I know, I know, it's been a while since I last dropped you a line, sorry about that. To make it up to you, let me tell you a bit about how I work on Profiler Files.
You probably know this already, but every creative process is paved with pitfalls and surprises, quite a few of them self-inflicted — at least in my case. The pace of progress, especially when writing dialogue and jokes, is anything but steady. You can prepare a nice, detailed synopsis, know exactly where you're going and how to get there, and it still goes off the rails most of the time. Right in the middle of a scene you've carefully prepared and planned, a spontaneous idea pops up and turns all that neat preparation upside down. Sometimes it goes away just as fast, once you think about it a bit and realize, no, that doesn't work. But sometimes it works so well that you HAVE to include it. Even if it means reworking a bunch of other stuff, already done or still to come. Why put yourself through that extra work? Simple: for you.
Well, a bit for myself too, honestly, because as a player, I think I'd love for that to happen during my own playthrough. And if it's great for the player, then it has to be there. No matter how much work it takes. No matter if only 5% of players will ever see it. No matter if it took forever to set up and only amounts to 5 seconds of gameplay.
I really am dying to give you examples, but that would mean spoiling things for you. So for now, I have to stay vague (but we'll be able to talk about it freely once the game is out, on the Profiler Files forum, I promise). So just tuck this away somewhere in the back of your mind, so it comes back to you when you stumble on it while playing. Right now, it means nothing to you, but in the moment, there's a good chance it'll click:
An object to click on during a search where you think "It'd be so great if this were usable." It is.
Vacation photos. Not planned from the start, but ones that instantly felt obvious.
Text replaced with little drawings. Like this:
Expressions from recurring characters that are used only once, under very rare conditions, that only a handful of players will ever see.
Otherwise, good news: despite these little surprises and everything else that stretches out development time, the planned schedule is still holding for now, and early access is getting closer and closer. More news very soon!