Our Wonderland: Arc 4 Out Now!

Hey, hally, hey, all you rootin' tootin' carrot cakes! Ready to die a million deaths and then die again? Because Arc 4 is here! And it's delivering five jumbo jets' worth of non-perishable pain right to your doorstep!

Now, I know you're all wondering... "Carrot, you didn't even release a progress update devlog, and now you're launching the next arc???" YES. I know this. And I have good reason for it. And that is that I'm a gRaDe-A lAzE. I apologize. I kept telling myself I would do it. But as you can see, I did not. And then it got so close to the launch that it would have just been w e i r d.

BUT I DIGRESS. ARC 4. IT IS FINISHED. IT IS LAUNCHED. IT IS AVAILABLE. IT IS WAITING TO REND YOUR HEART ARTERY FROM ARTERY.

But what is this arc about, Carrot? Well. I'll tell you.

That's the long and short of it really.  But I guess I can, you know, actually talk about the p l o t... /derogatory

Let's see. Up to this point in Carrot's Tale of Woe, Iggy has tried calling Genzou and tried calling Orlam. Neither one of these solutions seemed to do the trick, however, considering the uNfOrTuNaTe DiReCtIoN both of these arcs took. So this leaves Gidget, Iggy's beloved friend who has never, ever done anything horrible or uncouth to him while entrenched in her Wonderland-Kindled Iggy-Obsessed Brainfog™. How might our story change were Iggy to try delving into her story?

The answer? A LOT.

This arc is the most different of all the arcs so far! —I say despite likely having said that about every new arc, but throw me a carrot-shaped bone here, I just spent the last three months of my life suffering in the hellish grip of this godforsaken arc and its godforsaken characters and the godforsaken pain it's been plaguing me with. I hope you will be Amused and Delighted at the new fuckerysurprises this arc brings! It builds heavily off of Arc 3, mostly in the fact that it takes some of the Key Events of Arc 3 and multiplies them by 1.21 gigawatts of over-the-top grandiosity and pomp. 

My reaction upon seeing the mob of angry fans who've just played Arc 4 outside my door.

So yes, be prepared to see scenes get amplified! To meet new characters! To have your expectations subverted! To finally see all four members of the love square in one room! To see the final part of the atrocity that is the after-prom flashback! And, most importantly—TO GET SEDUCED BY A CANNIBAL. (OK, not really. Not... r e  a   l    l     y................... but there's def more cannibalism. This is me we're talking about here.)

I will also say that this arc once again hits quite close to home for me again. In like. Fifty million different ways. Making a lot of it extremely difficult for me to write. Particularly when multiple characters whom my own experiences are strongly based off of are CLASHING in HORRIBLE and HEART-RENDING WAYS. Let's just say they don't call this part of the narrative arc the "dark night of the soul" for n-n-nothing... *w e e p s*

AT ANY RATE. LET'S ROLL OUT THOSE FEATURES BEFORE I FULLY SUCCUMB TO DESPAIR.

• 4 to 5 more hours of gameplay! (around 45k new words—the longest arc yet!)(bringing the total up to around 183k)(OMFG 183K I'VE CREATED A MONSTER)
• A brand-new complete story with ending!
• ............53 new CGs................. my god...
• A new cinematic ending sequence! (tho it is perhaps a bit shorter than the endings of the others IG idk it all depends on how I define the ending sequence really, it's a bit arbitrary)
• No new ways to violently die! (sorry, it didn't really fit with the structure of this arc kdjaflsdkf)(but I promise there will still be plenty of violent death)
• A brand-new character who is apparently very attractive, I have heard this from many people so it must be true...
• New outfits for (some) chars (including an incredibly fabulous GREEN dress)!!
• An 8k word finale that's a slip-and-slide straight into the deepest bowels of hell!
• This scene:

Did I mention this arc goes in some... INTERESTING directions?

OH RIGHT. V. IMPORTANT NOTE RE: ARC ORDER.

As I mentioned when releasing Arc 3, I was already contemplating whether I needed to change (i.e., get rid of) the ability to play the arcs in any order. This nuggety nugget of a thought only grew and snowballed the more I worked on Arc 4. SO. With this release, you'll notice the order is set in stone! (Arc 2 --> Arc 3 --> Arc 4) I APOLOGIZE TO ANYONE WHO LIKED THE FLEXIBILITY. But honestly it literally would just not have worked. Why? Let me count the ways~♪

1. FIRST. Each arc is more different from The Path™ (i.e., Arc 1) than the next. So it would be just a litol bit odd if you played Arc 1, played Arc 4, which is incredibly different, and then played Arc 2, which is decidedly less different.
2. SECOND. Each arc has started building off of each other in New and Delightful ways, not only scene-wise, as I mentioned earlier (with certain scenes introduced in one arc expanded upon in the next), but also character-wise (especially considering the chars seem to be remembering more and more each time, which may or may not be having An Effect on their rapidly deteriorating psyches). Also the aforementioned subversion. I would not be able to sub any verts if there were no verts to sub.
3. THIRD. The character interactions in Arc 4 WOULD DEFINITELY NOT have the sheer emotional impact if you haven't played through all the previous arcs and know everything about the characters that you already do. THERE IS A REASON THIS IS THE GRAND CLIMAX OF THE MIDDLE ARCS.

So, as you can see...

Those who saved on either the Arc 2 or Arc 3 ending screens will have a choice when they load up their save files because I'm a horrible dev who doesn't think ahead and include all the correct variables I might need to ensure you're not stuck and have the ability to play both Arcs 2 and 3 no matter which order you took. But those who start a new game fresh from the beginning will be locked into a single path.

I-... I got a little sweaty working on the CGs for this arc...

BUT ENOUGH RAMBLING. You're all here for the heart-wrenching goodness anyway. Let's get down to the sweaty deets.

The install for Arc 4 should be the same as for all the previous arcs.

• If you haven't played Our Wonderland before: You don't need to do anything special! Just download the game and play from the beginning. Since the order is now S E T, you'll play Arc 4 after completing Arc 3, because that is the way numbers work.
• If you have played Our Wonderland before and have a save file: You'll want to download the new Arc 1 - 4 version of the game, copy over the "saves" folder from your previous version of the game, and paste that into the "game" folder of the new version of the game:
  

Actually, I'm not even sure if this is necessary any more given that Ren'Py should automatically load your old saves...... so you can also try it without doing this and it will probably still work. HOWEVER, if for whatever reason it doesn't work, this method should ensure all your data is transferred over smooth as pop.

As previously mentioned, whether your final save is after Arc 2 or Arc 3, you'll be given a choice asking whether you've completed both the previous arcs, and answering yes will start up Arc 4! Do let me know if you have any questions though!

Actual photo of you from the future after finishing Arc 4. (Omg Carrot, how did you get this.)(owowowowowo)

OK. Now, on to the content warnings. AND HERE IS WHERE I REALLY MUST IMPLORE YOU TO READ. Because Arc 4 really ups the ante on the intensity and I don't want anyone going in unprepared.

Similar to what I did for Arc 3, I'm adding a few new general content warnings (i.e., outside the spoiler cut) for Arc 4. This is now the complete list of general content warnings:

• Strong adult language
• Strong graphic violence (both illustrated and textual)
• Sexual violence/assault/unwanted sexual advances
• Disturbing and potentially triggering elements
• (for Arc 3) Topics involving suicide, self-harm, and self-poisoning
• (for Arc 4) Strong sexual themes, very uncomfortable sexual situations (extra strong)
• (for Arc 4) Intense and disturbing scenes with violent imagery (extra strong)
• (for Arc 4) Bullying and harassment, bigoted comments related to gender
• (for Arc 4) Drugging

YES, I REALIZE THIS IS A LOT OF NEW GENERAL CONTENT WARNINGS. That is because I cannot impose on you enough that Arc 4, particularly the finale, gets incredibly intense and dark, even more so than the previous arcs, which is saying a lot!!11!!1  Though there is no nudity/on-screen sex/NSFW content in the game, Arc 4 in particular has some strong overarching sexual themes (and very uncomfortable ones, at that, considering this is Iggy, the ace bean, we're talking about). That coupled with the sheer intensity of the disturbing scenes has me personally recommending this arc for those 18 and up, as I really do not want to potentially deeply affect anyone in any horrible ways. Movie-wise, it'd probably still be rated R, BUT I JUST REALLY WANNA IMPOSE. IT IS VERY INTENSE. TRUST ME. Please please please make sure you're prepared and def check out the more-detailed content warnings if you're at all worried. Also, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you're unsure about anything and want more details!

And, as always, here is the more-detailed breakdown of content warnings (I have learned how to make a nice clicky-thing to hide them now). These contain spoilers for obvious reasons, so don't click if you don't want to see. As I mentioned, though, if you're at all concerned about the general content warnings, I do recommend checking them out just in case:

TRULY do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about anything! I am always happy to provide even more details about any particular scenes you might be worried about or provide screenshots, etc.

I just......... like this shot........

Omg this release devlog is getting positively monstrous, I apologize. I promise I am finishing up!!! UHHHHHH. ONE SUPER LAST NOTE THAT IS ALSO KINDA COOL.

Do you know Spooktober???? It's a super cool month-long game jam for spoopy VNs that takes place next month! I am about........... 95% sure I'm going to join (I have the story planned out in my head, but I kinda wanted to wait until after the Arc 4 launch to make sure I had the E N E R G Y before making any final decisions). It will be a litol fun side story with the OW characters (and by "litol" I mean no doubt overly ambitious, and by "fun side story" I mean irreverent ridiculousness that will likely suddenly get extremely dark without warning). Though I want to make it in such a way that even those who haven't played the OW main story will be able to enjoy and have fun with it, there will also be a lot of groovy cameos and references (and perhaps even a tie-back to the main story???) for all of those following the OG game. Mostly I think it will just be some sillay fun to play around with the chars after the ABJECT HEARTBREAK AND TRAGEDY that is Arc 4, so.

SO YES. I will start posting more updates about it once I make the final decision and the jam starts in September! I am pretty ~ excited ~ about it and hope that people will enjoy it teehee.

Then, of course, after the jam, it will be time to dive into the hellscape that is Arc 5! Hard to believe I've finally reached the home stretch of this silly little not at all horrific horror game I began working on just a little over a year ago. Thank you SO SO SO MUCH everyone who has joined me on this journey so far. I wouldn't be here without all of your support and love!!

OMG CARROT END THIS FREAKING DEVLOG ALREADY WTF.

FINE, I'M DONE FOR REALSIES.

LOVE YOU ALL.

CARROT OUT.