Good evening, fateful friends!
Firstly, we're glad to see that everyone seems to be enjoying the update so far! We've personally had a delightful time seeing everyone's reactions over on our Discord server, especially regarding... Well, if you know, you know. Anyway! This is just a small announcement to notify you of an update for The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe), which current players should already have access to, and to reiterate some earlier news we announced on social media regarding the route release order.
Game Updates
Shae’s route has a new sprite! Specifically, a sprite for Shae’s Mam – Sláine. We originally used one of our generic sprites for this character when we launched, because the beauty before us wasn’t ready at the time, but now she’s here! Hurray! Get a load of that smile.
UI Updates
We’ve added some new buttons to the main menu that we think will be useful going forward. First, in the top right, you’ll see a bell icon. This is what we’re going to use for in-game notifications, which will usually entail information about new updates, future releases, major news, etc. Essentially, it will help you stay informed about the game’s current status. When you notice a little red dot on the bell, that means there’s something new to look at!
The other icons link back to our most-used social media pages, Discord server, and Patreon page, in case you’d like to follow us elsewhere, join the official NDM fan space, or throw a little extra support our way. Our Patreon consists mostly of mirrors of our Kickstarter updates, though -- so if you're one of our Kickstarter backers, there's nothing new for you on that platform at the moment!
Route Release Order
Lastly, while we're here, we wanted to take a moment to reiterate some statements we've made on our social media regarding The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe)'s official route order, in case you haven't seen it yet:
Some folks have asked us, both now and in the weeks leading up to Shae and Maeve's routes, what the overall route update order will be for the rest of NDM. Initially, we'd planned to keep the route order a semi-secret in order to hype up the reveal for the next batch of characters, but after some thought/observation, the Moirai Myths team now thinks that revealing the order, and further explaining the order, would be more holistically useful to our players.
First things first: We are most likely always going to do route updates in two half-batches, instead of releasing the full route for one character at once. Two halves of two routes is roughly equivalent to one full route, so we could release each route one at a time, but this decreases the odds of us having an update that interests you if you're only presently interested in a few members of the cast. With this in mind, we've purposefully plotted out the routes so that the midway point for all routes will end on a cliffhanger or point of intrigue to encourage discussion/speculation regarding "what could come next," etc. If you've played Shae and Maeve's routes thus far, you'll know exactly what we mean by that. 😄
On that note: Why are Shae and Maeve's routes first? A small part of it is logistical. While they're not our most popular characters overall, most people like Shae and Maeve well enough coming out of the demo (Vol. 1), which gives them a decently broad appeal-potentiality. Preliminary data of ours also suggests that the average person's interest in these characters increases following the update. *wink* However, the second and larger reason is because of NDM's overarching story. While each route, as with other dating sims, explores the specific character arcs and personal struggles of their namesakes, these things are not the sole focus of the routes. NDM's story begins in a cold war scenario that could very well turn into a hot war scenario under the wrong set of circumstances. These plot points are persistent across the game, but certain elements are looked at more closely in some routes than in others.
Shae and Maeve basically serve as the introductory characters for our world beyond Vol. 1. Their routes explain essential concepts, such as the class dynamics of Tír na nÓg, the nature of the War of the Courts, etc., and they get some pretty big backstory questions answered and out of the way early on. This allows future routes to focus on other, similarly critical subjects, unimpeded by the need to go over previously-revealed information from the other routes in the same amount of detail. To that end, since major reveals in Shae and Maeve's routes may be comparatively understated in the next batch of routes, this begs the question...
✨ Is there an official recommended reading order? ✨
Yes. And some of our players have already guessed it:
Book of the Traveller (Vol. 1) is the "inciting incident" content for the game and must be read first. After that, you should play Shae's route (Book of the Soldier, Vol. 2), then Maeve's route (Book of the Warrior, Vol. 3). This means, according to the numbering: The next route batch will be Flannán and Aífe. Following them, Robin and Keagan.
We understand that in a lot of visual novels, routes can be read in any order without much impact to the story or experience. This is not so much the case with The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe), for the reasons we have previously explained. While we would not say the game would necessarily be ruined if players chose to, say, start with Keagan's route and work their way backwards, it would nevertheless be a less satisfying experience because you won't be getting the gradual build up of certain concepts and plot points in the prior volumes. In a sense, it would be somewhat similar to reading an actual book series out of order: You could probably read The Two Towers ahead of The Fellowship of the Ring and still have an enjoyable time, but you might find yourself asking, "Hm, why are they sending Hobbits on an important task like this? Sort of odd that an elf or human wasn't given this duty instead."
We hope this is clarifying as to our artistic intent and general plans, and remember: Your favourite characters will appear in major ways across multiple routes, and we will be releasing side story DLCs featuring the other characters in between updates. 😊
Slán go foill! (Bye for now!) And thank you for all of your support so far!
-The Moirai Myths Team