[p]Hey folks!
Now that the last pieces are falling into to place, it looks like Episode 5 contains roughly 300,000 words of new content for you to explore.
In other words, Episode 5 is about 1/3 the total size of the game to date, and it increases the size of Scarlet Hollow by nearly 50%!
So much of this size is related to branching scenarios, so I wouldn't go into this chapter expecting it to be significantly longer than Episodes 3 or 4. Some playthroughs of Episode 5 will be quite long, and others, depending on the choices you make moving forward as well as the worldstate you bring into it, may be quite short.
It is easily the most replayable chapter to date, designed such that each playthrough should cast fresh light on its events.
For those worried too much about exponential scaling as it relates to the rest of the game's development, I wouldn't sweat it too much. As a reminder, Episodes 6 and 7 are going to bundled together in a way that treats them as a single release,
so we only have one major story update to go after this, which from this point on, we'll be referring to as
The Final Chapters. A big update to be sure, but one whose scope still feels manageable to us. The finish line is in sight!
One of the changes to the game I'd also like to highlight is a rebalancing of the Episode 2 trait save. In brief, it is now keyed to
Street Smart instead of Keen Eye, but this change will
only apply to new saves.
How this will work:
- A trait save in one of the last three episodes that was previously planned to be keyed to Street Smart is now instead keyed to Keen Eye.
- Any new save files made after Episode 5 releases will get an updated version of the Episode 2 trait save that's keyed to Street Smart. This also applies to pre-existing saves so long as they're before the branching point where the teens sneak off.
- Pre-existing save files from after the Episode 2 dilemma will still experience a future trait save as "Street Smart." That is, those files will not be able to experience that future save as Keen Eye (since Keen Eye already had its opportunity in those files) and they will instead get to take an upcoming Keen Eye save as if it were keyed to Street Smart instead.
TL;DR: the game will still continue to play such that each trait only gets one save, regardless of when you made your file. If you really like Keen Eye being keyed to the Episode 2 dilemma, you still have a couple of weeks to make new legacy files that capture this point in your character's history.
Why did we make this change so late into development? We'll talk about it in a devlog down the road, but the spoiler-lite version is:
- Balance from Episode 5 onwards, especially when it comes to the desired secondary functionality of each trait. This swap moves Street Smart in particular much closer to its intended niche.
- In hindsight, the Episode 2 dilemma felt more relevant to Street Smart, and making the swap means that the save should now feel much more active on the part of the main character.
- Similarly. the upcoming save keyed to the swapped traits feels much more in line with the fantasy of a Keen Eye character.
An argument could be made for either trait in either situation, though each has one that's a more obvious pick. I would describe the difference as someone successfully
arguing that their character should be able to take an action in a TTRPG, as opposed to not even needing to make the argument in the first place. Overall, this swap should leave the game in a stronger place moving forward.
Post-release roadmap: There are two main pieces of content that had to be delayed for this release, and our intention is to finish them as quickly as possible before moving on to the final chapters of the game. Both of these should be relatively rare scenes, and them not being in the release build shouldn't have any impact on the vast majority of playthroughs. (Unless Pastor Daniel is your favorite character, in which case, yes, it might have an impact.)[/p]
- [p]One of these scenes is the long-delayed additional "ending" to the clinic sequence in Episode 4.[/p]
- [p]The other is a scene at the church in Episode 5.[/p]
Given the vastly replayable nature of Episode 5, most of you likely wouldn't see this scene on your first run. If you are Guy-Who-Only-Has-One-Save-File-In-Scarlet-Hollow-And-Never-Replays, I would
maybe wait for this update before playing the new chapter. If you are anyone else, I would still play at launch and replay when the update drops.
See you all soon!
Tony and Abby