Although maybe worth noting that the caveat of this would be filling Earth orbit with absolute tons of resulting high-speed moving rubbish that could easily overwhelm any sort of point defenses of a single vessel with sheer volume and element of surprise, since they wouldn’t be coming from any easily spotted single/few source(s) like spaceships. So probably not the best idea if one was to stay in that orbit for prolonged period of time.
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Have you read up on the absolutely insane “Rods from God” and Project Thor from the 1950s Cold War by chance?
It still kinda good exercise, you can flesh out just how capable these ships are and quality of there crew. I think it will be a fun little story to see if this thing we’re to happen we can understand your perceptive how you see these ships. And honestly I think if a ship can do that much damage they can probably get good terms without putting boots on the ground.
Me omw to camp the forums for the monthly update, since I am ADDICTED to this IF
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Did someone order a monthly update? Well here goes…
Again, this was a somewhat slower than usual month for me. Some of that was because I was busy, but no small amount is because I’ve been dragging my feet. The reason for that is simple: editing sucks.
I, like most writers I suspect, enjoy the process of writing far more than editing. Writing lets you see progress. There are words on the page that weren’t there when you first sat down, and that tangible feedback makes you feel productive, which in turn encourages you to write more. Editing, at least for me, is not that way. You simply stare at a screen, making minor changes that are hardly noticeable, with the grim understanding that you’re likely still missing dozens of typos somehow. It is a necessary step, as my rough drafts are very very rough (trust me), but it is not something I enjoy, and something that this chapter has required a lot of, seeing as it clocks in at 84k words. Still, it shouldn’t have taken this long to edit, and for that I apologize.
That said, the first edit is finally done and dealt with. I finished up a week or two ago. Since then I’ve been quicktesting and debugging a great deal of issues. As of yesterday though, Chapter 4 is finally passing without errors. However, just because it’s working doesn’t mean it’s working as it’s intended to.
This chapter is incredibly complex, with a tangled web of choices and variables that is held together with patchy code, duct tape, and a dream. Simply put it’s a mess, and for any code divers out there you’ll be able to see that first hand when I finally publish it. Still, the bones are good, the code is there, the 84k words of story is there, I just need to spend awhile randomtesting and doing a couple dozen manual playthroughs to make sure that things are working as intended. After that, it will be all yours (with more than a few problems I missed I’m sure lol).
I know it’s been a drought of content these last few months, so thank you for your patience. Hopefully I will be able to get this out to you soon, because for all the headaches it’s caused me, I really do like this chapter. I think the complexity makes it better, the choices have impact, the stakes are higher, and the narrative really starts to ramp up.
As always, your continued support and interest in this project of mine is so very appreciated. The fact that it’s been well over a year since my first post and quite a few months since my last update and people are still commenting and discussing things on the thread, sometimes hypotheticals not even tied to the main story line, makes me happier than you know. I’m glad this story has struck a chord with some people, enough to keep bringing you back month after month. I am incredibly and deeply thankful for you all.
Happy July, and I’ll talk to you again soon!
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Finally. New update, when can we expect it. Honestly I don’t think people will mind it there are always going to be some issues but that’s just part of the process. Why don’t you have a group of users as beta testers that can look for thing you most worry about. I think many people will be happy to be beta testers. And it can help you since let’s be honest public form while Good on feedback takes longer and in different order than you prefer since we are not all exactly know what to look for we are more here for your story and amazing game. If it help you take stress of coding and testing I think you should try it.
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I am very excited to play this - it sounds just my thing!
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Honestly, at this point I kind of want to just keep things simply. More people involved makes things more complicated and places more expectations. I like simply writing, editing, and then getting feedback from everyone, rather than handpicking a few people to read first. It might not be optimal, but it’s what I’m comfortable with.
As for people not minding some issues, I don’t mind there being some issues. Finding typos or redundant variables is expected and useful, but not game breaking. I don’t care if those slip into the demo. However I do want the game to flow correctly. I don’t want *goto commands taking you to the wrong place making the narrative a jumbled, redundant, or nonsensical mess because of it. I want people’s first look at new content to be perhaps a little rough around the edges, but functionally sound. So that’s what I’m focusing on.
No hard ETA on the update, but hopefully soon. Thanks for you encouragement and your thoughts!
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I’m at the starting gate, and ready. Beta testing and optimizing complex chapters js my idea of fun.
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We better get a thank you for code diving (like in the chapter 2 code I think?)
Oh there will certainly be some easter eggs in the code for those who want to go looking. It might just be *comments I left to myself ranting about how much I hate myself for coding things in a disjointed and disgusting manner tho…
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Those are surprisingly (well maybe not that surprising) common in my experience
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