A lot has happened this past year (self-published Out of Tales, my first full-length book!), and then a lot more the past two weeks (when I’ve been pushing to get a more complete version of Jennie’s Room into the world).

The biggest addition to Jennie’s Room (and it is large indeed, have been working on it since October) is what happens when you turn out the lights. It’s a dark branching story that is a more experiential introduction to the Kingdom, a small pocket universe that will dissolve into the marvelous fae realm beyond.

Once you get any ending for one of the three characters, you’ll have access to a somewhat early draft of that character’s story as it is written in Out of Tales, in the pile of books by the bed. (Yes, I’m rewarding reading some writing with…the ability to read more writing. But, I hope, a tiny mite of dopamine as well :) ) It’s almost entirely text-based, but if you make certain choices you’ll run into animations with music,

There are a few other odds and ends too - the computer now has a music app and a photos app in addition to its browser. Earlier this year, I added the non-novelistic content of Out of Tales to Jennie’s Room – it appears out the window or in the books, for the most part.

From a tech perspective, I still haven’t felt the need for a game engine, but I am using TypeScript and a bundler called Parcel.js instead of vanilla js. Typescript is super helpful for making sure I don’t mess up the ginormous js objects that have most of my writing.

I’m also trying GitHub Copilot and finding the code completion helpful on net – though Copilot will also make creative suggestions, sometimes startlingly poetic but also not yet ever quite what I had in mind, and then resist letting go of them in an endearingly human way.

There’s still more I hope to add (more, longer, more varied music! code refactors! making the alert() not take you out of full-screen!), but I’m feeling proud.