Finished coding Chapter Two!

It is done...

Excluding command lines (or code, if you will), the chapter stands at 60,609 words. The chapter itself isn't very complicated, but it touches on numerous points and references to Book One, which means that, while the word count is smaller than other chapters, the code necessary for it is a giant of its own.

A very tall, extremely well-armored titan that wrestled with me — or, more accurately, I wrestled with it — until its last metallic breath. This chapter involved me going back and forth between Book One and Two and changing not only the variables of the sequel but the prequel as well.

(I have a sizeable update to Book One at the ready, but I'll wait until I finish Chapter 11 to send the files to Hosted Games).

Almost all the major decisions and character choices from Book One are mapped out on the Summary — and their code is stored on the startup page — which means that, from here, it's smooth sailing when it comes to transporting choices and events to Book Two. Of course, there's still a choice or two that'll have to be added later to the Summary, but the skeleton for the code is mapped out, so incorporating any new variable is a piece of cake, no matter how small or inconsequential those choices may be.

This took... a lot of work. It had to be done, and I'm glad I did it sooner rather than later, but it did take so much more time and effort than I had anticipated. It's like a rabbit hole that I couldn't help from falling headfirst into — once you add one, you want to add the next and the next; and before you know it, you're tracing all the items you could have collected in Book One and putting their variables in Book Two.

The characters, too, are all pretty much done — you'll only see their relationship texts when you meet them again in Book Two, but the code is there for me to write them. It'll take me less than five minutes.

Why am I babbling so? Because I am ashamed of how late this is. I was supposed to finish coding before the previous Friday, but when the day came I wasn't done yet. I didn't want to write yet another Progress Report saying that I was close but not quite there yet, so I abstained from posting altogether. I hope my silence hasn't disappointed any of you.

I apologize for that — This month, as you know, has been difficult, but I've been working as hard and fast as I can.

But that's all behind! The game passed both Quicktest and Randomtest and look at it, slowly growing. 😊

I'll post the updated demo tomorrow, the 22nd!! I'll say a bit more about the chapter then. Have a fantastic start to the week! 🌹