Hey folks, here with another development update!
First thing's first, we're getting close to having another alpha build ready! We'll be distributing builds for the middle section of the episode piecemeal, on a route-by-route basis as we finish them. The first of these builds will contain the longest, most complicated sections of the middle of the episode (and of the entire game so far!), so after it's live, we should be able to start moving more quickly with new content.
This first build, compared to the last, should contain:
Several hundred new sprites.
Several new backgrounds.
Multiple new tracks of music from Brandon.
Over 50,000 words of new content.
If you'd like to be a part of the testing community, including playing through the currently available build of Episode 5's opening, you can do so by joining the Alpha Tester tier on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/abbyhoward
On top of making progress on getting the middle of the episode release-ready, we also spent a lot of time this month pre-emptively finishing audio-visual assets and implementation for the chapter's finale. It's a pretty ambitious sequence, so we wanted to make sure we gave it the time it needed for polish free from the crunch of the release's final sprint.
We're really happy with how it's turned out, and we're excited for you to see it!
Best wishes and happy holidays!
Tony and Abby