Development Update 3 (days 21-33):
Once again the rest of my life demanded my attention so I didn't make as much progress as I'd like. But I did make some progress.
Story Progress:
I've picked names for the characters, though I'm not 100% set on either of them. I can always find-replace them later if something better comes to mind.
The player character is now Rebecca (only her girlfriend gets away with calling her Becca, and no one calls her Becky).
The girlfriend is now Jennie (short for Jennifer, but she prefers Jennie).
I've put in some rough-draft versions of the 9 possible stress events. For now, they are quite simple, like "You're so stressed out that you can't handle conversation right now. You ask Jennie to leave."
All the parts of your waking life are similarly intentionally brief and distant in order to highlight how your waking life has become disconnected while your dreams are full of vivid detail. Each day consists of:
- A brief health update, describing how you feel, and how long you slept.
- A bit of conversation with Jennie.
- A chance at a stress moment which reduces one of your stats. (10% chance per Stress point)
- Another bit of conversation before you fall back asleep.
Engine Progress
I had a breakthrough with the Twine tool, allowing me to drastically simplify the story layout. I replaced all 15 Day passages with a single list of text variables which are called dynamically by the Day master-passage. In addition to saving space and preventing tedious edits to 15 passages, this allows me to see all the Jennie conversations at once, which should make it easier to align their tone and content.
Nights are still their own passages, since they'll branch off into even more passages. Each one is a mini visual novel of sorts.
Balance Progress
To make balancing simpler, I've decided to cap each dream at a net total of -1 to +1 stats. This means you could lose 1 Care on the first decision, then gain 2 Drive on the next, for a total change of +1. (Stress will be inverted for this rule, since it's the only stat where more is worse)
In tandem with that decision, I've also decided to keep dreams other than the first massive one down to 2 or 3 branches. This will keep the scope of the game to something I can finish in the remaining time.
Remaining Work (in approximate order)
- Brainstorm 15 more dreams, some shorter and some longer
- Implement said dreams' structure, and write in rough-draft text
- Write the brief daytime conversations
- Add dream stat changes (adhering to the new "Total 1" rule)
- Test the nightly stat change formulas, and balance the dream stat changes to tune game difficulty.
- Recolor the UI, which is currently white text on black. Possibly make it change based on the dream.
- Polish the rough draft writing
It's a fair amount of work, but nothing I can't handle by the 31st if I buckle down and set a couple full days aside. See you on my next update, hopefully around the 10th.