#this feels like a devlog

[cherryfennec]

making slight changes that barely matter to the bad end au designs and editing the already existing ref post so if you see some inconsistencies in the misc pictures there's an actual reason and you're not going insane

culprit 1: Bowser now has a star on his nose, when he closes his eyes you can see the shape clearly

[thelonelyshore-if]

The Lonely Shore Devlog #12

( 1/26/2025 ) Chapter Three: 68,110 words Added: +33,466 words Total Wordcount: 294,334 words

Hello Everyone!

I figured it was about time to write up a fresh devlog since it's been over a month since the last. I hope everyone is doing well c:

I'm still hard at work on chapter 3. My initial goal of a January release is unfortunately not possible. I spent the last week of December and the first two weeks of January ill, and it ate into my writing time considerably. On top of that, work has been fairly busy. Still, I've been plugging away at the chapter best I can.

This past week I've been working on two scenes back and forth. I'm trying my best to finish them up; once I have I can send them off to my beta readers (and finally contact the new ones!). I'm very excited about both.

I'm setting a (tentative) goal for the end of February, assuming no other big personal things/illnesses happen. Apologies it couldn't be this month!! I want this chapter to be finished and out so badly, I think it's going to be pretty fun once you all get the chance to see it properly c:

Two previews this time! One is above the cut, and one below. TW for the second preview for Fog Stuff (aka loss of bodily autonomy/possession/that sort of thing). Enjoy <3

[the-nox-syndicate]

SysNotes devlog 1

Hiya! We're a web developer by trade and we wanted to build ourselves a web-app to manage our system and to get to know each other better. We thought it would be fun to make a sort of a devlog on this blog to show off the development! The working title of this project is SysNotes (but better ideas are welcome!)

What SysNotes is✅:

A place to store profiles of all of our parts

A tool to figure out who is in front

A way to explore our inner world

A private chat similar to PluralKit

A way to combine info about our system with info about our OCs etc as an all-encompassing "brain-world" management system

A personal and tailor-made tool made for our needs

What SysNotes is not❌:

A fronting tracker (we see no need for it in our system)

A social media where users can interact (but we're open to make it so if people are interested)

A public platform that can be used by others (we don't have much experience actually hosting web-apps, but will consider it if there is enough interest!)

An offline app

So if this sounds interesting to you, you can find the first devlog below the cut (it's a long one!):

(I have used word highlighting and emojis as it helps me read large chunks of text, I hope it's alright with y'all!)

Tech stack & setup (feel free to skip if you don't care!)

The project is set up using:

Database: MySQL 8.4.3

Language: PHP 8.3

Framework: Laravel 10 with Breeze (authentication and user accounts) and Livewire 3 (front end integration)

Styling: Tailwind v4

I tried to set up Laragon to easily run the backend, but I ran into issues so I'm just running "php artisan serve" for now and using Laragon to run the DB. Also I'm compiling styles in real time with "npm run dev". Speaking of the DB, I just migrated the default auth tables for now. I will be making app-related DB tables in the next devlog. The awesome thing about Laravel is its Breeze starter kit, which gives you fully functioning authentication and basic account management out of the box, as well as optional Livewire to integrate server-side processing into HTML in the sexiest way. This means that I could get all the boring stuff out of the way with one terminal command. Win!

Styling and layout (for the UI nerds - you can skip this too!)

I changed the default accent color from purple to orange (personal preference) and used an emoji as a placeholder for the logo. I actually kinda like the emoji AS a logo so I might keep it.

Laravel Breeze came with a basic dashboard page, which I expanded with a few containers for the different sections of the page. I made use of the components that come with Breeze to reuse code for buttons etc throughout the code, and made new components as the need arose. Man, I love clean code 😌

I liked the dotted default Laravel page background, so I added it to the dashboard to create the look of a bullet journal. I like the journal-type visuals for this project as it goes with the theme of a notebook/file. I found the code for it here.

I also added some placeholder menu items for the pages that I would like to have in the app - Profile, (Inner) World, Front Decider, and Chat.

i ran into an issue dynamically building Tailwind classes such as class="bg-{{$activeStatus['color']}}-400" - turns out dynamically-created classes aren't supported, even if they're constructed in the component rather than the blade file. You learn something new every day huh…

Also, coming from Tailwind v3, "ps-*" and "pe-*" were confusing to get used to since my muscle memory is "pl-*" and "pr-*" 😂

Feature 1: Profiles page - proof of concept

This is a page where each alter's profiles will be displayed. You can switch between the profiles by clicking on each person's name. The current profile is highlighted in the list using a pale orange colour.

The logic for the profiles functionality uses a Livewire component called Profiles, which loads profile data and passes it into the blade view to be displayed. It also handles logic such as switching between the profiles and formatting data. Currently, the data is hardcoded into the component using an associative array, but I will be converting it to use the database in the next devlog.

New profile (TBC)

You will be able to create new profiles on the same page (this is yet to be implemented). My vision is that the New Alter form will unfold under the button, and fold back up again once the form has been submitted.

Alter name, pronouns, status

The most interesting component here is the status, which is currently set to a hardcoded list of "active", "dormant", and "unknown". However, I envision this to be a customisable list where I can add new statuses to the list from a settings menu (yet to be implemented).

Alter image

I wanted the folder that contained alter images and other assets to be outside of my Laravel project, in the Pictures folder of my operating system. I wanted to do this so that I can back up the assets folder whenever I back up my Pictures folder lol (not for adding/deleting the files - this all happens through the app to maintain data integrity!). However, I learned that Laravel does not support that and it will not be able to see my files because they are external. I found a workaround by using symbolic links (symlinks) 🔗. Basically, they allow to have one folder of identical contents in more than one place. I ran "mklink /D [external path] [internal path]" to create the symlink between my Pictures folder and Laravel's internal assets folder, so that any files that I add to my Pictures folder automatically copy over to Laravel's folder. I changed a couple lines in filesystems.php to point to the symlinked folder:

And I was also getting a "404 file not found" error - I think the issue was because the port wasn't originally specified. I changed the base app URL to the localhost IP address in .env:

…And after all this messing around, it works!

(My Pictures folder)

(My Laravel storage)

(And here is Alice's photo displayed - dw I DO know Ibuki's actual name)

Alter description and history

The description and history fields support HTML, so I can format these fields however I like, and add custom features like tables and bullet point lists.

This is done by using blade's HTML preservation tags "{!! !!}" as opposed to the plain text tags "{{ }}".

(Here I define Alice's description contents)

(And here I insert them into the template)

Traits, likes, dislikes, front triggers

These are saved as separate lists and rendered as fun badges. These will be used in the Front Decider (anyone has a better name for it?? 🤔) tool to help me identify which alter "I" am as it's a big struggle for us. Front Decider will work similar to FlowCharty.

What next?

There's lots more things I want to do with SysNotes! But I will take it one step at a time - here is the plan for the next devlog:

Setting up database tables for the profile data

Adding the "New Profile" form so I can create alters from within the app

Adding ability to edit each field on the profile

I tried my best to explain my work process in a way that wold somewhat make sense to non-coders - if you have any feedback for the future format of these devlogs, let me know!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimers:

I have not used AI in the making of this app and I do NOT support the Vibe Coding mind virus that is currently on the loose. Programming is a form of art, and I will defend manual coding until the day I die.

Any alter data found in the screenshots is dummy data that does not represent our actual system.

I will not be making the code publicly available until it is a bit more fleshed out, this so far is just a trial for a concept I had bouncing around my head over the weekend.

We are SYSCOURSE NEUTRAL! Please don't start fights under this post

[sparklecarehospital-archive]

everyone has full right to clown on the old website because i swear i hate it as much as everyone else. i swear. looking back at it, as i work on the new site now, i'm realizing functionality-wise and interface-wise and basically on every level it's borderline unusable. and jesus i'm so fucking sorry how could i make anyone go through this /SILLY /SILLY /SILLY /THIS IS LH

[logicpng]

so then uh

I couldn't resist the urge to edit the rays lol. the detail to the face isnt changed because that would be a bit Too much work than I can handle. it's minor enough to be negligible anyway

this included redoing all of the glitch sprites too! so I'm definitely not doing any more edits to the shell enough is enough

so in part because of that:

assistant software shell overhaul is happening now!!!

pray for me lol I plan to also have the tail move so. that will be fun

[bipanicoverthegravessiblings]

This can only go well :3

[manonamora-if]

June Check-In

My time as a benevolent tropical dictator has ended... time for some resource management retirement.

Bouncing for the summer. ✌️ I may or may not be online during that time. I'm not going in too much details, because it is IRL stuff that doesn't involve just me. I should still have some free time, but not as much as now. You may (probably will) catch random drops on itch.

Onto the usual index:

Recap of last month’s progress

Plan for the next month

The mega to-do-list tm that hasn't really changed.

Still long post under the break. If you want a mini version, head on over to itch.io as usual!

May Progress

Pulling out THE LIST from last month and checking the progress:

Play more games ✅

It's always a check because... there's always a jam we're doing with the @neointeractives, so there's always something to play. Anyways... this month fed be real good. Between the SpringThing (still not done reviewing), the Text Adventure Literacy Jam (have to queue my reviews - I placed third!!), the Dialogue Jam (you can read my thoughts here), the Locus Jam (lookie here), and the REALLY BAD IF jam (it's going to take me a while still)... there was a lot! But also a lot of fun!it also, unfortunately, gave me way too many new ideas...

Oh. It's also been one full year since I started writing reviews! And I've reached the 2nd spot on the IFDB ranking! Over 500 reviews to get there...

Code Chapter 6/Endings❌

MelS is still working on those, chipping away at the pages bit by bit, trying make that last chapter the best final chapter possible. But there are a lot of pages to go through... he's doing his best!

Fixing an older games. ❌

I mean, I bug-fixed my TALP entry, but I don't think that count (and there's some more stuff I could edit too). I've been too busy/all over the place to sit down and go back at it.

Write the next Chapter/Scene of a WIP✅❌

Well, yes and no. I've been revisiting Exquisite Cadaver in the hope of finishing it for real (but I got distracted...), and re-reading it... I've CRINGED SO HARD AT THE WRITING. Like :/ it's so not great.

So before we can make substantial progress in the missing rounds, I will:

re-write the already coded rounds (and fix the insane amount of typos

re-code them (duh)

edit the Interface (the template is a bit all over the place)

fix some other code

other stuff I'm forgetting for sure.

The prologue is completely done, and I've started on the rounds. I think I'll update the game when the re-writes are done. Then do an Interface/code uphaul. Then add more rounds (or switch 1 and 2).

I'm trying to keep this for this summer. That would be good. I think I could even finish it (knock on wood and what not).

What else happened this month????

Well, the organisation of the Locus Jam and the REALLY BAD IF, and setting up Neo-Twiny once again (@neo-twiny-jam). That's... a lot more work than just pressing some buttons 😅

On the writing side, I've written a novel as a Post-Mortem for Jeangille. You can find it here.

More writing... Well, I've mentioned being distracted a few times already this month? That's because... I've gone a bit overboard with tiny stuff. Here's what you may have missed:

I PROMISE I AM WORKING ON THE GAME (Locus/RBIF - binksi)

the 500 rooms game (RBIF - Inform)

Tomato Tomato (RBVN/bitsy jam - binksi - will be made better)

Cloak of Darkness (porting to multiple IF programs -> source code included to see how an engine works)

So hum... yeah. Not super great on the plan. The more I push it, the less I manage... But also I made fun stuff so...

Maybe on really cool thing coming out of this month is... GETTING THIRD PLACE FOR Lysidice and the Minotaur! With a strong average of 4!!! Which is SO MUCH BETTER THAN LAST YEAR!!!

The PLANtm for June

I won't have Tropico or most of my Steam Library to distract me in the next month. I actually will have a lot of IRL stuff to deal with. Aside from dealing with the Neo-Twiny Jam and Anti-Romance Jam organisation, you will probably not hear much from me.

Still, during down time, I would try to:

Play more games: I need to finish my RBIF thread, and start the Neo-Twiny one (if it's like last year, better start early!). And finish the reviews to the previous comps too.

Code Chapter 6/Endings: Still on MelS. Though I still could do some stuff... I've been putting it off since he's not made as much progress as we'd hoped.

Fixing an older games. Well, I'm re-writing Exquisite Cadaver, if I manage that and the Interface, that goal will be filled. Or the Tomato Tomato one.

Write the next Chapter/Scene of a WIP. And if I could manage to write one more game round for EC, we'll be golden!

Let's have a boring month! For realsies.

I'm also planning on just... logging off from the internet for long periods of time (the IRL stuff).

~

The 2024 To-Do List:

And now we're back at the start... SIGH

The hopefully maybe easy to handle To-Do:

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match (waiting for Adventuron to get the French language)

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (giving up on the translation)

fixing the interface of LPM and the popups + check animal interactions

figure out the One-Button JavaScrip/jQuery issue...

edit the loading screens of the completed tiny games to include the program/format logo at least.

The 'Need a Bunch of Content to update but it's planned!' To-Do:

Update my website (bunch new title - also I don't think the logo clicky thing work...) + redo my itch page (un-stricking cause I need to update it)

Finish TTATEH (MelS dependent)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (half-way mark by this summer - manif)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (main path at least)

Update CRWL (it's been almost two years... I'm ashamed)

The Unlikely But it Would be Dope To-Do

Finish The Dinner as it was planned (and translate)

Finish In the Blink of an Eye as it was planned (and retranslate)

Finish The Rye in the Dark City

Fixing TTTT (at least fixing, maybe try adding some storylets)

And finally The 'It's impossible, but one can wish' TO-DO:

Remaster SPS IH (if I managed to start this after completing the rest... I'm going to eat a whole sheet cake).

Start the IFComp project (2025? Might end up being a ST?)

[purelillies]

I’M SORRY I FUCKED UP. I COULDN’T DO ANYTHING I’M SORRY LESHY.

on another note, i still can’t tell who leshy is talking to. i know at face value that seems arbitrary, but if leshy is trying to disguise his knowledge of luke, such emotion is unnecessary. maybe he’s genuinely upset? while it isn’t confirmed, kaycee’s mod seems to take place after luke died, and leshy does talk to the player by saying ‘ you ‘ as well, but does he mean our protag in the cabin, or us?

it’s obvious he knows that there’s someone out there—it’s not that i’m questioning—it’s only the question of why so much emotion? who does he think is playing kaycee’s mod?

( addendum: the reason for my questioning is because kaycee’s mod isn’t in luke’s recording and doesn’t have his voicing. i know when it was created, i’ve played through the entirety of it and have read each dev log, and i know about kaycee’s fate. maybe he isn’t there because of oversight or just simply something to do with the in real creation of inscryption. maybe i’m looking too much into that fact? and, i suppose concerning placement, kaycee’s mod is only available after we finish luke’s story and his exploration of inscryption. by that standpoint, it would be impossible for him to play it, but i know that fact itself probably doesn’t amount to anything and is more of a factor of replayable to inscryption and act one introduced while adding some lore. )

i’m unsure myself. since there’s the arg aspect of it, and the actual arg component itself, are we technically apart of inscryption? i don’t know. i’m finally getting around to collecting the endgame dialogue in act one. hopefully it’ll be up soon?

[howdy-folks-its-showtime]

April Update!

Howdy! Cobalt here, as many of your guys know It’s Showtime and its characters/story are gonna be turned into a horror game by the same title. So for both Gamejolt and this blog I am gonna start trying to do monthly updates on development. I think it’ll be a good way to put into perspective how much progress is being made each month and keep you guys in the know about how things are going. These are gonna be formatted with work made that month going first and then afterwards any other small announcements or thoughts we’d like to share on development. That or things that weren’t created that month that I basically keep stored in case we have months where progress is slow or I can’t show much behind the scenes stuff. These logs will likely contain personal stuff too, since with me and my partner being the main heads of the project. Our well-being or IRL goals are relevant to how much work is being done. Also while developing Showtime I intend to create other games similar to it, to sort of learn and test the waters + Since those ones aren’t tied to an IP I can actually make money off of them. Something I can’t [or at least not without Mike n Meatly’s permission I suppose] with Showtime or its characters.

April was sadly, not my month, I found out I was vitamin D deficient and got a slight fever. So I spent a lot of days tired and recovering from that. Progress has still been made though, mostly on learning 3D modeling more, I’m almost done with a model I’m making for someone else actually and while it is not perfect by any means… I think it looks really awesome for being my maybe fourth or third model and it’ll be my first truly finished model as well. I also have made good progress on writing both dialogue and summaries of Showtime’s story. I did particularly get ideas for a good chunk of Showy's campaign however, which involves a character I was on the fence about including in Encore!... Until very recently... Art wise not too much has been done specifically this month besides some concept art for cycle designs and some progress on textures for the studio. But that’s okay cause we’re not really at a spot where major progress can be made art wise yet. There’s so much more I want to share but I’ll be doing my best to space out those things out between updates. So no update is too long or too short with nothing interesting in there. Also sorry this is all so vague and non-specific I’m gonna try and get in the habit of actually documenting what work is being done on Showtime monthly from now on, so I’ll be able to be more specific about what parts are being chipped away at.

So onto something that didn’t happen this month but is important we have decided to switch to Unity instead of Unreal Engine 4. I’d like to take some time to explain why and also make sure nobodies too anxious over the change. For one thing, not a lot of progress was made on Unreal Engine, you could hear footsteps as you walked, use a buggy animation to enter a miracle station and the map was just a room full of lights. This is due to the fact while working in Unreal Engine was interesting and I learned quite a bit, I found myself often feeling it was not a good fit for Showtime and that trying to make it so was fighting against the engine as opposed to working with it. Unreal Engine seems to be built for realistic, open world or multiplayer FPS type games. That’s not to say you can’t make anything else with it, but finding tutorials for things I wanted to do was. Basically a nightmare because youtube was flooded with videos on how to make those games specifically. Another big aspect however was the general style. Unreal Engine is great if you want very realistic lighting and have a computer that can tank the sort of weight of that too. Neither is true for me however, Showtime’s characters are all very stylized, our humans are cartoony have clear shapes and most of all, I just want Showtime’s overall style to pay loving homage to 1930’s and general 2D Animation. I think both are really underappreciated and god do I love them. Also I’m making this on literally a laptop, a new one and not a janky one by any means, but still not a desktop. Unreal Engine works great for those who know how to use it and want to create the games it was optimized for, but it’s not ideal for my purposes, Godot seems promising but Unity is just great at specifically doing what I want to do with Showtime. It’s great for beginners to Game Development, has plenty of tutorials for all kinds of games and is very flexible in style. Sadly nothing is better at being Unity than Unity right now. I’m still mad about what the CEO did, and I’m glad for those who were able to switch engines to those with better management but it’s not really an option for us currently. Of course, this will put things back a bit but I’ve already been learning how to build a basic map in Unity and so far have only run into a few issues. Still I would love any advice on how to do this, esp from those who had made games similar to BATIM and other mascot horrors. [I have been thinking of building the maps inside Blender first and then importing them into Unity, to see if that’s easier or practical, but mostly I would love to hear what others commonly do to build such intricate interior design in Unity.] Either way while this month wasn’t terribly exciting by no means was no work done, just nothing too fun to show off yet.

[bacchanal-if]

This Week in Development

If you would like to help me with testing, please let me know!

Coding

I had a very annoying time trying to figure out how to write long bits of text with lots of code only once even though I needed it displayed multiple times in different circumstances. The good news is there is a very simple solution. The bad news is it took me a long time to find it.

Writing (May Contain Spoilers)

I completed the aftermath of the talk with the MC's father! There is a special moment with Ellis if you have a good relationship with that sweet cinnamon roll.

I'm now writing the part where the MC chooses their hobby... You get to meet someone special very soon and I can't wait to write them in 👀

Current Wordcount: 11,777

[doggo-game]

10/10/2023

I love forgetting about state machines until i see a video about it on youtube and now I gotta relearn how to use those because oh god my game isnt even that big right now yet im letting my scripts have endless ifs and bools from left to right

[sparklecarehospital-archive]

today i made a huge chunk of progress, i'm over halfway through uploading v3 :] this is the most upload progress i've made in a single day i think. like. EVER because i dedicated several hours to doing nothing but exclusively uploading pages. if i continue at that pace tomorrow i'll finish it probably, then i will move onto v4.

[possqueen]

help me quit my job!

this is my game, tricky and the dream caster! it's a collectathon that takes visual inspiration from the dreamcast, about a guy who gets cursed by a dream wizard so he sets out to kick his ass!

i'm currently stuck at a low-paying grocery store job (as in, only 40 cents above minimum wage and averaging around 20 hours a week) and i've been unsuccessful at even landing interviews the entire year i've worked there. i'm very quickly running out of options as i can't work customer-facing jobs any more and that's kinda all that's available within a 15 mile radius.

where does my game factor in on this? i have a patreon!

i'd love to work on tricky full time without having to worry about having my basic needs met and without having to constantly beg for money just to make ends meet.

patrons get access to devlogs, updates, concept art, pretty much any development material i feel like posting. $5 and $10 members also get access to beta builds (as well as a guaranteed copy on steam due to how i'm distributing the builds), the frequency of which depends on your tier.

join here!

if you can't afford to join and pay on a consistent basis but still want to help out, i also have a ko-fi that i use as a tip jar and donation pool.

[failbettergames]

Welcome to Chandley

Hello everyone, and thank you for the warm reception you've given to Mandrake so far! Here's Chris Gardiner, lead writer on Mandrake, with our first devlog.

When you arrive in the village of Chandley at the start of the game, Rosen – the village leader – greets you. "Welcome to Chandley! It's small, it's complicated, and everyone's got an opinion."

Chandley is one of the most important places in Mandrake. It has the densest concentration of characters, and because it's where many useful services are available, you'll spend a lot of time there. It acts as a window onto the wider world – this is a whole new setting, with its own mysteries and secrets to uncover. And it gives context to your arrival and actions as its residents react to them.

After all, the Mandrakes were once the overlords of Chandley, and everyone knows they're sorcerers. Some even say it was Mandrakes that turned the world upside down. So it's impossible not to have an opinion on one turning up at your doorstep. Nessa, the village smith, knows what it's like to be an outsider. She wasn't born in Chandley but arrived as a child with her father, fleeing a curse that befell their old home. Old Eseld, on the other hand, comes from fallen gentry, and insists on treating you with the archaic courtesies due your lineage (whether you want her to or not). And Kenway has a healthy scepticism of aristocracy. Chandley has got on fine without the Mandrakes, she reckons, maybe they should have stayed gone.

To manage this, Chandley has to feel authentic. Not realistic – we're not creating an accurate economic simulation, here, or depicting a specific place at a specific time in history. But it has to feel plausible, to have a convincing level of detail and, frankly, messiness. Our inspirations here are actual traditions, histories, and experiences.

At this point, I would like to talk about the duck race.

The duck race doesn't exist in Mandrake – it is a real actual thing that happens in the real, actual village I live in.

Every Boxing Day – crisp, cold, and at a frankly unreasonable hour given that we're all still recovering from Christmas – the locals deposit one thousand individually-numbered yellow plastic ducks into the river, and accompany them in an ambling procession as they wind through the village. This takes some time, as the river is actually a stream, and the ducks don't move very fast. Wellington-booted volunteers wade through the waters behind them, picking up straggler-ducks and hurling them towards the front, in what I presume is the historical origin of rubber-banding in Mario Kart.

At some point, the village's actual ducks try to muster a last-ditch defence of their river, only to flee, disgraced, before a yellow tide of inevitability.

The first plastic ducks to reach the bridge outside the church are hailed the winners, and the people who sponsored them get prizes. At this point, the village's troupe of Morris dancers begin their performance, clashing sticks and jangling bells, their costumes a-flutter with rags. They do this right in the middle of the main road, causing extensive traffic jams. When they deign to allow cars through again (that is, when it's time to go to the pub) one of them accosts the drivers, claiming that they have driven over his "invisible rat" and must pay for a replacement (the proceeds left over after acquiring a new invisible rat all go to good causes).

The rest of my family all grew up around here, and regard the duck race as something essentially mundane, rather than the sacred institution of glorious British eccentricity that it clearly is. To me, it embodies the best of village strangeness: communal, preposterous, utterly admirable and immaculately-organised; an immense effort that runs like clockwork every year and has become, by repetition, normal.

But that's only the tip of the local peculiarities, many of which speak to a more difficult and complex past. A bridge over the same river the ducks pass along each Boxing Day is named after the local 17th-century rector who was almost swept away while fording it in the rains. He had to be rescued, and the bridge was built to insure against future rector-attrition. In the churchyard there's a grave of another clergyman – a reverend – who died young, and the trauma of his parishioners is clear in the gravestone they raised to him: a monumental broken column of marble, upon which is engraved the warning 'BE YE ALSO READY.'

Within the church itself is the Witchcraft Tomb, on which two marble effigies of children kneel, each holding a skull. It contains the remains of two young 17th-century heirs of the local duke, supposedly killed by witchcraft. Two local women were hanged for the crime. Village life isn't always nice. Sometimes there are atrocities, or tragedies. In the last few years, peregrines have come to nest in our church spire. A camera has been set up, and a closed-circuit TV and chairs laid out at the bottom of the belltower. A dedicated cadre of residents come to watch them – every time we've been to the church the last few months, someone has been there watching the nest and hoping all will be well. Tragically, this year none of the fledglings reached adulthood.

These are the sort of details and textures, sorrows and celebrations that have inspired Chandley. Its rook-crowned tree, under which ceremonies are held and promises made. The long-running rivalry between its two largest families: the Iveys and the Isbles. The tragic loss of Rosen's first husband to the night. The secret Nessa keeps in her forge.  The empty, broken, weed-ravaged cottage that belonged to the last resident to practice the forbidden arts of horticulture…

So this is Chandley: small (in the sense of dense, and detailed, and intimate), complicated (by the knotty relationships of its inhabitants) and opinionated (because its inhabitants have a lot to say for themselves). We hope you'll enjoy it there.

[devotion-disorder]

ok but i feel the bailey brainrot... when i first got into the game they annoyed me bc bitch why they hell do you need so much damn money from orphans but now i fear i've fallen for all the sexy bailey propaganda 😔

like the devlog said seducing them will need to involve a lot more so they're definitely not immune to PC but that just made my brainrot worse thinking about all the various scenarios of bailey being extremely horny for the PC but refusing the cave in and PC just keeps pushing their buttons....

(that being said they still piss me off sometimes like wdym you want £4,000 right after i get discharged from the hospital)

SAME.........I am not immune to sexy old man propaganda.........

iirc they are still planning to implement a bailey seduction scene in the future that is more properly in-character...!!! so im v v excited for that. I loooooveee the idea of PC and bailey having a super messy and toxic relationship that is not necessarily even romantic. From Vrel's QnA it seems Bailey does have a slight fixation on PC, probably because PC is the best moneymaker, but there are points that are like???👀??? wdym bailey has had possibly plot-spoilery dreams about PC. wdym bailey would not let PC go even if they've paid all their debts. explain yourself old man!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!1!!!!!!!

Maybe this is the terminal stage brainrot delulu speaking but, sometimes i wonder if Bailey is the way he is only because he knows PC can handle it (eg. Bailey sends PC to Eden betting that PC can and will escape, according to the QnA). I wonder if he's deliberately or unconsciously trying to pass down his intensely mercenary mindset onto PC (and ostensibly all the orphans) because he understands first hand that's the only way you can survive in rapechestershire? I like that he's principled and holds a certain degree of respect for PC - cause if he really wanted to extort PC to the fullest he could've been a lot crueler, like not allowing PC to defend themselves when people pay to fuck PC at night. ok the real answer probably is still just so he can make more money but RAGUUUGJHHHHGHGH LET ME HAVE MY SECRETLY-KIND-OF-A-SOFTIE BAILEY DELUSIONS

also i just wanna put this here

Higher than Whitney? the dude licking PC's face in public at 10 am every school day?

[omorithedreamermod]

JANUARY DEVLOG - 2

The second DEVOLG is here! It's been almost a month since development after the PRELUDE began, and there has been a lot of progress made. Before that...

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

[Before, it was stated here that saves would not be usable from the DEMO. Doing more testing with this, and now it's pointing to the likelihood of saves being usable after all. Hoping this stays true! Testing, testing...]

Also, this mod is NOT an adaption of my fanfic Endless Dreaming. Although the very base premise, passing out in the good end, and Headspace still existing is the same–the reasons why are different, and absolutely everything else is different too. Those who have read it will have realized this the moment MARI appeared in the DEMO. That is to say, you will not find out any information on the mod by reading the fanfic. It's a brand new story, with new locations, new characters, new interpretations and concepts, new lore–all of that. Just wanted to clarify this since rumors have been continuously spreading despite notes on the mod page. Wouldn't want people to turn away thinking it's a story they've already seen before. Now, onto progress.

PROGRESS:

Majority of the maps are completed, while a couple are active WIPs. Only two more important maps need to be created from scratch! Other additional areas may be added if time allows.

Most general character sprite art has been created. NPCs are also in progress. There's a lot left to do.

Battle assets are still being created. Most of the DREAMER emotions are complete, while both him and STRANGER lack more of the general ones. Enemies also still need to be drawn, but concepts exist. Battlebacks are beginning to be made now that maps are mostly accounted for.

OST for the prelude is near complete. Everyone has been amazing and on top of it!

Writing has fully begun, including the programming of said cutscenes. To avoid spoiling, not more will be said, but a lot of writing/cutscene programming is happening.

Along with battle portraits, DREAMER and STRANGER have a large amount of general portraits now! Many more still need to be made for SUNNY and BASIL in the real world, though. Certain important NPCs also have their own new portraits, so please look forward to those new characters! As shown above, the mirror art is complete. There are still important cutscenes that need to be drawn, and have not been started on. There's also a certain "thing" that needs quite a bit of art, but hopefully that will be simple and quick.

Battle programming regarding attacks and skills are implemented for the main party, but not for enemies. That will likely be done later, as placeholders function well for now.

NOTES:

I believe the March goal is very possible, if I properly balance everything. Work beyond the PRELUDE release will likely start while art continues to be made. I'm still making all the non-sprite art as well as writing everything, and programming the vast majority-and that's where the concern comes in, since including that, I'm also been doing maps, OST, and sprite art, meaning the time spent is split between many tasks.

This also does not factor in the time it'll take to make extra art ahead of time for the trailer. Still, considering the simplicity of the OMORI style, and how each drawing makes me faster/more adept at it, I believe it is possible as long as I stay focused and balance it with my other priorities not involving the mod. I believe consistency with the art is important, which is why I'm doing it all.

The team is reliable even if small, and while I was concerned about NPCs, a new team member recently joined and is really helping out, so I'm extremely thankful and feel less stressed about it. Also, most maps are accounted for, and OST is practically done, so as long as I stay on top of programming/writing, the art will be completed in the remaining time.

CONCLUSION:

There's still a lot to do, but I believe the current pace will lead to success. Even more groundwork has been laid, and now it's being built on top of properly. Certain ideas have been ironed out, and the goal is in sight. Everything will be a lot less stressful once the PRELUDE is complete, as a lot of the art made now will be used throughout! Please continue to root for our continued progress, and look forward to the next DEVLOG!