Hey folks!
We're still in the thick of development for Episode 5, but we wanted to give y'all some updates on how it's going! Moving forward, we're going to be sharing more regular progress updates on our Discord server, where we've just started a running thread. If you want to find this thread, it's under the #the-corkboard forum in the Scarlet Hollow section of the server, and it's titled "Progress Update Thread." I'll also be sharing those updates as follow-up comments on this Steam post moving forward as well. You can join the server here: discord.gg/blacktabbygames
And here's a direct link to the progress thread: https://discord.com/channels/745361420106858607/1196853604238250196
Here's Abby's first post there on how it's going:
"I've been back to work on the script for quite some time now, and things are progressing very well!
I feel so solid about what's been done so far. I'm working on one of the toughest parts of any episode, the part where you go around and talk to people, where the variations in individual storylines really come into play. Some characters have just a few variations requiring different versions of the same scene to be written three or four times, while others have more than ten, and of course we want to make sure that we aren't just showing variation for variation's sake-- we also want to make sure that the scenes all have their own points of interest, which requires a little extra care and attention. But I'm most of the way done with all of them at this point! Just a few more scenes to go :zombiethumbsup:
This is also the part of working on Scarlet Hollow where Tony doesn't have much to do, so he's working on the script for the Pristine Cut and I've been doing Slay the Princess art (and sometimes editing) as a cool down in the evenings!
I'll be sure to keep everyone updated with some regularity so we can all keep track of how things are going!"
To give some extra details here, the script for Episode 5 was about half-way finished by the time Abby had to shift into full-time art work for Slay the Princess. Like pretty much all of our studio's major content launches (i.e. finished episodes and full games), we had to take some time off following StP's release to deal with burnout, and Abby also had to deal with the sudden death of her father.
We're fully back into the swing of things now. One of our top priorities with Scarlet Hollow has always been to go the extra mile when it comes to giving weight to your decisions, and we're at the point in the narrative where there are a *lot* of intersecting variations.
It's also generally been the case that the beginnings of episodes demand more time and effort relative to their lengths than their middles and ends, so the rest of the script should be much smoother sailing from here!
Still feeling great about releasing Episode 5 this year, and in the meantime, a huge thanks to everyone for your patience and support!
Best,
Tony