Lock & Key Progress Update - June 2024

[Content Warning: sketches of monster body horror]

Hello again, magical friends! CD Rachel here with another L&K update and some dev insights!

This has been a big month for us; some new additions to the team have steered us in a bold and well-oriented direction that I know will lead to Lock and Key becoming the best version of itself it can be. That also means a more efficient dev cycle and smoother progress, and that’s always a good thing! In more immediate terms, it also means a strong push toward the upcoming Kickstarter campaign.

We really are blessed to have such amazing fans who have contributed to past KS campaigns, and it’s thanks to y’all that we’re able to stand on our own as an independent studio. L&K’s Kickstarter presents an opportunity to take that independence to a whole new level, so we hope you’ll join us in paving the way for an even stronger future for the studio as a whole.

So what kind of revisions have we been working on this month? For one, we’ve been complementing the new sprites with a vibrant color palette that should make the image pop even more. We’re also expanding the number of backgrounds thanks to our team’s Chicago-adjacent native resident and their collection of excellent city shots. And of course, writing revisions have been proceeding at a solid clip thanks to a new schedule setup with specific per-act deadlines. Efficiency is encouraging, I think!

One particular narrative element that’s been interesting to rework is our action scenes. I didn’t have much experience writing action before starting L&K, and I’m willing to admit that our earliest drafts definitely reflected that fact. Most other VNs I’ve played are romance-focused stories rather than action-oriented ones, so I ultimately ended up researching via action-focused novels…and action-focused fanfiction. We all owe so much to fanfiction, really. Of course, the true MVP was, as always, my terrific editor. It was her guidance that led to the creation of scenes with both increased coherency and more thrilling tension.

L&K is ultimately more focused on complicated interpersonal relationships and, y’know, mystery, than it is on action, but that doesn’t mean ignoring everything beyond that core focus. The same thing applies to the horror elements we’ve woven into the narrative. Malice isn’t here to play around, you know! The Consumed are as unnerving as they are tragic, and our narration blends well with Ludo’s spine-chilling designs. This month allowed for a lot of time spent examining a specific Consumed whose depiction is as creepy as it is fascinating. I’m not going to give away any major details, but I do have a hint for you: there’s a glimpse of it somewhere you’ve seen before. Can you find it?

With action, horror, and vibrancy taking the lead this month, we’ve cooked up plenty of excitement to carry over into next month’s KS preparations. I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as we are! We’ll have more to share with you soon, so stay tuned!

With love,

Rachel