I’ve continued with the writing for the fourth chapter of GENBA no Kizuna this past week, more or less finishing up the core backstory events for Rei and Shinketsu. During these, Keiichi learns some important details about their personal struggles and gets a little glimpse into their pasts and even their family lives.
There will certainly be a few more revisions, but I’ve locked down the general structure, rhythm and tone of these events, as well as the kind and amount of information I want to share with players. As such, I can now go back and adjust some earlier parts of the story in order to better build up to this.
The way it works is that, for each member of the investigation team (Himatsu, Rei and Shinketsu), I have sprinkled an equal amount of events throughout the game, through which their individual backstories are told. We start out with a general hint that something isn’t quite alright and, little by little, the player learns more about what’s going on with each character, until the full picture is pieced together by the halfway mark of the fourth chapter.
The biggest problem here has been how exactly to divide these character-driven stories into smaller puzzle pieces. How much should I unveil during the second event? How much during the third? It’s been quite a balancing act, but I think I’ve figured out a satisfying solution. At least for two of them. I’m going to work on Himatsu next and hopefully settle things for her as well ASAP!
Outside of the writing, I’ve also gotten back to asset work and have started to tackle some of the simpler backgrounds needed for the game. An example of which would be this one right here:
Patrons can get a full look at the BG and some additional information in our newest Patreon post!
And now for some completely different news: Goldbar Games have just released new DLC for their murder mystery VN Detective Butler. Among other things, the DLC adds choices to the base game, which can change the outcome of the story. It’s currently 30% off, so if you’re into murder mysteries (which you probably are, if you’re here), be sure to check it out! The base game itself is free.
(For more information about the game and its DLC, check here)
Now, as always, please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care! :3
