Release XX is here!

Release XX contains three new chapters and a new music track.

Happy Halloween! I'm writing this at the Witching Hour right now — extra spooky.
It was important to me to get this out today... what slowed me down a little was that, like usual, I hadn't done enough work on it during the week.

I think Halloween put me in a better mood. Also, I got enough sleep for once.

Anyway, because I wanted this Release to be a little meatier than it ended up being, tomorrow I will be updating it with the bios I wanted to include last time, as well as a new Interviews question and some other small improvements, so you might want to wait a little to download it until I release the XX.5 update.

What's really important to finish every week is the content, since the extra stuff can be added later, and thankfully I was able to get the content part done despite having to rewrite the old chapters pretty much entirely.

With this Release marks the exact 50% mark of this project.
If all goes well, in only five months, I will complete Methods. It's incredible to see the progress I've been able to make.

Since I've gotten this far, this is a good opportunity to go into more detail about what my plan is going forward. The next two weeks will be wrapping up Ashdown's arc — which has a very bombastic ending planned that deviates a lot from the novel. But that's okay, because every chapter written after Chapter 55 will be entirely new and so I can go in new directions.

In terms of improvements to past chapters, the game will not be complete before I rework the first four chapters. There are a few things I want to do, namely:

• Replace the old backgrounds
• Create a new sprite for Coles, who looks out of place next to the newer sprites
• Same for the Rows and Sparks sprites
• Redo the first mystery so that it makes more sense
• Redo the first four CGs

Right now, I'm not sure if I'm going to do this for Release XXII.5, which will be on my brief intermediary break between Chapters 55 and 56, or to do it once Chapter 100 is released. I'm considering doing some of it (new sprites, new backgrounds, new CGs), and then saving redoing the mystery for after Chapter 100, since I do want this to be a break.

But yes, in any case, on my "break" I will be releasing some sort of improved version of Methods.

Speaking of Chapter 56, it will mark the second time the price will increase — to $10 according to my Incremental Pricing scheme. This Halloween sale is a great time to get the game while the full price is only $5!

But enough about shameless cash grabs — since it's such a momentous occasion, I wanted to make a special announcement (that I don't think I've mentioned yet)!

Methods will be coming to Steam when it's complete! And unlike Broken Minds' release, this time I want to be sure it has Steam Achievements, something that was sorely lacking (and still is) from Broken Minds on Steam.

However, this is still a distant goal — at least five months away from happening. What else can I announce?

• A new special feature is coming
• I'm working on a "text history" feature for the options menu
• The different outcomes (Hackett Lost / Hackett Won, Nell Lost / Nell Won, etc) will have more influence on the story in the future

I think that's all I can share for now...

Stay tuned!

— LockedOn.