Mochi Moshi Dev Log #16 : Milk Balls (Patreon)

The last dev log went over how Kazumi would change over the course of the game, and be different every route. You should read that. 

Dev Log Detail

Before I start this dev log officially just want to skinny over what was said in the last one and bring up the over all changes between then and now.

Still in Sweden, which means art progress, as you've seen, is still chugging along greatly. Script progress is still going well. It is now June. I said a few dev logs back that I expect the script to be done between June and July and that's not possible right now. As detailed in the dev log listed above, this visual novel is going to be a heavy one in terms of writing. I want to create the best written story I can to go along a genuinely unique story structure. I know people are anticipating this game greatly and I want to show off physical work soon. This game is a unique situation where the story is the most important aspect and not the actual gameplay itself so I want to hammer that done before I sweat my ass off making the actual product come together.

I don't want to talk about how future updates are going to be handled once I start drawing the images, but my current thought process is this: I don't want to show everything in these logs and make it so you guys know the game before it's done. I'd rather show examples of what you can do instead of going "Okay I finished this CG, look at it now! Oops now you guys don't have a reward for finishing that route." I have a deck of cards and instead of showing you a full suit, I'd rather show you what the Ace of Hearts looks like. so you have 2% of the idea instead of 25% of the picture. Make sense? TL;DR I don't want to spoil you on this product until it's out and you can play it.

Kazumi Is Stupid

Now lets transition into the meat of this month's dev log. Kazumi is stupid.

I know that's a funny thing to really say because, yeah she's kinda an airhead. But what do I mean about her character being stupid? I don't mean she's unintelligent. She's very skilled in the field she works in, which happens to be managing her own social media brand. She's not a ditz, but she feigns ignorance as a joke. She plays very well with the player character's "straight man." If you don't know what that means google it ("Straight Man Comedy Trope") I don't want to explain character dynamics here. Below is an excerpt of a route that was worked on.

She says a lot of dumb things, or things in silly ways because it's funny or cute or annoying to the player character specifically. Even if it sounds awkward, she gives off an air of lightheartedness that lets you know she's poking fun at herself because she loves herself. There is at no point in the story where she degrades herself even if she has gained weight or changed in appearance. Kazumi's love for herself is eternal, just like the Player Character's ability to put up with her...

The Player Character

Are you the player character? Sure! The character you take control of is Kazumi's best friend. You help her choose exactly where to go and you bumble through the adventures you guided her to. The Player Character right now has no official name and doesn't have their gender referenced in the game. Meaning, if you are a boy, girl or are non-binary, you can easily put yourself in the role of the player character.

What if you don't want to and just want to see the two of them bumble about? Then you don't have to! Official art and design of the player character may or may not come, but they do have their own personality that stays consistent through the whole story. So if you're the kind of person who would go "I wouldn't say that," when you're "Supposed" to be the main character. You're also technically not the main character! Because who is to say you would be Kazumi's best friend~?

Thank you

I know this is a rather short log compared to the last two but I hope you had fun reading through what I had to present to you today. Thank you for supporting the development of this game and I look forward to sharing more about it as time passes. I am looking forward to this game's completion probably more than you are, it's very exciting.

Thank you and have a great rest of the month, and I'll see you the second to last week of July. <3