Friday Progress Report
Hello everyone!
This week I made a rather important decision regarding the future development of the project. At some point, I realized that I wanted to completely rethink the approach I originally had for the DLC. So instead of simply adding new content, I decided to rebuild its entire architecture almost from scratch.
I truly believe that the DLC has the potential to be far better than the main game. Perhaps that's just my perspective as the developer right now, but I'll do my best to make sure you feel the same way when it's finally in your hands.
Here's what I managed to accomplish this week:
- Fully planned the overall structure of the DLC.
- Implemented a brand-new quest system with main quests, multiple stages, and optional objectives.
- Started building the story trigger system for quests and events.
- Implemented a new time and weekday system.
- Added a brand-new NPC schedule system. Household members will now live their own lives and move around the house depending on the time of day and the day of the week.
- Almost completely redesigned the architecture of the core gameplay mechanics (money, energy, relationships, time progression, and much more).
- Started working on a new system for permanent interactions with household members (conversations, activities, helping them with various tasks, and much more in the future).
- Planned the main storyline of the DLC almost from beginning to end.
I also have a small teaser for you. Originally, I planned the DLC as a single experience, but during development I realized that doing so would greatly limit both the story and the gameplay possibilities. Because of that, the DLC is now planned to feature three major versions of the story, each allowing you to experience the same events from a completely different perspective.
Of course, they won't be released all at once. I'll be focusing entirely on the first version of the DLC before moving on to the second, and only after that will I begin working on the third.
I also want to mention that I'm building this DLC not only with the present in mind, but with the future of the entire project as well. Many of the gameplay systems currently being created for the DLC will eventually be usable in the main game too. That's why a significant amount of development time is currently being spent on making these systems as flexible and expandable as possible.
To be honest, there was much more work involved than I originally expected. However, I don't regret this decision at all. Right now, my goal is to build the strongest possible foundation for the DLC so that I won't have to constantly revisit and rewrite old mechanics every time I want to add new content in the future.
Plans for Next Week:
- Release a small update for the main game.
- Fix the bugs that have been reported.
- Polish parts of the CSS and the game's interface.
- There will most likely be no major additions to the main game this week.
- Continue working on the DLC and start filling the completed systems with actual content: scenes, dialogues, interactions, and quests.
Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to every single one of you for supporting this project. Because of your support, I'm able to take my time and make the game exactly the way I envision it. I want every new update to be better than the last one, and the DLC is by far the most ambitious stage of development this project has seen so far.
I truly hope you'll enjoy what we're building together.
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