[Episode 1.15, week 3] Writing isn't always easy

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
–Jack Kerouac

Hey guys!  I'm sorry to report that writing was challenging this week.  😔

Some weeks it's easy and I make fast progress; this wasn't one of those weeks.  I had what I thought were good ideas about the scene I'm working on, but the titillating/emotional beats just weren't landing the way I thought they would.

I've experienced this a few times on this project now.  It's not exactly writer's block (because I can still write), it's more like a lack of confidence that the words on the screen are the right ones.

I've noticed that these problems tend to creep in when I'm trying to force NPCs to do what I want them to, rather than what they actually would do.  Recent examples:

• In 1.12 (Malaysia), I was struggling with initiating the Max sex scene in a way that felt organic and real.  The solution was to let Max be Max; once I actually got inside his head, I was able to add in a few emotional beats (like feeling attraction, and the first kiss in the restaurant) that made the scene work.
• In 1.13 (Welcome to Bangkok), the original plan was for Connor to interview the heroine in the management office right away.  It felt very, very forced and unrealistic: like Connor was just standing in the bar, eager for sex but waiting for the quest to start.  Shifting the interview to a different time and location fixed it.

I was struggling with something similar this week: the scene just didn't feel right, and I think it's because I was trying to control the NPCs too much.  So on Thursday I backed off from the scene I was trying to write, and really put some thought and energy into the NPC characterisation instead.

I feel like I'm on the right track now.  But basically I spent a week figuring out how not to write this scene.

I'm sorry I couldn't report better progress, but I always want to be open with everybody about the process.  It doesn't always go in a straight line.  I took the weekend completely off to refresh my creativity: hopefully next week I'll have a better report.

Coming soon: NPC art!
Speaking of NPCs, I teased something cool on Discord this week!  We've started experimenting with Artflow to quickly create visual references for characters, e.g.:

Our lovely illustrator Victoria is experimenting with recreating them in the game's art style.  Here's a sneak peek (WIP):

One of the aims of the game is to have a large pool of NPCs available.  (This is so we can explore a wide variety of sexy scenarios.)  So I'm excited about these mini avatars, which I think will help make the NPCs feel more different and memorable than just being words on a screen.  Let us know what you think, here or on Discord!