National Park Girls Episode 2 Update - April 2019

Hey everyone, Syon here. Hope you've all been enjoying the Patreon so far! We're very happy with the results and are looking forward to bringing you even more content. 

Today we're going to do our very first National Park Girls update! NPG Episode 1 launched a little over a month ago. Since then, we've been hard at work on Episode 2, and from the sound of it, many of you are looking forward to it as well. So allow us to whet your appetite a little. 

For those of you who don't know, Josh Kaplan (the head of Studio Élan) is writing Episode 2. The situation is comparable to how him and I wrote Highway Blossoms together, in which he'll be working off my outline while I supervise. This is how the writing for Episode 3 will go, too. Starting with Episode 4, I'll be taking up the writing mantle again, and this will continue on to Episode 5. I'm very confident in the system we have in place. Not only does it show off Josh's excellent writing skills, but it also gives me time to focus most of my writing efforts on Same as it Ever Was. 

Josh is just about finished drafting Episode 2. As of the time I'm writing this, he only has one scene left. From there, I'll be doing additional tweaks and rewrites (as well as the Fireside Chat), before sending it off to Max for editing. Barring any world ending disasters, Episode 2's script should be finalized by early May. 

Because of how National Park Girls is being released, most of the infrastructure and programming is already done. This includes the menus and the UI. Once the writing is finalized, we can begin the scripting process. This involves directing the sprites and CGs, inserting the backgrounds, and placing the music and sound effects. This process, while tedious, doesn't take nearly as long as new art or writing. 

On a similar note, we won't begin recording the voice acting until we finalize the Episode 2 script. Once we do however, I'm certain we'll be able to get it recorded and implemented very quickly. 

Now to discuss the art situation. 

Satchel and Badriel have already begun working on the new backgrounds and CGs. Both of their lives have gotten busy recently, which may delay our original June 13th projection slightly, but they've been making steady process, and I'm confident that Episode 2 will still see a Summer release. In the meantime, please enjoy some CG sketches from Satchel!

You may notice that these CGs place a heavy focus on Yellowstone (it’s hard to recognize her when the volcano is covered, we know). And well, that's because Episode 2 is a predominantly Yellowstone-focused episode. Starting with this next episode, you'll begin seeing NPG's format take shape. Episode 1 set up the characters and plot, but the remaining episodes will be more interested in analyzing those characters. Eve will continue being our viewpoint character, but as we're learning more about her, we'll also be learning more about Yellowstone, Zion, and Yosemite. 

That's about it for the time being. Thanks for dropping by! You can probably expect one more in-depth NPG update before Episode 2 releases. Next time, however, we'll be giving a long overdue update on Same as it Ever Was, a very different project than National Park Girls...