The total script has now passed 95k words! Several scenes were added to the middle section of Act 2, namely involving Ren and a certain character introduced in Act 2.
Canvas Menagerie is structured to be somewhat episodic, where each Act is a different focus on the character's lives. Act 1 is a romance VN following Niko and Ren meeting and ending with them confessing. Acts 2 and 3 focus on their lives on set afterwards, dealing with interpersonal events and other spoilery stuff I won't get into here.
One scene written this past month in particular is the first time Niko and Ren have an actual argument as a couple.
The inciting incident is Ren posting a photo online of Niko asleep without his knowledge. To Ren, he’s used to having tons of photos being posted online without his knowledge, so something mundane (and not scandalous) is a nonissue to him. But to Niko, someone who browses the internet on private accounts only, it’s a breech of privacy.
After playing around with cut-ins and more dynamic scene direction in Lost Lune last month, I started coding some of the filming sections in Act 1 with these new ideas in mind. Here’s a segment from their second filming scene, where you formally meet Mr. Clark.
(see the full, unfuzzy video here)
These new scene directions are to make the game feel more dynamic and visually interesting. Another example in Canvas Menagerie is in another part where they're filming for their TV show but something goes a little awry.
(see the full, unfuzzy video here)
Last but not least, here’s a new artwork of the main cast!
You can see more frequent progress updates on our Discord.