Happy October ᨐฅ

I accidentally deleted my Tumblr while trying to delete a side blog, so it's very barren at the moment, and I don't have the energy to fix it right now. I've been low on energy in general, but I'm making steady progress on Grieve to Her Sorrows every day. 

Getting this out of the way first, I've completed the UI for the game and implemented better font readability this time around. While I love stylisation in my games, I need to be mindful of the players' ease of playing. I understand this grievance well because I am a very picky player myself; the absence of basic Ren'Py functions can be bothersome for someone like me. Here's a preview of the updated UI.

I've reworked the entire outline, and it's very different from the original jam version at the moment. The latter part remains the same, but the opening is very different. I expanded more upon Lysidice's relationship with Astraios during these sections. Callithyia will play a slightly bigger role in the latter part as well. I want to focus on the story more than anything for this game, so there'll be no additional gameplay, but the stat variations from the original demo will retain the spirit. I've also reworked what the three paths represent instead. 

In the new version, you can have Antagonistic, Affectionate, and Indifferent. I'm deliberating whether this should be randomised or based on the choices of the player before we can meet Klymenos in-game. I want to write all three in a way that would express different facets of Klymenos, since he will be the main focus of the story. 

Each of these paths will have the same middle, with variations for the scenes, but they have different endings. The game has overall 9 endings, including 1 neutral, 1 ultimate bliss, and 1 ultimate mournful, with each path having a bliss and a mournful ending. The bulk of the wordcount will remain in the variations, so despite the high wordcount, the game will not feel as long.

While taking the time to develop these ideas, I've gotten the chance to expand more upon the lore behind the Divines. There'll be more information on the circumstances behind Lysidice's arranged marriage to Klymenos as well, but it will be dependent on the path you've taken with Klymenos. 

Currently, I'm rewriting the first draft based on the new outline. I should've had it done by the end of October if nothing goes wrong. I will take the time editing and adding more choices/variations afterwards. Once the edits are finalised, I will send the script over to Meow to work on the CG. She will decide which moments need the CG, and I'll work on coding the story during that process. 

Here's a snippet of what's already been written for the script.

Have a nice spooky month.
- Meow Two ^•ﻌ•^ฅ♡