thanks for taking the time to write out all this 💚 i'll do my best to answer all this accurately. keep in mind some things may change over the course of development.
fwiw, i am working on this solo, which presents some challenges to scope as well as certain features beyond my abilities. but i have learned a lot from the first Brush Burial. i have much more expertise to apply to this game. anyway, on to your questions:
- the second and third acts will hopefully be about as long as the first one, in terms of time to complete. they may be a little larger in scope, judging by the current progress i've made on act 2. bear in mind, act 1 (the one in the demo) will also be recieving some more content before release as well.
- the lore of the game will be developed further through seemingly mundane and inconsequential interactions with regular, unremarkable people living in it. the world has a lot going on, but i choose to present it modestly. for now, that's the most i can say with any confidence.
- i have a couple things in mind. for now, the only other major innovation didn't get much spotlight in the demo, though it is working under-the-hood, and that is the addition of more complex behavior for neutral NPC's. act 2, which i am currently working on, will be more focused on this aspect of the game. few other new features are planned right now. i'm mostly interested in building on Brush Burial 1's strengths and making a better game out of what's already here.
- Brush Burial 2 will not include a puzzle dungeon or any other primarily puzzle-based encounter along the critical path.
- i'm not entirely sure what you mean by the sliding mechanic as it relates to sneaking, but i would say don't expect a total overhaul of stealth. i'm constantly tweaking values to make it feel better, but i am unlikely to do another full rework for this game, beyond what i've already done to improve it from the first game. if sliding feels overpowered, i could easily just tweak some values to make it so you're discovered quickly while sliding.
- i'm considering it, but i won't make any promises. first person animations are not a major focus of mine at the moment.
- i hope to add a third person idle mode that can be triggered at will. the functionality is there, but the animations currently aren't. it will be in the game by release. bear in mind as well that customization in the full game will be accessed through a menu rather than picking full outfits off-the-rack as seen in the demo. that was a temporary way of giving the player some options before the full customization system has been implemented.
- i haven't played enough of the dark project to answer this confidently. there will be NPC's who ask the player to do little minor things for them, and there may be rewards for doing those things. but those rewards will likely be in service of completing the main objective. i also hope to add some short-and-sweet side missions to the game, in the form of smaller standalone levels that can be completed quickly. time will tell if this feature will be within the game's scope--it would be the first thing to get cut if development runs longer than id like.
- currently, i have no plans to implement any maps into the game. it's a nice idea though. i will take note.
- i kinda just add new items on a whim, when i have a fun idea. i intend to keep doing so. i've been thinking the game has a lack of explosives--it'd be fun to add a couple more. the functionality is there; it's just only used for the Shredder grenades, which are currently rare. thinking some sort of satchel charge could be fun...
- Brush Burial 2 will focus more on Fennel and their relationship with Sigg. this is by no means a Narrative Game, but i'm deeply bothered by the narrative of the first game and how little i was able to do with it. time will tell what shape this game's narrative will take, and how it is presented. don't expect anything too fancy. it's not gonna have an epic overarching plot with twists and turns. but i want to do better than the first game, which i honestly feel a little embarassed about, narratively.
- Brush Burial 2 is set about a decade or so before the first game. it is the same world and Fennel is the same person.
as it stands right now, act 2 is shaping up to expand on act 1 in a meaningful way. the gameplay will likely continue to be a key hunt, but the way that key hunt is presented / accomplished is going to complexify. you'll see. in the meantime, i hope the demo was to your taste. i believe it's a good represenation of the game's fundamentals. my focus this time around is on taking what i have and constructing good levels around it, rather than trying to innovate beyond what is absolutely necessary.
thanks again for all your in-depth questions. lmk if you have any others, or if any of my answers didn't make sense or need clarification. 💚