With GENBA no Kizuna‘s second chapter now completed (which patrons can actually check out themselves right here, in case you’ve missed it), it’s time to finally move on to the next part of the game! As mentioned in last week’s blog post, I’ve already been working on the first “Social Phase” which can be seen as a sort of quick “intermission” between the second and third chapters, and which allows players to get a little closer to the other investigators.
Over the last few days, I have officially begun to delve in the the actual third chapter, however, which covers the first “Confrontation Phase”. Previously, I kept referring to it as the “Discussion Phase”, but ultimately opted for a more fitting phase title, because it’s not as much about having a discussion with our suspects as it is about confronting them with the information gathered thus far and trying to see if some actual truth can be extracted from them.
The confrontation essentially works like the final chapter in SHINRAI. Various mysteries and problems are addressed and players need to present evidence, accuse people and pick the correct solutions in order to debunk faulty theories and lay bare the truth.
As of right now, I’ve written a good ~9,000 words. It’s still difficult to properly estimate the final length, but the word count will surely double and, at most, reach something around 60,000 words I think. Guess we’ll have to see. It’s definitely going to be a much shorter chapter than the previous ones. Hopefully, next weekend, I’ll have a better idea of its scope.
As mentioned multiple times before, not many new assets will be required here, either. Just the usual stuff like new menu buttons and maybe one or two new sprite variations. The music might pose the biggest problem this time around. I’m still unsure about the exact number and I’ll only be able to really figure it out by finishing up the script, but a couple new tracks will definitely be needed.
The plan right now is to finish the chapter by the end of the month, but depending on how busy our composer will be, it might take a bit longer until all the new BGMs will be ready. Guess we’ll have to see how that’ll work out as well.
Anyway, that sums up our plans for April and everything I can really share about the third chapter for now. As I’ll get right back to work on it, I hope that you’ll enjoy the remainder of your weekend! Until next Saturday, please take care :3
