22/07 WSC Ramble

Hellooo everyone! A quick WSC ramble!

Or not quick. I don't know.

General Writing

So...I've mentioned this before but WSC is a bit of a different story structure compared to my previous games. Gilded shadows and Changeling are both games where the story overlaps through a short common route and then branches into self-contained character routes fairly early in the story.

WSC breaks into self contained character paths way later in the story. Actually right before the story climax and ending.

I want to later do a write up on story structures and how they are similar and different but...not today.

The point is that WSC follows the same plot all the way up to chapter 9 of the story, with chapters 10, 11, and 12 being unique to each character and following through to a different story climax and resolution.

This is, for me, a much more difficult way to write than something like Gilded Shadows.

I think I've talked about this before but my observation is that people assume writing large amounts of words is easier than writing a short amount of words. So they assume a big game like GS is automatically more difficult than a slightly shorter game like WSC where the content overlaps.

And in my experience so far this just isn't true.

One of my early issues in WSC was having to write the "same" scene multiple times (five times in a row actually). I would write Wil walking to their room with Asher, then....write the same scene but with Daaz, then Noel, then Raif, then Yren.

I am trying to cut down moments that are exact repetitions of each other across routes so I am not just copying the scenes and swapping out the names. I am rewriting most of the scenes completely. And it's actually really tedious. And hard.

For instance, there is a scene in the current chapter 4 (soon to be chapter 5) where Wil and the LI go to a planet's surface and walk around together. This scene is around 4000 words long. And while the same overall events happen:

• Walk
• Do a science thing
• AN INCIDENT OCCURS
  • There is a choice to do a thing or not do the thing
• Return to the ship

My goal was to have each scene read quite differently. The conversation you have is very different in each scene, the science thing is similar but rewritten - not just copy/pasted. And then the incident that occurs is different across all variations, though it leads to a similar choice (the thing you do or do not do is the same, but the events that lead to it are different).

Then the conversation when returning to the ship is quite similar across all the scenes.

Trying to come up with 5 interesting conversations, 5 interesting incidents and make each scene unique enough to be valuable to replay while also being similar enough to maintain story continuity is...difficult and tedious.

But up until chapter 5, I was writing all character scenes in each chapter evenly. After I got to chapter 5 I decided to try to focus on just one character and write an entire "route" for just Asher, leaving all the others to be finished later. This was helpful in some ways as doing this helped me see some flaws in the story pacing that I will fix on revision. And it was certainly a bit easier than writing everyone at the same time.

But when I went back to write Daaz's scenes, I realised there were some drawbacks to doing it this way - mainly around trying to maintain story continuity. It's really difficult to make sure Daaz's chapter six scenes are similar enough in flow to Asher's chapter six scenes when it had been months since I'd written Asher's scenes. But I did complete Daaz's full route despite that it was honestly not that much easier (or less tedious) to do it this way.

So when I started on Noel's route I decided to go back to doing all character scenes for each chapter again. Because I think that...

1. It won't be *as* tedious now that I only have 3 (lol. REMEMBER THIS NUMBER. We'll get back to it) to write as opposed to five.
2. The benefit of making it easier on myself continuity-wise is worth it. Continuity is *really* important in this game and I just think that writing all the character scenes (per chapter) in close proximity to each other means I will have fewer continuity problems than if I do entire routes then have to go back and try to remember wtf was happening back in Chapter six.

So YEAH. After finishing up Daaz's route, I went back to write up Noel's scenes for chapter five. There's a big incident that happens in chapter five and about 4000 words of unique character content for each character in this chapter. Writing Noel was a big slow since I, once again, had to reacquaint myself with the exact flow of events.

(While I obviously remember the gist of what happens, the exact flow of things doesn't stick so I have to re-read to remember exact wording and reveals, etc).

I'm not working on Raif's chapter five scenes - just one more to go.

But in other big news....

There's a new character. 😩

Kav'isari Tiaine

So Kav has been haunting me for a while. The idea just kind of came to me a few months ago. I knew I could make it work. And I knew it would be interesting. I mentioned it - in brief - to one friend and then did not bring it up again. But it has been in the back of mind for a while.

Then I was recently on a call on my server and...somehow I mentioned him.

I knew that talking about this guy would make him real. I knew the moment I said it outloud, my brain would run away with the idea.

I knew it and I said it anyway.

And, as predicted, it opened a floodgate of ideas and Kav became a real concept.

And then I drew him.

And now he exists.

So who is Kav?

I won't give too many details about him yet but he is a non-Terran LI who works in the space labs as a xenotechnology specialist. We have been jokingly calling him a 'space hobo' because he is quite scruffy when you first meet him.

Unlike the other characters whom you meet straight away, you will have to make some specific choices to unlock Kav's content. I believe he will show up for the first time in chapter two but you won't be able to interact with him much until, probably, chapter three.

Personality wise, he's a bit of a gadfly (someone who teases and likes to get a rise out of people). Who knows if he is who he says he is...

Of course this does mean the game will be longer...but...Kav's route is not going to be as long as the other routes. It won't be that much shorter (maybe only 10-15k shorter). 

But because you have to unlock his route rather than it being available from the start - and because he will show up later for the first time - it does mean you won't have as many scenes with him in the first couple of chapters. 

Planning

So the other thing I've done is just basically planning out the new scenes I'll be adding into the story.

I'm not happy with the pacing right now, as I've mentioned, and decided to add an additional chapter. It will go between either the current chapter 2 and chapter 3, I believe.

The main reason is that I feel the friendships and relationship start up a little too early and I really need at least one incident to solidify Wil's place on the crew a bit before the story really starts going.

This incident will also serve as an explanation for things down the line and really just gives me the space to set up some of the plot elements a little bit better. 

I don't think this chapter I'm adding will be that long comparatively (some later chapters are nearly 55,000 words). I imagine there will only be one LI-exclusive interaction per character since the point of the chapter is Wil's place on the ship in order to offer a springboard for their personal relationships. 

So yeah - Though I initially said I might go ahead and write it up before doing Noel's scenes...I didn't do that. Ha ha.

But I have been working on the synopsis and getting the content planned out so I can write the rough at some point.

Also working on planning a new group scene that will go in chapter six. But I'll probably focus on that more when I get to the character scenes in chapter six since it'll probably flow a bit more naturally when I'm already working in that chapter.

So. Yeah.

That's the WSC stuff right now. Some big additions and stuff have happened lately. 🤣

Sometime soon I will maybe show off some of the sprite variations for all the main characters - including Kav! I think it'll be fun to show some of their outfit variations. (And hairstyle variations for some of them that have more than one).

Maybe I'll show off some of Wil's additional outfits too! 

That's all for now!

~Esh