Don't you just love it when everything goes exactly according to plan—on schedule and without any hiccups?

... Yeah. I don't know what that's like either.

Nevertheless, despite quite a few unexpected distractions and delays, I'm happy to say that a rough draft The Dragon's Last Flight (full version!) is now complete! It's currently sitting at around 50k words without code—it was almost going to be twice as long before I decided to cut what would have turned out to be a large but rather redundant narrative branch.

There are quite a few endings in store for players—not all of them happily ever afters—and a lot of conversational variants based on the choices you make throughout the game, especially towards the end. I don't want to spoil too much, but no matter what choices you make, you can always expect more dragon/slayer drama, more difficult choices, and more fire... of one kind or another. ;) Here's a teeny tiny tidbit to whet your appetite—note, again, that this is a very rough draft and what you see below may undergo many changes between now and the official release.

Marius "Is dying in battle the only good death for a dragon?"

Marius "Is there no honor in a long life and peaceful passing?"

Tashka "It is not… inherently dishonorable. But there is nothing peaceful about it."

Marius "What do you mean?"

Tashka "A dragon felled by tooth, claw, or sword gains the right to fly in the Eternal Sky as a soul no longer bound to mortal flesh. It is a place without war, without anguish--without time. A place of joy, and a place of rest."

Tashka "Those who do not fall in battle have not earned their rest yet. Instead, they must return and begin again, a new life in a new body. Most return as dragons; the especially wicked return as humans."

Marius "So to your eyes, being human is… a punishment?"

"Tashka chuckles softly."

Tashka "I am only repeating what I was taught, dragonslayer. But yes, I believe it would be, for a dragon."

Tashka "You’ve been a human for as long as you can remember. It is all you know."

Tashka "But I have walked both paths, and I know the difference. There is no comparison between the two."

Marius "What is the difference? Besides the obvious, of course."

Tashka "You mean, besides being able to fly and breathe fire?"

Tashka "Flight is a sacred gift, one we cherish deeply. Do not be so quick to discount it."

Tashka "But there is more to it than that. We dragons do not realize what power, what strength, we have in these bodies until we take on human form for the first time."

Tashka "To be so much smaller, so much weaker… it’s terrifying."

That's all you get for now. :P

So what's next? I'm going to take a few weeks to switch gears and work on other projects—get a little perspective before I do preliminary re-reading and self-editing, while looking for a third party editor who can comb through the draft with fresh eyes and no bias. Then I'll likely be on to coding and adding in more music and sound fx and, of course, more lovely art from OddLazdo. This will be followed by beta testing, more tweaking, and—eventually—release!

In short, we have a long ways to go yet before the full, final version of TDLF will be ready to play. In the meantime, however, be sure keep an eye out here for more updates, including behind-the-scenes stuff as we get deeper into production—and of course, I'll be sure to announce it here when we're ready to start beta testing.

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded the demo so far—and an extra special thank you to everyone who has donated! All of your support helps keep us going on those bad writing and drawing days, and make the good days that much better. :)