Hey guys!  Episode 1.15 is nearly ready for Early Access.  As predicted in last week's report, I need to do a bit more writing.

Jeff sent me the processed avatar art yesterday (and it's looking awesome).  I'm gonna get that coded in next, then finish the writing!  We'll hopefully be able to get it out to Analysts+ next week.

I'm at the point where I can't tell if it's good or bad anymore, which is nerve wracking, but (like Johnny Rico) I always get the shakes before a drop.  You guys can tell me if it's good very Soon™.  🤞🏻😬🤞🏻

Hey guys! I wasn't able to fix all 46 placeholders this week...I did 27, there are 19 left, so this episode isn't ready to release today.

Last week I was hoping that, if it weren't ready today, it'd be ready on the 31st (next Thursday). But I don't want to bullshit you: I need a day to integrate the new art (which is looking greta, lovely Victoria did an awesome job), and I'd be amazed if I can get all 19 placeholders written in just three days. I work long hours but I don't write fast enough. 😔

There is an argument for just releasing whatever I've got, even with placeholders, on the 31st. Then Analysts+ can play the episode in its rough format, and their feedback will help me polish it for the general release 14 days later.

But I want the Analyst+ experience to be hot and interesting when you play it: right now it's still too rough for me to say it's worth your time to play it through. I need a little more time to get it right, so 1.15 will release in April not March.


How's it looking?
It's currently around 10,000 lines of code (with more to come as placeholders and art code are added). For reference: Episode 1.12 (Malaysia) was 6,600 lines; 1.13 (Bangkok) was 8,000; 1.14 (FNG) was 14,000. So this should feel like a big chunk of content.

A big story event happens in the next episode. No spoilers, but 1.15 changes something important for the heroine, and paves the way for a future plot development that is essential. It took some extra time to figure out how to do this and make it hot, but I think I worked it out in the end (with the help of lots of feedback and advice from team and community members).

I lose perspective when an episode is close to release, but I think it's hot when I'm playtesting it. I can't wait to share it with you guys – it just needs a bit more time in the oven before I can do that.


Okay, that's all for this week and I need to sleep because it's 0140 and I want to get in a good day of writing tomorrow! I'm so sorry for announcing a delay but hopefully it will be a short one. I love you guys and I wish I could write faster. 😔

Hey guys! This week I transferred the storyboard into the game engine. Episode 1.15 is now written and (basically) working!

Don’t get it right, get it written
When writing this episode, instead of trying to get every scene exactly right, I sometimes used rough/placeholder text instead. (Example: in one scene I wrote “Add zingy banter” instead of actually figuring out the dialogue. This allowed me to keep working on the events in the scene, instead of stopping to think up some zingy banter.)

There are 46 such placeholders in the new episode: some are just single lines, some need a few paragraphs. I’m going to blast through these next, as fast as I can. Also, some team and community volunteers kindly gave feedback on the storyboards (thanks Behbeh, Koskesh, Falloutbabe, Thorson, Z794, Maid.Queen.Mariam, Amy and some anonymous heroes) which I want to incorporate.

There are also some art tasks outstanding.  Hopefully I can get all this done next week (and start Early Access at the weekend).  But I might need to run into the following week.  I'll do my best.


Storyboards
Last week Anand and Kuroppey asked for more info on how the storyboarding process works. Basically we have a simple template set up in Google Slides, which looks like this:

This design helps curb my tendency to ramble and overwrite (because I run out of space if I type too much). Some text-based games hit you with long walls of words – I’ve always wanted Female Agent to be pithy, although I rarely write as lean as I wish.

Contributors can add comments directly onto the slides. Our illustrator lovely Victoria can see what clothes are required and what the context is – over time she pastes avatar images (and suggested facial expressions) into the scenes. Soon a typical storyboard slide looks more like this:

Note here an example of feedback that led to a direct improvement – in the original version of this scene, I was lazy and glossed over the scene where the heroine (who we call “Kate”) passes through Thai customs. Dissonant Soundtrack called me on this, so I added some dialogue where Kate explains her cover legend (also reïterating it to the player), and an optional “stripsearch” scene that can trigger if Kate is unlucky with her dice roll.


You can check out a past storyboard using the link below.

!!! WARNING !!! this is a Google Slides link, so your Google name might appear on someone else’s screen if you visit while logged into Google!  Sign out of Google first for privacy!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1I3lMpHvNgN4J0KMBxhkOpd3pXQUBvDLMgcrQOwu0fL8/edit?usp=sharing

Hey guys!  This week, I finished the main writing draft for this episode.  At last!  

This episode has been through some contortions to reach its final form.  In each version, the same plot events take place, but it took me a few tries to make them take place in an engaging way.  I'm happy with it now.

I transcribed my draft into a storyboard, organised into 328 passages.

The final step is to convert the storyboard into working game code so you can play it!

Next week, our lovely illustrator Victoria and her production assistant Jeff Monke will be hard at work creating the final art assets, and I'll be hard at work coding the storyboard scenes into the engine.  1.15 will be in Early Access Soon™.

Okay, that's all that happened this week!  I'll work hard and do as much as I can next week, and will report back next weekend.  Have an awesome Sunday.  ❤️

Hey guys!  I'm grateful to those who made offerings to Erato on my behalf, because she blessed me with another greta week.

I think the writing will be ready in 1-2 weeks, which means Early Access is 2-3 weeks away (we need a week or so for technical pre-release tasks).

This week I was working on the new sex scene, and I'm really excited about it.  It isn't coming out anything like I planned, but I think it's super hot. 🔥

Okay, short report this week because I wanna get back to working on the scene.  Have an awesome Sunday everyone, and I'll report on progress next weekend.