Game development Trembling Essence update:

 Hi guys and welcome to my devlog! Wishing you all a happy and safe new year! To start things off fresh, I am here with an update to share today! This one will be a little bit long but I tried my best to condense everything. :]

If you would like to play the demo here's a link to it. :]

The start of the game that leads up to the cabin is getting completely reworked. This was something that was going to happen way later into the game's development and this will be talked about in depth on a Master post.

(If you have any questions and/or comments, feel free to send in a ask on my Tumblr or comment them on itch.io as I would like to compile some of them into the post! I'll make another comment about this some time in the future.) :]

As time went on I started revaluating some things when I played the beginning of the game again when I went to do some minor quality of life changes. I realized that a lot of what happens during this segment doesn't match what happens later on in the game since my writing and story telling has improved since then.

This is still up in the air as far as how I want things to go and will require some brainstorming but hopefully everything will turn out the way I want it to! :]

The main part I want to discuss without mentioning spoilers is the way Noah introduces himself to you. My thought process from early January-April of 2023 is completely different to how I want it to go now.

The old/early demo version was going to be more on the horror side and even though there were semi-hints of romance and maybe 2 endings for this which would start around Day 5 or so, it wasn't the entire focus if that makes sense. Without spoilers, this slightly explains why he comes off very distant at the start. Now there's a even balance between both genres which I really had fun writing and working through, I like it as a meaningful slow burn than it just being all over the place. :]

I also didn't like how regardless of what you choose he's still fairly aggressive and is some what condescending the entire time at the start in the demo. This part was actually the second time I redid it because in the old version, he only spoke to you maybe once or twice and that was pretty much it. I want his actions to be based on how you interact with him versus it happening only one way. This will mean more writing but It'll be worth it. :]

Lastly, the two bad endings where Noah finds the player(Y/N) freezing to death/falling off a cliff have been adjusted and Noah no longer finds you in your horrid state. Noah's thought process is different and he wouldn't be that disconnected towards the player(Y/N) to want to see you like that. :,]

That pretty much sums up everything so far! Thank you guys for all of the continued support throughout 2023! I can't wait to see what 2024 will bring and I hope it goes great for you all! :]