Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #121 (Patreon)

Hiya there!

Apologies for the slight delay on this week's dev log. I was waiting on something special to hopefully be ready to show--but we might have to wait a tiny bit longer on that, so I'll continue on with the regular scheduled devving and logging until then! (But hopefully I can post it in the next day or so!) I hope I didn't give anyone cause for concern with my silence--'cuz rest assured I'm still trucking away!

Most of my time has been spent writing more of the main scenario--where I've more or less done a lot of the important scenes for this segment, and now I'm working on some of the optional scenes that can potentially come up in the main story if you have befriended certain people before reaching certain milestones. I think I've talked about this system before--but it really does help the story feel more organic and flexible, even though it does go down a linear path. When you bump into people you know, and have helped before, even when you're being railroaded down the main story for a portion of the game, I find that it really helps reinforce how much your choices can affect things down the line; a lot of the time in unexpected ways when characters you know pop up at the most random of times.

For example, if you've befriended people that live in the city like Claire or Sister June (goddess bless her adorable heart) early enough, you'll find they contribute in small ways to the larger scenario as Matt hurries about the city to get to a most important event. In this way, I really wanted to give these smaller characters more life, and a chance to appear more often, as opposed to being confined in their one little area until you might happen to click and visit them. Because, hey, they're people too--and like to wander about the city as well and get up to their own adventures!

This extends to smaller side-events with some characters, where Matt might stumble on them, even outside of the main scenario. Though this gets increasingly complex to script and code the more potential side-events I add. Since I always have to do a number of checks to make sure things don't break when considering if a surprise event should trigger. For example, I need to check the time of day in-game, the day number itself (to make sure nothing more important is supposed to happen instead), the relationship points with the character, and so on. Chapter Two has quickly grown into a complex beast--and I hope all of these little fun surprises along the way, as well as extensive, almost Persona-like choice of bonding with characters over time pays off, and that you all enjoy it!

Surprisingly, it's less complex to weave more side stuff into the main story beats, than it is to add them to the side as random/surprise events. I suppose since with the main story, there's only one main path the script is going down (with small deviations here and there) so it's not as scary to check if certain conditions have been met, and if someone can jump out and say hey. And it's fun to let my imagination run wild sometimes as to how certain choices/relationships can affect certain points of the story. At the same time, I suppose you can maybe see why things are taking so long now, huh? Again, I REALLY hope this all pays, because gosh I've been pouring my heart and soul into all!

Alongside writing, I also spent a portion of today going over lines of a new voiced h-scene that was submitted to me today. I don't want to spoil too much regarding the context/character--but it's quite an emotional h-scene I think. Maybe even sad in some ways. Using erotic scenes to deliver more emotional moments like this can be a bit of a challenge, because it's very easy for the lewd nature of the scene to completely overpower the dialogue and intent behind things, or for the dialogue itself to detract from things due to being too generic or 'porn'y--but I think I've struck a good balance here. I'll be interested to see how it resonates with all of you--and also incredibly nervous, haha. Since my goal here is not only to deliver an erotic game with tons of content to indulge in, but to also give a story that you can enjoy, too. Intertwining both the erotic elements and the story elements without them feeling too separated is the biggest challenge of all--since I want to lean into both the strengths of a h-game, and a fully fledged VN as best I can. Because when I think back to the erotic games that stuck with me the most over the years, the ones that were just pure smut with no substance didn't leave much of an impression of all. But the ones with grand, exciting stories that accompanied the erotic parts (like Monster Girl Quest, etc.)--those are the ones that you'll be talking about for years to come, speculating on characters, coming up with theories on things, arguing about which girl is best girl.

I can't claim to be the best writer in the world--and am lucky to have gotten as far as I have really--but I sincerely hope I can craft an experience that sticks with at least a few people! I think I'd be pretty satisfied with that.

So as I wrap up this dev log, I'll leave you with the question: Which VNs have stuck with you the most over the years, and which have left the longest lasting impressions on you? Be they erotic, or otherwise. It's always fun to hear what sorts of stuff the QF community is into!

Also, like always, I'm happy to leave the comments open as a mini Q&A of sorts, too. So if you have any questions or concerns regarding the game so far--feel free to voice your thoughts below and I'll get back to you as soon as possible and do my best to answer things!

Thank you all for your support as always, and until next time~