February/v0.6 AMAs!

Hey all! Thanks to everyone for their February/v0.6 Ask-Me-Anything submissions for our development team. Please find the AMA below!

1. Would there ever be consideration for a neutral route? One where Leo doesn't have any or any singular love interests, but rather he just enjoys the company of everyone there. It would focus on Leo more than the rest of the characters. Like with the dream sequence being that of the time he was away from his hometown, showing us a little more of what happened there. 

Pom: :)

2. If you had to assign a song to each character what songs would they be? 

Pom: I’m not sure if a single song would be enough to capture any of them, but I think Noh and I agreed pretty early on that Hunter canonically listens to DUCKWRTH (explicit artist, just a heads up). We got another question about music genres that Noh answered later in this AMA (that I think gives a better idea of what each character listens to, generally) -- scroll down a bit :)

3. Hey there! As someone on the autism spectrum I resonated with Ollie’s story a ton! Was he written with the intention of him being neurodivergent? 

Noh: Yes :)

4. What does the typical process look like to make a day for a specific character route? Like whether from an art or storytelling perspective. 

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. We also try to achieve balance, in that if a character’s ‘pivotal’ moment for that day is somber, we try to supplement the day with lighter scenes so the day isn’t a drag overall, and vice versa. In terms of logistics, we plan the day out pretty early on so that we can make our art/music requests to Cobalt, Merry, and Rene early to give them enough time (Noh and I are notoriously bad at this though LOL, sorry y’all). Then we give ourselves a few weeks to polish the writing, throw together a beta for testing, debug, fix typos, and then publish!

5. Do you all have canon (or even just head-canon) labels for the character's sexualities, other than just Theo being bi? Or might that be something we learn more about in the future?? 

Pom: We definitely have some canon labels but I’m personally so bad at keeping track of them that I need the Discord server to remind me periodically of what I said. It’s the old age finally getting me.

Noh: Pom is younger than me btw. Rofi is gay. Theo is bi. Hunter is pan. That’s what has been revealed so far.

6. What future plans do you have after PTK? 

Pom: I think your guess is as good as ours. PTK is probably going to span another few years till completion, though, so we don’t have to figure that out just yet :P

Noh: I don’t even know what I’m gonna eat for dinner tomorrow, I don’t do future plans.

7. What kind of music genres and artists do the cast of PTK like? 

Noh: Artemis likes everything

Ollie likes either soft ambient or the hardest noise you can think of. And a lot of stuff in between but whatever. Artie did a lot to broaden his music horizons

Theo likes his oldies and is a big fan of jazz, if relatively ignorant about it. Also a quiet enjoyer of 90’s punk. Get you a man who does both.

Rofi likes kpop :)

Hunter’s a hiphop guy, probably drill, r&b

8. What clothes did Rofi wear, back in his college days? 

Pom: All that time in the closet and Rofi still doesn’t know how to dress, so probably the free t-shirts that those events/booths around campus handed out, sweatpants, generic jackets (but like, with no color coordination at all). 

Noh: I spat out my drink reading this answer

9. Is Leo short for a longer name? Like Leopold or Leonard. Or is it just Leo? 

Noh: So…. I’ll admit I went with Leo for Leonardo, the blue ninja turtle. Cause he’s the “leader.” And also Leo’s color scheme is kinda blue. It was just meant to be a placeholder but it stuck.

10. Would Rofi's tongue turn purple if he say, licks a red popsicle? 

Pom: Cobalt Merry help I don’t know color theory you guys answer this one

Cobalt: Probably

Noh: Sure, why not

11. Is the art you made free to use? Like, when I want to use Rofi as my avatar profile, is that okay with you or not?

Pom: I think using Rofi as your profile picture is fine, as long as you’re crediting us if someone asks where the character is from!

Cobalt: What Pom said! But if it is ‘fanart’ I make of the characters (such as not images from the game) I’d like to be credited as the artist!

12. What's up with the dream sequences? Are they visions of sorts? 

(Copied from a previous AMA) Pom: I don’t think [Leo] necessarily has magical powers or anything! Just remember that dreams are dreams and the stuff that Leo dreams about isn’t necessarily what happened irl. I’d like to think there’s some level of subconscious observation that he does with everyone, that his brain spins into dreams.

(Copied from a previous AMA) Noh: At the risk of sounding pretentious (too late) I would like to refer to this style of storytelling as reminiscent of Magical Realism. The setting and characters are very much grounded in reality (furry reality, anyway…) but the storytelling has mystical elements to it. If you’d like, you can think of the dreams as vehicles. Vehicles for plot, characterization, and exploration of different writing styles/techniques. And also a handy way to get the narrative out of Theo’s house, where the plot keeps it firmly grounded. I personally don’t plan on expounding much upon Leo’s “dream powers” because I feel like it’s better left unsaid.

13. Have you guys ever considered giving Leo a sprite? Not a full one, as that would be a lot of work, and the screen is already pretty crowded, but more like a headshot in the bottom left corner or something. He's way too cute to not have one imo. On a completely unrelated note, which duo would pull off Die With A Smile by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga the best? 

Pom: Sprites of Leo do exist (just not in the game… yet)! I think we actually did consider the bottom corner headshot thing waaaaay back when we were planning the game out, but figured that it would clutter the interface more than it would add to the experience. Also, I think probably Leo + whoever’s route you pick for the duet. If we’re just talking skill-wise, I think Hunter and Theo are both pretty good singers (though I don’t think they’d sing this song together specifically).

14. Is Theo's one darker ear a result of his incident? And would he have hearing loss in it? It's not like he'd ever mention it though, and if someone ever did suspect it he'd just say it's because of old age. 

Pom: I’ll let Noh answer the first part of this but hearing loss from old age in your mid-30s is very early and also very concerning 😭

Noh: Short version, Yes. Hearing loss? Not really. Maybe just a little, enough for him to label it his “bad ear.” Design-wise, the one brown ear in the white fur was conceived as a “reversal” of the streak of white hair trope. A welcome bit of age for the fox.

15. If cocktails were assigned to the cast what cocktail would they be?

Pom: I don’t think Hunter does cocktails and Rofi would probably just be anything with a ton of sugar in it because he hates the taste of alcohol. I think canonically, Ollie would be a mojito according to his Day 2 route. @Noh am I wrong if I say that Theo is an Old-Fashioned (not because he is old lol)

Noh: The old-fashioned is a pretty good one. I’m not sure I have a better answer. Theo’s favorite drink, however, is, of course, whiskey neat. Or scotch. When he can get it.