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Mar 26

Weekly Update #397: Chapter 2 Feedback & Social Phases

Welp, this past week went a little differently than I initially expected. If you’re following my private Twitter account, you might already know, but last Sunday, I had to take a sudden trip to the hospital and undergo surgery one day later. I’m back home now and on my way to recovery, but needless to say, not much progress could be made regarding VN development and I will probably have to take it easy for a little while longer, even though I’m itching to continue work on GENBA no Kizuna more than ever.

A week ago, we finally released the second chapter to patrons for beta-testing and we have already received some very helpful feedback. I can’t really go into it due to spoiler reasons, but I’m extremely relieved now. Many of my fears and worries have been utterly eradicated and in terms of the deductions and theories I got to read… it just made me really happy! It showed me that what I have come up with and how I have presented it is neither convoluted nor far-fetched, that the humor seems to work quite well and that, most of all, it seems to be fun to investigate.

Reading the feedback was one of those moments again where I got reminded why I am even doing all of this in the first place: so that players can have fun weaving their theories. And whether they are far off or hit the nail on the head, as the author, it’s such an incredible feeling to see someone engage with your story to such a degree.

Of course, now I have a couple new worries regarding the next chapters, but I equally can’t wait to finish them up and receive feedback for them as well! Honestly, I haven’t felt this motivated to work on GENBA since the release of the first chapter last August, so I really wish I could get cracking right away, but again… gotta take it easy for a little now.

That said, I am already taking care of the next part of the game, which only requires script work and not really much at that. Before the third chapter officially starts, we will have a little “intermission”. Although not titled as such within the game, I personally refer to it as the first “Social Phase”. It’s a little segment where Keiichi needs to check up on the individual members of his team and spends more private moments with them. You can think of it a little like “Social Links” in Persona 3 or 4, where you learn a bit more about the characters themselves and their motivations and get a couple of choices that will affect Keiichi‘s relationship with them, which will ultimately have an effect at the very end of the game.

Like I said, these scenes are very short and, in some cases, can be skipped entirely. Nevertheless, they are an integral part of this whole project. There is a reason I chose the title “Bonds of the Crime Scene” after all. GENBA is not just about solving a murder case, it’s also about four strangers having to learn how to work effectively as a team.

I might share a few more details on Social Phases next time, but for now, I guess I’ll leave it at that. Hopefully, by the end of the month, the script is entirely done for it (it’s really more about revision than writing actually), so that starting from April, we can then dive into the actual third chapter.

Now, it’s time for me to take a break again, however, so please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care :3