Hello again people! It's been another relatively hectic week over here!
I was mainly focused on getting started with basic planning, but I had to switch up in the middle of the week when my first restock order arrived [ 16 boxes of stuff ]. I needed a day basically just to move the boxes around, get the contents organized [ they were kinda packed with random characters all over the place so I had to empty and refill.. sigh ] and get them stored properly in my merch room.
I'm quite pleased with the merch room and how much space is still left! [ though this panorama pic does make it look bigger than it is, it's a standard non-master bedroom.
And, of course, I'm sure some of you have heard about my big decision to refuse sales to the US. [ I posted on dirtymurdergames.com ]. I just kept typing out to people that I need to collect the tariffs and that the money goes to US government, and I'll be honest with you- it was kind of a dental plan/lisa needs braces moment for me, realizing that I would be collecting money from US citizens and sending it right to MAGA. And that instantly made me feel anxious and sick, so I made the call and decided that I couldn't live with the guilt of that.
And I also want to make it clear that I am in a position of privilege here to be able to choose to live by my principles. I was presented with a choice between fighting for what's right and profit. That's not the same choice that everyone has- some people have to choose between fighting and basic survival. I will lose out on profit but I'm not gonna starve. So I want to thank you all here on the Patreon and everyone who's bought my games for giving me luxury of choosing morals over business.
Hopefully someday soon, things will change for the better and the tariffs will be dropped or the government replaced. On that day I will joyfully reopen sales to the US.
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Now let's move on to happier stuff!
I spent the remainder of the week brainstorming about the script basics needed for the new game. I'll admit, this is much harder work that I thought it would be. After playing the old game again and rewatching my own video about it, I realize that the old script is in worse shape than the original Strade route. It's linear, it's wishy-washy, and the player never gets a good idea of what Lawrence's motives even are. TBH, I think it's a very weak script that only got a pass from people because of some fun visual effects throughout the route.
So what this means for me is that I need to get seriously creative and come up with a lot of new content.
I do think I came up with some seriously banger ideas over the week that will make the new game a lot more fun. Unfortunately, I can't really tell you guys specifically about them 😂 I really can't be ruining the plot now. And while I did come up with some good new ideas, there's still a lot of planning work to be done to flesh out the script bones before I can actually start scripting.
This is what I've come up with so far- it's very vague descriptions of what happens with no real details or transitions between ideas yet:
Don't worry, you aren't meant to be able to read that. I've deliberately obscured it. It's just to show the basic amount of planning progress I've made. For contrast, here's the complete planning document for YKMET:Strade:
If you're interested in making planning documents like these for your own work, I used draw.io! It's just a website, it's free, and it connects with a google account! It's very very handy in my opinion and I think it really helps me organize my thoughts.
Aside from that, I did do one sketch for fun, still practicing the new Lawrence design.
I think I'd like to try and draw/sketch a bit more often while working on the planning/scripting phases. It will slow me down a bit, but I think it may pay off in the long run for me to be comfortable with drawing the characters before I really need to. Plus, it gives me something fun to show you guys during the most boring phases LMAO [ sorry in advance, making the planning doc and writing the script will take months and the updates tend to be super boring because I usually just say 'haha I cant show you my plans/writing because that's way too much of a spoiler' ]
And actually, while I'm apologizing, I might as well add this: I'm realizing that my new ideas are pretty horror driven. I think this game might be more scary than my other work- not in my usual gore/intimidation way but in a more traditional horror sense. I'm actually quite excited to try these new ideas, but it might not end up being everyone's cup of tea 😂
Anyway, I think that's about all I have this week!
Let's look out for each other and stay strong ok? See you next week!