Design Refine Design Refine... (MS2b April Update) (Patreon)

If this month had a one-phrase theme, it would be “design and refinement”.. applying both to the aesthetics and mechanics of MS2b. Here are some of the highlights:

First, let's touch on the visual design aspect. Please see the Youtube video above for context (mind the audio level!!!! it gets loud!!). We initially referred to it as "Kaidoku" or "Decipher" action where Ritona roams around the map, breaking objects of interest to advance the story, unlock branching paths, etc. Now, we just simply refer to it as "Manakravting" because the gameplay experience feels richer when we let this action accomplish more than just deciphering things. The MP gauge has been entirely re-designed, making it more visually legible. A good portion of sound design has also been completed. Check it out!

Next up is a complete renovation of the bar. We planned to expand it a bit more anyway, but with the Manakravting action becoming a more substantial component, it was becoming clear that we needed more space for Ritona and the rest of the Cellar Door crew to conduct their activities. A lot more space. So Hare and I looped back and expanded the ideas and the theme behind the establishment. We originally wanted an iconic component of the bar, something that players would immediately remember when they walked in, and an hourglass had been on our minds since the start of the project.

The initial hourglass was Ritona's height, but we wanted a more critical visual impact, so it is now nearly three stories high.

We also now have a very robust camera system that is easy to implement through script instead of programming (huge deal for us non programmer peons!!). This lets us easily do crazy things like pan the camera 90 degrees on the X axis... which is incredibly rare for this type of game. The characters (and all 2D Spine elements) immediately billboard towards the camera so their flatness will never be apparent!! It’s actually super super cool looking.

Please dont mind the frame rate as it’s a gif and we’ve reduced it to 15fps. You can watch it in full quality in the video above or you can check it out on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/projectwritten/status/1648890930471239680 

It's pretty... shall we say, interesting? Frusterating? Frustersting? how constantly flexible we have be. Creating a game where the player controls the main character with actionable instructions on the field causes us to adjust many so aspects of the story on-the-fly... but it's leading to a fascinating development cycle of refining that we never truly encountered when we were solely producing linear Visual Novels. The hourglass is an excellent example. If this were a VN, it would have stayed Ritona's size, but we were compelled to adapt for a big visual presentation and gameplay whilst maintaining thematic components. Some of these things appear obvious when we consider them in hindsight (like the neanderthal gut-reaction “derr lets just make it huUuuuGe”), but when you’re in the trenches confronted with these problems, the solution always seem way less obvious.

In the upcoming article, I'll focus more on the game mechanics design aspect of MS2b and how it's evolving over time. I hope to share more behind-the-scenes details and open up a dialogue about it... Since it’s getting really interesting. Stay tuned for more updates!

Ista Vilserio everyone

-Munisix