Hey there, my favorite followers and patrons! 🎸 Stray Paranormal here, and yes, it's been a minute, but I haven’t forgotten about you. I’ve got some juicy updates to share!

First off, I did a thing. 🕵️‍♂️ What thing, you ask? Well, that’s a secret. I’d love to spill the beans, but then it wouldn’t be a secret, would it? So, no peeking! The mystery of the new LI and her secret path will go to the grave with me. 🤫

Now, let’s talk polls. Last week, I stirred the pot on Reddit with questions about QTEs and Free Roams—love ’em or hate ’em? Opinions were all over the place, and it gave me loads of data to chew on! After much pondering, I’ve cooked up design docs for both. I will share design document if you want, but short version is:

Quick Time Events (QTEs) will:

- 🥊 Be used in fighting scenes.

- 🔄 Focus on selecting actions, rather than test motor cortex function.

- ⚙️ Have 2 difficulty settings: Normal and Hard. Hard mode will include a timer and will block rollback (no going back!). Quick saves still work, though.

- 📴 Have an option to turn them off entirely. If you do, the story moves forward in the most logical way. The MC usually wins—because, well, he's the MC, not some pussy. 💪

- 🚫 Never cause a game over. The story will always move forward, no matter what.

- 👀 Feature large, clearly visible action regions, with no more than 3 options per slide.

Free Roams will:

- 🚶‍♂️ Start when there are optional interactions available.

- 🗺️ Include a minimap with quick travel options.

- ➡️ Have an exit button. This exits the free roam, whether or not you’ve completed required interactions. If you missed something necessary, it’ll kick off automatically.

- 💡 Include a hint system (off by default) that can be turned on in settings. This will keep objects in the scene permanently highlighted—except collectibles, which you'll need to hunt down. There’ll also be a checklist of interactions with checkmarks for completed ones.

That's not all. 🧊 I’ve got more updates coming your way tomorrow, including details on the economic system.

Stay safe, stay cool, and I’ll catch you in the next update! 😸 Stray Paranormal out!