November update
Originally shared: 2020 November 13
Yeesh long time no post! I’ve been avoiding being Online™ with a ferocity but I couldn’t resist sharing some developments I’ve made while spiralling into a depressi— while I have free time from work.Lots of changes, improvements and general visual freshness. I’ve cleaned up a ton of my old dumpster fire code and tidied up the interactive flow; investigations and discussions with students will be relatively non-linear, allowing players to talk to whoever they want in whatever order they wish. It’s a simple addition and the story following is of course the same after exhausting all options, but I’m quite satisfied with what I’ve done on an interactive level. To add to the shiny new interaction sections, I tossed in a bunch of animation because whyyyyyyy not.
Fancy new cutscenes are in the works. You’ll now be privvy to wondrous little details such as ‘what kind of camera Kanon has(Polar••d SX-70- I’m not sponsored lmao)’ because her camera has always been important and I’ve been kicking myself for never explicitly showing it, despite always having the model in my notes. Also we get to see what the bracelets look like (relatively) up close- not that they’re anything particularly special. Revisiting the early parts of the story made me realize how much I asked readers to stretch their imagination on certain scenes. [“I’m an illustrator!” — doesn’t draw]
On a less exciting note: for those who have played up to the most recent chapter, I won’t be putting in a “skip to chapter 3” function. I apologize to those who might not have the willingness to replay the first half. Everything that currently exists in the story still remains but to amend the repeat experience, I, as mentioned before, have added a slew of cutscene art and supplemental text / interactions interspersed throughout that will hopefully give a fuller impression of the story. This is primarily because I want the definitive version to be the prime experience people walk away with, since I believe the (now) old versions pale in comparison. Why would you want to relive a specific point of despair after playing (barring save states), anyway.
It may look like I’m being ambitious with the improvements, but I’m well aware of limits. Although I am slowly closing the gap between Lapse and a relatively true DR game with certain interactive elements, Lapse still remains a kinetic novel above all. I continue to refuse including tedious segments like Debate Scrum or Argument Armament (🙄). What’s left? Hmmm.. Writing has been done for ages but I can never be to careful about weird plotholes, art and coding just take time regardless… I guess what’s left is to just keep chipping away at general polish until it all comes together! The only thing holding me back from barreling straight through to the end is the fact that I’m a human being who needs to eat and sleep and play games sometimes. Phew… It’s kind of daunting to think I’m nearing the end… I can’t set a date for when I’ll publish the finished piece, but I can definitely say it’s nearing finality. Aahhh!!