Hi everyone!

Back with another update - for some reason these biweekly updates feel so far apart. I also apologize for the lack of content on the blog lately! I’ve had a lot on my plate, from Alaris and ensuring continuous work for Devtember and the Expanded Chapter 1 Release to real-world stuff. October has definitely started off already busy for me! 

I can’t quite remember what I covered in the last devlog, but I’ll go over all the updates I think are worth mentioning! Regarding Chapter 2, I’ve completely finished the draft script and it has come in at a WHOPPING 20,000 words. The way I’ve set up the flow of the chapter, you will be getting 10,000 words worth of content per playthrough (this will be dependent on your choices and personality), so it will feel like a normal chapter length, but there will be lots of content to access if that makes sense! 

I’ve also started scripting Free Time! I’ve decided to go with a setup that plays closer to Toki Doki Memorial - Girl’s Side for anyone who’s ever played that. Essentially, you will have a free time portion during the story, where you will be able to choose a location to go to. You can also invite one of the LIs (Kuna’a and Aisa excluded) to come with you! Depending on your affection with them, they will choose to either accept or decline. I won’t be making the affection requirement high since I don’t want this to feel like a stats-raising game, but a small requirement will be there since if you have like 0 points of affection with an LI, they would essentially view you like a stranger and logically wouldn’t accept. But keep in mind, personality and affection choices impact LI’s affection for you, so there are many ways to ensure you meet the requirement for any LI you like! As the game goes on, if your affection points with a certain LI are high enough, they may actually invite you out on a date! This is content that will be available in later chapters though, but it is something to look forward to :D 

I also have a big update regarding Devtember! Based on the layout of Devtember, you are supposed to just work on your project everyday and (optionally) post updates on it. I’ve been posting daily updates on Twitter, which you all are free to follow. But because I wanted to have some kind of submission/ concrete project to show the work put in for Devtember, I decided to focus on an Expanded Release of Chapter 1. This update will come at the end of the month/ early November and will include a preview of Free Time and ALL the currently planned Extras Features. This includes things like the CG and Scenes Gallery, a Music Room, Codex, and Full Stats Function. These past couple weeks, I’ve made a lot of progress in terms of finishing scripting for Chapter 2 and then coding all of these features in! 

As you can see, the Stats page will allow you to see how many personality and affection points you have in the game based on your decisions! I’m also currently working on coding the Codex, which will give you access to more information on the world of Alaris as you explore the chapters :) 

Because the world of Alaris has its own terms, magic system, and history, I thought a codex would be really helpful with the worldbuilding and helping the player keep track of stuff and navigate the world so you don't have to get information dumps or try to keep track of all the terms. Love interests will have their own page that shows personal information, back story, stats, and more as you go through their routes and get to know them! 

I’ve also finished coding the Preferences page. For those who played the Preview version of Chapter 1, you’ll know that the Preferences page was just the default Ren’py version. Now, the GUI will match the rest of the game! 

Please note, all of these are still drafts and are currently meant to help me test the code and have an idea of the GUI, but this will be a close representation to the Expanded version.

For those who are hesitant on the Expanded Chapter 1 Release, there will be some new content in the story itself that will give a sneak peek at Chapter 2! So the expanded version won’t just be about GUI, it will also include access to Free Time (preview), a fully developed Personality/ Stats system, a Codex, and a slightly expanded story! I hope you’re all looking forward to it as much as I am, and I’ll see you at the next update :D 

As always, feel free to follow me on itch.io or Twitter for more updates or donate at Ko-fi to support development <3