Chapter 5 - Devlog 2 (+ Hiatus Announcement)

Hello everyone!

Another month, another devlog.

But before talking about Chapter 5, let’s get the bad news out of the way first!

March Hiatus

Without going into personal details, February was kind of a difficult month, and I’ll need to spend some time fixing a couple of things.

While I still plan to set some time aside for the game, I can’t say I’ll be able to do so regularly…

That’s why I felt the need to announce a hiatus for the duration of March.

Of course, billing for supporters will be paused during that time.
And I’ll keep you informed when I get back to a normal schedule.

What's Been Done?

(Note: More details below)

Filled the Gallery with all current renders (minus layered assets)
Fixed a few issues with the Gallery’s code
Chapter 5 writing (mostly) finished

About the gallery

Last time, I said the Gallery was fully functional…
But after starting to add more renders, I encountered a few logical issues and had to revamp the whole thing.

Now everything’s working as it should, with all current renders available to view.

I still need to think about a few things, like what criteria I should use to group certain renders together, or what to do with layered assets…
Though I’ll probably wait for your feedback post-release before deciding.

But really, thank goodness I didn’t wait until the last moment to work on the Gallery.
That would’ve been the kind of last-minute issue that delays the whole release.

About Chapter 5

This new chapter’s length is currently on par with Chapter 4... but that’s before adding the renders and the few adjustments that come after, and those always add a lot more lines.

At the moment, I’m not entirely satisfied with how the chapter is divided, so I might merge or add some events. Don’t be too surprised if the final event count isn’t the same.

Chapter 5 will follow a more “classic” romcom vibe, though judging by how previous chapters have gone, I’m pretty sure it’ll still manage to surprise you :p

Discord's Age-verification

Yup... not going into too much detail, as I think everyone who cares is already aware…
But Discord’s new age-verification system will certainly impact us too.

And while I still trust Discord a bit more than French government websites…
I’d probably trust that Nigerian prince spamming my inbox first before handing my ID card to a ""trusted"" third party.

If this becomes unavoidable, I’ll probably give up Discord for an alternative.

Though I’m no pioneer.
So for now, I’ll simply make a few minor changes to the server and wait for the storm to pass, I guess.

But yeah... first the Itch situation right after my page got indexed, then the Discord thing right after the server was created…
What do you think I should invest my time in next?
I’ll make sure to bring a full regulation package with me.

What's next

Making new maps (quite a few, actually)
Making new outfits (around 5–6)
Improving some parts of Chapter 5 (writing, pacing)
Then starting work on the renders

The Scene Scribbles for this chapter will start after the hiatus is over.

But if I manage to make enough progress, I might come back with another devlog before they begin.

ETA?!!!

One month of hiatus, then probably two more months of work after that?

So… May? June?

Should I just go for a full year of development hell??

And that's all for today!

Thank you for following and supporting RomCom:Divergence, and to everyone playing along!

While this hiatus wasn’t planned, I’ll do my best to deliver the next chapter within a reasonable timeframe.

And I hope to see you again in April... or maybe even a bit sooner?

Thank you for your time.

-Haptales

P.S. Join the discord here: https://discord.gg/PRFGVqjWXV

rcd

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Haptales