life, and the lines where sleep and waking meet, sort of. It’s very weird. It’s fun, but weird.

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I can’t relate to the actual writing/story/plot side of things, but as a programmer for living, I can relate to the actual physical effort of the thing, such fun

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That’s just insane.

When this comes out, I will lock myself in and no one will be allowed to talk to me for a week.

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A week! I’m hoping at least two years!

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If you keep writing a new branch for every new branch, maybe two weeks.

No in all seriousness, I love your games and and I can’t wait (I can wait) to read Tea and Scones one day. It will make me very happy

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The start of 2026 Update for Jolly Good: Tea and Scones:

Things are moving along at a brisk pace, helped, of course, by the fact that I am on Winter break at the moment, although classes do loom again in just a week and a half or so.

But I’ve written a great deal over the past several weeks, with 8-10k word days my norm. In fact, I’m getting pretty close to the end of Chapter 7e, which is the chapter featuring Fitzie. That chapter now stands at 379,000 words, as I approach the climax of the chapter, which is about all I have left of it to write.

If you’re curious, the different Chapter Sevens break down like this:

Chapter Seven-A (165,000 words) – this is the intro Chapter Seven that everyone gets.
Chapter Seven-B (117,000 words) – this is Tabby’s chapter.
Chapter Seven-C (189,000 words) – this is Gilberto’s chapter.
Chapter Seven-D (311,000 words) – this is Vyv’s chapter.
Chapter Seven-E in progress: 379,000 words (so far) – this is Fitzie’s chapter
Chapter Seven-F – this is going to be Starling’s chapter
Chapter Seven-G – this will be the outro Chapter Seven that everyone gets

As you can see as you look from Tabby’s to Gilberto, to Vyv’s, to Fitzie’s chapters, I do what I often do, which is expand as I go on. I’m scared for Starling’s chapter. At the time, I thought Tabby’s chapter was pretty long. Looking back on it, I really like Tabby’s chapter, but Fitzie’s is just nuts.

Anyway, getting close. I have every hope of finishing the Fitzie chapter before January ends. I have one more vignette to write for it–a little twist in the chapter in which Starling interferes with the Fitzie chapter. There will be a moment in it that may lead to the two of them pulling on you in opposite directions, one on each arm.

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Like, imagine if you were that tray there in the cover art. Like that.

Then again, maybe you’ll be the sort of character who gets them to work together. It could happen.

Then I will plunge right into the Starling chapter, which will be full of Starling content, Parsnip content, and, for those who want to spend time with Pilcrow, an opportunity to save her very life. But more about that later.

If you want to know lots of little details, read stories, get updates, and other astonishing benefits too numerous to name, you might visit me here at the Noble Gases Club. I have a free article right here that talks about what I do there. There is also a wholly free story there for your delectation starring some of the major characters, but I have to warn you that it is a pretty spicy story, so read advisedly. I hope to see you there at the Noble Gases Club!

Take care, happy reading, and I shall update again before long.

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Befitting.

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