Devlog #10: Hope you like long posts, cause this is a BIG one.

Hello there beautiful people, I come to you today with a pretty lengthy post so strap in and let's get into it!

1. What have I been doing since the release of V2?

Writing, planning, and writing some more! As I've said in my previous Devlog, I'm going to plan out and script ALL the events (omniscient, chats, forums, side-stories) before moving on to rendering, and that's in full swing at the moment. I'm making very good progress, as the planning phase (story beats/outlines) is done for all characters, and now I've moved on to writing their events.

In hindsight, this is how I should have been doing things from the start, but you live and you learn.

Now those of you with a keen eye may have noticed that Jeremy's been added to the omni-events planning table, so let me explain why that is.

Initially the plan was to give Jeremy an IRL event every final day of an update (20 - 40 - 60 - 80 - etc.) but the more the game went on the more I realized it just wouldn't work. Relegating the MC’s perspective to once every 20 days ended up messing with the pacing and made it hard to naturally tie his events into the broader narrative.

Jeremy’s POV is meant to bridge the gap between the girls’ storylines and his life abroad (like the Day 20 phone call with Kaiden). But when I started working on his Day 40 event, it felt very disconnected, like I was forcing his presence in the story (for that particular day at least) just to stick to a rigid formula I'd set for myself.

So I’ve dropped the "every 20 days" rule. From now on, Jeremy’s POV will happen on days where it naturally complements the narrative and adds something meaningful, rather than appearing just because it’s “supposed” to.

Also the "big event every 20 days" rule is being toned down a little for the girls as well. Now of course, each final day will STILL have an event that's significant and propels the story forward, but it won't be for EVERY girl, EVERY update.

I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but now that the story's starting to pick up, I'm going to prioritize pacing and cohesion over a rigid formulaic approach, as it will be very beneficial to the narrative flow of the game, on top of making it easier (and faster) for me to get updates out, given that I'll stop wasting time, banging my head against the wall trying to create events where they simply don't belong.

2. Now that the story's picking up, what's next?

The whole point of the game from the start has been for the girls' stories to converge and develop in parallel, rather than independently of one another. That wasn't really the case in the first 2 versions, as they served more as an introduction to the characters, their circumstances and personalities.

But now with V2 wrapped up, and those things established, I can comfortably say we're done with the 'introduction' phase of the story and moving on to what I consider the real first chapter, where we'll start seeing more and more overlap in the girls' stories, and Jeremy's influence (or lack thereof) on their lives.

I won’t go into any further detail here to avoid spoilers, but just know that from V3 onward the narrative will begin to expand on a broader scale. The focus will slowly shift from individual arcs to a more interconnected web of events. And things are about to get a lot more interesting.

3. Are we still on schedule?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: With the speed in which I'm writing and the story finally getting to where I want it to be, I'm confident that V3 will come out on time. The writing and proof-reading + making sure everything is set in stone and doesn't require change will take at most a couple more weeks, after which I'll move on to the rendering stage of the dev cycle, which won't take too long, given that I won't have to remake any events thanks to my updated workflow.

And that's all I have for today! Thank you again for your support and have a wonderful week!