Trembling Essence Devlog 5:💙WHY ARE WE BACK IN THE SWAMP?!?💙

Hi and welcome new followers, doesn't feel like it's been a month since the last update but here's how things are going! :]

This update will probably be a little small. I was trying to catch up with asks, drawing, etc. but I wasn't able to get to everything and I became very busy afterwards. :,,]

*Also, the Trembling Essence: 😤💪April fools 👁️👃👁️mystery event[NOT CLICKBAIT]?! will be delayed since I got too busy to work on it. :,,[

BACK IN THE SWAMP!!?!? NOOOO!!!:

I mentioned this a little bit in previous posts but the very start of the game will be about 60-80%(?) different from the [Extended Demo] since my writing and story telling improved. I only have 2 CG's and one alternate route with a timer bug that needed to be finished. I took a break from all of this months back to avoid burn-out but I thought it would be a good idea to go and finish it all up since it kept being mentioned! :D

Game fixes:

Even though things are still prone to change, I want to make sure whatever future update(s) I give towards the [Extended Demo] is something that won't be changed outside of minor things like grammar, bugs, etc and is more in canon with what I truly want for the game. Now that I'm getting better at what I truly want I've been cutting out stuff that isn't as necessary as I originally thought it would be and calming down on the habit of over-doing things. This makes it easier for me to adjust and not deal with burn-out. :]

Choice updates:

I'm only going to talk about the choices that got major updates to keep this short.

I went through each ending one at a time and adjusted as I went. I combed through some of the dialog and fixed the long pacing by combining sentences and/or removing 'dialog fluff'. Another thing I've been doing is fixing all of the out of place SFX's that happen in certain paths.

The cave:

Originally, there was going to be 3 endings for this but I removed 1 and changed how the player(Y/N) reacts to being in this area. I had to use a old screenshot since the other one I used kept getting taken down. This one was a little tricky to fix since there's a new scenario here but most of everything else prettyyyy much stayed the same. :]

The Creek:

This one has only 1 ending now instead of 2 and the player(Y/N) reacts differently here. This was easier to update but a CG was removed towards the end since I have a different way of approaching this area in the future. >:]

The Chasm:

Speaking of endings, this one was heavily fixed.

To sum it up, it took a really long time to get to this ending since the player(Y/N) was continuously venturing through the terrain. Believe it or not but this one was actually a lot longer before I removed a chunk of the path previously. Some time ago I said the ending was awkwardly abrupt and I didn't like that but now that I have better clarity I toned it down even more. The player(Y/N) will wander but.. just not as long this time. :,]

A CG that was added here has been removed and placed elsewhere. This was unexpected but I'm happy about this because it adds to the immersive gameplay I enjoy adding and it happens to matches the atmosphere! :,D

Timer bug fix:

It's time(:P) to talk about this small addition to the game!

These timers won't be used that often but they'll be in places where I feel the situation requires quick decision making. There's a path you can get that includes a timer but somehow it got bugged and even though it didn't crash the game it pushed the player(Y/N) into a false route(?) with Noah which was pretty funny but not suppose to happen. In really good news, it was an easy fix and I am grateful it wasn't something that would leave me having to start over. :P

There's 2 more endings I need to get through but these shouldn't take too long to complete. Most of what I saw that needed fixing was fairly minor. :[]

Back into the cabin! YESSS!!:

This section will be short since I was mainly brainstorming with my play testers about the cabin section throughout this month and mainly focused on dealing with finalizing the beginning of the game after I paused midway through fixing up the morning route. I also plan on talking about the cabin in a future game development post that will be split into two in May since the whole idea of what's going on behind the scenes will be really long most likely. Woohoo! :[]

From the recent polls I've created, I brainstormed how to go from this section of the game, specifically the "Talk to Noah.", "Look around.", "Go to sleep.", and another choice which is still up in the air. It's been difficult since these choices stem from very old and outdated code/routes that contained spoilers, etc. This specific section of the game is a personal memory so I'm trying my best to avoid removing these choices specifically due to that. :,D 

In good news I managed to have a conversation with both of my play testers about everything and where to go from this. I expressed ideas on how to move forward with the choices and they gave feedback when I was having writers block. :,,,,]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. I will most likely spend this time going through and catching up on everything I missed. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask [here] or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

This update is getting fairly long so I'll stop here. Thank you guys for the continued support and influx of downloads for the [Extended Demo]! I wasn't expecting much since I've been busy, I appreciate a whole bunch! :,]