Patreon devlog 11/09

 Hey guys - here's this week's devlog!

Summary:

• Finished Jack, Chapter Two
• Started Chapter Three
• Got three completed BGs + 1 new sketch
• Coded some BGs into Caissa's route
• Remembered how much I hate asset coding

The Ramble:

Okay so now for this week's ramble!

This week I mostly focused on writing with only a few deviations into other things.

I finished up Jack's second chapter and got started on Chapter Three.  That was my main focus. Chapter One was mostly Morgan waking up and learning a bit about where she is and some of the things Jack didn't previously have time to tell her (namely, that Caissa is a part of Crimson. LoL).

Chapter Two is Morgan finishing up her recovering and getting a bit more information about Cestrescir, as well as leaving Cordis (the name of the hotel she's staying at) for the first time so she can see more of the city.

From here, we will start moving into the actual plot for the route. Unlike the other routes so far that haven't really started setting up the plot until chapter 4-6, Jack's route is able to jump into the plot much faster because I don't have to spend so long setting it up. With some of the other routes, I don't do much but drop a few hints about where the plot is going in the early chapters. In Jack's route I can really just jump straight in.

It's weird not having to do so much set up with Morgan settling in and getting accustomed to her new environment.

As I was revising Jack's route outline, I came up with an idea that I thought was going to be a simple little addition to help explain Morgan's psi development in the route. But now it's becoming a bigger focus and I had an interesting idea that I'm hoping to see play out through the route. One interesting thing about dealing with Espers is trying to think of unique ways to work with their powers.

While no one can time travel, there is a lot of looking into the future or or looking into the past. And it occurred to me...what would happen if one person was looking into that past at someone….while at the same time, that person in the past was looking into the future at the first person.

You'd have two people crossing the boundaries of time and peering at one another - an unexpected connection could occur. 

So this is an interesting concept I get to explore a little in this route.

I've made a slight change in his personality (I can't really remember if I discussed this last week). Jack was, initially, meant to be the sort of love interest that starts to pull away once he realises he's falling in love. 

I eventually scrapped that idea because first, that is sort of what Caleb does in his route. He resists the idea of falling in love initially - before he whole-heartedly throws himself into the relationship. Second, re-reading my initial outline draft I couldn't help but feel Jack was kind of a huge ass. LoL

He wasn't written as a jerk, but the way he pulled away from Morgan just rubbed me the wrong way. And I kind of noped away from that concept after realising I didn't really like how it made him look.

Third, with the way his route is rewritten, the resolution to Jack pulling away from Morgan no longer made sense (initially, Caissa was kind of the catalyst for it). Jack's route was supposed to have some overlaps with Caissa's route that would let Caissa serve that purpose pretty easily but in the revision, this isn't the case. And I realised that my initial ideas for the romantic development for Jack just really weren't going to work as well as I thought when I first drafted his outline.

So I tossed that idea entirely and shifted Jack into the sort of person who gets attached easily and quickly. I think that this works better in a lot of ways - it differentiates him from Caleb, makes him more likable, and also subverts that trope where flirts don't know what love is. I think we see that a little too often - and we frequently see flirts who go cold the moment the MC starts showing interest. So rather than that, I think having Jack being devoted from the start is a little more interesting (yes, it means less relationship drama but I also feel like Gilded Shadows has so much external drama that internal relationship drama isn't really needed for the story anyway. And relationship drama can sometimes be frustrating because I often find myself going "OMFG JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER" at characters and getting frustrated by constant miscommunications. Of course, miscommunications do happen in real life. But I always find they can be frustrating in stories if overdone.)

Anyway.

Aside from this, I spent a little time coding backgrounds into Caissa's route. It reminded me how much I hate asset coding. LoL

It's so tedious. Not hard. Just tedious. I think I got to chapter four or so before I stopped. Backgrounds are also probably the least tedious part of asset coding. I don't know how I'm going to survive sprite expressions.

Speaking of BGs - our artists hive minded and we got three completed backgrounds this week as well as one new sketch.

Sneak Peeks and Previews:

So this week in previews:

Quill's bedroom. (This is just a zoom of his loft space basically.)

Magnus' office.

The Endgame briefing room.

(Side note, I am constantly amused by how prevalent hexagons are in the GS art despite that I never specifically suggested that hexagons should be a recurring motif. LoL!)

Upcoming Week:

Well, it's really just more writing essentially.

This week I want to finish Chapter Three and at least get started on Chapter Four. Chapter Three is uneventful as far as major events but it does lay the groundwork for the plot as well. Even so, I'm really hoping I can get it finished in a couple of days and quickly move onto Chapter Four.

Honestly, it would be great if I could buckle down and get two chapters finished this week. Chapter Four is a little more eventful, with two major happenings - one of which is the return (possibly) of Rory. But because his involvement in this route is dependent on the player's choices in the common path, that means I have to start doing a ton of branching whenever he's involved since he may not actually be there.

In this case it's going to be the difference between having Rory there or just a random person. Most of the branching will involve whether or not Morgan recognising him.

Either way, branching always requires more work, so I know that portion will take more time to work through.

I'm still hoping for a stroke of inspiration and motivation that helps me get finished with it by this time next week.

Side note: 

Our first round of voting for the patreon wallpaper will end soon. It looks like we'll be voting on a GS character for this wallpaper! I will set that poll up as soon as the current one ends later this afternoon!

That's all for this week I think. See you next time!