Alpha Preview Update (October)

Hi everyone, as promised, here's the update for the Shepherds of Haven Alpha Preview for October! CHAPTER 5 IS COMPLETE! (Or as complete as it's going to get for now, lol.) There's also a new password on the alpha version (see below), so please input it if you happen to run into it!

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Password: autumnalpha

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Things in this Update:

• The entirety of Chapter 5
• A new codex entry on major Blest holidays (but I'm not going to tell you how to find it lol)
• Minor quality of life fixes and small changes: the beginnings of Caine's day off system, a limit to gambling, uhhh more stuff but I'm shorting out on it right now
• Content warnings: graphic depictions and descriptions of violence, animal sacrifice, explicit language and threats

Developer Notes: 

• This was my most productive month in the history of writing this game so far: I wrote a whopping 55,000 WORDS (not including code) to finish Chapter 5! I managed to accomplish this by foregoing any and all projects in favor of working solely on ShoH for the last two weeks or so, and it's thanks to your support here on Patreon! Thank you so very much!
• This chapter is by far the longest chapter in the game so far at 75,000 words! Chase and Riel's chapter is next at 69,000... this is like several games combined at this point!
• Some small routes are not complete yet, but should still allow you to continue the game, which may lead to funky continuity. Off the top of my head these are: the Ayla and Halek camping routes, fighting the wyvern alone, and fighting Briony (but there's a placeholder system for the latter)
• I've uncovered a small "bug" where reaching 100% in any stat, including relationships, becomes 99% anytime that stat is added to. (You have a 100% relationship with Trouble, you make a choice that adds +5% to Trouble, and suddenly the stat is at 99%.) This is due to how ChoiceScript calculates fairmath: using fairmath restricts a value from ever going above 100%, so for whatever reason, that actually causes it to go to 99%. This isn't something I can change, but I will implement fixes for this towards the end of the game (for example, now you can't reach 100% with a character unless you've spent all their available days off with them, 'locking' their relationship until you max it out through that achievement). Hope that makes sense!
• This last boss fight might be unreasonably hard stat-wise--we'll have to see with more testing--so please have patience and understanding if it feels like the odds are stacked against you, lol! Narrative-wise, they are supposed to be, but I don't want to make certain things impossible--just very, very hard to achieve!
• As always when I power through so many words in a short amount of time, this is a draft and I am very aware of its... draftiness. Please forgive any pacing or prose issues: they'll be ironed out over time, but for now, I'm going to mark this chapter as mostly 'done' in its main plot and move on to Chapter 6 and other things that need fleshing out.
• Gambling has been limited to something like 5 turns (I forget) to prevent becoming the richest idol in Haven too fast, lol. 
• I wrote some "stupid mode" responses in this chapter, but you won't see them unless you code-dive. I'll share my favorite one in the next sneak peek because it still makes me scream with laughter!
• I know that we never did the playthrough survey for Chapter 4, but it's so incomplete I didn't think it was worth publishing the survey until more routes are done. I'd appreciate it if you took some time to give the responses of your first playthrough to the form! Thank you so much!

What's Next: 

I want to start Chapter 6 (stretch goal) and write some character days off by the next update, including Caine, Chase, Riel, and Ayla. I know I said I wouldn't do days off in favor of taking care of the main plot, but I had a dream about romanced!Chase flirting in Capra and I just have to write it. So look forward to that!

Total word count: 405,500 words (6/13 chapters complete)

This month, we've still got the Q&A, Chase's short story, and some ShoH-related surprises along the way, including new loyalty programs for the Vice-Commander and Commander tiers (more on that later)! Red and Chase's tarot cards are still in the works, as well as Trouble's character reference sheet, some updates to the character page, a small portrait of Chase, and more! Finally, Shery, Briony, and Blade were made into very cute stickers for the merchandise tiers (Vice-Commander and up): I can't wait to share more soon! 

Thanks for reading, everybody, and I hope you enjoy!