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Story Update:

A recent talk about my main story made me think back to some of the stuff I wrote for it. I wonder, "should I have wrote this differently?" This is a very common thing with me. It's where I write something I think is cool, but then second thoughts come in. Basically I'm having a problem deciding on how long my main story is. As you know it has a lot of branching paths for being an interactive story. So all branching paths have different lengths, and that's throwing my mind for a loop, because I cant decide on if I should make some longer or shorter. I'm still planning to achieve 6 endings, but I've been thinking if I should reduce some branches of their length or increase it. Of course I'll keep in mind to not be too ambitious. 

I also rewrote some things on the pacifism route because I looked back on it to see that it was kind of boring and hard to get the ending. I fixed it now.

Item Update:

Sorry just felt the need to say i should change the gift box to "give and item or not." That'll make it way more tense and balanced. 

sorry update will be tomorrow. I hate delaying devlog  post, as I’ve been doing that more frequently it seems like due to unfortunate circumstances 0_o

First scorespace, wedding, being sick, etc. WHAT ELSE. hate doing this to you guys but hopefully I’ll have one tommorow. :)

Item Ideas:

I know I said I wasn't gonna talk about items and instead more about story. But these ideas popped into my head. 

Pad Lock: This is technically an Echo fighter for handcuffs lol. Or should I say, Echo Item? Can I coin that term? Basically its locks your items, but you can use your items after any opponent has shot you with 2 blanks.

Gift Box: Gives you a random item. Could be either good or AMAZING. I'll have to balance this item out with money cost haha.

Story Update: 

I would like to discuss some lore of my world that i have completed for the story, but not too much to where it would break. 

#1

Depending on your choices, You will find a thing called a wish stone. No one really know where it came from, but it's a stone that everyone wants. However, everyone is too scared to catch it. Why? Because it's being guarded in a castle by a...

Ķ̴̨̨̢̛̜̘̼̣̜̺͉̹̲̻̻͈̟̫̺͉̻̙̟͕͙͍̺̋͊̐̌̆̓̓̆̃́̌̈̽̿͐̈́̔̅̀̃͒̓͌̒͘͘͘͝͝i̸̛̛̫̙̥̪̱̫̭̠̳͓̮͉̹̻̻͔̳͈͈̺͚̩̖̇́͛̑͒͒̒̈́͛͊̀͆̈́͛̈́̎̆̔̔̍̉̓͛̽̂̎͑̊͗͋͊̀͌̈́͆̈́͐̉̒̒̄̿͐̚̚͘͘̕̚͝͝͝n̷̨̨̡̨̢̡̧̡͓̟̥̗̦͎̘͚͉̹͚̳̞͈͚̲̥͓̰̬͖̙̦͉͍̜͉̮̟͎̠̟̰̥̯̜̻̹̜͚̫̹̙̞͈̙̭̤̤̤̖̝̟͖̫͖̮̲̪̟̘̻͎̟̗͕̳͎͕̫̩̫͉̮̰̙͖̳͓͓͕̣̠̼̖͛͐͋͗̈́͂̑̂̉̀̾̽̀̉̄̈́̌̃̽͆̓̐̌̀̆̈͋̎́̀̃͗͌͑͊͂̉̈͊͗͗̔͋͆͆̾̀̎̐̽͛̇̅͋̽̀̋̍͆͒̽̉͗̈́̐̈̌̕͘̚͜͜͝͝͝͠ͅͅģ̵̧̡̡̢̧̡̧̛̛͚̣͉͎̼̫͚̬̦̜̤̺͉̲̲̭̹̝̺͉̹̭͖̼̳̙͈̭̮̻̻̩̬̫̟͍̖̦̜͈͇͈̣͚͍̻͎̹͉̲͍͓̪͕̠̇̈́̑̋̌͛͛̽̔̔͒̓̋͛͒̈́̉͑̄͂͊̒̅̏̊̇͑̅̓̂͗͆̐̃̃̆̂̈́͒̑̏̐̆̅͋͑̋͋̍̄͌̐̏̋̾̉̅̊̂͛̓̏̈́͛́̇̚̚̕͘̕͝͝͠͝

      ̷̡̨̨̜̮̱̜̰̯̘̻̯̠͙̰̙͈͈͈̪̖̼̤̰̪̤̦͎͎̟͇̮͍͉̰̠̹̫͍͎̻͓͙̍͗͌̄̄̃̃͛͆̉͊̂̏̏̎͗͋̉̈́̒́̇̈́̑́̑̒̓̑́͋̾͆̾̋͘͘͜͜͜͝  ̴̡̨̫͕͙̯̭̰̝͈̥̲͓̎͌͋̈́͆͛͗̇̌̎͂̿̂̎͐̈́̆͋̿͋͌͌̍̔̌̎͛̏̔͋͗̑̚͝

The wish stone used to be heavily guarded with a lot of people, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, everyone tried to get the wish stone. But their lives didn't last long. 

I t   w o u l d  h a v e  b e e n  b e t t e r  f o r  t h e m  t o  k i l l  t h e m s e l v e s  t h e n  t o  e x p e r i e n c e  t h e  h o r r o r   I n  t h e  c a s t l e. 

#2

A house owned by a man named Ruvy has been pretty much the talk of south side. It's been noted for the weird and creepy sounds that come from it. Someone even heard a scream from the house. If you choose to break in you can go down in the basement and find 4 cells and some deformed dead body strapped to a chair. These four cells have some interesting history. Three of the other cells have a bunch of deformed dead bodies as well, but the fourth is different. There's some thing in that cell. It has unintelligible speech, and constantly laughs. However what's scarier is the words "experiments failed" written with chalk on the wall and below it is a bunch tally marks counting up to 100.

Ok now to be honest, there's more stories I would like to talk about, but I wanna keep the rest hidden... for now.

Yeah im kind of feeling better today

1. Yes I am. However I have been thinking of getting help. The only problem is that I might have to pay up, but there's some people I think may wanna help.

2.Unfortunately, Vx Ace does not support high res sprites so the battle backs and cutscenes will have the crayon art style.

3. To be honest I'm debating on 3/20/2026 to be the deadline. But honestly it's best to announce a deadline when I'm 80% done with the game. Also I'm considering shrinking some parts of the game more just to get a better deadline because I'm not sure if i can even handle 2 years. Sometimes I accidentally forget to not be too ambitious, which result in me saying to myself "Oh yeah, maybe I shouldn't add that because that's too much work." I'll see what I can do about the deadline, I'll have to debate on what I truly want for my game.

4. Erm, yes... for 3 branches of my story. I'm gonna see if i can finish the other 3 branches to finish off 6 endings. 

EDIT: I forgot to mention that there's endings for both pacifist and genocide routes but those stories are already completed.

5. Well I cant really count that far since I don't really remember. But lets just say umm... 2 - 3 years? I honestly read a lot about game design and stuff, and I try to implement them in my games (although a lot of my games are short and were apart of game jams so they werent implemented the best). I also have learned a lot when using Godot.

If you would like to look at what I used to learn game development, here's some links to some YT channels and books.

Sam teaches Godot : This ones outdated for Godot (also not that important considering I'm making an RPG Maker game) but it did help a lot in making me understand it.

Design Doc : He's help with my thoughts on game design.

D4 : He has specific details on designing video game content.

Mathew Emmet : You know this one already lol.

Toasty's Beginner Tips : He's helped with RPG Maker the most. He's not a game design channel but I linked a playlist of of his beginner tips.

sorry no post today, I have a fever, I’ll see if I’ll be better tomorrow

Act system update: 

This technically could be put in “Story Update.” But I should honestly just put this in the ACT update. Little bit ago, I talked about making enneagram psychology a game mechanic. Not sure if a lot of people are familiar with enneagram psychology, but one of the the things about the enneagram is that there’s a thing called “integration” and “disintegration.” “Integration” is the personality you’re assigned to when in health and “disintegration” is the personality you’re assigned to when unhealthy. (I heard disintegration can be healthy, but I don’t know too much info about that.) 

But anyways, I’m debating on if I truly want this to be a mechanic since I already have ways to change someone’s emotions. 

Story update

So I wanna start off by saying Buckshot roulette and my game have the same message about addiction. However there’s other messages I wanna teach. Like, fear, anger, avarice, sloth… basically the 9 deadly sins haha. I know that everyone thinks of the “7” deadly sins, but in enneagram psychology there’s 9 deadly sins. This is going to sound confusing to some people who don’t know much about the enneagram, but basically there’s 9 deadly sins that are something to really watch out as they are very unhealthy, for example mine was avarice. I think it would be interesting to talk about these in my game. 

also there will not be any post tomorrow because I have to go to a wedding. I’m sorry

maybe i don't understand, but what does this have to do with "Esacpe?"

Edit: nvm

I think its really fun, the only real complaint i have is the... erm, what do you call it? Pistons? Basically, the pillars that move up and down. They don't really emphasize speed running when they involve waiting for you to pass through them.

The best thing about this game is the anxiety you get. When you fall all the way down, it can be kind of scary. but that's a good thing, it gives me the feeling of the Foddian genre.

The web version has some issues but anyways, you guys did a great job. At first I didnt really like it, but it grew on me.

This is really cool, I like the idea you had for the theme, its goofy and cool. I like the character customizer too. The only problem is that I wish they weren't all time based, but I did like that basketball one.

Now this wont be a big update, but I do want to reveal another part of the main story. (Also expect some terrible grammar cuz I'm tired) Specifically the main part of the story if you choose to go to the north part of the map. Basically there's a wall dividing the north and south. Not going to explain why, I want that to be a mystery. In the north part you see a bunch of people struggling with money and with food. Talking to some NPC's you can find out that there is a rule where if you buy a house here, you can NEVER leave. You find out it's heavy with cameras and guards. Then you find the golden stairs where a bunch of beggars sit and wait. These stairs have three gates guarding a mansion at the top. When the last gate at the bottom is opened, a man walks down the stairs. He's known as Python. Python is known as the ruler of the town, and the richest of course. That's why a bunch of beggars are right by the golden stairs. They always beg for money to have any sort of living.

I think this would be interesting not only for story but for narrative choice. Right now i have three choices in your adventure through the north side. You can kill python and become ruler, bring change in the town by helping people, or help people escape the north.

Thanks, Lemonz did the pixel art.

https://the-lemon-dude.itch.io/

I don't blame you, a lot of people in the comments find that one hard. If it helps, you should make the mouse run to the top, then when the wall goes away, loop around them at the bottom and get the cheese back to you house. Thanks for playing the game :3

Thank you so much, Yeah I wish i made the pixel art more consistent, If this was a 4 day jam, thing would probably be different haha. I couldn't debate on the sizes for the pixel art. Also what do you mean high res photos? you mean the vector art? The idea was that the different art styles were meant to replicate the wario ware games for their varied art style. I wanted to have more different unique art but i didnt have enough time, although thx to lemonz for his amazing pixel art. Thank you for the reply.

If it helps you should read the screenshots. Also with the mouse game, you should probably put the mouse at the top. then when the wall disappears, you run down as much as possible to get the cheese back to your house.

Yeah i wish i did a better job of explaining the micro games better. I think i was just so focused on completing the game that my tired head couldn't think of anything lol. thanks for the response.

Yeah wish I had an options menu. lol

Wait what? I thought I had to set it to a event touch. T-T

mushroom safe :3

Im really happy i got to play it, hope you liked my video in the general chat. Overall its a fine game. Im not saying you have to listen to me, but i think this game would be better as a Foddian game. The best parts of the game are the anxiety you get when you fear falling down and having to go back up.

Story Update:

Not sure if some people remember but I'm thinking of getting rid of the advanced ACT system. I felt like there's kind of no point to it for my story, but I want it for a more roleplay experience and in case people feel like the simple ACT is too simple.

The next side quest story I'm working on is going okay, just haven't had time to do it. After I finish that i might go back to working on some main story stuff. Anyways I'm thinking of adding more enneagram psychology in my game. Most of my characters are based of off enneagram numbers but i haven't really focused on side characters. I also want to see if I can use the enneagram as a game mechanic cuz I do think it'll be fun.

Another short update on my thoughts for storytelling. I'll see if I can reveal more of the main story tomorrow and also make a bigger update.

Yeah i wish I better implemented the hint at the bottom like Wario ware.

Hope you enjoy my gameplay recording in the General chat. I really liked it.

I have some experience with Vx ace so I can hear some similar SFX.

I like the game, hopefully no one beats "UrMom" (AKA me)

I hope you liked my recording on your game in the General chat.

Hope you guys liked my recording on your game in the general chat. Overall fun game, I only have 2 problems with it. Sometimes it feels like your forced to do a cover and shoot strategy and you only have a second to react to certain enemies. Also enemies can shoot through walls. Overall really good game.

I wish I made the timer be only 30 seconds for the maze but oh well. glad you had fun.

Ok, I'm back... well, ill make an actual post tomorrow. Right now I'm going to take a break and play some jam games, because it felt like i was in rush mode lol. You guys know pizza tower right? And you know stuff gets real when "Pizza Time" starts right? Well that was basically my life those three days working on the Score Space Game Jam. Not sure if some people care, but here's my game on the game jam in case anyone wants to play it. 

https://chillitch.itch.io/elevator-escape

Special thanks to Lemonz for some art and Music.

https://the-lemon-dude.itch.io/

Haha I love your sprites, will you be doing ScoreSpace again????

Yeah I apologize for that. I was debating on how fast  i wanted it to be. I wish i made some parts slower. Especially when "HURRY UP!" Mode is activated more and more. 

if it helps, you should move the mouse at the very top, then go down as fast as possible to loop around and bring the cheese back to your house

yeah I tried to go for a Wario Ware: Touched feel

Lolololololololol

Since I don't have much to talk about, here's some cut content of the Opponents  design:

This ones a bit messed up lol. It's also kind of different from the the one I used.

Ok, so tomorrow will be score space jam. I will not be working on my game for 3 days. Don't be all sad, after all I'm still going to make post's on this devlog. Weather that be talking about my ideas, cut content, my progress, etc.

Story Update:

I think a cool idea to add, is the idea to be king of a land. There can be a lot of simple choices you can make, that are pretty big deal to the story. For example, certain NPC's will react differently if you are king, or if you are evil, you can do stuff like taxing people high numbers or have increase security. I don't think this will be too hard, as I can think of some really cool ideas without it requiring too much work to implement. 

Another cool Idea is joining groups. This could be any group that's good or evil. For example you can join a group of thief's, and steal from peoples homes. Or join a security squad, keeping people safe. Although, I will admit that using the term "good" for groups is kind of loose. The way I want to write the story is that everyone is either evil or flawed hero. So you can join a group that has good yet evil ideas.

Story Update:

So I'm having a bit of a problem. In my game, you can have the choice to be evil or good. Obviously i have stated that i want pacifist, neutral, and genocide endings. However I don't want a genocide route to be the only way of getting an evil ending. 

This video inspired this feeling:

Also in the video he explains how some gamers always play the good guy because they generally roleplay as themselves and how some games reward good behavior than bad ones. While I think that's true, for me it's mainly because I kind of want to be cartoonishly evil, and a lot of games don't have that haha. 

Again, Ill try my best to implement evil routes, but I don't know if I can.

Anyways if anyone read this long, tell me your thoughts on evil playthroughs, and genuinely give me your suggestions if you have any.

Sorry no devlog post today, I apologize. I'll try to make one tomorrow.

Hey I have a question and a suggestion.

What's the timer for? I think you've talked about It before but i want to make sure what its used for. Is it like the game Amnesia: The Bunker where you use the timer item to know how much power you have for lights??

Also, you don't have to listen to me, but id highly recommend you don't let the pause screen freeze the entire game. The reason why is because this can makes horror games less scary or even worse, BREAK horror games. For example, I might be wrong on this but I believe in Resident Evil 7, whenever you pause the game, the old man can still hit you with his shovel. This is good way to scare players, because some players pause the game so they can stop the spooky moments. Also as I said before this can break games. This is why FNAF doesn't even implement a pause button. It's because if you have a pause screen in fnaf, then you can freely strategize on what to do without stress. Fnaf is about the feel of being distrait because there's so much you have to focus on at once under a time limit (AKA battery meter).

Now not every horror game needs to do this, some are probably fine without it, so It's a question you need to ask yourself as I'm not the one who's making... Our game. but yeah i would recommend you keep the pause screen, just don't let it freeze the game.

Story Update:

Ok so I have an idea for my choose your own adventure part of the story. If you played games like the Tell Tale Walking Dead games, you would know that you are timed on your choices. Now in my game, not every choice will have you be timed, it kind of depends. If there's a choice you have to make in the story that's REALLY major or not that important, then you will not be timed. However for timed choices, we'll have to imagine a scenario to give an idea of how i want to use them. So lets say you're gonna get punched, well you obviously don't want that to happen so your options are to [kick him] or [headbutt him.] You have to make a choice quickly before he hits you. It's in the middle, where its not really a major choice nor a insignificant one.

I think this will be great to add to make choices interesting. I'll have another talk about narrative choices tomorrow as there's way more I want to explain. 

Also one more small question. how will you find items?

will it be like fatal frame, where they have a glow to make it easier to find them, or like silent hill where they have bright colors to distinguish themselves from the dark background.

Story Update:

So as of right now I have created 7 major characters, I think that's a good enough number for my important characters. Then there's 5 side characters. No I'm not talking about NPC's. These characters will have their important roles in the main story it's just, not too much screen time. I want to reveal them, I'm still just figuring things out with their characters. 

Also I'm having too much fun with side quest. I'm having more fun with them then I do the main story lol. 

I also plan to have a way for the story to continue when you die. Yep you wont really be pushed back to your last save. The reason for this is because it helps make it easier to role play. I noticed in games that it's hard to roleplay as someone different instead of just roleplaying as yourself. For example, if I roleplay as a robber, then obviously I'm going to steal stuff, but if i keep dying because stealing stuff without getting caught is way too hard, then I kind of just give up. Sometimes I want a character that does dumb stuff, that makes mistakes, or does the wrong thing for their character arc but it often leads to death to the point i just try to play the best optimally. I don't want a game to tell me "oh you died, just forget everything that happened after your last save point." 

Even in my side quest, when you make mistakes, it doesn't just say "oh you failed do the side quest over again", no no no, the story continues when you make mistakes. I also plan for some cool stuff when you get a game over like getting captured or revived by a doctor in medical room.

I think the images look great, especially like the fact you made an X out of the bushes, which gives off PSX vibes.

Also i will admit i would prefer something like Obscure (Also thank you, wish i knew about that game sooner, it looks so cool.) However may i suggest having split screen options if you go down that path. Like maybe you can pause the game and go to Options and then change the split screen to vertical, horizontal, or squished (example: sonic 2). Also when you said split screen did you mean cutting half of the screen to add the other or making both screens smaller. sorry if this is a dumb question.