Hello everyone! I’m very excited to share the work I’ve completed since last time! Like I mentioned before, my main focus currently is on the VN’s second case- Caught in the Nightmares of those who Cannot Distinguish Reality from Fiction. This case, while completed, is pretty rough around the edges, so I’m giving it another draft before releasing it, as well as taking this opportunity to clean up some of the assets. Briefly, I’d like to explain what I’ve completed since last time.

Changes

• Implemented new UI
• Redrew Oscar’s sprites
• Slightly changed the first argument of the first case’s second debate

There’s not much to say here- I think the new UI speaks for itself and is a massive improvement from the previous build. As for Oscar’s sprites, that was in service of the second case, as Oscar appears in-person there, and many more of his poses are seen. I did mention it here, though, because he does appear in Case 1, momentarily.

Outlining Case Two

A lot of my time was spent working through the original outline for Case 2 and identifying which spots needed fixing. Without getting too specific, the main issues I noticed were many puzzles being far too obvious, the pacing in debates (especially the first two) being all over the place, and two characters that could really stand to be fleshed out some more. Once I nailed down what the issues were, and what story beats were causing them, I was able to create a refined outline.

I also began writing! This rewriting process is deceptively complicated- since the entire thing is written already, I have to check each scene I’ve written and consider some questions like “does this need to be changed? Is this good as-is? What would need to be altered to make this work? Is this conversation even neccessary in the new draft?” I have to do this for all 530 scenes. For perspective, case 1 had 238 scenes. In spite of the challenges ahead of me, I’m thrilled to continue working on this and getting this case released for all of you!

Number of words written since last DevLog: 7,235 (Plus a ton of untracked changes in the raw script file for Case 2)

Another Case Two Teaser

Since I don’t have a ton of newly-completed assets to show you, I’ll give some more details about what’s to come in Case Two, and I’ll do that by introducing two of the forces responsible for Chive’s involvement in the case: Oscar Slotman and Campanita Mooney

Oscar Slotman

Oscar appeared in Case One briefly, giving a news report as an intern at CBU19 (Cleveland Broadcasting Union.) As you can imagine, his ambition and amazing work ethic have gotten him noticed by not just those directly involved with his college’s newspaper, but the city at large, as well. While rather imposing with his height and large frame, Oscar is the very definition of a gentle giant, always careful to avoid harming his friends with either his claws or his words (unfortunately, though, this overly-soft behavior can come across as condescending.) When faced with injustice, though, he finds himself more than willing to stand up for what he believes is right, even if he would have to stand in opposition to his friends in order to do so.

Campanita Mooney

Campanita is Chive and Shallot’s cousin, a doe. She’s been under a lot of stress, being put in charge of her mafiosa girlfriend’s junkyard while she’s doing time. To make matters worse, small objects have started disappearing from the scrapyard- the work of a thief. Now, for the well-being of the business, her pride, and devotion to her girlfriend, Campanita is pulling out all the stops to bring the thief to justice. After all her counter-measures failed, she went ahead and called Oscar Slotman to investigate. She says it’s because she admires his thorough and comprehensive investigations, but her real reason is that he’s the only animal who was willing to do it for free.

Oh, and she’s named after the Allium campanulatum- not the campanita flower from the Dominican Republic.

Closing Thoughts

Next time, I'll have even more of Case 2 to show off! In all likelihood, that next update will be when I release the Early Access build of Case 2 (which includes the Prologue, first Investigation, and first Debate) to Patreon subscribers with that benefit. Beyond that release, I also would like to have a teaser trailer to show off more of the characters, locations, and mysteries that Case 2 will be centered around. Thank you, everybody, for the support, and I can't wait to catch up with you all in the next DevLog, where even more of the Scrapyard's mysteries will be showcased!

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