Yo guys,
as always, sorry about the delay. I didn't get to work on Trachi an awfully lot during the last two and half weeks, since I moved into a new appartment and also had a big presentation of my project at Uni yesterday.
Furthermore, day three is proving to be more of a bitch than I originally expected. There's a lot of threads that still need connecting and I'm more or less put into the situation where I need to find a good conclusion that transitions the story into it's post-trachian state, while also being satisfying enough to properly conclude this chapter.
That said: I want to use this opportunity to talk a bit about the general structure, not only concerning Trachi, but also the world it is set in. I haven't done this so far for two primary reasons:
One is that I was still fiddling with the story a lot . The other reason is that I'm always a bit unsure in regards to how much I should give away. That's why the previous progress reports have been mostly confined to general information, without going into too much detail about most things.
In any case, though. From now on, I'll try to append a section going more in-depth about certain aspects. This could be either details regarding characters, location and other in-game stuff, but also my approach to building a narrative. These segments will be hidden and I'd encourage you to avoid those sections if you want to have your expectations kept unpolluted. If you don't mind it, then feel free to keep reading.
Note
So let's talk about one of Trachi's characters a bit.
You've met some people already in the prologue, and if I didn't mess it up entirely, you're anxious to see how they're going to be developed further. Naturally, you'll get to see a lot of the important characters again in the main game. One of the things I'm proud of is the fact that a lot of secondary and tertiary characters play a big role and follow their own specific agenda.
I've been trying to think about who the actual protagonist and antagonist of the game is, but I'm struggling to come up with a conclusive answer. That is mainly because one of my priorities is to showcase events from a lot of different perspectives.
In the prologue, you've mostly played as Atlas. However, large parts of Trachi will be explored from the viewpoint of Ganymede. He's probably the character which I had most trouble with, since I didn't want him to be your typical good-willed young adolescent, but also showcase his lack of experience working in foreign territory. You can see spots of this during the prologue, where he struggles to cope with some specific events. Whether as a curious young lad on his first mission, or the broken man it left him, Ganymede is certainly someone who had to take a few punches in his time.
One of the big questions the prologue left open is how his particular transformation came to be. Or in other words – what made him become the man he is. You've seen some of the scenes showcasing bits of his debriefing, and there will be a lot more of those in the main game.
Furthermore, you will also see bits of him recollecting memories of his childhood. As for the character itself, I expect him to be the slow-burner of the cast. I do love him, the same way that I love every member of the cast. But it's undoubtedly the case that the Ganymede you see in Trachi is someone who hasn't found his place, yet. Regardless, for me, his particular perspective might be one, if not the most important among all of them.
Oh and one more thing: Concerning a release date of a playable version... I'll try to have something finished by the end of summer, but it might be also take until autumn. I'd like to have Trachi as a project finished by April next year at the latest, but that depends on how much polishing and fine-tuning is going to be required.
In any case, I'll try to give you another report Saturday next week. Have a splendid time until then.