Esoteric Update NaNoWriMo 14/30 - No, No, Write More

It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, time for my first update after the break and... it will not be a typical one. As you might have noticed from the title, this does not follow the usual numeration. And that's because I'm opting to participate in NaNoWriMo this year.

The novel I'm working on is not directly related to the game (I've considered that but decided I need a change of pace from the project), though it does share many of the same themes. At least in terms of the erotic elements. Otherwise, it's a lighter, social drama-based fantasy story with some twists. Actually, if you want to check out a preview, I've already posted the first six chapters on Discord.

The plan is to spend the rest of the month and maybe the first week of December (there's some editing I'll need to do to make it presentable) on this and then go back to the game. Of course, I'll also make the whole thing available, and as it usually goes with things I make, it will be available for free. I'll be honest; saying this, in particular, that I'll not be returning to work on the game immediately, caused me a fair bit of anxiety.

But I guess it can't be helped.

That said, I did have some time to work on the game. There are some technical details I'm proud of because they are features that are very useful for me in development, and I'm actually quite surprised I didn't make an attempt at it before.

I've also introduced difficulty settings to the game. You can use them to adjust how the game behaves in regards to social and magical challenges as well as to adjust how punishing resource handling is. They are not designed to provide vastly different experiences but rather to tweak the effects of your character-building choices in case some aspect of the game becomes frustrating.

The bottom line is that I am still neither physically nor mentally well, even after the break. But I'm doing my best to get better while trying to stay productive.