GB Patch: Future Game Possibilities! (Patreon)

Hi everybody,

Since we hit (and then wildly exceeded) the top goal on the Patreon, things are going really well for us here at GB Patch Games! With so much backing, it's pretty likely that we'll be able to keep making games past the launch of Our Life: Now & Forever. I really wanna thank you all for that support. It's wonderful and encouraging that there are so many people out there who love our games. We'll do our best not to waste the opportunity to keep creating 💕

I did consider making a video to chat about this (it also would've had subtitles for those who needed/preferred to read), but the Patreon Bonus Moment release ended up having a much bigger launch than I expected, and I didn't end up having the time to set things up for a new type of update post. But we can still keep that concept in mind for potentially something else later.

Now, to start this talk about the future, the obvious thing is that we want to release the stuff we've already been working on but haven't finished! We're moving towards getting the rest of the XOXO Blood Droplets routes done, we're planning to have an Android version of Lake of Voices made, it'd be great to finally complete our mini side project Floret Bond, etc. That sort of stuff is something that'll be worked in to whatever other brand new project plans get set. So, here's what I've been thinking about-

Our Life, But Different 1:

I'm afraid we won't be able to make another game exactly like Our Life: B&A and N&F. Specifically, we can't do a third game with four time periods you live through with your next-door neighbor. I don't think I could keep it engaging for a third time, aha. But that doesn't mean we have to end the series with two entries, we could come up with ways to make the next Our Life a more unique experience. The super high MC customization would still be a part of any OL game, of course.

Right now, I have two main premises for how to continue the franchise, this is the first one: have only two time periods and the MC knows the LIs through some other method besides being neighbors. 

With two time periods we'd be able to invest more into each, going into further depth/detail than the original games, and maybe we could even have a little more of a structured plot to interact with. It'd be flexible in how you went along with it, but there'd just potentially be more to the events than hanging around your town. And since the MC/LIs would only have to be in each other's lives for two sections, there'd be a much wider amount of options open for how they know one another because it wouldn't have to last for years. We could do something cute, like there's a locally owned business the MC's family tends to patronize, and it belongs to an LI's family. Then in the future the LI could be the one running the business. And maybe another LI is on the same extracurricular team as the LI after their parents both signed them up to be a part of it. The different LIs could all have their own fun, unique tie to the MC's life. We could still have it be one season for the whole game (spring or winter) or we have it where the younger part is in winter and the older part is in spring/vice versa. 

Also, since we already have two modern day games about growing up, I'd be interested in making this one a quaint historical story or a cool future set one, if players wanted it. That might be very nice. It's only option one, though.

Our Life, But Different 2:

I've got another idea of a game that could also fall into the Our Life series, but it would be even more different in terms of structure than the other one. Instead of growing older with separate timeframes, we could try out going all in with letting you experience one full year knowing the LI. It could start the day you meet and then every week of the next year would have scenes about how your relationship grew/changed.

You’d get to play around with the progression of the connection a lot more. Maybe you ask them on a casual date for fun the first time you speak, maybe you barely acknowledge their presence, maybe you really click and are instantly friends, perhaps you just get their number but aren’t sure if you’ll even use it. Every week there’d be a new chance to reach out yourself, react to them reaching out, or to go about your own business because neither of you made an attempt during that time. Things could start out with meet ups in town and texts/calls then as time went on (if you grew closer) you’d get to step further into the LI’s world; seeing where they work, meeting friends/family, visiting where they live (maybe even moving in together near in the end if your relationship was going very well).

And rather than deciding if you like them platonically, romantically, or you didn’t really like them, we’d be able to get a lot more in-depth. Perhaps you’re considering them for a partner but are giving it more time before deciding, or maybe you love one side of them but can barely tolerate some other part of their personality. The LI could also have more complicated feelings about you in return. 

Plus, since we could invest all the art asset energy into one period, we could try having the LI(s) get a full wardrobe of clothes instead one casual outfit and some special occasion clothes. They could change their hairstyle regularly and maybe go through different phases of facial hair over the year (if they can grow facial hair out). There'd be all sorts of neat ways we could try making it feel authentic.

This would be modern set like the prior games, since it’d definitely be going for that normal, everyday kind of feel. 

Our Life Sibling Series:

And now we get to the non-Our-Life franchise idea. This would still go for all that MC/relationship customization, which it's why it's kind of like a sibling series, but everything else would be too different for it match with the OL brand. We'd be starting up a new franchise with its own name. Because while Our Life is, naturally, about jumping into the world of the game and living a life, a future game we make could instead be about becoming a part of a story and determining how it goes. Basically, there'd be little to no "slice-of-life" in the tone. We'd be replacing that with adventure, mystery, and fantasy (or something similar), possibly political intrigue and or thriller/low-key horror stuff. It'd be a tenser kind of experience. 

You would not only get choose who, if anyone, you liked, but who you're going to side with in opposing groups or if you'd be going on your own. Who are you going to trust? Is there anyone you'd give up useful knowledge to or share your secrets with? What are you going to look into? There are things going on all around, but you can't be in more than once place at a time. And so on. It'd be the type of story where it's solid/intriguing enough that it could run its course as a straightforward tale, but then you come in and just get interact with all the moving parts how you want to, potentially making it go off in all sorts of other directions. 

And I do mean all sorts, we'd definitely let you play as a morally gray or even unapologetically evil character. We could also have morally ambiguous/truly evil love interest options. Why not help the cause of someone who's beautiful and crushes others? You wouldn't be punished for that by me.

Now, I imagine if you're really risky/ridiculous you could end up with a bad ending in this game where you get yourself killed or in jail or something, haha. But the structure would definitely be based more around seeing what you can do in this story, rather than trying to guess what you shouldn't do. Though, on the flip side of that, there wouldn't be any perfect endings either. Unless you really only care about yourself/one other person, you'd go through unfortunate things no matter what. This wouldn't be a game where you're able to make everything wonderful for everybody in the cast at the same time. But hey, giving different characters/groups their own happy endings is what multiple playthroughs are for.

Going Off the Rails:

Lastly, we have something I don't tend to talk about but has always been there. Even before I started making games I had ideas for this that I've held onto to this day. I'm really not sure it'll ever happen, but I thought since I was doing this future games idea post that it'd be amusing to at least share with our supporters. I truly love the OL games and would happily make more like them in the future, but there is the duality of man and truthfully what I've always hoped to do as creator is a full-sized, commercial, absolutely brutal horror-mystery game, haha.

If I did actually attempt it we'd have to make secondary social media just for that project, so it wasn't present alongside our others. Because it'd be something different, not even our other horror-y games like Lake of Voices and XOXO Blood Droplets would fit with it. I want to make a game that's twisted, unfair, and vicious to the characters going through it. The exact game changes depending on when you ask. Currently there's two contenders; Black Feathers and LNF. Black Feathers is the one I've had from the beginning and LNF is more recent. Both are similar in terms of their very basic concept, they're about a group of people who live in a not good place with outside dangers while the people you're living with are just as potentially dangerous. It's common for people to die and you have to be proactive, clever, and potentially cruel yourself to survive/solve mysteries. For all these years of making VNs I've always paused in trying for Black Feathers or another project like it because I didn't feel capable of pulling it off. And at this point, the other games we make have so much value to people that I don't really think I should go so far off in another direction and invest a year or more to create my dark, horrific dream game. Though, perhaps even further in the future there will be a chance, but now you know my secret hope as a game developer, haha. 

Final Thoughts:

That's all I've got at this point. I've had other game ideas over the years, but they're definitely in the 'not able to consider for the near future/if ever' pile. Please feel free to let me know what you think of any of this! Would you be happy if we went down one of these routes for the project after OL2? Is there one in particular that stands out most to you? In the future should we maybe try fleshing out multiple concepts with more specific settings/stories/characters before truly deciding on any?

Either way, thank you very much for reading this long post. I appreciate you being here ♡