Weekly progress update - Feb 14th

Happy Valentine's day folks,

I hope you all enjoyed the latest version of the game you were able to play. Obviously getting out the Chapter 6 release, and making 5 available to Great Friends and 4 for Free was my initial focus for the week.

After that I worked on the trailer for Steam, see the link in the post below. From a Steam perspective, my next step is to create the Steam page, it's a pretty involved process but once that is up I will let you know. I will be asking, actually begging :) you lovely people to add the game to your wishlists (even if you don't intend to buy it.) as this process helps shoot it up the Steam algorithm. After that I will need to take out any Patreon, links and perhaps add a little polish before it's ready to launch. My plan right now is to launch on Steam after Chapter 7 hits here.

I've fixed a couple of little bugs, including one in the NYE scene where in various shots "Michael's" shirt buttons decided to fly off. I dunno how I missed that during the rendering process. I don't like to do another release to fix something that is not a huge issue so although it's fixed I don't plan to release it until Chapter 7 drops.

That brings me nicely to Chapter 7 development. I've completed 3 short scenes and I am currently working on the first big one. The script is a little less developed than the previous few chapters at this point but it's still ahead of the rendering process, which is my time limiting factor, therefore I am not concerned.

So what is Chapter 7 all about? This chapter concludes the rest of year one for the pair. From here on out you will notice an increase in the speed at which time flows, this is deliberate. Chapter 4 covered a one week time period, chapter 5 covered 3 months, while chapter 6 covered 2 weeks. Chapter 7 will be 6 to 9 months in terms of time, depending on whether I incorporate all or part of the summer vacation into this or the next chapter. Chapter 8 increases the speed once more covering a 12 month period, Chapter 9 another 12 months. I've not yet determined the length for the final chapter, Chapter 10. 

One final thing: Itch hasn't responded to my request to allow me to upload Chapter 5 for sale over there. I find them frankly very poor to work with. If they can't host the file I will not push anymore content onto their site for Best Friends at least. Chapters 1-4 will be the final length of the free content, no further chapters will be made available for free. I know I said this after chapter 3 and changed my mind but I mean it this time, honest :P No, seriously giving away any more content for free would really compromise other platforms as it would take that free content to around half of the game.

That's it I think, thanks for all the feedback I've received recently, that really helps me build a better product. I try to change and incorporate as much as possible as long as it does not compromise my core principles for building the game.

Your support is incredible, I appreciate it it immensely, enjoy the day with your loved ones.

Fae