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Happy March, VN readers! How're you doing? This is the second halftime report, which is what I call devlogs that mark the halfway point between releases. There's a TON of stuff to complete before Build 0.3 is published, but progress has been steady. Good things are happening, and I'll share some of them with you today!

So buckle your seatbelts; we're going in…

What will be new at 0.3?

Thank you to those of you who provided feedback! The leading critique so far is that the sprites of the characters can be improved. Full disclosure: it's my art, and I have been learning a lot since I started last May. I believe that my art is better now than it was last year, therefore I admit they aren't as good as they could be. Improvements are being made while keeping the style I want. See how Chet and Byron were visually enhanced (above), and let me know your thoughts. Is it enough? Do you miss Chet's blonde hair, or Byron's waffle-tail (please say no to that one...)

And yes - that means you'll be able to select the last character, Byron, in build 0.3! He's taken the longest because we saved him for experimental development. What I mean by that is the way sprites work for Byron is different from everyone else, and his route will be (in my opinion) the most outlandish - so it's taken additional time. We are also working on Chet and Mike's routes this release. I'm happy with where Chet is right now, but Mike still needs work. Chet and Mike have two possible routes each, so with Byron included it feels like I'm writing 5 storylines… when I only planned for two. It's hectic.

What will be changed from 0.2?

We spent the first weeks of February narrowing the "ideas" of how each route will go, which is vital to quickening future releases. Some may read that and say, "Wait: you didn't know how the story would end before publishing the novel? That's terrible!" … Uh, excuse me, I've known how the story will end, of course! It's the journey to getting there for eight(?) different routes that changes each build, and will continue to change. Expect slight differences to accommodate the story. If it's a significant change, we'll tell you. We don't want two routes to be too similar, and that's just a natural part of writing.

As mentioned, Chet and Byron have new sprites, and I hope to work on Mike before we release - but we have a handful of side characters to complete, so we'll see how that goes. Mike may have to wait until 0.4 or a patch release.

We have added +11k words (67k -> 78k) and that number will grow by 0.3 release. Other than that? General copy editing… modifications to character positioning… the boring stuff.

OH! And image compression. The novel's file size increased dramatically between 0.1 and 0.2, and I need to make space for the future, so many background images and sprites will be refined to accommodate that.

What have you fixed?

… We haven't had much to fix? There was a small error in Joel's route that was easy to repair, but otherwise, our rigorous testing plan must have paid off. I haven't heard of any other core issues.

What's the road ahead look like?

More story, and improved sprite work! Based on your feedback, since Byron is getting a second wave, I'm considering cutting Malik. Yeah… A more definitive decision will be made at build 0.4; I want to give him more exposure before making that decision. I think people need more access to each character's storyline. Any camel fans out there? o_O

And, remember: we're setting the stage for the romantic and sexual content. As you dig into individual paths, the speed at which you go from PG to R will differ… it depends on the situation, you know?

That's it for now. In the meantime, fill out this survey for Build 0.2, and follow our Twitter page for casual updates: @eyematerror.

Cheers!