Y'alright there? Staying cool? Keeping out of trouble? Wearing sunscreen? You're keeping topped up with water, right? Been outside for some fresh air? You eaten recently? Worn something that makes you feel good? Danced euphorically? Told someone close to you that you loved them? Felt the unrestrained joy toward the wonder of life by gazing hypnotised at a butterfly's wings pulsing chaotically as it rests on a drying lavender bud? Eaten cheese? You should eat cheese, it's good.
We begin, as all good updates ought, with a comic involving smooching boyfriends.
I started making that two months ago. That says quite a lot about my life right now.
Speaking of which, games! I gave fair warning last time of my intent to focus a smidge more on game-making. Fortunately the overwhelming, record-breaking heatwave we've been enduring gave me a wonderful excuse not to do anything else. I've started setting up a little October & Co mystery which, as of two hours ago, has a theoretically completable demo. It does, however, look like this:
So it's basically done, right? I'm at the point right now where the programming's going well but, having never written a mystery game before, I'm struggling to find the right balance of story, puzzles, twists, dialogue, agency, solvability, etc. I know it's only a demo but I would like this little introductory puzzle to actually, you know, be fun.
Hopefully soon enough I'll be bounding with over-confidence into streaming the asset-making for this: Backgrounds, characters, music, much elbow-grease needs smearing in order to get this off the ground. In the forthcoming weeks I want to make a full project plan for what remains of the demo and give an estimate for when it may come out, or at least how many hours it should take. Oh, and here's the traditional difficult-to-read devlog:
As for miscellanea, I've added a few helpful features to my little corkboard program, primarily to help me write the mystery game. I've been doodling along with my Pokémon RPG character's adventures, since she wants to draw 'em all rather than catch 'em. Also snatched spare seconds contribute a little to an ongoing 'Bark vs. Bite' alignment chart thingummie which will seemingly take quite some time to complete. 25 squares, woe is me.
For leisure I've been listening to everyone's favourite Quebecois aliens Angine de Poitrine and learning as much of their song 'Fabienk' as I can play on a guitar that's missing half the frets they have.
I've also been slowly trundling through my much-delayed Doctor Who series 11 watch-thruff. "Arachnids in the UK" was fun goofy horror with a surprisingly botched moral quandry, "The Tsuranga Conundrum" was baby's first Star Trek, and "Demons of the Punjab" was everything I wanted "Rosa" to be. Next up is "Kerblam" and I've heard... interesting things.
And thus we waddle on into the twilight to the evening distractions we call 'streams'. When the heat is off our progress through Ace Attorney: Justice for All goes as smoothly as running through the backrooms with a blindfold can be expected to. When the sun's antagonism wins out, we take time to instead doodle some Doctor Who villains from memory and, for good measure, rank them against one another.
Weekends see us plundering the spooky depths of haunted houses in the Grim Hollow RPG, before grounding ourselves in the reality of make-believe with Sunday friend doodlage. This fortnight my doodles can be summarised as 'Saltarello and Tidds'. Separately, of course.
So what are my plans for the following fortnight, I hear you ask in a way that's medically concerning? I'll pick up a new short comic to hopefully complete by the next update, alongside more game work in solidifying the tutorial's story, implementing ease-of-use mechanics and making placeholder artwork. Streams continue although the approaching end of Phoenix Wright is bubbling in me the desire to start up a new drawthrough. Besides all of this, advertising (and hopefully undertaking) commissions is a top priority and any spare time will be spent assembling footage for a new long-awaited stream highlight video. And staying cool. It's gonna be a hot one again.
How about you? What are you up to for the next fortnight? I rarely ask any questions of you in these because I don't expect anyone to read them, let alone post their personal answers publicly. But it's worth asking if only to give you a little excuse to do some light advance-planning. Lord knows I need reminding.
And so we stumble out the other side of another lengthy diversion from that thing we're all really meant to be getting on with right now but just need a break for once, you know? An exuberant thanks to my supporters who are helping me keep my rent tracker ever so slightly below where it should be. That sounds bad, but trust me, it's better than it has been. Commissions remain open and I'll be pestering my socials with them forthwith!
Whatever you choose to do, or whatever life chooses for you, I hope you stay cool, comfy, well-fed, goodly-watered, high-spirited and just a little mischievous.
Look after yourselves,
Crispy 💜