I've already teased that I'd be changing the way I handle updates a little, let me explain what exactly I mean.

Until now, I've always developed my games in a linear fashion. I simply advanced the entire plot, mechanics and individual character routes at the same time. For example: A new update in MIST typically featured a few new quests, a few new hangout events with the girls, and a few new rooms in one of the explorable areas. I advanced all the individual elements of the game at the same time. Basically every update was like a new episode in a TV show.

I had planned to do the same for Children of Morn, but with the last two updates I noticed a problem. With the increased care I put into every element of Children of Morn, the increased amount of renders and custom backgrounds, the improved sound design, the new UI, every mechanic and even the way I pose the character now, take more time than they did before. Add to it, that the gameplay for Children of Morn will be a bit different than MISTs.

MIST basically had one large story where everyone participated and a few hangout events with the girls. Children of Morn is gonna be a bit different. While you still have the overarching main story of the game that involves all the characters, the individual characters will now get more room for their personal plots. You already saw a glimpse of that with Ennas first date event. These individual stories will be quite important for the main plot too, so they will be more substantial than MISTs hangout events.

But what does that mean for my update schedule? To make it simple, Children of Morn has too many different plots to develop them all at the same time. Releases would be very slow and you'd get maybe a single date event for every girl and a little chunk of main story with every update (Remember that Enna and Moran won't be the only girls in the game). That's why I'll have to switch to a slightly non-linear update schedule, where I focus on individual strands of plot bit by bit. An example: In update A, I focus on Ennas Dates. In update B, I focus on Morans Dates. In update C, I keep advancing the main plot. In update D, I only add new gameplay mechanics and fixes.

What are the benefits? Doing it this way allows me to deliver content more quickly while still keeping plots coherent. I'm planning to do releases every 2-3 months this way, instead of the 4-6 months we had before. And because all individual stories will tie back into the main plot at the end of every chapter anyways, you can still enjoy the story in it's chronological order when playing every single update and if you only play every other update, you might not even notice the change. Another huge benefit is that I can get feedback more quickly. Developing half a year without any outside feedback can make it really difficult to accurately judge what you are doing. I become blind to my own work and it's frustrating. That's why I'm also looking forward to getting more direct feedback, making it a lot easier to do changes and adjustments.

In summary: Updates will be more focused on advancing one plot at a time until they tie back together to be in chronological order at the end of every chapter. This will allow for more frequent releases and feedback. While playing new releases you won't have to worry about missing content or playing out of order and if you don't play every new release you might not even notice the change. I'm hoping this change will be good for everyone. With more frequent, high quality updates that can still be played without any worries towards missing or skipping content and the chance for me to get more direct feedback and not having to drop the quality I'm going for because of time constraints.

Let me know what you think about this change! I'm eager to see how it will work out and make adjustments accordingly. That's it from me, I'm off to work on the game again. Have a nice week everyone and you'll hear from me soon!