So, in less than a month, Mac has become my offical co-author for Way Walkers: Tazu Saga, will have her name on the cover of Negating Destiny coming out next AND we’ve signed a contract with RAP for the next portion in the series, Implied Permissions, on which Mac shall be a full co-author. Now the fun of Implied Permissions is it’s not done yet, and while RAP is going to give us some time to do so, (and it’s going to be really cool, and following a new publishing format, but more on that later) we still need to get it more complete for the release of Negating Destiny, which is slotted for this year. And trying to juggle that, Way Walkers: University 3, our University DLCs, AND Patreon ….is a lot. And while we WANT to get WW:U3 DONE this year as well….not so sure we can without having some kind of mental breakdown. 😑

BUT we do not want to disappoint our fans, especially those of you whom University is your main fandom. (I mean, Sem is awesome, we get it.) However, the deep structural problems with WW:U3 keep arising, and one of the things we’re going to need to do to fix it is some major re-working…which becomes doubly difficult when we’re also working on the DLC content for WW:U2. So, in order to make things go more smoothly, and allow for Mac to work more efficiently, we’ve decided to shift our gears from trying to finish WW:U3, to simply fixing it so we can then finish it.

Now, this will take a few steps: the first will be a small patch for WW:U2 coming soon-ish that will address a few code clean ups and other things. Secondly, we will be aiming to beta-test smaller, less ‘polished’ chunks of WW:U3 more often. Previously, we had not prioritized beta-testing the smaller working parts because we have been trying to fix the deeper structural issues. We don’t know exactly what our final schedule will be on this, but we are switching gears here so that progress continues where it *can* while we iron out the bigger problems.

The third, and this is the big deal, will be our focus on the WW:U2 Social Expansion DLC, with the *hope* that we can get that out this year or early next year. (either pre-Christmas or Valentines day, we hope) This DLC is something we’ve already had to start poking at, as big parts of it impact necessarily WW:U3. Part of what has been clogging up 3 has been our trying to work on these simultaneously, but now we believe it’ll be easier to work on 3 once we’ve established *what* content for 3 is DLC and what is not.

But do not despair, as this is a big and fun expansion that will take place at first before the dance, when new extracurricular holiday activities will allow you to meet new people and maybe even try out new skills. It then will expand upon social and academic opportunities throughout 2 & later 3– unlike Halloween, which was kind of a big one-time block in the middle of the story. This will be consistently updated (with or without price changes that’s up to CoG) and will not only expand upon current friendships, romances, and activities, but will also introduce several new dateable characters: and these are possible long-term dateable people, not just for the dance.

And to make it more awesome– we’re going to let our patrons pick some of them. 

That’s right, we’re gonna write up a few “dating” profiles, and patrons will get first crack at helping flesh out the new romances/friends. So be on the look out, sign up to Patreon to get into the discord and be ready for some fun! If all goes well, you’ll be seeing plenty of awesome Way Walker content as we move forward. 😁

Check out the Patreon here for the most-up-to date progress on all projects, and for tons of additional content!

~J. Leigh & Mac

Hi everybody, J Leigh and my co-author Mac J Rea here!

We decided it was high time to put out a post sort of to bring up everyone not hanging around the Patreon discord chat to speed, as well as make some big announcements. 🙂

Hello all, Mac here! First and foremost, I want to say WWU3 is going well, but there is a lot of work. There are roughly three big hurdles ahead of us, and we are currently working right now on the first two problems: organizing our story “strings” and then unknotting the remaining plot knots. AKA: first, re-coding and reorganizing many of the existing files for WWU3; then, writing the final sections that couldn’t be written until the problems in the existing files were fixed. Not all existing files needed to be re-coded, but some chapters/storylines are monster teardowns and rebuilds. It is so worth it, though, because the story J. Leigh was working on is fantastic. Without these efficiency gains and structural changes, the full spectrum of available storylines had become unworkable. (Which is literally why I needed Mac to come on so badly– she’s saving my brain, seriously, and I love her for it!)

Second, as we recode old files, it will allow us to start working on untying the final plot knots. Having two of us is helpful: We can take turns alternately re-coding and writing new material in different files They are very different kinds of writing tasks and switching helps us avoid burn-out (which was also a wall J kept slamming into badly)

The third and final stage of WWU3’s development will be game-balancing and playtesting. We have a while to go before we are there for the entire game. However, when we finish a good, large, stand-alone chunk of playable game, that is sometimes posted for the monthly Playable Preview for our patrons at the Way Walker and High Mage Tiers. The Birthday Party Preview for all patrons was the result of reaching our last push goal. We haven’t quite figured out what our next push goal will be, but have considered doing something else for/from WWU3. While I enjoy working with J to write the Q&A posts and things like that, bushwhacking through WWU3’c code is pretty much my full time job. I can do that thanks to the support on patreon. ❤

So yeah… thanks for supporting us and having patience. We are working hard and even though I occasionally gripe about the eye strain it truly is a joy to be doing it!

Hi, J. Leigh again! Isn’t Mac great?? I’m a gonna gush about her for a second and then, big announcement! If you don’t know, Mac’s been proofreading and alpha reading and brainstorming and just generally being my awesome Way Walkers buddy since we met in college, and I’ve been begging her to come co-author pretty much since then. Well, as you all know, she did come co-author officially for WW:U Halloween, which has been a big success!

But the even more awesome announcement is thus:
Mac J. Rea is now my official co-author for the Way Walkers Novel series, Tazu Saga!

This will be including the upcoming Negating Destiny, which she helped me with exponentially, and my publishers at RAP are happily helping me acknowledge her contributions by making Mac a full RAP author– with her name on Negating Destiny and everything! I am BEYOND EXCITED about this, and I know it will mean wonderful things for the future of Way Walkers. Mac has now and always been the other half of my brain, and we are a spectaculair team. I can’t wait to show everyone what’s to come. ^_^

Thanks for taking a Walk in our World!
~J. Leigh & Mac J. Rea

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