I've been frustrated by the art in my games to date, using assets to cover the parts I couldn't do. I'm now OK with what I *can* do, even though it's not brilliant, it is my own work and that makes it a lot easier to be consistent in style.

I finished the apothecary and baker character designs, plus I updated my alehouse interior as my effort last week wasn't quite right. It did work a useful template for the subsequent draft here:

I decided to make the alehouse courtyard and market a hybrid location. There are a quite a lot of places to go in this game, but inevitably you have to cut things that just feel like padding. There was a whole courtyard/alleyway puzzle that felt like puzzling for the sake of it. This new area makes the geography tighter and less likely to be frustrating:

Frustration feels unlikely however. I don't think this early section is remotely challenging. It's more to get the feel of one-click interactions and learn the backstory (without overloading the player with lore). 
In fact, I'm slightly nervous about whether any of my puzzles will be challenging, but that's probably typical when you are the designer. Knowing all the solutions is not helpful.

I've more clearly signposted that Edda can go to her hut from the market and alehouse now. The exits were previously a bit of a leap of faith into unknown places - now you can see where you are heading. So exiting the market takes Edda to her hut:


There is in fact only one more area to finish for the first part of this game. Four "rooms" might seem small, but there's a surprising amount to do. Then the story kicks in.

I was listening to a podcast the other day that said that, unlike other types of games, the unlockable achievements in adventure games are just "more rooms". So I am bearing that in mind - I don't like backtracking or revisiting areas when playing, but that does create pressure to make more rooms, rather than re-using existing ones for new puzzles or story.

I think there could be nearly 30 in the end. I have everything written and planned, but I'm always cautious - some idea will come up and then another room is needed. But also, some may get cut. The blacksmith is out again - he lasted a few weeks this time before I put him back in my secret limbo room for NPCs I don't need yet (it's a horrifying limbo existence - should make a game about it).

Next steps will inevitably be, the interior of the hut above. It's designed - just needs redrafting. Then I need to code up all the interactions I've planned out in my spreadsheet, including the puzzle that drives this section.

However, I'm away next week, so it is really unlikely I'll get far. I might get back next weekend and do the interior, but I imagine that will be about the sum of all progress.

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