(a delightful and not appalling) Arc 3 Progress Update

Greetings and salutation, my fine-feathered friends. I have returned! And much quicker than last time because I'm finally being all rEsPoNsIbLe and getting a new devlog out before a gajillion and one days have passed. But I digress. I made one of these progress update devlogs for Arc 2, so figured I should make one now for Arc 3 since DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN————

H-H-H-HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? —You may ask, with awestruck trepidation choking your phlegm-ridden throat. Honestly, I don't have the answer. I guess I just got in the Zone™.

At any rate...

As I've said a few times now—to the point where you probably wanna slap me in my little carrot face and tell me to get to the point—these middle arcs of the game all represent possible "paths" Iggy could try while attempting to MacGyver a solution to the Newly Created Hell that is his and his friends' childhood wonderland. In Arc 2, Iggy called Genzou before shit hit the fan, which sprung him somewhat forcibly down a path in which he needed to come to terms with his own fears regarding relationships, intimacy, and all that jazz (because our sometimes-lovable protagonist is a poor confused ace bean). Now, in Arc 3, you'll get to see what happens if Iggy were to call Orlam instead. And considering Orlam is everyone's favorite resident cannibal, you can guess that things are gonna get A Little Bit Fucked.

I have been SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD at trying to not reveal anything more than that so far because I really think this arc needs you to go in having little clue as to the direction it's heading. But it has been Hard™. Mostly because every other CG I draw either rends my heart into molecular-sized pieces, makes me feel like a Damn Dirty Dog, or reveals a horrific part of me that I probably should have kept under lock and key for 6,000 years, and I just wanna TALK ABOUT IT BUT I CAN'T. 

*chokes and cries*

But soon... SOON™. Because as I said before, I am Close™.

WHICH SEGUES NICELY INTO THE NEXT SECTION.

What DO I mean by "close"? Let's take a look-see...

• Writing: 99% complete. I know I said in the previous devlog that the writing was finished, but that was a lie just for the base draft. Since then, I've been tweaking, polishing, and adding new things while coding, adding a whole bunch of cHoIcEs, and have also written one of two death scenes. At this point, I think the only thing I have left to write is the final death scene.
• Art: 90% complete.  All normal CGs are finished except for one for the aforementioned death scene I haven't written yet. The bulk of the remaining art work is for the ending sequence, which I think is about 50% done now??? Hard to judge as the ending sequence is a bit different from Arcs 1 and 2, so I don't actually know how much art the rest of it will require...
• Coding: 95% complete. All coding is done now except for the rest of the ending sequence and the final death scene. Oh yeah, and I'll need to update the credits.

.............wait a minute, just realized I also still need to write and code a new waking up scene, so add like 0.5% to all of those LOL YOLO

My face when I think about all the other small things that I'm probably forgetting but still need to do.

Last week I pushed out some Sweet Facts about Arc 3 over on Twitter, so to finish up this devlog, I'll revisit some of those in a bit more detail here now that I actually have the s  p  a  c  e to do so (280 characters can bite my ass).

1. Arc 3 will only have 2 deaths. I KNOW. I KNOW. YOU ALL WANT THAT GORY GOODNESS. And actually going into Arc 3, I was planning on having the same number of deaths as Arc 2. HOWEVER. I ended up quite liking how two specific ones played into the kind of overarching ~theme~ of the arc. And adding the other more-random ones on top of those felt like it detracted from it slightly. So I decided to just stick with those two. I realize none of this makes much sense when you have no idea what I'm talking about so I aPoLoGiZe. Also, I worked on one of the death scenes yesterday and I apologize for that, too. In advance. For what you'll eventually witness. Because wow what is wrong with me. *flies into the sun*
2. To make up for having only 2 deaths, I went all-in when it came to other dialogue choices, so you'll still get to Have Fun and Bond with your beloved friends. Obviously, the majority are for Monsieur Cannibal, but you'll also get the chance to keep workin' things with Gidget and Genzou a bit, too. Oh and also a SOOPER SEKRIT set of points for a SOOPER SEKRIT possible ending.
3. Arc 3 will have 36 CGs!! Not counting the ending sequence!! THAT'S REDONKULOUS. Why did I draw so many CGs? I don't know. Probably because I was pining for The Ratman. H-he just looks so cute and murderous in his little s-s-suit and I may or may not want him to e-e-eat me... *weeps* ON THAT NOTE. Arc 3 contains what I think is probably the goriest CG I've drawn so far. Though I may not be the best judge because nothing feels gory when you draw it yourself. I'm dEsEnSiTiZeD. ON A SECOND NOTE. Th-this arc will show a bit more, uh, skin for some characters *sweats* Nothing shown obviously because this is not an 18+ game but definitely more than in previous arcs. TAKE FROM THAT WHAT YOU WILL.
4. I mentioned this earlier, but the ending sequence for this arc will be a bit different than the ones for Arcs 1 and 2. Those had essentially one long sequence set to music—Arc 3 won't have that, mostly because it's a bit more multi-part. I think this is actually good though because it changes things up a bit. Gives it a different ~feel~. There's still plenty of art obviously. In fact, the Arc 3 ending sequence art is some of the most time-consuming art I've done so far as it's more... complex... I guess. I don't know. You'll have to wait and see LOL I think it's turning out nicely so far though, and it's been a fun change of pace.

Aaaaaaaaaand that's probably enough for now and I am le tired.

Wait, in all that rambling, I still haven't talked about when it'll actually be released.

WELL.

I still don't have an exact 100% date yet—but at this point, I can pretty safely say latter-half of next month. My plan is to (hopefully) finish up the last bits in the next few weeks. After that, a few weeks for beta-testing, making any last fixes and tweaks, etc. Then, of course, we'll need some kind of Grand Countdown on Twitter. So yeah, barring any sudden life changes or external complications, that's the ballpark. And that will get it out before the Queer Games Bundle launches in June, too, so!! Probably then this will be the last devlog before the release.

AS A FINAL NOTE.

We're closing in on 500 downloads, which is honestly mind-boggling to me considering that in the last devlog less than a month ago, we'd only just reached 300. My little carrot heart is bursting with love and joy and beta carotene because it's been such a long road of STRUGGLES since the release of Arc 1 last December to get any sort of visibility. I'm so glad that people are playing and enjoying my (sadistic) (horrific) (not pleasant at all) little game!!!!! I'm planning on doing some art for 500 once we reach it. Most likely something not appropriate to the tone of the game, like a beach scene. BECAUSE SOMETIMES YOU JUST WANNA HAVE FUN AND DRAW A BEACH SCENE AND LET YOUR CHARACTERS BE HAPPY AND NOT MUTILATED FOR ONCE.

So anyway, that's on the horizon, too.

To close this long-winded devlog up, here's the new sweet sweet title screen for Arc 3—BLASTING ITS WAY ONTO YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN SOON.

Actually I lied there's one more thing I want to share and it's Very Very Important:

Lol OK now that this devlog has officially entered redonkulous territory, I'm peacing out.