I’ve finally reached the end of GENBA no Kizuna. Just like SHINRAI‘s final chapter, the last one in GENBA unravels all the mysteries. By answering questions and presenting evidence, players slowly piece together what exactly occurred at the Kaseki Residence. And, of course, they will ultimately have to expose the killer.
Unlike with SHINRAI, this time I decided to properly build up to the culprit reveal. So rather than expose them right at the start, you will have to dissect some other aspects of the overall mystery first. Around the halfway mark, you will then be able to choose between the four members of Raptor Pack Productions and accuse one of them as being the culprit, before moving on to prove it (and if you pick the wrong person, it will naturally lead to a bad end similar to what we did in SHINRAI).
The last part of the chapter will then be dedicated to the characters and wrap up the story.
I’ve decided to split the outline into two parts, the first one ending right at the moment you need to pick the culprit. I’ll be sending that one to Natsu first, so that I can hopefully hear all of her theories and see who she will decide to accuse and why. I am super looking forward to it and who knows… maybe it will influence if the remainder of the chapter will need more adjustments, haha.
Anyway, writing the resolution to this case is exciting and fun, but also very frustrating and exhausting at the same time. I’ve been really struggling with properly structuring the discussion and how to give it a logical flow. But there are also other issues like the interactive elements. Players are supposed to present evidence and answer questions, so you need to find just the right phrasing and the perfect moment to prompt these things. Because you don’t want to wait with letting the player present a piece of evidence, for instance, until it’s already obvious which one needs to be selected…
I also still can’t tell whether it’s easy to follow the discussion or not and if everything makes sense. Nor how difficult it really is to find the correct answers. Natsu‘s feedback will hopefully lift all those worries off my shoulders “orz
Anyway, whether GENBA‘s mysteries are going to be easier or harder to solve than SHINRAI‘s… what I’m ultimately really aiming for is for the player to feel the exciting rush of pinning down the culprit, haha.
Now, in other news, as of today, it’s officially summer, so I’ve uploaded a little preview of Runa in her beach wear over on Patreon.
The full and finished artwork should hopefully be done before the end of the month, so please look forward to that!
With that, it’s time to wrap this up, so please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care! :3
