Dev Diary #3: 'Testing the Waters' Arc - Choices, Consequences & Looping Animations

Hey everyone!

Welcome to Dev Diary #3! Still wrestling with boxes and trying to remember where I put things, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Arc Current Progress:

• Script: 5862 words (+2459 since last update)

• CGs: 32 completed (+16 since last week!)

• Animations: 0 completed, working on the technical side (more on this below)

• Outline: Still solid! ✅

On Branching

I've been getting a lot of questions about choices and routes lately, so I wanted to address this.

Some of the best stories ever told are completely linear - but for this particular story, meaningful choices felt like the natural fit. The whole premise is about exploration and discovery, and turning that into a passive experience would undermine what I'm trying to achieve.

Here's the thing though: I'm being careful about it. Act 1 choices are relatively shallow. The deeper, more consequential choices come in Act 2 when the characters (and players) are ready for them.

I'm not trying to please everyone or hit every possible niche. Instead, I want to explore the spectrum from vanilla-ish relationship dynamics to more extreme scenarios. You can't write both gentle romance and hardcore kink in a single path while maintaining believability - the branching lets me commit to different flavours rather than watering everything down.

I'm working backwards from the endings I want, prioritizing quality over quantity, and aiming for the dynamics I personally wish I saw more of in other works.

Animation Progress

On the technical side, I've been researching scalable looping animations. You might have seen some looping content before, but those were created with a lot of manual work and pain.

I'm trying to find a process that's both high-quality and sustainable for regular updates.

Haven't cracked it completely yet, but I'm getting close. I'll leave you with a little demo using an older animation to show the direction I'm heading.

Challenge: Try to find out where the Left side loops (easy!) and then do the same for the right side.

This Week's Preview

The preview shows a moment from the truth or dare sequence where [REDACTED]... though I've added a cheeky censor bar because, well...😈

Coming Up

I haven't forgotten about the Platinum reward poll! I've just been swamped and spread thin. I'll get that posted tomorrow for all the Platinum and VIP members.

Keep the feedback and questions coming. It's incredibly valuable as I continue shaping up the story.

Hope you're enjoying these dev diaries while the update cooks.

Cheers,

Tori