Defined locations (Patreon)
Content
Hey guys. I ended up accumulating subjects during this week. I thought I'd dilute it into several posts, but I don't want to flood your inbox, especially while we're talking about locations, which isn't such an interesting subject. So I'll try to be brief on each topic and I'll comment a little bit on the game's content as I introduce you to the scenarios.
I had said in a previous post that maybe one of the residential areas would be close to the sea, but I think that if I put a beach in the scenario I would feel compelled to use it, and when I try to think of exciting situations involving the beach, my mind goes blank. That's why I decided to change the beach to an island in a big lake. It is a more exclusive residential area. Wanda Titball, Brendon's boss, lives here along with Rose Pound, who has yet to be introduced.
If you've played the path where the movie night ends at the redheaded sisters' house, you might remember that Brendon is amazed at the size of their house. Here's the Sackrider house. This is a place where you can explore depending on the path you choose. This will also be the main house in a future game if I get the opportunity to extend the story to other games.
The house of the Nutters is also on the island. It already appears in the game when Brendon goes to visit his cousins Chloe and Jason. Their mother, Liza Nutter, also lives there. This house also appears in the demo I released last year, Not Related. Brendon will be able to visit his aunt and cousin's house freely after his first interaction with Chloe.
In this small house lives Elena Bottom, Jane's mother. She will be introduced in Steep 3. Elena is a mature lady who lives alone and has a lot of experience to share, so you may want to visit her from time to time. This house once belonged to Petra Sackrider, the girl in the statue in the park. This isn't relevant to S4H but will appear in later games if they come out.
I had said that there would be four areas, in fact, there will be six. One of the ones I decided to include will be Oldtown, a more cultural area of the city. Tiffany Starlette lives there. Oldtown is close to the suburbs and the campus, and the island is close to Downtown.
"The Pit of the Bitch Party" was supposed to be an important moment for Nicole in Step 2, where the player would make a choice with a big impact in the ending. However, due to the limitations and because of the negative feedback regarding having to control Nicole, I decided to cut it off. This time I will allow Nicole's part to be optional for those who are only interested in Brendon's pov, but, I will bring back this scene for those who want to make this decision for Nicole.
The movie theater is also in Oldtown. I always find movie theater scenes very boring in any date simulator game because there's not much you can do. I want to take on the challenge of creating fun scenes with this theme.
The restaurant downtown is owned by Barney (Brendon's father) and his step-sister Liza. Mika Fukui will also be introduced working here. Mika lives in an apartment downtown that will also be visited.
For Misty's store, I thought of a more artistic façade. I don't really like the typology, but you get the idea. You'll be free to come back to the store whenever you like to look at the wares or ask Misty if she needs a little help in the back of the store.
I'm still studying the positioning of the buildings, but Wanda's studio, where Brendon works, is also located Downtown. There will be another store that sells special products to give as a gift to Nicole and improve your relationship with her.
The sixth area will be Wankville and will have only one location, Sarah's apartment where Brendon lived before moving in with his father. You've already seen the inside of this apartment in Brendon's flashbacks with Sarah. There will be more flashbacks developing their relationship. Focusing too much on these flashbacks can also impact the ending.
I wanted to talk about my workflow for creating textures for the characters, but this text is already too long so I'll leave it for the next one.
As always, I am very grateful to all of you and wish you all the best. See you later.