Hello all!!
As melancholy as the past few updates have been, we actually have some GOOD news this time around!! Have things gotten easier and life become smoother? Not at all!...but I have a (planned) release date for the final Chapter of Kedemara: The Orphan's Ballad! And that date is October 31st 2025!! =)
It would have been nice to release it on Oct 30th (since Chapter 1 released Oct 30th, 2019), but I wanted the weekend to fix any bugs that may come up after release. While folks may be busy dressing up and partying on the 31st of October, maybe they'll have some time on Saturday to play while recovering from partying ;-)
CURRENT STATUS:
The hard status on Ch 6 progress right now is that all the major story eventing and arrangement has been done and connected. There are some living history segments that still need testing/refining, combat still needs config and adjustment, and of course there's the polishing of side activities or story to enhance the experience. What was supposed to be a 4-5 hour Chapter has likely ballooned into something far larger....but it IS the last one!
Plenty of second-guessing and anxiety persists in how the ending will be received, and while none of the Playtesters has viewed it yet, I certainly hope they will find Deirdre's story to be enjoyable and uplifting. Many people have expressed how much they enjoyed Chapter 5 and I certainly hope Chapter 6 delivers in the same way. It may take a lot of continued sweat and tears to make the Oct 31st deadline, but I certainly hope the motivation to complete this helps me push through.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
In keeping with the tone of Chapter 5, there will continue to be a careful balance of joy and sorrow, as we all face during life as we age. I certainly hope I can maintain the same pace and quality as before, despite the rather trying setbacks I've run across the past year.
Some of the living history segments have been condensed, where the 2nd chapter of their story would have been too short, I've combined a few with their later ones to make their length more consistent. Here is the final count on what you'll be able to expect from the living history segments in Chapter 6...
King Robert MacLeod has three total Chapters
Prince Edgar has three total (two from someone else's perspective)
King Phillip has three total
Queen Cora has two total (last one is sort of a "secret")
Lady Anora has six chapters
Prophetess Tovah has three chapters in total
The bulk of these will not be accessible until you reach the LAST city, where all of them (except Lady Anora's) will be accessible on-demand, including all previous living history segments you've encountered (in case you missed any!!). The purpose of these is to give context and backstory to the world around Deirdre, it may even help prepare her for trials she'll overcome during this chapter of her journey!
The first few cities are small (relatively speaking), but the last one is massive. Part of the reason this is taking so long is creating dialogue and other fine details (merchants, encounters, amenities, etc.) for that particular city. I had planned on adding a few others in, but the amount of content swelled so much that no more was necessary to help the story progress onward.
Things like minigames and activities become far more prevalent in the second half of the Chapter, so hang in there if you enjoy them! You'll have plenty as you get closer to the end of the Chapter! Combat and bosses may seem a bit light in this Chapter, but the focus here is preparing for the big final battle, so just hang in there if you're waiting on an epic boss battle!!!
SOOOO....KEDEMARA 2 WHEN?:
Being absolutely frank with everyone, I might need a year or two off before I start really digging into Kedemara 2: Savage Tides with any real fervor. I have some baseline content ironed out, but I'll be starting off far more organized and careful than I did with Kedemara: The Orphan's Ballad. Thus far I have over 2400+ hours logged working on Kedemara, so needless to say I'd like to take a break and relax for a while.
Knowing myself, I'll probably jump right back in full-force after a couple of months or so, but I'm looking forward to some other creative outlets for a change. I've made it well-known that I absolutely love D&D, so I'm looking forward to having time to spend on that with my friends when Kedemara is done. As I write and DM campaigns, I store up ideas for my games now, so it could be the art of working on it without working on it ;-)
I'll keep everyone in the loop as best as I can. I'd love to get another (better) trailer put together, but that'll have to come AFTER I'm sure Chapter 6 is good to go. I hope everyone is looking forward to the conclusion of this story Deirdre is telling us, but be assured there is definitely more stories to tell in the future! Who knows where they'll end up in another 5, 10, or 20 years ;-)
Thank you all for playing! Hope to see you back here soon!
Andrew (Creator)