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Updated: A Long Weekend's Achievements Guide and Endings Walkthrough

Hey there! Since I've been asked a few times lately about this, I've updated the guide and walkthrough for A Long Weekend.

Endings 1, 5, 6 and 7 have been added to the CoG forum thread (and more will come soon!)

Enjoy ♥

Hi! Really excited for the update <3 I found The In Between a few days ago and I love it so much. Just wanted to ask, is the update patreon only at the minute and if so, when does everyone else get access to it? Thank you! ❤️

Hi! Yes, Chapter 10 is in Early Access. It will be free to read in a couple of week or so—it isn't the same every month, but you can always check the current #roadmap on my blog or on Patreon (for free, of course!).

Thank you for your nice words, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Chapter 10 in Early Access is heeere! ♥

Along with the new chapter (+3.2k words), there are a couple of new things:

I've added a character list accessible from the Stats menu. Characters will appear as they become relevant, so if someone hasn't shown up yet, just wait until they're mentioned!

There are also a couple of new variables that, if the game doesn't read them correctly, could cause some issues down the line. To be safe, it's best to start a fresh playthrough.

That's all—enjoy! ♥

[ Patreon ][ Discord ][ Public Demo ]

On a scale of 1 to 10 how realistic is After Dark going to be? Like personal hygiene, their smell (☠️), monthly cycles, other illnesses/sickness that characters could get?

This is a very specific question, and I've been thinking about it too without a clear answer. When does one go too far?

There are the issue of sunburn, the starting malus, and problems from not having enough pills or cigarettes. At one point, they even joke about their smell, and Abby mentions the diaper situation (if the baby is alive).

I can't really go further than that, though. Still, we can assume they take care of their needs wherever they are (preferably without others watching), and the pills they find include things that can help when they’re not feeling well.

This sent me flying

The latest chapter was wild! Without context, you won't understand, so 10/10 would recommend you to play AD

My normally nice MC was so annoyed at Mick and Rain, justified though, these two dumbasses

Totally unrelated to the height thing ☺️ but what do you say the AD cast wear? 🤔

What an interesting question! I won't give you detailed descriptions, but rather some general ideas about their outfits and style.

MC: He's wearing what he threw on the first night—basically, a hoodie and jeans! Of course, it's hot during the day, so he’s wearing them over his pajamas, meaning you can picture him in reverse—a plain t-shirt and jeans during the day, and a hoodie at night when he wants to feel cozier.

Michael: I imagine him in a semi-sporty look ☺ he also has a baseball cap!

Rain: Casual gamer style, but since they were at a party, think something more like... streetwear-trendy vibes.

Abigail: She's in maternity clothes at first, but she switches to comfier stuff after the baby's born (clothes that Michael gets her from her home). She's very casual—100% comfort over fashion.

Divya: super-duper nerdy vibes, she's probably rocking a snarky t-shirt or something like that.

Max: clothes similar to Divya, but way more subtle. Think of a plain shirt with a tiny symbol on it of something you've never heard of—that’s them.

Thanks for the compliment! You have no idea how happy I am that you're enjoying it ♥

Yes, hunger and thirst deaths will be implemented in the game, but for now, I'm treating them as potential issues just in case, lol.

So, if you don't drink and your thirst is maxed out, it's normal for MC to die. However, there's a bug with Dashingdon where, when you save and reload, sometimes your hunger and thirst levels stay the same as they were before you loaded. This means that if you reload to a point where your thirst wasn't as high, but you didn't drink before saving, MC might still die during the next stat check because the values didn't reset properly.

I'm working on an internal soft save system for the game, so I hope to fix this problem sooner rather than later!

Just came to say I died from thirst unu, I WAS JUST TRYING TO NOT GET MY SLEEP TO LOW!! ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ (I reached this before meeting Rain)

I am a good little kid who listens to the game they had been playing non stop for 3hs

Thank you for bringing this to my attention! Sometimes bugs are a little tricky, so I always need to check this kind of death scenes.

Questions, questions:

Were you getting your MC to drink water? If so, how much?

Did you save and reload this game before you died?

Just came to say I died from thirst unu, I WAS JUST TRYING TO NOT GET MY SLEEP TO LOW!! ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ (I reached this before meeting Rain)

I am a good little kid who listens to the game they had been playing non stop for 3hs

Thank you for bringing this to my attention! Sometimes bugs are a little tricky, so I always need to check this kind of death scenes.

Questions, questions:

Were you getting your MC to drink water? If so, how much?

Did you save and reload this game before you died?

Heights, heights, how tall are the AD cast?

Michael: 17 years old, 180 cm (5'11")

Rain: 16 years old, F 165 cm / M 172 cm (5'5" / 5'8")

Abigail: 25 years old, 167 cm (5'6")

Divya: 16 years old, 153 cm (5'0")

Max: 15 years old, AFAB 160 cm / AMAB 165 cm (5'3" / 5'5")

MC's height depends:

Very short, AFAB 147 cm / AMAB 150 cm (4'10" / 4'11")

Short, AFAB 155 cm / AMAB 160 cm (5'1" / 5'3")

Average, AFAB 163 cm / AMAB 173 cm (5'4" / 5'8")

Tall, AFAB 178 cm / AMAB 180 cm (5'10" / 5'11")

Very tall, AFAB 190 cm / AMAB 198 cm (6'3" / 6'6")

Any news on the character list in the in between? I'm taking notes for myself but it would be nice to have it in game, like in the menu or something

Good news for you! The character list is almost finished, and in fact, it will be accessible from the stats menu starting from the Chapter 10 update ☺

(Entries will be unlocked as you encounter each character, so don't worry if you can't see all of them at once!)

I'm gonna getcha! Let me eat your tears, child! 👹

After Dark question again! In route #1, I got the achievement for meeting all of the characters of that route. I was wondering if these characters (the main cast, I call them), will be the only interactable characters of said route?

Hi! No, it refers to your group's members, the same people you can find on FriendBook. It just means your group is complete, so any future interactions with new characters won't lead to long-term additions to the group :)

My proofreader is on holiday these hours. It's very difficult to do everything myself, but I understand her need to balance work and personal life.

As you can see, however, she's very relaxed right now and I'm sure she will be back to check my writings after her well-deserved rest!

After Dark question again! If an MC romanced Michael and then tried to romance Rain, would the two confront MC about it? Somehow, there's appeal to breaking both their hearts 😈

There is nothing like that in the story yet, but you can always try. There is no telling how they will react in the future 😏

For After Dark, I wonder if in a timeline where MC was bitten (or somehow contracted the disease), how would the cast react to that? OR! Would there be a chance that one of the casts be bitten and the MC has to choose with the group whether to kill them or simply let the bitten one leave?

What an interesting question! I can’t reveal if that will actually happen in the game, but I can tell you how the group might react!

If MC were to get infected...

Michael:

It depends on the relationship, but he’s the group's paladin, and he believes the greater good should prevail over the individual. He would opt to kill MC, but if they were close friends or in a romantic relationship, it would lead to A LOT of drama.

Abigail:

It depends on whether her baby is alive or not, because if her baby is dead, she's much more cynical. In general, though, she has a strong maternal instinct, which would make her hesitate and wait until the last possible moment.

Rain:

Their response would be a lot of "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!" and in the end, they'd probably follow Michael's lead. If they were in a relationship with MC, it would turn into full-blown panic, with them scrambling for increasingly unrealistic solutions until they have no choice but to face the inevitable—and then they'd fall into despair.

Divya:

She would want to kick everyone's ass and find a cure on the spot, especially if she's in a relationship with MC. She’d probably clash with Michael and would get some support from Abigail. Abigail would then comfort her once it's all over, but despite understanding the logic of it, she’d likely hold a grudge towards everyone.

Max:

They'd cry.

If it were another group member... MC's behavior would obviously depend on their character, but their decision would create some friction or alliances:

Michael:

He would try to reason with them, even resorting to force if necessary. If it were Michael himself who was infected, he would ensure the group could move forward without him, pass on all useful information to Kay, Abby, and MC, and then he would kill himself.

Abigail:

She’d be torn because of her strong empathy, but if she were the infected one, it would depend on her baby's fate. If her baby was dead, she wouldn’t have a problem killing herself.

Rain:

He would vote to kill the infected person, but if they were the one infected, they'd probably try to hide it from the others.

Divya e Max:

Their situation would be a bit more complex. They'd likely prefer to leave the group together rather than let one of them get killed or abandoned. If someone else were infected, Divya would vote to let them go, and Max would do the same.

Hey! I’m just wondering when you were creating the wonderful characters of the in between, did you completely invent them from your imagination or did you base them off actors you liked? If so, who inspired you? Thank you 😁😁

You're very kind! ♥ All my characters are always original, and I usually don't focus much on their physical appearance—that’s because I have congenital prosopagnosia, so faces are really complicated for me. For the same reason, I couldn't say which real actors my characters look like. But if you have suggestions, feel free to share them—I think it's a funny idea! ☺

Some questions about After Dark that I received today on Discord!

Q: Does an MC's sibling not exist if you don't choose them at the start? A: The standard family is MC + parents. If you choose for them to have a sibling, then sibling it is! Q: Do we have the choice to check out the locked mall mentioned by Rain? A: No. Q: So still no saving the parents? A: No. Q: The nightmare scenes are implemented already or not? I don't think I'm triggering any nightmare scenes A: Not yet, but they will be implemented very soon!

The time off from writing is over. Back to The In-Between...

Great advice, and the last part is SO true!

How the fudge are you writting so fast??? I sit down to write and end up with nothing or reworking plot instead of writing 😭Have any tips you want to share? Perhaps the ingredients to the dark ritual you perform to get the motivation and remain focused 👀👀👀

So, first of all, you'll need half a newborn, shaken, not stirred…

lol jk (don't shake babies)

Believe it or not I'm the same as you, so here are some stuff that helped me tremendously, especially with my squirrel ADHD brain:

NUMBER ONE that I needed 20 years to learn, is that… forget editing, man. You can't edit if there is nothing to edit, so first you have to sit ya ass down and just fuckin' do it. It doesn't matter if it's shit at first. It's called work in progress for a reason. Who cares if it's shit? You can edit it LATER when the whole thing is already done. What you're reading in my game is literally my first draft. Lots of scenes might change later. In fact, I'm already changing scenes in the background, I'm just not always telling you. It doesn't matter. If anyone gives you shit for it, tell them to kindly fuck right off.

Have a plan for the book (written down. Not just in your head). Don't even start writing until you have a plan for the entire book. It doesn't have to be detailed. Mine is just bulletpoints, but you should know which chapter will contain what, including plot points, character development, relationship progress etc, otherwise you'll get lost, especially in a big IF. And then as you get closer to the next chapter, you can work out more details in the plan to help the actual writing.

If you don't feel like writing a scene, then don't write it. Leave a placeholder word there (I use 'mandarin' because that word likely won't come up anywhere else in the text), and instantly move on to another scene that you have inspiration for. Later, you can just search for 'mandarin' and add the scene when you feel like it. If you accidentally come across any MANDARINs in my game, that's the reason lol.

If you are writing an IF, it helps to start simple. Write the story until a choice comes up, then write the title of the choices, and continue ONLY with the route you feel the most inspired for atm (use mandarin for the rest). Don't let your momentum die by getting bogged down in choices. That's why I have so many greyed out choices when I start a new origin or chapter. I just write write write until the end of the chapter, THEN I go back to whatever choice is the simplest to add, and put the variations in the already-existing text if needed. Repeat until all the choices are written and coded in. This way, the text might feel more organic too, because you already have a pre-written skeleton that you can just add variations in.

Keep notes. It helps to have them on paper, next to you, so f.ex. when you make 9 different deities to choose from, you don't have to go back to the beginning of the chapter every single time to look up which deities those were and what they mean, you can simply turn your head to the side lol.

Take regular breaks. Exercise, stretch. Keep a daily schedule. Eat and drink enough. Try to keep a good health. Your brain won't work if it's starved.

Know yourself and your habits, and be honest with yourself. I know of myself that once I start working on the big plot points, I won't have any motivation to come back to the beginning again. That's why I'm writing all the origin stories first, because I know that if I start going into chapter 2, I definitely won't feel like coming back to start yet another route from the very beginning. So if you don't feel like doing something, then just… don't do it. Or do it simpler. Do it smarter. Trick that asshole brain into cooperating.

Last but not least, guys, 90% of my motivation COMES FROM YOU! Your engagement, your messages, your feedback, every little interaction is what keeps me going! So write me! I will answer! (if you aren't a dick). Literally, about anything. Even if it's just "hey I really liked this small detail here", that will already make my day, seriously. I LOVE talking about my work, and I'm pretty sure every author is like that, so keep engaging with writers, because that's 90% of the reason when a novel gets finished! I'm writing for YOU! Your enjoyment, your fun, because I love telling stories, but those stories don't mean anything if no one is reading them.

The monthly early access update is here!

This update brings about 11,000 words, with the second part of the fifth day of the journey.

DevLog

BUG FIXES

Fixed an issue where the dialogue incorrectly stated that MC was eating with others, even when they didn’t have food or didn’t want to stop to eat.

Fixed a bug affecting one of the mobile games that would conflict with the phone battery.

Fixed a bug related to the phone battery not charing in some situations.

Typos fixed.

IMPROVEMENTS

Improved the memory system tracking events related to MC's party—now they'll remember previous conversations and any shared info.

Added a way to retry some particularly bad choices in the previous part (3.5.1) without starting over.

Added the possibility of random connection failures when accessing the newspaper.

Reduced the amount of weight that can be carried.

Simplified some rolls for luck checks in various scenes.

NEW FEATURES

Added a new achievement related to in-game actions.

Implemented a soft save system—currently only available in select scenes, but to be expanded in future updates.

KNOWN ISSUES

Closing and reopening the menu without progressing in the story partially undoes the actions performed in the menu (especially on the phone).

I'm still working on the 3.5.1 known issues!

Patreon pledgers can now play it here. Enjoy! ☺♥

[ Patreon ][ Discord ][ Public Demo ]

Hi! Love your games, your writing style is really unique <3

I have to ask, will you continue your guide on the "a long weekend" endings? No matter what I do, I can't reach a good ending :(

Hi! Thank you, I really appreciate it ♥

I didn't think there was still demand on the guide, actually! Sure, I will work on it in the next few days.

In the meantime, maybe this could be helpful. Please, let me know if you manage to get the ending you want to achieve! ☺

Hey, I was curious, Could you tell us some fun facts about yourself? Not to be nosey, and of course if you are not comfortable in doing so please don’t feel pressured. But reading through some of the questions you answered you come across as a very interesting person 😁 like why you went to Italy? How fluent are you in Italian et. Thank you 🤗

Hi! Thanks for the question, but I'm afraid my answer will disappoint you, haha. I'm Italian and I'm a native Italian speaker ☺

I’m not really sure what to say about myself, but since you asked for something fun, here’s a random funny story.

A few years ago, on a November evening, I was at a bar in Dublin enjoying a pint of Guinness. It was raining outside (no surprise here), and they were showing a derby match on TV. I was just minding my own business when a middle-aged guy dressed like a cowboy sat down next to me. No, I’m not joking. He was dressed like a cowboy in the movies—hat, boots, and a big leather belt. His hair was more grey than black, but he didn’t seem to care. He tipped his hat, winked at me, and tried to chat me up.

Yep, you read that right. A cowboy-dressed dude tried to hit on me in a bar in Dublin, Ireland.

Part 3.5.1 is now free to read for everyone!

Remember that you can read the devlog here ☺

Hey friends, I've finally updated After Dark!

It's currently available in early access on Patreon. If you're a patron, you can play it immediately!

I know it’s been a while since the last update, and I want to thank each one of you for your patience and support. This update is a big one, and I’m so excited for you all to experience it!

Here's what awaits you:

A ton of new content — this update brings more than 50,000 words!

New features and enhancements to make the game more dynamic and inclusive.

Improvements and bug fixes to make your experience smoother and more enjoyable.

I'll post a devlog in half an hour, so you can read everything in more detail on there! ♥

About the future: As previously said, moving forward you can expect more frequent updates, with fresh content and improvements rolling out monthly. I'm committed to making this game the best it can be!

[ Patreon ][ Discord ][ Public Demo ]