July Newsflash #2

Lots of Chapter 4 writing this fortnight, and today I finished the first draft of it. Hooray!

This was the most challenging chapter I've done so far in Honor Bound because there are some big differences in tone and environment, and there was a lot of concepts to introduce in a short space of time. But I'm pleased with what I've put together.

In non Honor Bound news, you can now make saves at the end of Creme de la Creme and Noblesse Oblige, and import them into Noblesse Oblige and Royal Affairs respectively! This was something I realised I wanted shortly before Royal Affairs came out, but I was nervous about implementing it at launch without having had time to test it. It is now possible! There are now also some small references to your Creme character in Noblesse Oblige - and to some of the things that can happen in Noblesse Oblige in Royal Affairs.

You can also answer questions about or randomise what happened in Noblesse Oblige at the start of Royal Affairs if you don't have a save file or don't want to import.

Current wordcount: 173340

Fortnight's wordcount: 20307

Average playthrough wordcount: 46169

Behind the scenes:

I read Ducks by Kate Beaton of Hark! A Vagrant fame - I am old enough to remember Livejournal being hyped about her work - and it was absolutely amazing. Content warnings for sexual harassment and assault, depression, and difficult workplace dynamics, so it won't be everyone's cup of tea. But I found it stark, beautiful in places, and a real thoughtful experience. I loved it.

In other graphic memoir news I read Gender Queer: a Memoir by Maia Kobabe. It was a really nice, and sweet in many places, exploration of the author's life so far as a gender queer person.

I also watched The Beguiled (2017) because I was promised a creepy boarding school and the suffering of a Colin Farrell character. I was not disappointed! I feel Nicole Kidman in this movie and Natalie Dormer in Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) could be friends. Or horrible, horrible enemies. Or something more...?

BRB writing sinister blonde headteacher fanfic...

Sneak peek:

This is the introduction of a new character for Chapter 4:

Between a brief train trip and then another, longer one, on a rattling tramcar along the river, the journey across the city takes a couple of hours. By the time you reach the Aladea Club you're hungry, and your @{hb_injury hip|lower back|head|knee|BUG} is aching again.

Still, the dark paneled walls and the floral wallpaper in moss green and dull gold, along with the low, warm lights help you feel less frazzled after the noise and bustle of the tramcar. You're welcomed by an impeccably dressed waiter who draws you into what feels like a snug nest of squashy leather armchairs, deep bookshelves, and murmured conversation.

Mandriotti is not in uniform, but is wearing a loose, bright blue shirt and a pendant showing the blue fern of the Church of Teran. He's dark-skinned, and slightly-built but square-jawed; his thinning hair is nearly all black, but you'd place him around Alva's age.

He's sitting at a mahogany table with partially-finished lunch plates and two companions: a couple of wealthy-looking women, one in a frilly gray dress and the other in a suit whose jacket is made of a fabric in shifting oil-slick colors. A birdcage containing a canary sits upon the table. One of the women occasionally feeds it more seeds from a dish in front of her.

My favourite bit:

It feels goofy but in Chapter 4 you can get a haircut, and it's a bit fiddly to code because of checking your previous hair length, checking how short you can get it based on that, and checking what's changed, but it was fun. I feel like I rarely see characters or MC's making a big appearance change, and I liked doing that here.

OK and there are a couple of other favourite bits which I'm not going to spoil too much, but a couple of characters have a pretty bad time in this chapter and have some emotional outbursts which the MC can interact with/have feelings about (or not!), and I enjoyed writing them a whole lot.

Next up:

Heads up that August is going to be much slower than previous months as it's the school holidays. If I can get Chapter 5 coded and a bit of it written that will be awesome. But for subscribers on the Sneak Preview tier or higher, I'll be putting up Chapter 2 on August 1st. Hooray!

PS - sneak preview subscribers, if you have any questions you'd like me to answer, the post and link to the question form is over here. I haven't had any yet but if I don't get any submitted, I'll just roll it over into August - no worries!

PPS - I've made some minor tweaks and fixes to Chapter 1 in response to player feedback - mostly smoothing out some descriptions, adding in some other options, and fixing small errors. The public demo and early access demo both contain those updates.

PPPS - I have been considering moving the historical Dahaikan Secession to a more recent year; the PC wouldn't have been in the military during the conflict, but could have a stronger memory of it as a child or teenager - rather than it always being something they didn't experience. I'm still pondering how I want to do that!