Hello, everybody! I've leapt head-first into Case 4's development, and I'm really excited with how it's shaping up.

As promised in the previous Devlog, here's a brief synopsis of what you can expect in the next case.

"To the Birds- Ambition, to the Tyrants- Eminence"

It's a historical double feature at the Sundown Theater! The first half- a lost film is making its public debut after having gone missing for sixty years. The latter half- the debut film of a certain student filmmaker. While Chive and Oscar had visited the theater for reasons of their own, they decide to stay for the double feature with the rest of the crowd, if only to pass the time. By all accounts, it should've been a light-hearted, jovial day.

Between the two showings, Chive and the others discover that life had imitated art in the worst way imaginable- a real murder mimicking the fictitious sacrifice they had only just witnessed on film. With everyone present for the screening having an airtight alibi, it means someone else had carried out the murder. But how could the killer recreate a ritual that no living animal had seen before?

The Themes of Case 4

The initial drafts of the case were very bare-boned. While there a lot of elements I liked in isolation, the case wasn't very cohesive in terms of theme. That omission was one of the many flaws I wanted to address. Considering I'm building on this past case to try to breathe new life into it, I thought it would be pertinent to incorporate the theme of Legacy into Case Four.

Legacy, to me, is the ways in which the past (people, ideas, art,) effect the present. For a lot of people, Legacy inspires them in some way, shape, or form. Someone might feel the drive to attain the same heights of an artist they admire, or to behave in a way that a late relative would be proud of, or simply to embody the ideals of a philosophy that stuck with them. While Legacy can provide a sort of 'map' for someone to attain greatness they otherwise wouldn't, what about the reverse? In what ways can Legacy impede or shackle somebody? Could someone feel chained to expectations they can never hope to achieve? Doomed to follow a path believed to be more meaningful than one they'd forge on their own? Or perhaps, could the defense of one's own legacy lead someone to hurt others?

I'm very excited to present this case to you in the future, when you'll get to see how the legacies of times long past manage to puppeteer the events of the present.

The Sundown Theater's Theater

Without question, the most important room in any theater is the one where you actually watch the productions unfold. At the Sundown Theater, that auditorium was originally built for theatrical performances. In the changing cultural zeitgeist, however, the management made the decision to pivot towards showing films instead, with modern equipment being retrofitted into the early 20th century architecture.

As you can tell from those shameful screenshots above, the theater was originally much like that of a movie theater, with dark, muted colors and a single layer of seats. The new take on this room, however, is far more like a theater for plays and musicals. There's lots of colors and architectural details, as well as two balconies.

In case you're curious, I counted: the original theater has a capacity of 70, and the new theater has a capacity of 720.

Closing Thoughts 

That's all I have for you this time, I hope you're as excited for Case 4 as I am to continue working on it! I will be back at the end of the month to share my progress! Ok that note, I wanted to encourage anyone interested to join the One Thousand Acts of Decency server, where I post near-daily progress updates, including on this upcoming case. Alright, that's everything- take care!