And we have another update released, albeit a smaller and more chaotic update. I shall work on Sense & Sorcery content for a few more weeks up to possibly one more month before turning over to work on my other presented project, Dice & Dungeon Masters for a while, so anticipate one last update before the break to come in a few more weeks - that said, I think I will fall far short of some of my goals with these current romance updates, but all in all these updates have greatly expanded the story of the game and set up strong footholds for future updates and in particular future romance updates; to those that wanted more, my apologies and a polite reminder that these things take a lot of time.
As for the current update today, what is there? Well, some additional content for Lady Sarah Swein, an intro to a non-binary romantic option, expansion on the peasant npc encountered during travels, an introduction to a new ro and rival, and great expansion into the history of the Wanderflames. There are also a couple small forays into the alt. start mini-games, though once more these are spoiler heavy, so only try them if you don’t mind that.
Now, trying to go for npc speicifc content as recommended by prior vote, anticipate, hopefully, more content for the Duke in the last update before break, also more for Gleheir the fey man, and probably hopefully Mr. Northwood and also a certain thief taker . . . may try for some of the others, but probably won’t have sufficient time for the rest on the next update. As a bit of an aside generated via various forum background chatter, it should be noted that none of these will be the complete romance - obviously this is still an alpha and a demo, though we are getting a lot closer. I’d say we are maybe . . . early mid-game for the first book, by the end of the current update. As this is not an adult romance game and there is a still a lot more story to come, it wouldn’t make sense to conclude any of the romances just yet . . . it would be kind of like an Austen heroine getting married a third of the way through one of her works, or one of the Bridgerton sisters eloping on the third episode of the series . . . just doesn’t work. My apologies to those that wish it were otherwise; I strongly hope and think the game is still very enjoyable despite that, the story strong and multi-faceted.
In any event, enjoy, and hopefully I will have the last update coming along in hand in a few more weeks, after which D&D update work will commence. After that work is complete, I will probably take a short break, to regenerate and then give some other projects some love and attention, and then come back to this game - unless it seems player wishes are contrary, I will then likely continue working on this game until game book 1 is ready to present for hopeful publication, probably starting with the next update after break being either late fall or early winter . . . though again my time tables are anything but solid.
Before ending this note, I did want to post a couple more quick polls. When the game is better ready, I of course want to see it published, but I wonder where it would best be published as. Hosted Games is the most likely candidate, though there is a bit of romance, and likely will be more by the end of it, so perhaps Hearts Choice might be a possibility as well? Thirdly, failing COG being interested, it is possible the game could be published independently, though this would probably take my recoding it all in twine which would be a pain to say the least.
Where do you think this game as currently projected would best fit?
- Hosted Games
- Hearts Choice
- Some Other Venue
Secondly, while I think this will be less of an issue for this game then some of my other projects, COG only requires that submitted games be active in the forum I believe a month or two. While this forum thread presents good feedback oportunities and I enjoy that, they can be difficult to maintain during periods of inactivity between projects. As I eventually mean to land back on making S&S my first effort to the finish line of getting a game book published, I wanted to check if players felt they needed a thread to keep up with the game? If I should drop the thread maintance I could still post it to the top of Dashingdon upon update and post something on my Threads account and I imagine those that are interested occasionally check back on the game.
Do you feel a forum post is neccesary for keeping up with the game?
- Yes - maintain forum thread for this game always
- No - people can still keep up with the game in other ways
P.S. Sadly didn’t get to the location sections I thought I would and to be honest I probably won’t with the next update, but I will keep the poll results in mind as the game continues to be worked on and new sections and locations are added to the story . . . sorry its taking a while to get to some of the stuff I am excited to present!