Development diary

[Gniller]

A place for development status updates that aren't quite big enough to make it into announcements just yet. For those of you that want to be in the loop of in-progress development of upcoming updates, before they are ready to release.

So there's been quite a bit of interest in what's coming in the next update, and when. And while I have been giving some information and teasers, I've mostly answered questions where they were asked.
I think it's time to make that information a little easier to find in a dedicated place! So for status updates that aren't quite big enough to fit official announcements, I'm adding this development diary to make those easier to find! I'll keep it read-only to keep it easier to find and follow, but feel free to discuss anything mentioned here in separate discussion-topics!

[Gniller]

So let's start with what the next update will contain. I'll refrain from specific spoilers as content is still subject to change (especially balanced aspects of it).

Shortly after the November 10th update, I started working on the next content segment. Originally I was planning to release individual chapters, but a lot of player feedback indicated that a little more strategic depth to path-planning would be appreciated. Which sort-of kept iterating in my design process until I decided on making chapters 6, 7 and 8 partially non-linear. You can expect a branching mechanic somewhat like chapter four, but on a chapter level that gradually unlocks. They also introduce a small new meta-progression mechanic, which uses a new skill. This is not a "reset" kind of meta-progression mechanic, but rather uses optional explorations in a new way. Adding additional reason to adjust paths/approaches with self-determined goals in mind. Goals with rewards that persist through generations, and help with what fits your current milestones.

So it's been two months, how is development moving along? I finished chapter eight last week, and will be starting chapter nine development this week. Chapter six and seven are finished too. Chapter nine technically isn't part of the branching, but after finishing the other three chapters I feel very strongly that a sort of segment-finale really makes it all come together much better than releasing the current three chapters without a fourth. Once I tackle the development of chapter nine, there's a balance-polish phase left before it becomes release ready. Basically where I play/finetune the total new content until I'm entirely happy with their balance. That part is particularly tricky to ETA, because it requires a lot of play-testing until it feels "right". Sometimes that takes quite a few iterations, sometimes it feels good fairly quickly.

At this point, the amount of new content already reached about 60 hours of unpaused playtime (for reference, the current Early Access content is about 90 by the same measure). I wouldn't be surprised if this passes 70, although the details may shift a little during the balance-polish phase. The amount of content is definitely the reason that the update is taking as long as it has. At this point it feels closer to an expansion than a content update, but it's all part of Early Access as you should expect. The ambinition just kept growing as I was moving through development. And now that it's really starting to come together, I definitely feel like this was the right approach to take the strategic/branching system to a next level. I can't wait to show it to you all, but there's some steps left to take to make sure the level of quality is on-par with where I want it to be!

That's probably enough of a read for the development diary introduction. While I'm sorry to have to ask for a little more patience for now, I hope that knowing what's in the pipeline eases your mind!

[Gniller]

Let's do a small QoL feature teaser of what the next update will contain as well!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/937677436592746518/937742532685738004/jan-2022-qol-feature-teaser.gif

[Gniller]

I'm moving into the balance-polish stage of the upcoming content update! I've finished the content of chapter nine, meaning all four chapters (6, 7, 8 and 9) are now content-complete as well as feature-complete. Looking back at it, I'm more convinced than ever that including chapter nine in the update was the right call. It definitely made the other new mechanics come together much better.

It feels a little unreal after working over three months on this, but this means I can now move into the final phase of the development of the update! And I can't wait to show what it all entails! All in all, the update approximately expands content by 75~80% of what's currently in Early Access. Or somewhere between 70 and 80 hours of unpaused content. The exact details will likely differ between players, because the focus on the new branch-style creates a bigger impact of pathing. Which was a design-focus from the start.

It's hard to say how long this last phase will take. But probably at least two weeks. It's getting a little more predictable from here on, because the creative process plays a smaller part in this. It all depends on how many balance adjustments I make that require things to be re-tested a couple of times. The major balance aspects are definitely in-place already, this stage is mostly about "polishing off the rough edges". I just want to test it all as thoroughly as I can, to ensure the quality is on-par with where I want it to be when it launches!

[Gniller]

I finished the balance-polishing of chapters 6, 7 and 8! Aside from that, some edge-case bug squashing and textual corrections have also been tackled. I hope to finish chapter 9's balance-polishing over the weekend/monday-ish.

That still leaves some technicalities for next week (cross platform tests and some Steam formalities), which will take a few more days. But it has gotten to a point where I feel confident enough to estimate a release date for the update!

The most likely release date for the update, featuring chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 (expanding the game by over 75%), will be: Thursday, March 3rd!

[Gniller]

The first steps have been set towards creation of the next (probably two) chapters. I'd say conceptualization of chapter 10 is roughly 65% finished, development is at about 15% for chapter 10.

Chapter 10 will be "a little less pressure" content than the past few chapters have been. That way it offers a chance to catch up on maximum health as you're exploring the content, and makes natural health decay more relevant for a while. Health decay got a little trivial during the past chapters to support the multi-chapter branches, but is at a good place to transition back to such a chapter. It also takes a bit before the previous chapters start to require less thought/planning to pass, especially with the optional explorations in mind. So having the introduction not require too much hassle aims to be supportive of that without becoming too much to juggle at once.

The chapter itself will consist of mostly minor branching choices, whereas the chapter can be explored in various orders leading to different benefits. Some of those benefits will be new tools, some will be familiar. But ultimately completing everything in chapter 10 in a single generation will become viable, somewhat like how that is handled in chapter 4. Some optional things will be harder, but can initially be skipped. Think of it as a little bit between chapter 4 and 5 design, as far as comparisons can(/should) be made.

Ultimately, chapter 10 will focus on leading up to/preparing for chapter 11. While chapter 10 has in-chapter branching, this transition will be linear. For chapter 11 I have an entirely new feature in mind that'll most likely apply to the majority of the chapter. I don't want to spoil too much about that mechanic yet, as it's highly subject to changes and requires expansion to both the engine and the UI to properly test. I should be able to tease a little about that if the initial tests prove that I like the mechanic in practice, but that'll be after I finish chapter 10!

[Gniller]

Time for a long overdue development status update!

Let's start with the good news. I've finished chapter 10 to a release candidate level of polish! It will receive at least one more full balance-testing playthrough once chapter 11 is finished as well, but it "feels right" on its own at the moment. Chapter 10 became relatively difficult, in a forgiving way. Unlike some of the recent chapters it almost always allows you to move on, keeping most challenges semi-optional. The balance is more or less "not that difficult to finish" but "hard to 100%", if that makes sense. These challenges can be completed in a variety of orders, and figuring out which to obtain first plays a significant part in the chapter-progression. Chapter 10 comes with some minor new mechanics, but should mostly feel familiar.

So why did one chapter take three months? It didn't really. Life got in the way. I'd say it took about 5-7 weeks to finish. Initially the extreme heat this summer hindered my creativity significantly due to the home office becoming rather unworkable. I figured I'd take these days off initially, but didn't expect this summer to have so many of those days either. Sadly, that was followed by the loss of a senior family member that was very dear to me. And I needed to take some time to properly be able to support and assist my family. However, since about a month ago I've managed to dedicate the majority of my time to development again. Not all of it, my available time remains somewhat unpredictable due to personal circumstances. But I've been able to get into a decent flow most of the weeks in the past month.

So what's next? I (still) want to bundle chapter 10 and 11 for a combined release. So the development of chapter 11 is next. Chapter 11 is going with an entirely new chapter-concept as a whole, which includes UI work as well as technical expansion to support what I have in mind. While I have high hopes for the concept and the possibilities that it should bring to the chapter (and potentially future chapters), it'll be rather experimental initially, making it hard to estimate the required development time. Ultimately, it's not done until it feels right, no matter how many iterations that might require.

That said, with chapter 11 still to go, and various balance-testing phases after that, it'll probably take well over a month to complete the update still. I'm hoping for not too much more than two months, but that falls or stands with how quickly the new chapter-concept feels release-ready. And my personal obligations remain more unpredictable than usual for the foreseeable future as well. I should be able to make a more accurate estimation when I head into the final balance-polishing/testing phase, after completing the release candidate of chapter 11. You can expect another development diary post when I enter that phase!

Sorry for the long wait. I'm sure most of you will understand that life can get in the way at times, and I wouldn't handle it any differently in a similar situation. But I do apologize for having to ask so much of your patience. Rest assured though, none of this has impacted my ambitions for Increlution, nor did it halt development entirely. The completed content already contains about 24 additional hours of unpaused playtime. Under ideal circumstances, the update would probably have been completed by now, but it is what it is. And rushing content to catch up would only harm the quality of the game in the long run. Life just limited available time in the past few months, not permanently. And I'm in this for the long run, so I hope you'll bear with me!

[Gniller]

Quick mid-chapter development update!

I've finished the game engine/framework expansion for the new chapter-feature that'll be used for chapter 11. To about 90% anyway, I'm sure I'll run into some minor quirks that I pick up on the way when I'm testing content.

Now that the technical stuff has been tackled, I'm moving into the design phase of chapter 11. While I do have a good idea of what I want to include in the chapter, the new mechanic will prove interesting in tuning the numbers and order of things. Especially since stages of the chapter influence each other differently than usual. More or less introducing a new form of path-planning in a chapter-specific manner.

I'm very tempted to show a teaser or go into more detail about the upcoming chapter-mechanic. But I think the release-experience will be better for most of you if I refrain from spoilers for now.

I'd estimate chapter 11 is now at roughly 85% code-completion and 40% design-completion. Once both of these numbers reach about 95%, I still have the combined testing/polishing phase of chapter 10 as well as 11 left. It's still too soon for me to dare call any form of ETA, but a nice milestone nonetheless, with the update as a whole probably being at about 75% towards completion.

[Gniller]

Another quick mid-chapter development update.

So after finishing the technical foundation for chapter 11 around the last development status update, I delved further into the content-design of the chapter. While I already liked the new mechanic, I came to the conclusion that it felt a little "shallow" on its own. As if it lacked some variety in the content, and it ended up being a little "much of the same".

As a result of that, I decided to take a little detour and went back to the drawing board and crafted some new ideas to further expand the mechanic to allow for more creativity/content variety.

About a week or two ago I settled on an addition that felt fitting to the concept, and offered that additional variety I was looking for. However, that required additional work to the technical foundation, as well as the UI. I finished those expansions today, as well as the first content segment that uses them.

Admittedly, this little detour delayed the overall roadmap of the update a bit. But I'm fully convinced that it's for the better when it comes to the quality of the content! As it opened up additional content-creation possibilities for the chapter. And part of that should make up for itself during quality assurance.

So now it's back to the design side of things, with these new opportunities to support that. I hope the next stage feels "right" a little faster, as I can't wait to share the result with you all. But ultimately it'll take as long as it needs to, to get it to the quality-standard I want it to be at.

Chapter 11 is certainly heading to become the most "individually unique" chapter in terms of mechanics, making it even harder than usual to ETA an actual release. With quality-assurance/testing left after the content is finished, it's safe to say it won't be November anymore though. But it's steadily getting closer, and I should be able to make a rough estimate once I'm entering the last testing/polishing phase.

[Gniller]

One more status update before the holidays, and I've got some good news: I've finished the release candidate for the chapters 10 & 11 update!

That means I'll now be moving into the last quality assurance phase. I want to play through the whole thing at least one more time to polish any last rough edges, and tackle any last edge-case bugs I may have missed. On average, these phases have taken me between two and three weeks for previous updates. With the state that the update has reached, I expect to require a somewhat similar amount of time. Of course, I will be spending some time with the family over the next few days, but I won't halt development aside from those. I'll just be playing Increlution all week and tell people I'm "working". With all that in mind, the release will move slightly into January. The first half of January is far more likely than later, with the second week of January being "most likely" if everything goes as expected.

Chapter 11 has seen a record number of "back to the drawing board" moments throughout its development. About every segment has seen multiple iterations before I was satisfied with it. Sometimes it felt like a bit too much of the same, sometimes it missed a little "oomph". But looking back at it all, I'm entirely convinced each of those steps has significantly improved the overall creative quality of the chapter. As tempting as it is, I feel that I shouldn't spoil anything, since that may take away the feeling of surprise when you reach it and see it unfold. I can't wait to show it to you, when these last quality assurance steps are concluded as well! It has grown to become the most individually unique chapter by far. With more new mechanics to support the main concept than I originally planned, but they mesh together in a way that now feels whole.

Chapter 10 is a little more familiar to previous chapters in design. It comes with some interesting in-chapter pathing options that should keep you adjusting things to obtain as many optional things as you can. But it keeps optional things optional, and offers ways to move on throughout most stages. Shaping it to be a bit of a "taking a breath" chapter, following the high pressure ending of chapter 9.

Combined, the update adds somewhere between 50 and 60 hours of unpaused content to the game! Which highly depends on your strategic choices along the way. While it has taken longer than I wanted it to, I'm happy with the quality that it managed to reach. And I can't wait to release it in the not too distant future!

Happy holidays, and best wishes to you and yours!

Gniller

[Gniller]

Quick status update in regards to the quality assurance phase of the chapters 10 & 11 update.

A little over two weeks in, and most things have been going according to plan. All textual corrections have been tackled, all known and newly discovered bugs have been tackled, and balance testing is a good bit in. Until last Friday I was exactly on schedule.

However, last Saturday I made a balancing call I didn't quite expect to make during this phase anymore. A specific point between the transition of the two chapters worked fine during earlier tests, but felt like it became too much of a wall for newly tested strategies/approaches. Chapter 10 generally offers a few approaches that have their pros and cons, so having one point favor a specific strategy that much felt off. So I decided to re-tune that specific point (just numbers, no additional mechanics). However, that did set me back somewhere between three and four days of re-testing, as it has a fairly big impact on quite a lot of stages throughout the new content. But ultimately, it's cases like this why I want to be thorough with tests. So that when you play it, the rough edges are polished as well!

With how everything is looking now, I'd estimate it to be release-ready somewhere between 5 and 10 days. That includes the previously mentioned change, and the setback that came with it. So I'll be honest in saying that a release next week has become more likely than this week. As uncomfortable as it is to ask for a little more patience, I don't want to cut any corners when it comes to quality. It's getting really close, and I can't wait to release it, but I do need to stay diligent during these last steps too. Even though the bandwidth of an ETA gets smaller with every day of testing, I will continue to adapt for as long as it benefits the quality of the release.

I may or may not post one more development diary post after this one, depending on how smoothly the rest of the quality assurance phase turns out to go. If I don't run into any more setbacks, I might continue to write the release notes instead!

[Gniller]

Time for a quick visual teaser of what I've been working on for the upcoming QoL update! This teaser contains chapter 3 spoilers, as well as a mild NG+ spoiler.

GIF version: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/937677436592746518/1108761341394698321/SPOILER_may-2023-qol-feature-teaser.gif
MP4 version (same video, just a different file format): https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/937677436592746518/1108802697014038568/SPOILER_may-2023-qol-feature-teaser.mp4

So when is this updating coming out? It's at least 85% completed at this point, and all really show-worthy changes are in the visual teaser. I'd estimate I need about 1-2 more weeks of development, and at least a week of quality assurance testing. I'm kind of hoping for a May release still, but realistically early June is probably a little more likely.

This update aims to work through a good portion of my list of feedback-ideas, that were individually too big to pick up during focused-development, such as working on new chapters. It doesn't tackle the entirety of my feedback-list either, but I don't want to spend too long on QoL before shifting back to content development either. There'll be more QoL updates in the future for that!

Just to be super-clear, this update won't contain new content, just quality of life improvements. When this update is live, I'll be shifting my development focus back to content!

At this stage it's mostly minor changes I want to complete before launching this update, such as some mild client polishing.

[Gniller]

Hey, it's been a minute. I'll be honest in saying that I had hoped to be able to share a little more about the next update by now, but I feel that an end-of-year status-update is in order either way. I suppose this one will be a "little more diary than development" than usual, but I'll go over some broad conceptualization as well. If you haven't completed the game yet, the following contains spoilers.

Let's start with a broad illustration of the upcoming chapters. I've been toying with a new form of pathing for quite some time now. Right when you've completed the prologue of chapter 11 (transitioning to a crossroads that makes sense story-wise), you'll be finding yourself in a position of two paths to choose from. One path leads to chapter 12, one path leads to chapter 13. Unlike chapters 6-8, these chapters will both be available immediately. However, you'll also get one "return to the crossroads" kind of option in both chapters, allowing you to track back once per generation. The chapters themself use the "hostile actions" mechanic introduced in chapter 11 in a "lighter form" so to say, introducing environmental effects, incentivizing you to change course when they become harder to manage. Chapter 12 will contain some rewards to help tackle the objectives in chapter 13 and vice versa. Eventually they'll become trivial all-together, as progress allows you to pass the entire chapter before they become an issue, but that'll be more of a "chapter 16+ kind of thing", which won't be the next update.

Chapters 14 and 15 (maybe only 14, I haven't fully settled there), will be introduced closer to how chapter 5 introduced the tavern as an optional detour. Except, it'll be a chapter rather than a small segment. You'll be able to enter this chapter(/these chapters) during chapter 12 (and/or 13). Similar to chapters 12&13 (and the ch5 tavern), those will also offer a way to "track back". Initially to their entrance point, in the chapter you've entered them from. This in turn creates path choices where aiming to beat chapter 14/15 is highly affected by how you've ordered chapters 12&13, especially if you're also including/utilizing their track-back option. Details as far as pathing goes are largely shaped, but are highly subjected to balance adjustments. Chapters 12&13 are largely designed, but still require a notable amount of scripting and storytelling to be finished. Chapter 14 is roughly designed, whereas chapter 15 is still at a somewhat conceptual stage where it might theoretically be dropped if I don't like it enough.

So, why is the update taking so long? There's a few answers to that that compound to the overall speed of development. For one, this form of pathing required some redefining within the design process. I've always designed in a way of "looking 48+ gameplay hours ahead prior to adding content", but if you're able to tackle content in various ways that surpass that time-range, it adds another layer of number-tuning (ex: you don't want content to be fully invalidated by progress in another region when you first reach it, yet it should definitely add a worthy pathing benefit). Besides that though, my ability to concentrate has suffered quite a bit over the last half year as well. Initially I figured "I guess this is what they call a writer's block", and took a bit of a longer break than I'm usually comfortable with. But looking back at July 2022 through May 2023, I might have mentally tapped myself out more than I initially realized as well, due to circumstances unrelated to Increlution itself. As a result, July through September have been terribly "distracted" when it comes to productivity. I worked on an Incremental Adventures update for a bit, and tested NG+ penalties for a while. Which confirmed the potential for that concept further, but also emphasized that it's really better added after all content is finished, as it'd notably over-complicate content development earlier. Since October, productivity slowly continued to become more focused. I don't think this was a "burn-out" kind of thing, as that generally involves stress. But my mental ability to concentrate for longer periods of time took a hit that I haven't been familiar with before. At this stage, inspiration is at a good point again, and the design hurdles that felt like a writer's-block for a while are largely tackled. Concentration remains somewhat unpredictable, but has been steadily improving over the last months. This makes any form of ETA even tricker than usual, and there's still a lot to be done. That said, design phases always feel more "unproductive" than they actually are, due to the high amount of things that get scrapped along the way. This design took exceptionally long due to the branching style of content, as well what felt like a writer's-block.

Most importantly though, know that Increlution is still my main priority, and I have no plans to change that any time soon (no reasons that'd make that a necessity either, as far as that can be predicted). As a player, I understand how months of silence can seem like a game is abandoned, but it most certainly isn't. I'm "just slow", and a lot of these intermediate steps just aren't too worthy of mentioning until it all comes together. However, I will also be honest in saying that this content probably won't be release-ready in Q1 of 2024. With how everything is looking now I'd say Q2 of 2024 is more likely, but there's too much left to complete to be certain enough to even promise that. The recent unpredictability of my concentration doesn't help there, but the scope of content itself is simply quite large (and I'd like to think ambitious) as well.

Anyhow, I went a little more TLDR than I planned, but I suppose that's fitting since it's been a while without any proper status updates. Generally as things get closer to completion, and less prone to "may still be scrapped entirely", I'm able to share a little more at a somewhat higher frequency. But I don't want to make any promises I might not be able to keep either, and keep my options open to scrap things when they feel off. Ultimately I prioritize content quality over development speed, but can't deny that I had hoped to be closer to a release. In the bigger scope of things, quality is what continues to matter, while speed is merely a temporary discomfort. While I'm glad with how many of you are generally understanding towards that mindset, it remains uncomfortable to ask this much of your patience as well.

So for now: Happy holidays, best wishes to you and yours. Thank you for your patience while I'm working through this new ambition of content, and I wish you a very happy 2024!

[Gniller]

So, it's high time for a status update. In super short, it's not as good as you're hoping for, but not as bad as some as you might fear.

To get straight to the bad, I've been rather significantly delayed due to health reasons. I already mentioned concentration issues in December, which expanded to biweekly (usually mild) fevers since February. At this point I've seen various doctors and it appears to be nothing dangerous, but some sort of virus that just takes frustratingly long to tackle. It could be post-covid, but that can't really be tested or treated. In any case it appears to be in the ballpark of things only time can tackle. In hindsight, I should have probably communicated that sooner. But I've continuously felt like "it's probably close to done, and I'll catch up on schedule and won't have to bother anyone with that information". I definitely didn't expect this to be such a limitation for so long (and not just to development).

So, what does that mean for Increlution? Well, a delay. Or rather more of the same delay. But that's the extent of it. While I have always been ambitious in productivity, I was well enough aware of the risks of taking on such a project to prepare for unforeseen setbacks. It's a one person project, which in and of itself doesn't create much financial risk, but the Early Access launch so far has treated me well enough to not really have to tap into my buffer funds much. This means money shouldn't be a showstopper for at least a couple of years. The content I've been working on has been shaping nicely too, albeit considerably slower than I wanted it to. That's entirely due to the health situation/effect that has on concentration, and inspiration hasn't suffered much at all. I've seen people wonder if either of those two factors might be causing this delay, but neither are. As much as I appreciate some of you wanting to help out, this setback isn't one which community assistance could solve.

So, what's the current ETA? I'm not sure. This thing has been with ups and downs. Until late February productivity was pretty good, March/April were bad, May/June were alright and it's been poor July/August. And in hindsight I suspect it's been slowly building since well before December. I have a relatively good idea of how much work is left when concentration becomes reasonably predictable again, but feel like the unpredictability of this whole situation makes any form of ETA rather meaningless. Man, I miss those crazy 60-80 hour crunch weeks where nothing forced me to work but my own continuous stream of inspiration. It's a kind of freedom that some never get to experience, while others may not even understand. Making silly ideas become features until it all "clicks", only to see people enjoy it later. I've always considered it to be a huge privilege and hate not being able to take full advantage of it as much as I want to. Don't get me wrong, I've had plenty of good phases, but concentration just "stops" at random times and interrupts the flow of things. It's this weird kind of concentration issue, as if a lack of oxygen, and the mind feels weirdly numb and just stops processing some stimuli at random. If that makes sense. It has mostly put my personal life on hold too, but that doesn't frustrate me as much.

Anyhow, as far as the content goes, I've continued to grow fond of it as it has been shaping in more detail. Details and sub-sections always change/adapt as I parse through the concept from a high level design to story-telling details, but most of the core concepts still seem to fit together nicely (although some of it has yet to fully test its limits). It's still kind of at a stage where major shifts might still take place when/if things don't continue to work as additional pathing layers flesh out further, but major scrapping of content is becoming less likely (most segments would still work if pathing is adjusted, with some changes to storytelling and all that).

I hate to have to ask even more of your patience like this. I can understand that some of you are running out of patience at this point. And I've been unsure about if/how/when to communicate all this, as I had rather finished enough to focus on content information. I've written four full dev-diaries to be scrapped because it felt "not good enough" since July, but it has reached a point where silence is worse than a message I'm not happy with. So let me be very clear: Increlution is, and will remain, my main priority for as far into the future as I can foresee. Even if the pace has been uncomfortably unpredictable, that does not change my priorities. I hope that at the very least that's able to ease some worries.