Oof, 6 weeks already. Time flies! This week has been quite busy and I didn't get as much done as I hoped I would, but it's mostly for what I'd consider positive reasons! Maybe last week's devlog inspired people who were a little on the fence, but the final slots for character creation have been taken, and I've devoted quite a lot of time to these new characters! Of course, I'm super grateful to anybody helping out, and like I said last week, I think it makes the game better and more exciting since it brings ideas that I would never have had otherwise. I've intentionally limited the number of available character slots not to be overwhelmed, but I will probably add about 5 new ones for chapter 4, when we get to that (no rush, I'm focused on Chapter 3 ^^).

Which kinda brings the question of where this is all going. As much as I would like to continue developing EK forever, it does take a lot of my time, and it means that I haven't really been able to pursue other projects for the past couple of years (in terms of writing and drawing, but also other hobbies). I don't regret it, and it's super fun, but I can't see myself doing this forever. So for now, chapter 4 should bring the story to  a close. Or maybe chapter 5, Who knows! There is plenty I still want to tell, and I would love to raise some money to add voice-acting to the game once the story's over, for instance. Lots of possibilities!

In the meantime, I'm focusing on making something fun! When I create stuff, I do it in a sort of selfish way, in that I make things that I would enjoy. Be it stories, art, games, I make them primarily for me, and I hope that other people will enjoy them as much as I do. So far, I think it worked quite well!

So what went on this week? Sadly, I have made zero progress on the art for the card mini-game. It's not a crucial part of the game and I chose to spend my limited art time on characters. So for now, here are two WIPs:

I think we always need more Orc characters, even in a chapter centred on Dwarves... This is one that I am having a hell of a good time writing, and I think people will have a very clear opinion on her one way or another... Bonus points if you can figure out who she's inspired by...

Orcs haven't been developed much in EK so far, but I have a couple ideas I want to implement with them to make them a bit more distinct from what is normal fantasy tropes. I think Warcraft 3 (and WoW after that) has something interesting going, and that's definitively an inspiration. I'm also wary of casting entire races into one singular mould, so it was important to me that the Quartermaster in the Academy was the first greenskin character we actually met and got to interact with, rather than just being generic enemies. Further Orcish characters should be an extension of that in some way. Peopleare diverse, and I can't see why Human or Elves would be any different.

Now the next one might give us Humies a bad name:

Orcs are great, but humans are fun too! Except when they are give you the crazy eye and start muttering about taking revenge and there being a price to pay… Better stay on the good side of that one... The idea here was to lean a lot harder into the tropes and chainmail bikini the heck out of her X)

It was a good opportunity to play around with textures and patterns, and I think that she looks distinct while integrating very well with the current crop of characters (more on some reworks next week). I won't give too much away, but this is going to be a bit of a special character too, in more ways than one, and I can't wait to hear the feedback on the way she'll get integrated into the game, If it works like I want it to work, I think it will open the door to a lot of possibilities. But I'm saying too much!

It's always a challenge in this devlogs to find the right amount of stuff to show, and to keep enough as a surprise for the players. On the one hand, people reading the devlogs are obviously interested in the behind the scene stuff, but on the other hand, if you're just looking to see how long you've got to wait (a little longer, sorry!), I don't want to ruin any surprises ^^

Now, if I failed to reach my goal with the card art, I did manage to get enough writing done to get to that 15,000 wordcount! About 75% written now, which is pretty good I think!. This is an estimate, of course, and it might run a little longer than the previous chapter, but I want to keep them about equal. Whatever ideas don't make it into this chapter can easily be in the next. The nice thing about writing is that I can do it pretty much everywhere, and I don't need to be at my computer to make progress, which, obviously, is not the case with art.

Next week, I should have quite a lot more free time, so expect lots of progress. Since I'll have more time at the computer, I want to focus on the art. Cards are back on the menu, and I want to finish designing the 7 characters I'm missing for the actual game. After that, I think all character portraits will be done, most backgrounds also, and it will be about finishing up the writing and programming side of things.

The last big part, of course, is all the spanking scenes, but I find that if I don't have the context for them and all the character designs ready, it's usually a very tedious back and forth, so I'm saving myself the hassle and keeping that as a treat for when everything else is ready to go!

It's coming, folks! Thank you for your patience.