HEY HOOBLAH HEY! It is I, everyone's favorite vegetilian instigator of destruction. I would say "guess what" except that you've all clearly read the title of this devlog by this point in time so I'll just sheepishly say "yeahhhhhhhhh..."

CARROT, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

You are likely all probably thinking.

And. Well. I don't really have an answer to that unfortunately. But hopefully you'll accept this small release as compensation.

I say despite "small" not really being the right word, as the entire reason I'm randomly deciding to have another inter-arc release is because--------

AS ALWAYS I HAVE NO SELF-CONTROL AND THIS THING IS GROWING AS FAST AS MY SPIRALING ANXIETY.

Actual photographic evidence of me working on Arc 5.

OK. I really and truly wasn't planning on needing to release yet another semi-part before the end of this thing. And that's because in my head, what I had left after releasing Arc 5 Part 1 wasn't that much. Like I knew the scenes I wanted to cover, generally what I wanted to happen, etc. and it didn't feel like something that would grip its tight grippy-grips into the crevices of my mind and compel me to spend multiple months on art for a single s-s-s-sequence.

But. THINGS NEVER TURN OUT AS PLANNED, DO THEY?

I knew it had grown slightly when I got done writing it and the word count alone wasn't that much less than what I had written for Part 1. But I still thought. You know. It'll be fine! I planned to write up through the castle sequence, then do all the art and coding, then move on to write the next part /finale, then do all the art and coding. But I got a little stopped up when the art and coding for what I had written expanded exponentially beyond what I had expected (b-b-b-because I just need it to EXACTLY fit what is PLAYING ACROSS MY MIND and PLAGUING ME ON A DAILY BASIS).

LET'S COMPARE ARCS.

• Arc 1: 79 CGs (tho this also includes all the intro/credits stuff, so it's not exactly accurate)
• Arc 2: 62 CGs
• Arc 3: 69 CGs
• Arc 4: 69 CGs
• Arc 5 Part 1: 59 CGs
• Arc 5 Part 1 1/2: 74 CGS?????????????????????????

This is what I mean when I say it went a little off the rails................ *SWEAT*

Part of this is because I decided what this part absolutely needed was a semi-animated cutscene. BECAUSE OF COURSE. This is a great idea, Carrot! Definitely won't take you months to do!!!!!11!!1!! /sar

I just.

I just really.

Like.

THIS WHOLE SEQUENCE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. AND ALSO. I KNEW IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT TO OTHERS, TOO. There's just a lot of build-up leading up to a lot of these moments in Arc 5 in general. And I didn't want to like. Let anyone down. Or have anyone be dissatisfied with the outcome. So I've just really been going all out lakdjfas (I mean not that I mind because I personally really like how it's all turned out and am Pleased with it, but).

Actual photographic evidence of me arguing with my inner demons telling me to keep drawing more and more and more.

CGs aren't the only thing tho that went off the rails in this part! There's also a ton of new sprites????? Because why the heck not, as I always say (I never say this). This is actually mostly because one specific character you may or may not be able to name just... just required a lot of sprites... I GUESS BECAUSE OF THE DYNAMIC I WANTED FOR THE SEQUENCES??? Like I wanted there to be a lot of movement and, uh... I don't know. It's hard to explain without showing it wHiCh wOuLd bE a SpOiLeR. So I'll just say that a certain someone is very a-a-a-animated at times. 

I just went and counted and he has... 15 different sprites/poses. And a good number of those have multiple variations/various necessary plot-relevant tweaks to them. SIGH. See, this is what I mean. It just. Expands.

whatelsewhatelse OH. THE CODING.

Because apparently this is the section of the game where I decided to just GO A LITTLE BIT RIDONKULOUS WITH THE SCRIPTING AND THE ANIMATION AND THE ACTION SEQUENCES AND LITERALLY SOMEONE NEEDS TO STOP ME.

There are multiple full-blown action-y type sequences that took me frickin' forever and a day to code. Multiple cutscenes. Me randomly deciding to try out various effects for the first time. Me deciding that multiple scenes need to set at least partially to music. Me weeping a deluge of tears because of the onslaught of feels. You know. The usual.

So in general, from the CGs... to the sprites... to the coding... EVERYTHING was taking me a million times longer to complete than I had expected going in. Though the actual word count (33k) will be a little bit shorter than past releases (which are usually between 35k and 40k), I hope that all the other stuff will make up for it for everyone that plays lkasjdfasd

(and also I can only assume I will continue with this trend as I move into the finale -- which is why I expect it will once again take longer than I expect -- why is just another reason why I'd like to get this part out now so people can already play it while I enter the grind once more)

Actual photographic evidence of me thinking about how I'm most definitely going to be creating tons more work for myself in the future.

So.

Yeah.

DID  ANYONE ACTUALLY READ ALL THAT RAMBLING?

Let's move on to the cold-hard deets that most people are only here for (i.e., the actual release specs).

As mentioned so eloquently in the title card, Arc 5 Part 1 1/2 (or 5.15 or whatever you want to call it) will release on Friday, August 18th!

It will incluuuuuuuude:

• Approximately 33k words (so around 2-3 hours, tho potentially a bit less if you don't go through all the various choices, since there are more choice-based scenes this time around)
• 74 CGs
• 3 semi-animated cutscenes (one of which is very long... the other two are just short little things)
• 17 new music tracks
• 19 new sprites, along with a variety of sprite edits/variations
• Two buckets' worth of tears

As for specifically what it will include in the timeline of the arc (so you know what to expect), it goes up through the end of the castle sequence, basically up to what I refer to as "The Final Choice," which you'll actually be able to make in the next release, so something something GET READY FOR IT as your various choices throughout the game influence which ending(s) you'll be able to choose from).

OH ALSO.

I'll be adding a note for this within the game itself and mention again when it releases, but I highly recommend you play Our Fantastic Wonderland (i.e., the Spooktober jam side game) before playing this part. Like. It's not absolutely completely entirely necessary. But. You might get really confused at a certain part (and regarding a certain character in general). So I just recommend it as it will make the experience better and you'll understand the references and more of what's going on better during that part.

On a similar note, I'm thinking of doing OFW countdown art once we reach the week of the launch. I think it would be fun teehee. We'll see.

OK I THINK THAT'S EVERYTHING FOR NOW THOUGH. This whole devlog could have been reduced to that single list above GODDDDD. So I will quit while I'm ahead (or behind).

See everyone for the launch in a few weeks!

Carrot out.

Ok I just wanted to end this devlog with something cute LDKAJFSDL