0.4.0 Development Checkin and Some Self-Discovery

Hey everyone! It's been a bit since I made a post so I figured it's time for a development check in. I'll also talk about why development ha

Hey everyone! It's been a bit since I made a post so I figured it's time for a development check in. I'll also talk about why development has been slower than in previous updates at the end of the post, which is involves some very personal stuff about myself and my life.

But let's start with the development progress.

At this point in development the update is fully written and it comes in at around 20,000 words. For reference, the game up to 0.3.2 stands at around 64,000 words. Additionally, the dialogue has been fully imported into the engine. This means that I've taken all of the text out of the word processor document I use to write the game's script and put that text into dialogue boxes for the game, given each line of dialogue a character facial expression, and handled the logic gates for variant dialogue. I've also finished creating a new map where a couple of the scenes of week three will take place.

With these tasks completed, I'd say the update is around 75% done. In terms of a timeline, I'm trying to get the game into a playtest-ready state within the next two weeks. Things left to do include choreographing the overworld sprites of characters during scenes and adding some new features.

Also on the docket for 0.4.0 is at least one new full-body sprite for Luca. This time it's of Luca in the casual dress outfit! Here's an outline sketch from the artist (SeiKo093):

I'll post more progress pictures to the Discord server as I get them.

Here's a look at the new dorm lobby map:

That's all for the development portion of this post. As always, thanks for playing and thank you for your patience as I come into the home stretch of this update's development. Keep reading if you want to learn a little bit about why this update is taking longer than usual to be completed.

The short answer is, as I stated in the previous Patreon post, my mental health has been tumultuous at best for the past month or so. The long answer is a little more complicated.

I have been struggling with my gender identity for years now and in the past few weeks it's really come to a head. I had a breakthrough in therapy and I've finally fully admitted to myself that I'm trans. Is this surprising? Probably not. I am making a game about the topic, after all. But it is a big deal for me and has upended my life and relationships in many critical ways that have been challenging, exciting, affirming, and, in a few cases, catastrophic.

In the past two weeks I've started HRT, started taking care of my health, and started coming out to my close friends and family. I took one of those two weeks off from developing Thread to try to get my shit together and mitigate some of this chaos. The results were mixed.

All in all, I can't imagine going back to just two weeks ago. To before I was honest with myself and wasn't taking any steps to deal with my dysphoria. To before I had even fully acknowledged a major root of the depression I've struggled with for most of my life. I can't imagine ignoring the feelings of hatred and disgust I have for my own body for even a second longer. I'm feeling a sense of hope, optimism, and motivation to improve and change that I haven't felt at... well, any other point in my life so far.

That said, as many of you probably well know, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. Transitioning is a hard, gradual, and alienating process. I won't go into details, but I will say that the course I had charted and been traveling along for the past 13 years has been completely and irrevocably altered.

To wrap up all of this rambling, I'll just say that these struggles and the bout of major depression leading up to them have seriously slowed down my development efforts. However, I'm still chugging along and am working very hard on getting the update out as soon as possible.

Thanks taking the time to read all of this. I'll post at least one more development check in before 0.4.0 is released. See you then!