WDOL - Gameplay Sneak Peek (Patreon)

 Meowdy! It's n'ya girl minute here with a sneak peek for everyone, and it's something I'm extremely excited about, so without further ado I would like to present… 

Oh, look, a colored Celia, too! If you came for art, here it is! The rest of the post has gameplay and programmer mockups. Yikes!

Visual novels with gameplay were what got me into the genre in the first place. Ace Attorney, Professor Layton, Zero Escape: 999… They all have a very special place in my heart! After joining WDOL as a writer in addition to programmer, I knew right away that exploring gameplay would be… fun. And that's pretty much why we do anything, right?

Explore the city of Shalott.

We Dream of Lighthouses takes place in 2 parts: NARRATIVE and INVESTIGATION.

You unlock Narrative arcs by successfully investigating Questions. There is no time limit to the Investigation, and you can continue to Narrative whenever you desire. 

This allows for gameplay to be streamlined or more creative focused: While there aren't any more Questions left, you can continue Investigation and learn more lore, flavor, and history about the world of WDOL.

By traversing the map, interrogating characters, collecting items, and more, you explore the Victorian city of Shalott to uncover a larger mystery. Please look forward to it!

adi voice: this is NOT the ui. minute voice: but it's a cool mockup right...? right!?

I've been hard at work making a flexible investigation system for WDOL. Celia's Journal will hold important information about current "Questions", which serve as a guide on advancing the story. In addition, there's ways to solve the mysteries in other ways by reading closely and making your own observations. No matter which way you choose to play, you'll be rewarded with extra scenes, hidden content, and of course: romance.

On a more technical note, this means planning each and every chapter of the game has to be meticulous. Writing, editing, programming, and playtesting all have to be planned so there's no oversights. I've been making (a lot of) documents to help keep us on track! Since every character has their own pool of information and they actively change the current Questions you're investigating, there's a ton of potential domino effects of solving a mystery, so here's to lots and lots of typing in my future.

Talk about mysteries with people, or re-listen to a conversation if you missed something!

That's it for now! It's back to the grind for me. Please, please don't hesitate to ask any questions about the gameplay of WDOL: it gives me precious life. We still have a lot more planned that we can't wait to show you, so stay tuned!

Sincerely, minute

Just kidding about the whole "only programmer mockups", wouldn't that be silly? Here's some colored Celia concepts, as always by the lovely kay!