If you missed it from last week — we have a cracking new website with lots of shiny screenshots and more. Take a look!
Also, November build is now shipping for $5+ Patreons! It completes chapter 03, and adds final artwork for a few characters and backgrounds! …sadly not ones we’re focusing on in chapter 03 itself, but, y’know. They’re in there.
Doing a visual novel in what’s effectively “early access” is a bit weird, I know. It means replaying the game a few times, with temporary assets all over the place and standing on unsteady ground. Great for some roguelite action game, bad for a narrative game.
We feel the feedback we collect (please submit some, btw!) will help us improve as we go. For example, in this month’s build, we added an alternate path through Ashley’s scene for folks who stated they were uncomfortable with what felt like railroading. We wouldn’t have done that without audience participation; we need your perspective to add to our own and give us a wider view. Thanks so much for your help!
Now then, let’s crack into this week’s developer musings. Today I’d like to talk about co-authoring.
For the longest time I hated participating in team projects. Back in high school they’d inevitably devolve into absolute messes, with some team members goofing off while others did all the work, or everybody pulling in opposite directions. So when Aenne pitched that we work on a game together, to be honest I was a little antsy. But… actual adults doing actual adult things should be able to coordinate and cooperate, compared to kids on school projects, yes? This is an important life skill for me to learn. Plus, as noted above, additional perspectives widen your view and result in better writing. So, I accepted.
It’s definitely been a learning process. At first we were able to divvy up scenes between us based on our focus characters, but going into episode 05, that’s no longer the case — we’re intentionally having characters interacting outside of our usual pairings (Naomi/Gavin, for instance) so we can try truly collaborative writing. It’s got me antsy, again… but again, it’s for the best, and something I need to learn. So I’m about to launch into a fully collaborative set of scenes, and am looking forward to doing so.
A lot about this project is totally experimental for me. As I said last week, I started shooting for the moon, but with a few safety precautions to avoid screwing up. A fine compromise, but still a lot of work, strange and new work that I’ve never done before. Thanks for supporting us along the way. We’re working together to provide you with a great story.