• We refactored the source code, so it's no longer one single text file with 138,000 lines of code, and is instead structured in a way that's easier for us to use.
• We invented and tested a new "storyboarding" technique, which will make it easier for team & community writers to contribute scenes to the story.  Yesterday esclavage wrote a test scene and said: "storyboarding is working out so much better...it's never been easier to write.  The biggest breakthrough to me is the Slide Headers -> now I reference them as an anchor point to talk to other writers and the coders."  (More detail on this new system soon.)
• We finalised details on some game mechanics that were vague and undefined in the last version of the game (and therefore caused general dev drag, because half-implemented mechanics can't easily be used).  Specifically we revised Attributes & Skills, and designed a new Quirks system that simplifies so much.
• Now we're working more like a team, internal documentation has become crucial, so we set up a detailed project plan on monday.com and also ditched the clunky, hardly-used STONEGHOST internal dev docs system and implemented a new, simple dev wiki.
• We put the new wiki on the game's long-neglected website, and added a few pages to the site.  It's mostly placeholder, but we did install a working FAQ to which you guys can contribute questions which won't get lost (like Patreon comments can).  Please visit and help us build the FAQ by sending us questions!
• Plus a bunch of other stuff but this post is already too long, sheesh is anybody still reading this

• For the first few weeks of MFAGA I felt (irrationally*) guilty about spending most of my time communicating with the team instead of personally writing/designing things
• But having done that, they're doing an amazing job and I'm – I think for the first time ever – free to work on things you'll see in the following release, not the next one.

Either update it (so it stays playable)
or cut it (to speed up MFAGA)

• The more we update, the longer MFAGA will take (because more work takes more time).
• The more we cut, the more generic Bangkok will be (because if we cut decisions you’ve made about your character from the game, they can’t affect the story in Bangkok).

• This is how we streamline the story and streamline the backstory, two of the key MFAGA objectives. Cutting the flabby scenes that confuse the plot will speed up the writing overall (because coherent, well-plotted scenes are faster and easier to write)
• Every scene that’s cut shortens MFAGA and lets us start implementing Bangkok sooner

• Scenes we really like (e.g. Miss Wet T-Shirt) should stay in the game
• Scenes that are critical to the main plot (e.g. the mission briefing) should stay in the game
• Scenes that let the player establish backstory facts about your heroine we can use later (e.g. if she was a rock chick or a nerd in her teens) should stay in the game

• Character creation: update. (Not optional, the game doesn’t work without a character)
• Lifepath (upbringing): update. It’s only a few screens, and it lets the player set some important backstory flags. But: temporarily cut this to one nationality (UK) for speed, the other nationalities to be restored by team/community writers later
• Lifepath (university): update. Important backstory, and the Kink Vignettes are hot
• Lifepath (agency career): update. Without this it feels like she’s not really a spy. But: fix the heroine’s age, so this section becomes less a “career sim” and more a few passages describing her training and selected postings
• Mission briefing: update, it's crucial to the plot. But: cut the boring green screen session, and cut the flab generally to make this section pacier and tighter
• Operation Lioness: update. Keep Miss Wet T-Shirt (the best scene in the game so far). But: cut the boring stuff (like waiting around in the clubs for the contest to start). Consider cutting Corinthian and/or Cathouse for speed.
• Dubai: cut, there’s no plot reason for Kate to be here, and shoehorning it into the story causes a lot of the flab and delay in the mission briefing/LIONESS parts
• Bangkok: now starts immediately after Operation Lioness.

• Victoria's working very hard on the new low maintenance avatar.  The new design is not only going to be easier for us to update, but will be much more beautiful, and we're looking forward to sharing it with you very soon.  This will make it faster for us to create new scenes and new clothes/hair/makeup/skin tones.
• Hyneman prototyped the new clean avatar layers code and proved that our design from week 1 works!  In his demo, an avatar configuration for which we'd need nine layers in the existing system was achieved in just five, with no detectable difference.  This will make clothes much easier to manage in the engine.
• Working with a freelancer, Lara built a working prototype of the new character creation screen.  Because the new avatar doesn't work in the same way, you'll need a new set of controls to customise it.  The new version looks surprisingly gorgeous IMHO.  This will enable you to interact with the new avatar when it's ready.
• Hyneman developed a cool new SVG-based colour layer that may enable us to recolour things like hair, skin & clothing using code (instead of hand-colouring all the different variations).  If this works then it will save us lots of time in art production, and let us offer you lots more colour options.
• Yesterday I shared a new, simpler way of designing story sections in the dev channels (basically storyboards – inspired by Stone Librande's One Page Designs talk at GDC 2010).  This provoked some lively discussion in the dev channels, especially around the area of how community writers can use this format to contribute their own content, which is really exciting.  If this works, then it will not only speed up my own personal story production, but also provide a model that community writers can use to add in their own greta ideas.

• Simplifying the avatar: illustrator Victoria has been working incredibly hard on this, and I can't wait to share her work with you.
  
  We also progressed some supporting tasks in this area: her new avatar is structured differently, so the old character creation UI needed to be updated so you will be able to interact with the new artwork.  Lara, Hyneman and I worked on the design of that this week, and Hyneman is currently testing the layer architecture code that we designed last week.
  
  This MFAGA objective is nearly complete!  The benefit will be much faster production of avatar clothes and other customisation options in future.
   
• Removing barriers to contribution: Yesterday I posted the Final Ultimate Master Skills List v2, an important step towards making the game systems complete enough for other writers to use.  
  
  This was a good example of the benefits of working as a team: I'm pleased with the new solution (and community feedback so far has been good), but I would never have figured it out on my own.
   
• Improving admin: doing my best.  I've been consciously trying not to get too engrossed in my own taskings, and to take a little time out every day just to think about where the project is going, reaching out to team members when they or I need support.  I'm also gradually getting the length of my work days back under control (although this is still WIP), and I'm starting to feel the benefits of resting the last two weekends: I'm more energetic during the week.
  
  I've got a long way to go before I can claim to be doïng well in this area but I'm definitely doïng better.
  
  In news that will please all the grandmas I never knew I had, 'til I mentioned the trucker pills:* I cut back from 50mg/day to 25mg/day this week.  The only effect I've noticed is that I'm sleeping better; I haven't felt a performance decrease, so I'll continue to dial this down.
• Streamlining the writing: I got to work on this today!  I worked on the MFAGA tasks "Streamline the backstory" and "Create plot outlines" today – working on the structural stuff that will make the whole game easier and faster to write in the future.  Because I only started today it's not finished, but I'm thrilled with the work in progress.  More info soon.

• Still behind on my replies, including to some incredibly helpful messages that I read and absorbed but didn't reply to yet because they were so useful and well thought out that saying "thanks" didn't feel like it cut it, so I didn't even do that yet  :-(
• Some community members have asked about the dangers of feature creep and for some clearer timings on Bangkok.  These are good questions that you deserve a straight answer to and I'll address it in a dev post over the next few days (the delay is just that it's a complex issue and I haven't made time yet to write the progress report – I'll prioritise it, though, because I don't want any Patrons to feel misled about where we are and what's next).

• Have sex (including kinky, fetishised sex that she's not necessarily personally into)
• Dance on a stage
• Seduce NPCs
• Plant bugs and hack devices
• Deceive people
• Flirt
• Meet new people
• Drink alcohol
• Negotiate and persuade
• Physically capture a terrorist

• Learn Muay Thai
• Fight bad guys hand-to-hand
• Shoot bad guys
• Pick locks and break into buildings
• Act in adult movies
• Swim, snorkel, scuba
• Learn to meditate
• Drive cars, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, jet skis
• Look after animals
• Learn to cook Thai food
• Take drugs
• Provide first aid
• Help her friends solve problems
• Do cam shows
• Sing karaoke
• Gamble
• Give presentations & briefings
• Plan and execute intelligence operations
• Stake out locations and photograph suspects
• Detect and evade surveillance
• Pursue or be pursued by her enemies
• Set a table
• Learn to speak Thai
• Give massages
• Write reports
• Research things
• Interrogate suspects
• Oil wrestling
• Withstand interrogation
• Withstand being nipple clamped/butt plugged/spanked etc
• Analyse the brothel's finances
• Etc

Too granular
Imagine if the game had both Sneak and Hide skills.  Writing a stealth scene becomes complex, because you have to write a version for characters who can Sneak but not Hide.  (I guess the guards can't see her until she stops moving. 😀)This solution is too complex.  One Stealth skill would be better design.Too vague
What if the game had only two skills: Action Heroine and Porn Star?  That's superficially attractive because it's so simple, and it broadly covers all the scenarios above.But writing now becomes more complex.  Imagine writing a scene where a thug chases the heroine into a dead-end alley.  You want to give the player a choice – scale the wall and escape, or turn and fight!But if both paths use the Action Heroine skill, the player decision is meaningless – both outcomes have the same chance of success or failure.  The game mechanics can't produce what the writer wants (a genuine decision point) so the writer's job is now a lot more complex.This solution is oversimplified.  Separate Fight and Climb skills would be better design.Just right
We need a skill system that supports a wide range of activities but also doesn't have a skill list that looks like a telephone directory.

• Charisma (social interactions)
• Dance
• Driving
• Firearms
• First Aid
• Hand-to-hand
• Party Animal (alcohol/drugs consumption)
• Sexpertise (skill in bed)
• Sports
• Tradecraft (spy stuff)

• Dance: Cheerleading, Pole Dancing.
• Drive: Car, Motorbike
• Hand-to-Hand: Officer Self Defence, Muay Thai
• Sexpertise: Anal, Deep Throat, Masochist
• Sports: Climbing, Running, Swimming

• You don't need to be a specialist to do simple tasks (like dancing in a nightclub, or riding a jetski).  The heroine uses her Dance or Drive skill for these.
• Some tasks (like pole dancing, or riding a motorcycle) are for specialists.  If the heroine has the Pole Dancer or Motorbike specialities, she can do these things without a problem; again, she just uses her Dance or Drive skill.
• If she doesn't have the required speciality, the task difficulty increases by one level (so a Routine difficulty motorbike task is Hard if you're not a biker).  She still uses the same skill, but she's less likely to succeed.

• Simplifies the skill list.  The heroine now has one Dance skill, not separate levels in Pole Dancing, Cheerleading, Nightclub Dancing, etc.
• Still lets us model the heroine in complex detail.  A heroine with Sexpertise +2 (and no specialities) is great in bed, but will struggle with things she's not into (like deep throating and anal).  A heroine with Sexpertise +0 (and the Anal speciality) is okay in bed, and okay at anal.
  
  A heroine with Sports +0 (and the Climbing speciality) is only moderately athletic, but she does climbing.  She can scale the wall to escape (if her fitness holds out).  A heroine with Sports +3 (no specialities) is very athletic, but has no climbing experience.  She may still be able to climb the wall through her sheer athleticism.

• Simplifying the avatar was the priority this week.  We redesigned the layer architecture in Illustrator, and designed a cleaner way to display the layers in-game.  We went firm on the face and body variables we're planning, and the clever and beautiful Victoria did some clever and beautiful things with 3D models and Illustrator meshes.  A feature I was expecting we'd have to cut (tweaking individual facial features, instead of just picking preset face shapes) has survived thanks to some extra planning by V.  It's looking great, and we'll have something to share with you soon.
• Removing barriers to contribution was also a focus.  I wrote a draft of the streamlined game mechanics, which the whole team is helping to improve, and Hyneman & Lara have been working on some UI & passage code streamlining.
• Improving admin I feel like I only did okay on this...C grade only (but this is an improvement on my usual standard).  I made time for team comms, wrote Patron reports daily, and am moving back towards a healthy work/life balance (because the game needs a better crab).
• Streamlining the writing is the thing I'm most excited about, but other things took priority this week.  I did make some notes and outlines on a few things, but didn't make any significant advances this week.

• I caught up on some of my comms, but I didn't get around to replying to everyone who I wanted to yet – apologies for this.
• Taking last weekend off was beneficial.  I plan to take tomorrow off, and use Sunday just for trying to get caught up with some admin/planning tasks.
• Your feedback on MFAGA and the reports has been encouraging & thought provoking.  MFAGA is still fluid on a few things; more detail to follow soon.
• The next thing we'll release is likely to be a demo of the character creator, so you can feed back on the streamlined avatar.

• Tracking how many minutes have passed in every single passage is tedious for writers
• It adds complexity to the code (e.g. we had to fix lots of bugs related to nightclub closing times)
• It imposes a certain pacing mindset on the writer (this writer, anyway) – if the code forces you to account for every single minute, you can end up writing scenes thinking about what happens in the next minute not what happens next in the story.

Unclear game mechanics. The mechanics of skills & dice rolls feel 85% complete – they’re complete enough for me personally to make them work, but not solid enough for contributors to use.

• I cleaned up the list, refining it to a set of useful skills at a level of granularity I'm happy with
• After some reflection, I cut the overly complex and part implemented "Skill Families" mechanic
• I also streamlined the Secondary Attributes mechanics, and made some related tweaks to the Kinks

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

• Two options for pre-bed foreplay sections (one on the bed, one on the rug)
• Interaction with the room service waiter when he arrives
• An oral sex foreplay section when Max goes down on the agent (who we call "Kate" in the game code)
• A missionary position section with four broad outcomes (Max and Kate come simultaneously; Max makes Kate come; Max comes prematurely; Max *nearly* comes prematurely and has to slow down)
• A conclusion for the mutual orgasm outcome (Kate cleans up the cum shot if necessary, then we move to the next scene)
• A conclusion for the Max premature orgasm outcome (Max tries to finish her off with his fingers, and either succeeds or fails.  If he fails she can optionally fake an orgasm to save his ego.)
• A conclusion for the "Max adjusts his pace" outcome (Kate can either encourage him to take it nice and slow; tell him to just fuck her hard, either because she's really close or because he can make it up to her later; or finger herself to help him out.)
• A second missionary section for the "Max made Kate come" outcome.  The object is now Max's orgasm: in a new mechanic, Kate has a range of options based on her Vaginal Sex skill level ranging from "Let him fuck you" to "(Vaginal Sex +3) Squeeze his cock with your pussy, play with his nipples and talk dirty about where he's going to come".  This section has two outcomes: Max comes or he doesn't.
• A conclusion for the "Max comes" outcome (including a porno-style money shot if Kate talked dirty about it in the prior scene).
• A continuation if Max doesn't come.  He or Kate (depending on an initiative roll) can take off the condom or switch to doggy style.
• Part of the doggy style section.

Moments later, you're on all fours.

• The pace felt much better.  This one line developed the scene faster, and was more interesting, than everything I'd written for the past hour.  It also fit better into the context of the rest of the game, which is something I couldn't have appreciated if I hadn't sat up all night replaying it from the start
• It was way sexier than the previous incredibly detailed account of two people switching positions
• It felt more authentic.  Changing positions in bed just sort of happens most of the time; you don't notice or remember that your left hand grabbed her right hip, then your right hand curled under her left knee...it's not fucking Twister
• It was quicker to write.  Much, much quicker.  😯

• Avatar beauty marks.  Your agent can now have a beauty mark.  (There are six options, modelled on Blake Lively, Elizabeth Taylor, Kate Upton, Madonna, Sophia Loren and Virna Lisi)
• Regional school uniforms.  Your agent's school uniform now varies based on her nationality.

• Nickname/knownas.  Your agent can now go by a shortened version of her name in most social situations.  (I know this sounds like the most pointless feature ever, but with my test agent Charlotte it was surprisingly humanising to hear NPCs calling her "Charlie".)