Backgrounds, Thoughts, & Next 'What If' preview!

>This is the final batch of backgrounds!

• Monika's childhood bedroom
• Brandon's childhood bedrom
• Monika's childhood kitchen
• Sebastian's apartment bedroom
• Sebastian's apartment lounge
• Sebastian's apartment kitchen/dining/seating (open concept)

>Current Status

I'm still progressing away on Julian's route and his two new endings!

Just a reminder - the next release will be a little delayed due to the additional endings. I'm expecting around Feb 6th.

>Thoughts On Future Content

After an insightful convo with one of the patreon members, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of this information broadly.

In general, these are my current plans, but I will add the typical disclaimer that things are always subject to change!

On In-Game Violence

There's a lot of it, and it's pretty realistic and brutal at times. 

Obsession will very likely be the most violent of the worlds. All worlds will likely have some degree of violence, but for both [spoiler reasons] and due to the mafia element, Obsession is unique in how extreme the violence it is.

Rememberance (World #2) will not have elements of incest or child sexual abuse. The elements of violence in Remembrance will be more supernatural / sci-fi centric, hopefully alleviating some of that 'realness' feel.

I haven't decided yet, but I'm considering adding a "Tone Down The Violence" setting, similiar to the Adults Only setting.

Such a setting would not elimiate the violence, but simply skip over some of the more graphic descriptions.

After I finish Julian's update, I'm going to review some of the scripts in Julian's route to see how much time I think such a thing would take.

On In-Game Sexual Content

Sex will always be a part of the game, don't worry! Haha.

During the polish phase, I will likely be expanding on some of the sexual content scenes here and there. 

Side Note: Julian's route still lacks a lot of intimacy, but due to his character and the nature of his story, that's just the way it has to be. I am aware that it is lacking and will add some more fun stuff in his future side content. :)

One of the areas I've been particularly dodgy around is some of the rape & sexual abuse scenes in game. I know those are specially triggering to a larger audience, and because of that worry, I toned down those scenes. 

But it was pointed out to me that part of the appeal of the game IS those kinds of extreme scenes, and the game leans heavily into the violence instead of the romantic, which is a disservice to an 'otome' specific game where romance and sex are the appealing features.

So, similiar to the 'Tone Down The Violence' setting, I'm considering a 'Sexual Violence' setting as well, which would behave identically to the Adults Only setting, except it would only censor those specific kinds of sexual content instead of all sexual content.

Such a setting would help me feel more comfortable making some of those sexual violent scenes more graphic.

On Time

Right now these are just ideas I'm considering. These kinds of settings do take a fair amount of time to implement. But... if I'm going to do it, doing it during the polish phase is exactly the right time to do so!

I'll continue to think it over, review some of the existing script, figure out how much work it would actually be... but I'm going to prioritize the next release first.

>The Next What If...

The next 'What If' is currently being written for Sebastian's route! This is actually an idea I wanted to include in his main route, but the idea was a bit too unusual for the main content. So this has literally been sitting in my head for nearly a year now!

(Spoilers!)

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This story branches from when Sebastian asks you to stay overnight with him at the beginning of his route. 

The "c" at the beginning of a character's name is just coding stuff, it's short for 'character'.

"mce" = Main Character (aka Monika): External Voice (she is speaking out loud)

"mci" = Main Character: Internal Voice (she is thinking to herself)

This script is still being written, subject to change, etc.

---

cSebastian "Ah… it's embarrassing… I was just thinking… how lucky I am to have been there to rescue you. Because of that, I got to meet you… and to see that amazing smile of yours… and to be the first man to court you. I'll admit I'm nervous myself. I don't want to mess this up."

---

"I walked past him towards a lounge chair close by, but he frowned."

cSebastian "Please, Darling, come here. I'd like to hold you."

mce "Uh… I'm okay here."

"The look on his face displayed utter devastation and rejection, as if I'd broken his heart with that tiny refusal. I felt a pang of guilt but… that was just a little too much closeness for me at the moment. He slowly sat up and slid to one section of the couch."

cSebastian "Would… would you be comfortable sitting beside me instead?"

---

"I woke up in bed beside [cSebastian] the next morning, dressed in my pajamas and him in sweatpants and no shirt. I gasped loudly and scrambled out of the bed, falling on my butt on the floor. He stirred awake, groggy."

cSebastian "What's wrong, Sunshine?"

mce "What… what are… why are we in bed? Together? We… we were watching that movie… and… and… did you change my clothes?!"

---

cSebastian "I… can't think of any reason why you'd forget that. I didn’t give you any alcohol and I don't use drugs. You seemed completely normal and clear-headed the entire night. I assure you… nothing happened between us. You changed in the bathroom. When we got into bed you said you were cold and you snuggled against me until you fell asleep. That's everything."

---

"When I woke the next morning, I saw [cSebastian]'s face, sound asleep, and I had déjà vu of the previous night as I jumped out of bed again with a gasp. Again, he stirred awake, groggy. I was dressed in only my undergarments this time."

cSebastian "What's wrong, Sunshine?"

"He asked that exact same question the night before."

mce "Why are you here?! In my bed?!"

---

cSebastian "I… I feel like I should apologize, but I don't think I've done anything wrong. Honestly, you're kind of… different… the nights you don't remember."

mce "Different…?"

cSebastian "Not significantly, but… you're a lot more… confident, I guess? You tell me exactly what you want and you push for it. You're less shy and embarrassed. That's not a bad thing, don't misunderstand. You didn't have to push me for it. I wanted to... uh... participate."

---

"He walked into the living room and picked up a digital camera. He fiddled with it for a few moments before handing it over to me. On the screen, I saw an image of him standing in front of the camera with a Play button overlaid. I pressed play."

"In the recording, I watched as [cSebastian] stepped away from the camera. It had been hidden across from the couch, beside the television. There was an impatient knock on the door. I heard the door open. Then I heard my own voice."

mce "Hey, Sexy. I missed you."

mci "Sexy…?"

cSebastian "I didn’t know you were coming."

mce "It's a surprise. So, surprise!"

"The voice inflection and excitement was not like me at all."

---

"Although her back still blocked the camera, I could tell she'd undone his pants and was touching him intimately. He breathed heavily and moaned as his hands squeezed her butt cheeks. But suddenly, coming to his senses, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away. Her body slid a little to the side from the force of his push and I saw his erection over her thigh."

"I also saw the side of her face."

"It was my face."