Post-Route Update Thoughts

Hello hello, friends. 

I'm here with a much overdue devlog, well I'll ramble a bit about the writing process so far. I'll try not to make it too long. If there's something I didn't cover in this post that you're interested in, please let me know in the comments and I'll take it into account when writing future devlogs. 

With the Baron build, we finished the first round of updates for individual routes. It's certainly been interesting to write builds that were largely focused on one character, instead of having a single narrative like in builds 1-3. 

In terms of difficulty of writing the script, the Mnesis one was definitely the most challenging. There's... well, frankly (pardon the pun) a lot going on with the fox, and it's not so easy to balance revealing enough information about him that readers aren't getting frustrated, but not so much that I end up spoiling some future reveals. I did get a couple reactions saying that Mnesis is still too secretive and they're getting a bit impatient, but I hope that's not the consensus here. We will definitely learn more about him soon enough! 

The penultimate scene in his build was also a bit of a challenge, since I wanted Omen to make a certain kind of entrance, but it took me a while to figure out the best way to make it happen. The marten also saw some change in characterization as I was writing the build - in the initial concept, he was supposed to be way more crass and rude, but I realized that this no longer suited my purpose. I'm excited to showcase much more of him in the upcoming build.

The Fang update, in contrast, was much easier in terms of the writing process. Not so much outside of that, as I had some real life issues that delayed the build. Still, I think it's a funny reflection of how much more easygoing the tiger is that writing him gave me way less trouble. There's honestly not that much to say here, as everything progressed just about how I had outlined it before I began working on the script itself. The biggest development here was me becoming a little more comfortable with coding in Ren'py and trying more tricks to enhance the way the story is delivered to the public. 

Finally, the Baron update saw another round of real life issues causing delays. I'm so grateful everyone was patient with me through all of this. Moving out of the apartment was a seemingly interminable process, given that I also had my dayjob to occupy me, but it's finally over! I'm so hopeful nothing else is going to come up to distract me from Super-Nova. Although we moved out, we haven't moved in to the new place yet, because it's not ready, but fortunately once the time comes, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle. 

Either way, the Baron build was a bit shorter than the others, but I had known prior to starting that it would have the most worldbuilding, with us diving deeper into the superhero world of Super-Nova and how it operates. As such, I'm pretty happy with the results. I know some found Nick to be acting a little dense this time around, and there's certainly a degree of truth in that, but I'd say it's more of a reaction to the Baron's behavior than actual disinterest in the intricacies of the superhero "profession". But everyone is welcome to make up their own mind on the characters' actions! 

Honestly, I'm pretty happy with the discussions people have been having. Some interesting ideas were raised. Some that even I hadn't considered, which is always a delight to read. We'll have to wait and see if some speculation and predictions turn out to be true... 

Now, writing the scripts wasn't all I've been up to. Something I'm excited about is revamping the first (and so far only) superhero fight we've seen in the VN. Swaggy did an excellent job with the CG, but I thought that it could be enhanced a lot more with some extra assets and better coding, which is exactly what's in the works. We should see the results pretty soon, I think. 

As I've teased already, I'm also at work making a proper gallery. Naturally, you'll be able to look at the CGs you've unlocked there. But I also want to add a music player, a fanart gallery, and some extras that I'll post previews of very soon. As I learn more and more about coding, we'll see more of these new features. I'm lucky to be getting some truly excellent help from GruntSteel (the dev behind Distant Travels and Steadfast - go read them!) in this regard. 

I'm also starting to think about getting a proper, custom UI, although we haven't really began any work on that yet. 

Anyway, I think that's enough from me, for now. The interlude should be online soon, after which we're getting started on the next round of route updates. Hope you're as excited for that as I am!