Strangers on Paper - DevLog #33 | Is this a dev log?

I think soon after Chapter 1 had been released, Grogu mentioned we should upload a dev log, as we always would. It’s just right then it felt kinda foreign. What the hell did I use to write about on these? Then, I would type paragraphs and paragraphs of stuff I didn’t feel like sharing with the internet, still confused on what it should be like, no matter how obvious the answer.

And yeah, I remember it so clearly because I ended up going through a similar thing after the release of Chapter 2. Dev logs have been scarce because… believe us when we say you would not want to read those. They’ll go into the valve of scrapped random ramblings of which you may or may not read a fragment of in the future.

Identity crisis aside, we decided we’ll just go with a classic: what have we been up to lately?

Let’s start with the easy part. Writing chapter 3 has been… odd so far. I’ve mentioned this before, but usually, when I’m writing scenes for a chapter, I will stop to take notes for scenes for future chapters, and because SoP will only have 4 of those, the idea that everything will come to an end right there won’t stop weighing on me. It’s one thing knowing it’s gonna end, it’s a very different thing writing those pivotal moments when you know that’s the last time you’ll write for those characters… allegedly. It’s all bittersweet, so I’m focusing on the sweet part of some of my favorite scenes yet to come, the ones I’ve been just dying to write since we started working on this. There’s also quite a few character comebacks in this chapter, some I’d been dying to see again. If you were paying attention to a certain poster - and not at Becca’s ass, but I wouldn’t blame you - you may already know about one of them.

As I started writing, Grogu continued to work the in and outs of something that’s been super exciting for us - a gallery. We’d always planned on having a little section in our game in which you could go back and stare at those pretty moments you shared with these characters, but also the extra excitement of unlocking new images, and hopefully some scenes - if you’re on our Patreon, you may be familiar with our snippets, and we would love to have those be part of the actual game eventually. 

Now, with said gallery barging into our code, it will mean that, for the next chapters, players will have to replay the first two, which we’re hoping will not be too much trouble for you guys. For future games, we will definitely be more organized in preventing these sorts of things, but SoP is our little guinea pig after all, and we’re super grateful so many of you have welcomed it into your hearts. So, we’re taking this chance to add a few fixes here and there. Now don’t get carried away on this, this is not a rework. Grogu has a very strict no-re rendering-past-images code which I respect a lot, otherwise the joke of SoP being done by 2040 would get too real for us to laugh at it. 

So what exactly are these fixes, you may ask. There’s a few minor plot holes here and there that I’ve been waiting for someone to address, and I’m surprised no one mentioned this one in particular, but it’s just an example - minor spoilers for chapter 2 ahead. You know how, if you went out with Becca on the first night, Daniel (the MC) is inspired to write a cyberpunk story, yet, if he was hanging out with Amy, he goes for a historical romance? This is reflected at the end of Chapter 2…  except it’s not, at least not correctly. I didn’t address it at the time because we were in a bit of a time crunch and part of me thought “who’s gonna play a chapter of each of them anyway?”, but it’s shit like this that haunts me, because I do want people to be able to try that out and have the game work the way it should for them.

Here's a little behind-the scenes on that (final renders will most likely differ from these):

Another example I did not expect people to take that much notice of was the bicycle situation, and it’s one of those things that I found immensely entertaining to read in the forums and that made me want to go back and change a few lines on it. Fun fact, my ex used to work at a bicycle shop, always carried tools with him, yet this one time he had a shitty accident which resulted in him having to walk for miles in the rain. It had something to do with the chain but, uhm, I guess I could be more specific there, just for you little nitpickers out there.

Now worry not - this doesn't mean we listen to every single suggestion/critisism players have of SoP. Otherwise, we would go mad. We do however pay attention to those that allign with the way we view our work or that made us think details from a perspective we hadn't considered before. But, for instance, those who are thrown back by having a female character be comfortable with her own sexuality and choices over her body I, uhh... I guess it genuinely makes me wonder why they're playing this game in particular, with so many out there that surely allign with their preferences. My message to them would be that our time on this Earth is precious, use it wisely to enjoy things that bring you joy and bring something positive to them yourself. There's already too much negativity in the world.

Anyway, as you can see, it’s no major rework, just a few adjustments here and there, especially on the code side, but I think those will be more fun to play through than to tell you about. But who knows, we may change our minds by the next dev log and tell you all about them! we, uhm, do that a lot. 

Now, the elephant in the room, the reason why we’ve been focusing on these details instead of just Chapter 3, is that we’re really trying/pushing/hoping/manifesting to get a Steam release in the next couple months. It’s no secret we love what we’re doing here and we have every intention to devote more of our time into it, but that means we also need the financial support to make it possible. Steam will (hopefully) help in that regard but, to be 100% honest, we have so many worries when it comes to that area. If you want to help out there, you can add the game to your wishlist, it only takes a few seconds and it’s 100% free. We’d really, really like to release the game there with all the features we’ve been planning to shove into the game for so long.

Anyway, we hope you enjoyed this little update, and we’d like to let you know this is the last week to submit your ideas for names for the furry ones! So if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? Here’s the form.

Now, a little question for you all out there: Out of all the “side” characters from Chapter 1 and 2, who would you be the most excited to see again? What are your hopes and dreams for them? Just curious since, after all, I’m a little nerd in love with her imaginary friends.

Have an awesome week, strangers, and stay positive out there.