Howdy! 

So, releasing a new build is usually an exhaustive process, but we did things a lot differently for 0.4. Mainly it was smoother, the amount of content it had was less than our normal and it was easier polishing it up for publication. As a consequence of this somewhat easier build we, for the most part, had the energy and spirit to jump back into writing for Minoh after just a few days of break (as opposed to the longer, month-long breaks we usually take.) And that means quite a lot advanced since.

For starters, in large part thanks to all the great criticism and suggestions we got after 0.4 I pumped out a lot of content for Chapter 14. Right now it stands at 38k words. It will get a little more content because we need to stitch a few scenes together and tinker with some moments, but for the most part Chapter 14 is written and ageing a bit before we start editing.

Then comes "The Hinterlands II," which continues the story of P and Storm, the characters we met at the end of 0.4. Right now it's at about 15k words, it's coming along nicely.

While I work on The Hinterlands, Nemo and Kangarube have been working on the ending of the Ruthless Route. Yes, that's right, the Ruthless content is coming to an end. We had a very specific storytelling goal with writing the Ruthless content; Minotaur Hotel, after all, is a story about what Asterion went through and the disproportional power the player has to do both good and bad. If we only allowed the good then the work as a whole would be conceptually incomplete.

Right now the Ruthless content is at about 20k words. We know few people check the Ruthless content, but for those who do I'm expecting this to be one of the best, richest pieces of writing in Minotaur Hotel so far.

We haven't started Chapter 15 yet, but that will be the conclusion to Build 0.5. And outside of all this we have a lot of extra content I'm not counting here — 0.5 adds new guests and the capacity to hang out with any of the guests if they are free during the day, more lore drops, R&D projects such as building a gym, the list goes on. A lot of that's already written too, in large part thanks to Awoo, who's been focusing on optional scenes, and Kangarube who's responsible for a lot of poetry that, in-universe, is written by Asterion.

While we, the writers, were busy with new content nanoff started work on overhauling some of the backend code. This isn't anything you guys will see or notice, but a lot of work was done so the game runs better and with less bugs. Last night he did have some issues — his computer died — but he's already solving the issue.

So... It's been a productive month! Once we finish The Hinterlands it will be a somewhat straightforward last stretch and we can close Build 0.5. But, before you ask, it's not possible saying when we'll release 0.5 just yet. We have a lot of work to do and my job's been been keeping me very busy, so I can't exactly write as much as I'd like to.

Thank you for being on this journey with us. Working on Minotaur Hotel and seeing how it brings happiness was one of the best things this year afforded us. It is my belief that, in these trying times, art and creativity should do its best to bring joy and comfort to everyone — or, let's say, give a metaphorical home and place of recovery to those who are lost in this messy world. I hope we keep on accomplishing this mission.

To close it off, three final things:

First, we will probably push out a minor update in the next week or so. It'll contain bug fixes and a few more music tracks to substitute the Creative Commons ones we used.

Second, I'd like to pose a question; if circumstances ever allow, would you like the idea of Minotaur Hotel merchandise? If yes, what do you think would be a nice option for merch? We are curious to know what everyone thinks about this.

And third, under commission of Matydos, who's responsible for both theories in our forums and a Minotaur Hotel fanfic, nanoff drew a very festive Asterion. If you haven't seen him, here's the boy!

That's it for now! Let's hope for a 2021 that's at least marginally better than 2020. See you guys later!