—Hello again proggers—

Story time. Added the first half, which starts with ordinary band practice and then slowly turns into everyone realizing Eli is absent and nobody has the same explanation. Thanks Claude. I now have a rhythm prototype and a reason for things to get uncomfortable.

band practice, famously a place where everyone communicates clearly

Cat or dog? where's Eli?

Okay let's get into it~

—Yap—

The last two devlogs built the rhythm baseline. This round starts giving Deadbeat its narrative: normal rehearsal life first, then a missing person, conflicting assumptions, and concern that keeps getting harder to brush aside.

—The Great Suffering—

1 — Ordinary Band Practice

Added the opening story material around normal band practice. It gives the story somewhere ordinary to begin before the absence starts changing the mood.

2 — Eli Is Absent

The first half follows Eli being missing from the usual routine. The characters do not all read that absence the same way, which is where the conflicting assumptions start stacking up.

3 — Concern Starts Building

The early scenes move from normal practice into growing concern. This is the first half of the story material, rather than a finished end-to-end playable narrative.

—FAQ (no one asked these but they are here)—

Q: What is a "progger"?
A: A human programmer. You. The one who opened the story files and made band practice considerably less comfortable.

Q: Is the whole story in now?
A: First half only at this point. The evidence and the aftermath still need their turn.

Q: Is all of this connected to gameplay already?
A: The narrative material is being added first. Connecting it into one playable flow is still ahead.

—This is the end*—

*end for now, band communication permitting

PRACTICE!!!

Historical note: These dates and session boundaries were reconstructed. Hours are retrospective work estimates inferred from the development changes and timing. Overnight gaps and inferred breaks are excluded; this is not measured activity.