Development Update 1 (days 1-10):
Inspiration struck before the jam formally started, so I got a bit of a head start which was mostly spent learning the Twine tool and its quirks (Harlowe 2, specifically).
Since then, I've gone through several iterations of the Twine layout. The first was a giant snarl of interconnected scenes (with each ending of every night's branching story connecting via an arrow to the next day), that I knew wasn't going to be manageable. I found a way to collapse every day into a single "passage" that actually acts as a server of sorts, picking which conversations to display based on the number of elapsed nights. Now each Night/Day can be off by itself without making a tangle of arrows.
Here's the current layout:
I also spent some time working on the game's HUD, which shows the player's current stats at all times, and highlights any recent changes. My first version was using some very rookie and inefficient programming and added a several second delay to rendering new scenes. I got some help on the Twinery Questions site and made it much faster.
Here's an example of the HUD in action (showing a recent increase in the Drive stat):
Story Progress:
I've fully written the first night, during which you dream of being a knight in shining armor. Your village is attacked by a dragon, and how you choose to react can lead to numerous outcomes, ranging from you terrified and fleeing on horseback to you having celebratory drinks with a lovely lady. Each path changes your stats too, but those numbers will need to be adjusted later for balance.
I've also written 4 endings, in rough-draft quality. There's an ending for each combination of Recover or Not, and Breakup or Not.
Remaining story work:
I need to create the remaining ~15 nights, fill in the comparatively simple ~15 days, and write in some flavorful outcomes for the Stress events (where you can lose a random stat if you are too stressed out).
I also need to pick character names. So far, candidates include Debra or Tulah for the player and Mira for the girlfriend. I'd rather not have both women's names end so similarly, so I need to keep searching for something I like. I'm open to suggestions as well!
Balance Progress:
I want the game to require conscious effort to reach the good endings, so I need to balance all the stats you can gain.
To assist in that, I made an Excel document that models the game's formulas over time. I can plug in the player's stat changes and see the resulting timeline to Recovery/Death/Breakup instantly. In addition to informing me on how many stats I should give out per night, it alerted me to some issues with the Health/Relationship formulas I had been using, so I adjusted them.
Here's an example, with some stat changes populated for days 1-6:
I plan to continue to use this tool as I write each Night's content, to make sure that an interesting range of outcomes can occur on each playthrough of In Dreams.