May/v0.7 AMAs

Hey all! Thanks to everyone for their May/v0.7 Ask-Me-Anything submissions for our development team - we appreciate your patience as we got this AMA answered and polished. Please find the AMA below!

1. Will we ever get Leo sprites in game? Such as, if we ever get the character POV shift where we play as another person in the VN?

Pom: No promises (to keep, haha I’m so funny), but I do think Leo sprites will happen at some point!

Cobalt: The Leo fans would be feasting. 

2. Is there a particular reason Rofi’s mouth is blue? I like the design choice, and I’m curious as to the reason it was made. 

Pom: Blue and orange work so well together! But also @cobalt you can answer this :)

Noh: He ate a blue jolly rancher. I ate one of those once and my mouth is still blue.

Cobalt: So for Rofi’s idle sprite, when designing it, he originally was going to have pink eyes. Though, I showed a couple versions and I really thought that he needed some contrast so I went with blue eyes for one. Pom said that he really liked the blue eyes, and then asked if he could have a blue tongue too! So the blue tongue wasn't me! That was Pom’s request.

3. What is the current plan for the number of days for the storyline? Has it changed from previous AMAs? From what you've said before, it's going to be a total of 7 or 14 days. Do you have an estimate for how many years you all wanna work on this project?

Pom: We haven’t decided on a concrete number of days yet, but my personal prediction is it’ll land somewhere around 10. To me, 7 feels a bit short, and 14 feels a little long. In terms of years for this project, for me, I think it’ll go on however long it needs to, to feel complete – that probably means at least another 3-4 years, if not longer.

Cobalt: I’m going to be drawing cgs and sprites for so long…….the grind never stops.

4.  For Rene, is there any method you follow when composing? Or do you just make things by ear as you go along? 

Rene: My process starts with a description of the scene or emotion/vibe a song should be. Based on this, I start thinking about how I can translate the scene or desired vibe or emotion into a song that would fit both the game and character. I generally start with trying to find a leitmotif to work with, which is a short melody that is repeated; you will find most of the songs in the game make use of leitmotifs to make them more catchy. Once I have found this, I start adding other instruments, like drums, synths or more natural instruments. For the process I make use of a vast library of samples and loops to get the right instrument or otherwise instruments are synthesized. But truth be told, this sounds like a formal process, but without any proper musical education, it really comes down to ‘what sounds good’ and ‘what would fit’ and I continue from there.

5. Do we get to learn more about leo/can we learn more about leo💔💔 I love him so bad i wish i could just mwahmwahmwahmwahmwahsmoochsmoochsmooch

Pom: I am also a Leo enjoyer, trust me. I know how you feel.

Noh: Eh, Probably.

Cobalt: I need to know more about the snep.

6.  In the recent dream sequence, it seems like Rofi is confronting his inner voice. However, the daytime scene (especially the insert of the platform image when Leo tries to comfort Rofi) suggests Leo might be aware of this dream. Does this mean the dream actually belongs to Leo? If so, does Leo know Rofi is gay (symbolized by the pride flag)? If he does know, is it due to prior conversations between them over the years, or is it just Leo's speculation/imagination?

Pom: The dream sequences that have happened so far have all been experienced by Leo. The dreams don’t necessarily represent reality, just as dreams that we have at night don’t necessarily depict reality, but they do hold some significance to the plot/story!

Noh: All of the dreams are Leo’s. In general, details that are vague are kept intentionally vague. Happy theorycrafting.

7. Has there ever been a romantic relationship - or unrequited feelings - between Rofi and Hunter? //  From the recent update, could we possibly assume that Rofi and Hunter were once dating prior to the events within the novel?

Pom: What a great question! Actua– (is kidnapped by Noh)

Noh: Why would I kidnap you? I want to know the answer to this as well. I wouldn’t- (is kidnapped by some secret third person)

Cobalt: Hello, it’s me, the secret third person. To answer this it- (evaporates)

8. How exactly do you guys go about writing new parts of the story when you have two writers working together? Like what does your process look like? 

(Copied from a previous AMA): Pom: In general, we have a good idea of where we’d like to take each of the routes, but we like to stay a little flexible. The writing kind of guides us in the moment, and we work with that! In terms of each individual day, I think before we start planning a character’s day out, we like to meet and nail down one or two really important scenes that the day should include (for example, the end of Ollie’s Day 3, each character’s Day 3 dream, etc.). Then, we sort of build the day around those events/scenes, thematically.

Pom (again): In terms of two writers working together, we both have parts of the day that we prefer working on – Noh is fantastic with abstract writing and does a lot of the dream stuff, the more poetic moments, etc. and I tend to gravitate towards writing dialogue, helping transitions between scenes, etc. We also creatively lead different routes: I lead Rofi & Hunter, and Noh leads Theo, Artie, and Ollie, so typically whoever is leading the route will take on more of the writing for that update and lay the foundation down for the other to support/fill in the blanks.

Noh: Pom is literally always too nice to me for no reason. All the Hunter and Rofi dreams have been the majority his text with slight edits by me. Generally, for each scene, one of us lays out the structure by themselves first. Depends on who has the clearer idea of what should happen in that scene. Then we build on top of that. It’s not a very regimented process. Since I do all the coding, I tend to give the whole update a once-over while I’m putting it into renpy. Sometimes I leave it basically as-is, sometimes I add whole scenes. It depends on how the update feels to play. I edit and play through my code constantly (some might say obsessively) to gauge the quality, so I tend to edit text a lot as well. Text feels different in the visual novel setting than it looks on the page. Sometimes I have to change things to account for that. Then, usually 2 weeks before release, I make a beta build and ship it out to Pom and the team. At that point, we go back and forth with another round of edits to hammer out the finished product.

9. What would a Minecraft server between the guys look like (who would be doing what) 

Pom: Ollie does all the redstone, naturally. Hunter’s the mob hunter and Rofi does all the mining. I guess that would put Theo on building and Artie on resource/food management?

Noh: I literally haven’t played minecraft in 10 years all my answers would reveal how old I am

Cobalt: I feel like Theo would build a dirt house and call it a day.

10. For all the devs: Which PTK character would you ask for cuddles first? 

Pom: Call me basic but probably Rofi (although idk after the most recent update…)

Cobalt: Really close tie between Artie and Ollie.

Noh: Theo.

Rene: Rofi

11. What video game soundtracks would a pre-Artemis Ollie have liked? 

Noh: Final Fantasy! 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, and tactics advance. Pokemon. Zelda. Dragon Warrior. 

Cobalt: I just know he had to have the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon OST on repeat…

12. Who's the most likely to sing along to Sabrina Carpenter? 

Noh: I only know the one song. You know which one I mean.

13. Do you plan to create visual novels after finishing PTK? You have very good novel-making skills! 

Pom: TBD! We wanna get PTK finished first, for sure.

Noh: I’d like to. Hopefully I still enjoy it by that point.

14. Would Rofi still love me if I were a worm?

Rofi: Sure…?

Noh: Let’s go with ‘probably.’ Rofi would still love you if he was a worm, that’s for sure.

15. What's the actual layout for Theo’s house? 

Merry: It’s difficult to describe in words, so I’ll just share the plans I drew! This was the very first step in bringing Theo’s house to life, circa December 2023. (Ignore “Art” in Ollie’s room, I incorrectly assumed Artemis and Ollie were sharing a room)

16. Do you guys have plans to update the soundtrack on bandcamp as more updates for the game come out? :0 // When do you think the Bandcamp release will be updated with the new songs, and will there be any releases on other platforms? 

Rene: We do intend to release the music from updates since the soundtrack release, but given that there are regular game updates with new music which means the soundtrack would have to be updated each time (which is a bit of a labor intensive process as the bandcamp versions are higher quality than in the game), we will release them at once as a second volume, complete with B-Sides you haven’t heard before!

17. If you could describe each main cast member in one word, what words would you choose?

Leo: Nostalgic

Rofi: Giving

Hunter: Growing (pains)

Theo: Driven

Artie: Complicated

Ollie: Thoughtful