Update 3/12/22

Morning, everyone! This is going to be, and not be, a doozy of an update. It will be because it's the culmination of several narrative restarts, and won't be because I'll spare you the sputters I've worked through to get here. You've played the Ren'Py demo and want to know what's changing (besides performance) for the Unity build? Let's get started!

1. Aria works alongside Maestra

Rather than be suddenly thrusted into Maestra's world and sent off to her next task, Aria and Maestra now have common origins. Whatever they're doing, they're in it together. This gives Aria someone to banter with during the story, for reasons that'll become clearer shortly.

2. Aria does not directly interact with Sonda Nyl

Ain't that a change! Aria, chatting with fellow students in her uniform, is out, and Toro's even going to draw her a new portrait once his Forks workload is finished. Aria is still the player character, as she can direct events that happen at Sonda Nyl, but putting a wall between her and the story gives me a lot more freedom. I don't like to write things the player character can't directly see/hear, and this way she can be omnipresent to all happenings. Aria being able to switch between character conversations like a security guard switching cameras gives some in-universe explanation to why the game plays the way it will.

3. Character stories are no longer tied to Aria's

Since events are no longer dependent on Aria's/the player character's presence, I've found I can make them unfold more naturally. People liked the character banter in Forks, and I found myself constrained in the last build by having to shove the newbie Aria into every conversation. It got old quickly, and removing her lets each character shine brighter, both by themselves and together. By focusing on Aria's relationship with Maestra (since she's the only one she can actually talk to), I can make Aria that much more of an independent character. The original idea with Aria was to make her a blank player character, but unfortunately it didn't work. Lesson learned!

So what's this look like?

For me, it's easy to come up with a scenario, but hard to actually get it going. The introduction, the first scene you players read when starting a new game, is the narrative kernel that everything depends on- it needs to work! I experimented with a few ideas of just how to begin things, I didn't want the intro to be too long (I made that mistake in Forks) or so short that there's no stage set. Had to keep it interesting and somewhat inline with the previous demo, and after several tries I stumbled on what's in the attached image.

It needs work, but I like it, and I think I'll be running with this. If all goes well, this'll eventually be the first scene you all see in the Unity demo. Forks took three tries to get where it is now, maybe my experience with that means Aria can get there in two! Speaking of which, the next update should have some in-game screens for you, see you then!