dev diary: writing tools! (Patreon)

previously, i talked about using notion to stay organized, but the post got so long that i decided to split it in two! so while that post was about general production/time management stuff, this one's about how i organize my notes for WRITING!!

my games used to be small enough that i'd just write up one big google doc for each one, usually with like a stream-of-consciousness style outline that i'd use as reference while i wrote the actual script.

but these docs held all kinds of other notes and stray ideas too, especially the treat one (since it's such a long series!) so there was a lot of info i'd forget or have to scroll to find, and it wasn't very easy to work with... it was fine when i was focused on the one project and could hold it all in my head, but going back to it later always felt like i had to put so much mental effort into getting my bearings.

and then once the games were finished, all the little details that had become canon were now only contained in the game script--i usually erase the text from old outlines as i go, since the info isn't relevant anymore and i don't want it clouding my head. so i'd end up with empty docs, and have to open the games anytime i wanted to doublecheck some random detail. i was getting annoyed by having to do this and figured i oughta find a better place to store all these details...

SO! i built myself an internal wiki!!!!

(i put a lot of time into making it look very pretty... i'm so satisfied with the result!)

i have a HUGE database of all my characters now!!!!!! wtf there's a lot of these guys!!!!! (especially from treat, wow) but i can easily sort them all kinds of ways, as you can see by the colored tags below

my goal is to never forget anything ever again, since all the information i'll ever need is now super easy to find :)

each character page look something like this:

(i'm still filling everything out haha)

having a template setup like this has actually helped me decide on some things i didn't realize needed deciding. or at the very least, it makes me wanna fill in some story detail i hadn't thought about before. a little extra added depth for everyone!!

there's also a reference gallery at the bottom of each page with all the art of that character, so i can easily reference them without digging through my folders anymore! it's already been convenient for drawing new treat sprites, especially since clip studio can colorpick from your entire screen :) NO MORE BARRIERS! LIFE IS EASY NOW!!

here's another page, which grabs the data from the character masterlist at the bottom! so handy!!

notion databases are so powerful... like spreadsheets evolved...! (again, i'm going to have to talk about spreadsheets in another post because i've been living by those for certain things too!)

i've had a lot of fun setting all of this up. my writing style has always been like... leave things vague enough that i can bend them in whichever direction is the most exciting later, and keep building from that. but there's a lot to keep track of with how many games i have out now!! i'm hoping this will all help me keep things consistent while also making it easier to figure out the path forward.

i'll leave you with...... this peristille fansite-looking page that i made:

thanks for reading!