Hey all,
A short update this week, as it's been mostly technical advancements and implementation, a lot of progress but not so much to show for it!
It's been a pretty busy week and as I mentioned a few times already, I'm juggling between a bunch of IRL & project stuff so progress is not quite as swift as I would like it to be.
I've still progressed on the new app however, and wrapped the implementation on a bunch of workflows related to these new gameplay mechanics. On the technical side, I'm still working towards making the whole "nested desktop with its own independently populated data" robust and had to fix a bunch of stuff & technical debt along the way.
The good news regarding this part is that I am also improving the framework for the main app and UI, and was able to implement some QoL improvements that were on the backlog for a long time such as context jumps from notifications, i.e. being able to directly go to the source app of a notification when you receive it:
The whole app launcher is now built on a more generic data structure and should handle adding/removing apps much more seamlessly.
Now here's a new in-game screenshot teasing one of the gameplay workflow you might go through using the new app, with the working interactive terminal:
Now of course, the content is replaced with existing, placeholder pictures but there's a lot going on in that screen grab regarding the kind of gameplay you'll encounter in the new app so feel free to examine the fine print!
I've decided to not update the progress chart this week because I've added so much stuff to the coding workload with all these implementations, the initial estimate was way off and week to week progress is somewhat irrelevant if the scope changes that much. It's not ideal on a project management standpoint, but it is what it is!
I've been on this dev tunnel for a couple of weeks now but now, time to decide just how much of that new stuff that's cooking I want to ship in the update and of course, come up with a release schedule.
I'm planning a July early access release, with a first version of the hacking app (most likely truncated as far as all the stuff I've designed) that will set up that open gameplay sequence I've mentioned a few weeks earlier. The idea is to have at least two paths (two different workflows) to complete the objective you'll be given at this point of the main quest, that will have the player uncover some new content (and possibly one hidden bonus picture...)
Early access means possibly incomplete & with some bugs, but gotta start somewhere!
I know that's a lot to unpack, but there's a bunch of stuff I'd like to try out for the project and I'm really looking forward to know how you guys like the new gameplay sequences.
Thank you all so much for the renewed support, and bear with me in these trying times...
Stay tuned for more updates and have a great one!