Developer Log #1:

I'll try to do these in between the regular update posts, those tend to be public (and shared on the discord) whilst I intend for these more in-depth posts to be patreons only.

These will probably be a little more dry than other posts I make, but I know many find the nuts and bolts that goes into making games and visual novels interesting. Rather than providing a general overview of progress, I want to use these to talk about specific elements, be it story, animation or any of the content in my games.

For this first log I wanted to talk about the opening scenes to Dreams of Reality. I will preface this with a statement, consider this a blanket statement over all story content in the visual novel. Nothing I write or create is superfluous, I add elements for a reason.

I spent some time considering whether to add these scenes to the game, the subject matter can be quite controversial and many would see it as pandering or giving in to a majority. I do not doubt many games include this for just that reason, however, for Dreams of Reality I intended the scenes to show you (the player) an understanding on the MC's state of mind at that point in his life.

Fantasies are something we all have, often they can come out of the blue, and include people who we wouldn't normally think about. Like fantasising over a boss, or co-worker. They are just that, fantasies and rarely do they ever get acted upon. I felt our main character needed to show his immaturity, this played into the reluctance he had to speak to Louise, and arguably, his clumsiness when he does eventually do that.

the main character has to be shown as human, with human frailties, either with talking to the opposite sex, or fantasising for a girl he couldn't have. You as the player need to relate to the character, and accept him as - to some degree, you. Now those scenes are a fantasy, they are not real and for those wondering how this plays into the 'real events' aspect of the visual novel I can tell you that, although some of the events are based on truth, the scenes at the start (and some others) are not. When chapter one is released it will become apparent the areas of the story based on truth.

Another reason for including them, was to show how (I felt) I had improved in the animation and rendering process. Comparing the images at the start of the game, with those towards the end of chapter one there is (maybe?) an improvement.

Never one to shy away from controversial subjects, next time I'll be discussing NTR, and why cheating is not the same!

Stay safe all

Cenc