Posted September 15, 2024 by Drone Garden Studios
So let's start with what I for sure accomplished: I finished writing scene 2 and started scene 3. Scene 2 is where players will be building up that stats that affect what ending they get (as well as character attitudes towards you in scenes leading up to that). It's all about teaching Jack and wondering why the guy who hired you is so mad. Then it ends in a big old-time gothic horror romance sequence where you get violently kicked out over a misunderstanding and all you can really do is cry in confusion about it. When I said I wanted this to be Victorian, I meant it.
I also ONLY got writing done. If it wasn't the parts that will be in the story, it was the outline for the rest of the game. I have not done anything else with visuals since last Saturday. I have done a single thing with the audio. All this because the writing has been going so well that I want to finish it while this momentum is still good. This might come back to haunt me.
I will admit, scene 2 went longer than I thought. There's so much lore I wanted to sneak in. There's so much characterization I wanted Jack to build up over the scene as he learns how to communicate more efficiently. And the foreshadowing, oh I wanted foreshadowing! This, my friends, is essentially feature creep. It is also why I only have words and no visuals or sound right now.
So there probably will only be "mystery elements" rather than a full-blown investigation scene like I had planned because we are halfway through the month and I still have a story to finish, sprites to make, and music to find. And this is a Halloween jam, I don't want to cut the horror parts.
The final bit of news are my new plans for the VN post-jam. Originally, I was going to expand the story into a full-length VN to sell on Steam. But the more I write, the more I think that I may finally have an idea that could actually work as a published book. I've been wanting to try my hand at writing a novel for awhile now, its just that all the ideas I had before crashed and burned. So that's what I am going to do. I am going to turn it into a fantasy novel and try to get it physically published. And if I can't get it published - including if somehow I can't even get it self-published due to lack of funds or whatever - I'll sell it on itch.io and hope for the best.
My plans for the next two weeks are to spend this week finishing the writing and next week doing visuals, sound, and general editing. I'm not ready to announce a release date officially yet, but its looking like it'll be later rather than sooner. Stay tuned!