Hello, hello my beautiful raccoon friends! Contra to what I've been constantly saying about July being vacation season here in Sweden, August is actually my vacation time, so you're getting this update after I finally got access to a computer once again! Still, while I've spent the first part of August running around ancient cities and wearing out the soles of my shoes, July has been plenty of fun for us!
Art
Mugi’s artistic efforts have been nothing short of heroic in July, pushing forward both with the secret project and the NPC silhouettes. She and Nekome have been figuring out the ideal workflow for the two of them while building out the Mouse Hole cast (since they’re important, have strong personalities, and have reasons to have similar looks, it seems like a reasonable place to start!) and while there’s been some stumbles as Nekome gets a handle on the art style and communication is sorted out, the progress so far has been amazing!
Once again, I can’t show any sprites, as Mugi wants to save the surprise, but I think this censored version should still fly pretty well (more than two characters are finished, this is just a mock-up).
We’re also, slowly but steadily, implementing the new art into the game. I cannot tell you how satisfying it is to see the characters fill out scenes that used to be full of shadows. And some of the NPCs are even getting a couple of variations to work with, so they’re feeling even more alive.
Writing
Tobi and I were able to get a bunch of writing done this month, much to our huge thrill. The big headline for this month: Tobi has finished up the skeleton phase for Cirrus! This means that while they’re written in a form I would lovingly call “not fit for public release”, all the major story beats, branches, and choices are technically in place. Technically because, boy howdy, I don’t think anyone wants to play a game where the choices look like this:
The next major phase of work for Tobi is going to be replacing all the silly text with proper prose befitting Cirrus’ storyline. And while she’s working on that, here’s a slightly more interesting dialogue choice, still in its skeleton state.
Meanwhile, my eyes have been much bigger than my story-writing stomach (dumb metaphor but stick with me) with Oleander’s story, which means that the skeleton phase is taking more time than previous chapters. Because you have the ability to explore a large number of locations in any order (or almost any order), I have to take into account all the different ways into and out of scenes.
But that’s not particularly interesting to visualise, so here’s a look at a moment where depending on your Chapter Two antics, you can get additional dialogue, in the trademark bad skeleton style.
It’s only really possible to get to that scene with Adonis if you meet him in Chapter Two, and that’s only possible if you don’t hate him in Chapter One, so Vesper complaining about how sore they are can only happen if like four separate conditions are met. Which is why writing the skeleton is taking a bit of time.
So, what’s in store for August? Being so late to this update, I can actually tell you a little: Yamiochi is reaching the conclusion of a business dealing that is pretty exciting for us and that we can hopefully share soon; Tobi is knuckling down and getting proper prose written for Cirrus; I’m aiming to be out of non-linear hell and writing easier and more straightforward story skeleton this month; and Cajsa and Tobi are starting to work out the musical needs for Cirrus’ third chapter (and oh boy I’m ready for Cajsa to scare me musically once more!).
And that is it for us here in the raccoon den! Summer here in Sweden has been treating us very kindly this year, and we hope you’re able to enjoy some beautiful weather wherever you are! Expect the next monthly round-up to come at a much more timely pace, as vacation season comes to an end.
Love,
The Rotten Raccoons Team 💙🦝