week 2. "puzzle in disguise"

fuuh... week two. i started quite late because i was unsure of how to interpret the theme. i was tossing around some ideas for a tetris-type game where you fit blocks together, or a visual novel with some sort of puzzle element... they conglomerated into a visual novel where you had to fit events into a limited schedule.

i could've done with some better planning overall -- i had to rewrite code several times as i tweaked my concept.

i started with making the calendar screen and just playing with it until it felt nice. based on my experience last week i placed input hints right on top of what they affected (the cursor, the current day, the dialogue box) and literally no playtester had a problem with the input scheme. i felt so smart for that

there were three characters originally... for posterity: the third was a guy called nathaniel (at first they all had fancy english names) who was really into an obscure american band called 「radiohead」, but i guess you wouldn't have heard of them... in the end, two characters was enough, and he was the least developed of the three so he got cut.

i struggled with writing khatia and tselki initially... i tried drawing sprites for them which got me immediately attached and then i just kept writing and writing dialogue. (this is a habit i have... if i'm struggling with making something i switch mediums to help me nail down a vibe. if i'm making a game i take a break and make music, if i'm writing characters i draw them or make playlists...)

to sell the game's "disguise" i really wanted it to scream romance visual novel even in the ui design (hearts everywhere). y/n's voice in the opening scene is specifically aping the opening scenes of danganronpa, where naegi's talking about how excited he is for his new life in kibougamine academy... it was fresh in my memory since i'd just watched socksbx play through it.

i don't think the puzzle mechanics came out particularly engaging, since they were honestly kind of an afterthought, but people seem to like them fine. if i made this again i'd give them more thought.