First things first.

Had to be done.

Now for the boring stuff. Another week, another ~2500 words. The main interactive part of the second Trial is basically done. My preliminary testing even shows it’s more or less balanced as-is, so hopefully it won’t need tons of tweaking before I can drop it into the build. That said, I seriously doubt in-game December will be ready by the end of real-life December. Even if I stop right after the Trial ends (which I’ll almost certainly have to do, because there’s another fairly big event planned for December), I still won’t have enough time to write, translate, and properly test everything. On top of that, not all the required December events are finished yet. The notification for the second Trial + the follow-up conversation with Eric is already done, but the letter from home and a small seasonal event describing how changing of seasons affects the life in Tír na nÓg, or more precisely, why it doesn't change all that much… those still need to be written.

I’d call my current pace pretty solid, but it still feels like this Trial is taking forever. Then I remember that the Trial of Mind took me four whole months, and I’ve only been actively writing the second Trial for less than two months. Perspective, I guess.

I’m also still chipping away at the “progress acknowledgment” events for classes. Finished another one for Conjuration this week. Next in line will probably be Magic Theory or Dueling, since those are still the only classes without any extra random events. Also I have gotten several nice ideas to build upon from our supporters for Mooney's class, so that’s one more reason to start there.

Speaking of outside help: last week one of our supporters stepped up and offered proper editorial help, and they’ve already done an amazing job polishing some of the major plot-related events. It’s insane how many tiny issues you miss in your own text and how much a couple of small tweaks can improve the flow. Applying the edits to the actual game files does eat into writing time, but it’s 100 % worth it in the long run.

Shady Character Two was busy with her own things this week. No, she didn’t finish Gwen’s intro art. No, she didn’t keep working on Aisling’s sprite. But she was working on some glow-up for Violet's storyline, specifically her signature library background. Here’s a quick WIP preview:

Well, we did promise to focus on Violet’s route for a while, so I can’t really complain about the pivot. And if inspiration keeps flowing, she’ll probably still manage to finish everything else too.

Did I forget anything? Probably. If I did, you’ll hear about it next week or in the update notes anyway.

See you next week!

Shady Character One, out!