working on a big project that's definitely gonna take a few more years. released a few wip tracks from the project for the sake of feedback. i figured it would be best to include some details for documentation's sake, even though my following is not large enough for it to matter much.

the story of act one involves the main character, Lan Corbett, traveling from the Retired Riftport to the town of Freewater, looking for one "Colonel Cook," from whom she received a mysterious letter regarding her deceased brother. talking to the town's residents, she is directed to The Docks, where the Colonel was last seen. however, the path directly from the town to The Docks is currently blocked, so Lan is instead directed down "The Long Route," a much longer and tedious pathway which is home to many more of the loathsome "unfortunates" -- hostile, soulless creatures who feed off of the souls of the sapient. she walks down a short path and discovers that even the road to The Long Route is blocked. it is then that she is attacked by a girl named Fennec Marigold, who seems to be in some sort of trance. easily defeated by Lan, Fennec seems unable to recall much of the events of the prior few months. as a token of thanks, she uses her Battle Art to burn through the overgrowth blocking The Long Route. here, you can begin the first "ZONE," or level of the project. alternatively, you can bypass The Long Route by backtracking to Fennec's house before asking her to burn the overgrowth blocking the shorter route mentioned by the townspeople. if you don't she will do it herself as a part of the next events of the act, which I don't want to divulge just yet.

all of these songs are in my audio section:

Golden Midsummer: the theme for the area "West Ord Forest," a perpetually golden forest in the world of Chryse. the forest itself is located to the west of the town Freewater, east of The Docks and the Retired Riftport, and southeast of the similarly sized town Godston. this area is the starting area of act one.

Freewater Town: the theme for the peaceful and small town of Freewater. to the south of Freewater is "The Long Route."

The Long Route: the theme for the first level of the game, or as they are called, the first "ZONE." somehow, not inspired by sonic. the choice to call them "ZONES" over levels makes much more sense in the context of how the game is navigated.

ok, that's basically all i want to divulge for now. just some stuff i've been working on in the background. college is taking up a lot of my time and when i'm not playing elden ring i'm working on this thing. everyone i've shared the idea with thinks it's pretty cool so far so i have hopes that i might actually end up make something worth engaging with this time, which would be great. the story is coming together in a much more organic way than i've ever had something come together before. still a lot of the people i've shown it to, especially my roommate, have had a lot to critique, so i figured i'll put some of the things i'm working on up here in the hopes i'll at least get a little. i doubt i'll divulge many more specifics about the game's story and such. not as work on the game proper starts to really ramp up. gamemaker is a very straightforward engine but it's still one i'm pretty unfamiliar with and progress with it is slow.