September Progress Report

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IMPORTANT

You guys had 9, 975 words in the Squire Route, it reached 31, 244.

I have to wrangle this beast and get it under control so the pacing is fluid. The main issue is the variety of responses and ways you can go about the ship. The amount of words do not reflect well in linear storytelling as well, because of said variety of branches. This explains the lack of updates out to you, and why I had to rework what I was planning for to get us from A to B more easily.

We were supposed to have an exploration system that used time as a resource (six days in total) so that we could meet and learn more about our new companions. That proved exceedingly difficult to do as a single writer/coder. It also proved a bit boring (I think readers get more easily attached to characters if there's action). I don't want boring. And I want you to like these characters. For reasons.

Look, you can see for yourself. I write Progress Reports alongside when I write the actual game, as a sort of log.

Just know that the changes are already feeling much better than what youre about to see.

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Cleaned up what you guys read beforehand.

Added in new dialogue choices to when you first meet with Cariel in your quarters

Each of the dialogue choices will increase and decrease your relationship with him, and give you a preview of how the dialogue choices have evolved from being simply Friendly, Carefree, Stoic, and Imperious modifiers. They will now, since you are older and more capable (along with being responsible for your words) be taken more seriously and can change how information is presented to you.

You'll also have to account for how you respond to dialogue may be seen by the other person.

For example:

Friendly: It is very straightforward, and you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who dislikes this type of interaction.

Carefree: But Carefree... you'll find that there's quite a few people who don't like your flippant attitude depending on the subject at hand. Carefree choices have the highest chance of being a smug asshole however, so if you think the situation calls for it, be the smug bastard you want to be. Cause I honestly wish games would give me more chances to be an asshole and not give a fuck, or straight up tell a character to stop monologuing or yapping etc.

But Cariel's a good dude who stuck up for Aurelian in a past incident, hence the apology.

But Cariel accepts your apology. You're 14 at this point, and you apologized quickly. So he's mature enough to recognize it was a mistake. So the dislike increase is just a tiny bit.

Stoic: I love the Stoic options because shutting up really does let you find out more about the world and what characters may want to tell you. Like Telltale said, silence is a valid option. At least in KaE i'll actively try to make it good. AND BOY DO YOU LEARN ALOT OF SHIT HERE.

Stoic has 1,779 words in total packed in there. You learn ALOT about Awakened abilities and get a more indepth demonstration. I really think of the Stoic option as the lore/exposition dump choice lol.

I think that's fair, if you want the pace to be faster the other choices are there, but for those who want to learn more about the world, i'd also think them to be quiet and observant, hence why Stoic is the nerd choice lol

But Stoic has an extra goody. You get a variable that will allow you to easily beat an opponent in the future, even if your Combat isn't high enough thanks to the knowledge learned here. In the future, different choices may award different rewards.

Not all choices are created equal, cause 1) the dev bloat would kill me and kill the pacing and 2) it spices things up!

Now for the last choice, Imperious. (i changed a few words here afterwards but am too lazy to upload the new screenshoot lol, sorry)

You upset Cariel with this choice. To him, you're brilliant, mature for your age, but ultimately inexperienced to the brutality of the world. This makes him snap at you because he doesn't want you shocked silly once the shit hits the fan.

Our doggo knows this, and doesn't register Cariel as a threat, even when he's raising his voice because she can pick up malice. She senses none from Cariel.

Hence why we don't react emotionally. Our Champion instead remains firm and polite. And then after explaining how we roll, we apologize. What would've been a big dislike modifier turns into a small like modifier, cause Cariel respects it.

It's what he expects from the Crown Heir.

Anyways, further in, the same scene happens which the original demonstration for the three choices bar Stoic.

Seriously, and I'm going to be saying this constantly in this progress report, it is DIFFICULT for me to keep things contained. Im so fucking annoying and persistent with the walls of text lol

Then Ronnel decides to instigate Cariel, to see how he'd respond with haters and trolls.

You can comment on this, or stay silent.

The Friendly option has you defend Cariel, and you remain polite to all parties while doing so.

The Carefree option has you trying to move the conversation along, but this has repercussions.

You can earn or lose major points with Cariel here. Carefree doesn't consider other people that well, nor does it 'think' out before talking alot. Friendly is more of a people pleaser that considers everyone.

Stoic and Imperious go about the same as the above, but with less changes in relationship modifiers

Stoic, choosing to be silent, allows Ronnel to properly explain why he asked such a thing. This gains him Cariel's understanding and friendship. Seriously, sometimes not talking is the best thing to do. Sometimes. Anyways, because you remained quiet, you learned something interesting... your mother supports House Zane, but what does that mean for House Raymond?

Imperious though, makes a mistake. Imperious always thinks on the good of the realm first and foremost... leading to the scene above.

Anyways, a bit later, we finally get to talk to Lukas about your parents.

Then Triel walks out, and she's worried about Ronnel getting rejected by Lady Valerie when he asked her the question. Here, you get to choose how you've kept your relationship with the three, though it mostly consists of a relationship bonus. How big it is, is your decision.

As you can see, we finally get to read the letters waiting for us!

Let's do Amina first.

There's actually two versions! The first one, shown above, is Amina's letter if you both watched the execution together.

The second, is the letter if you didn't. I tried making it sound like a letter by writing it on paper, to try and get that vibe. Hopefully the weird sentence structure isn't misconstrued as a mistake lol, but as "raw writing" that's in letters.

Both letters offer something different. One focuses on friendship and omens. The other deals with geopolitics and international affairs. Very different vibes, very different purposes.

Bro yaps cause he misses yall. Zera's incredibly informal, and overshares because you and your family bonded in the few years he stayed in Argent. There'll be side stories that describe what happened in the future. As you can see, he even wrote a couple lil messages for your siblings.

Aurelian: He knows what Aurelian is like, and knows that the manuscript will be devoured by him.

Percivel: He knows that Percy loves building things, and like to tinker with stuff hence the clock. He also shared something interesting in the middle there...

Julianna: What is our little sister up to...? Luckily, Zera isn't dumb enough to ask more than he should.

Zera really is a font of information for what goes on in the imperial court, and he's already sharing some worldbuilding bits here in a hopefully natural manner.

I really want to make the point across that Zera loves your family. You guys provided a safe space for him. Uriel and Adelina showered him with respect and love, becoming parental figures for him. I would've loved to showcase this ingame, but it'll have to be done through the character side stories. Couldnt afford to spend more time "growing up" lol.

Anyways, after the letters are read, you can choose how to respond to them all.

The responses can vary wildly.

Friendly reply: Polite, friendly (duh), informative, and the writing style is appropriate between two kingdom-level heirs.

Carefree reply: Descriptive, kinda annoying, but then it becomes serious. Carefree MC's have a hidden depth and struggle, and it shows here. Plus our height gets brought up!

Stoic reply: You can tell the two are friends, but as always, Stoic is a Champion of few words.

Imperious reply: Formal, dignified, kinda "i know better"

You'll be able to select whichever one you want to send to our friend Amina!

And that's just for the Amina that saw the execution and is more closer to you!

The responses you can give to Amina if she's more professional with you, are thus:

Friendly Reply:

Carefree Reply:

Stoic Reply:

Imperious Reply:

There's subtle differences in there, differences that I think are best explored by you guys. I want to see what you take out of it, without me telling you.

Now as for our boy Zera:

Friendly:

Carefree:

Stoic:

Imperious:

Once the letters are sent, you finally go to bed for the exploration of the ship!

Let's go travel back in time though, before all of the above, you could've gone up with Cariel to see what's happening up top.

Here, we can see Armiel, Orestes, and Alicel are hanging out, though Armiel is with a bunch of sailors.

Let's see what happens if you kinda like seeing Orestes squirm:

Or we can agree with Orestes, as a good Imperious Prince/Princess would do.

Here's the choices if you in fact DO want to help Orestes out a lil.

PS: Your good doggo indeed knows what to do!

Anyways, both paths lead to the below...

Now, time to see what happens when Cariel leaves the room, only this time we're actually here to witness it!

0.0

Honestly, I'm really proud of this lil scene. It's basic writing, but using the previous generation (Sir Renfred) to proclaim the blood feud on the current generation, and then have the current generation of House Zane spit on the face of the current generation House Raymond (Charles) to answer the blood feud feels right.

We'll go with the Imperious response to this here:

I'm currently revising the rest of the boat stuff cause I felt I went too long going nowhere without showcasing enough important bits. Scenes have to hint at something, reveal, be hype, have tension or conflict, or explain shit. Hence the changes to slim it down and improve the pacing.

I'm combining things, splitting it up, or im removing content so it flows better. Normally this process would frustrate me, but it's been fun! It's becoming a much better product, and much more enjoyable than a majority of the above!

Like some have said before, ima stop with the dates and just keep you guys updated with the progress reports and then drop when updates are ready. It's frustrating to you and me to not meet expected drops, not to mention incredibly mentally draining/stressful.

Plus, livestreams on Discord! I'll share my screen and music when writing, and you can join whenever you want. It'll be open for you guys, and I'll notify when I'm on. SO JOIN DISCORD AND LINK YOUR PATREON AND DISCORD! And no worries about talking! All who join will have their mics automatically muted.

That's all for now. I'm head to sleep now.