Progress Report

Greetings, everyone!

Ah, it's good to be back in Visual Studio Code, scripting this game. Some of the concepts I've been building up to are starting to take shape now, such as in the above screenshot (work in progress and very likely to change). Let's talk about what's going on in it.

Unlike Long Live the Princess, Supermodel will often feature multiple main characters communicating with each other, and they won't always be in the same room. Obviously, there are things like cell phones, but STALWART isn't limited to such open standards. Instead, Anna Morgenstern has access to an encrypted, private comms network that anyone in STALWART who needs to be in the know can access. This communication happens via earpieces, which is especially important to the superheroes who might need to communicate in the middle of combat or a rescue operation, requiring free use of their arms. 

In this scene, Anna has been informed of an ongoing emergency that requires all hands on deck, so she has run for her car (she has a personal driver, freeing her up to work in the backseat while en route) and initiated comms with all three superheroes under STALWART's employ. When this happens, we will see all active participants (except the POV character) in one of the upper corners of the screen, as you can see in the screenshot. If people join or leave the conversation, the portraits update accordingly, letting you easily track who is present. In addition, whenever anyone speaks like Seraphim does in this example, their portrait is enlarged to let you see who is talking at a glance. 

This system will be a valuable tool to help deal with the LLtP problem of most significant characters never interacting with each other or doing so incredibly sparingly. I want STALWART to feel like a genuine team, so conversations like these with multiple characters at once should go a long way.

As for the actual dialogue here, Anna has just given the team an address and ordered them to convene there as quickly as they can possibly get there without breaking any of the rules or regulations New York City has instated for STALWART. Seraphim has the easiest time since she can fly, but she is on the wrong side of town and lets Anna know that it might take a few more minutes than it could have under better circumstances. She also has to deal with that day's rainy weather, making it dangerous for a human being to travel too quickly in the air lest water droplets turn into lethal projectiles against her skin.

So, what is so important that Anna orders the entire team to assemble in Brooklyn? You'll have to wait to find out.

In any case, I'm now smack in the middle of implementing the script and making the vertical slice I've talked about in the last two or so progress reports. This is now my biggest priority and will likely take the entire next week due to all the factors involved (scripting, music, sound effects, ambient sound, and putting it all together), but we'll see. I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing this chapter in action.

And with that, I wish you a pleasant weekend.

Until next time!