Progress Report

Greetings, everyone!

I've been writing this past week. Writing and doing a little bit of experimental composing, but mostly writing. And I'm really starting to get into the flow here, despite how brutal the early parts of a new story can be to realize.

When you start a new story, you not only have to get it off the ground with a compelling hook, but you also need exposition to introduce the setting without making it feel dry or even expository (ironically). Then there are the characters, who all need to be introduced in a way that doesn't overload you with information but still gives you enough to go by to recognize them and understand the basics of their personalities. And in the middle of all that, there needs to be a pace that keeps things moving without skidding to a halt in minutia.

When I first wrote the opening section for Long Live the Princess (everything up until you freely explore the town), I spent a lot of effort writing, reading, rewriting, reading, and so on. No other part of that story was as extensively proofread and polished as the tutorial, yet I'm still moderately unhappy with it. The same is likely to be the case here. More than any other part of the story, the opening needs to be rock solid, or players will abandon it before it even gets going. And no matter how good it gets, I'm always going to be able to find something to nitpick about it.

All of this is to say that what I'm writing now is an almost infuriatingly exact art form. It can be exhausting to write this stuff due to all the balls that need to be juggled at once, but when I get into the rhythm of it, and the pieces start falling into place, it can be infinitely rewarding. And that's happening right now. 

Seeing these characters come to life is more satisfying than I can describe with words, especially since I'm already seeing this story develop in ways that LLtP never could. You've all seen the character previews for Supermodel, I'm sure. Practically all of those characters have already been introduced and, most importantly, have been interacting with each other. LLtP kept each character separate most of the time due to the game's open-ended nature, but Supermodel has no such restrictions. The scene I'm currently writing sees four of the game's female characters talking over comms during a mission, and it adds so much depth and weight to the storytelling. There are individual storylines in play here, but they intersect and interact in myriad ways that I can't wait to fully explore. The opening section is merely a taste of what is to come.

So yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about my writing so far. A lot more of it needs to be done, but I feel like once I'm out of the opening section, it should all start to be a much smoother process. The significance of the opening can't be overstated, which adds pressure to every sentence I write. But the opening isn't that long, all things considered, so I'll soon be out of it and able to lower my shoulders for a bit.

But not too much.

Until next time!