So, I'm all set up to upload Chapter 2, but I think I'm going to take a little extra time on it instead. As it stands, it is suitable for release, but it is not quite at the point where a little time would no longer net a significant improvement. The reasons for this are many and mostly common: I spent more time with family than expected (no regrets here), I'm working more hours than expected (somewhat regret) and I have some other, higher priority things that keep pulling me away...but those are all things I factored in when I set June as the date. The main reason is simply that I have been too ambitious. I knew I could get everything that I wanted done in time, but I did not expect to have to spend so much time fine-tuning it. As an apology, I'll provide a short list of what I put in and why it took longer than expected.

The Ability to Build Zoids.
This was something that I'd wanted in Chapter 1, but had to cut. For that reason, I had many things set up for it and was able to implement the system quickly and without incident...but I didn't have much to go on in terms of what zoids to add. I knew that I didn't want to compete with the zoid a la carte offered in Zoids Saga because balance is something I very much care about. Also, since there are character specific skills, some pilot/zoid combos would be objectively better than others. For example, putting Pana in a Gustav (A snail zoid with great defense) would not make for a very interesting game. It would, however, be a clear best choice that would also make things less engaging. The same could be said of plopping Juno in a Gustav and having her pull aggro all day. Then again, maybe it's just not an interesting combat zoid...but perhaps you get the point?
Anyway, that meant that I needed to choose zoids that complemented the characters AND the gameplay. I needed Christopher to have a Christopher feel no matter what zoid he was in while also making sure that he had some strengths to work around.
Thus, the thing that I planned for (implementing the system) went smoothly, but I spent more time than expected on the zoid choices, even though I knew they were going to be tough.
At any rate, here are the four that I went with to start out. I plan to release more (will be quite simple, now) once I get a handle on how well these played out.
-König Wolf (Adele, Christopher, Leeland)
-Sabre Tiger (Juno, Christopher, Ursula)
-Lightning Saix (Pana, Christopher, Leeland)
-Red Horn (Pana, Adele, Juno, Ursula)


Improved Enemy AI
I knew to expect problems when crafting any sort of artificial intelligence, but still underestimated the extent of said problems. Some were simple bugs...others came about due to how the engine I'm using handles certain things. Long story sort, the experiment was a success...but it came with a hefty production time cost. The end result is a few enemies that respond to what the player is doing and what their teammates are doing. This means that, when fighting them, paying attention to the catalyst of their actions is more important than the order. To prevent frustration, I dropped ample hints, but I'm eager to see how it is received...so I'm doubly eager to work out the remaining kinks before releasing it.


Textless Communication
This is a general one, but I mostly mean better cut-scenes and minute interactions so as to stuff more character into the game without being cheesy or campy.

The good news is that the uploading issues of before are mostly resolved, so no more 14 hour upload sessions...I'll have Chapter 2 out when it's a bit more polished~