How did you go about naming characters? Did you have versions of them in your head before you named characters? And especially with the UB did you come up with female or make names first for some of them?

Just asking out of curiosity. Thank you!

Wayhaven was actually supposed to be a novel originally and the vampires were all male, and the love triangle between N and A was the only romance (which is why it's in the game, as I spent too many years planning it to not include it, hehe!)

All the names were set except Adam was originally called Bane, but Bane's character was too...well, not right. So it was changed to Adam.

But then I discovered interactive fiction, fell in love with the potential of it, and that was that, hehe! :D

Thank you so much for the ask! :)

I figured this out somewhere along the second-to-last act. Octavia, the Baroness / Pathfinder Kingmaker (c) Owlcat Games

Here's a silly idea I just thought of: wouldn't it be funny if in Deltarune, Susie learned a "provoke"-type skill, where she could divert enemy attacks towards her - ostensibly as an extension of her "tough bully" persona, but actually because she wants to protect her friends in the best way she can.

And then Kris develops a "cover" mechanic so that, instead of Susie taking all the hits, they keep jumping in front of her, so they can protect her while she tries to protect them.

And then they start bickering mid-fight while Ralsei looks on in bewilderment, frantically leafing through his Big Book on Friendship(TM) and muttering "no no, this can't be right..."

The player would get absolutely no control over this by the way.

Will there be options in game to just... Not be very much into conversations? To play as a stoic, strong and silent type even without the Mute option?

Want to see the ROs fawning over their partner who speaks with their actions, especially knowing that the Hound can and Will destroy with their combat prowess. A combo that terrifies everyone who is not RO (because they're busy drooling).

That is something I would like to implement. Options for MC to not be mute, but just talk rarely, and in general communicate little with their words.

Be it in a more shy way, or in a stoic way.

I will need to go over the existing dialogue options to see what can I add, but I very much would like to implement your suggestion!

So you know how I figured out that a dinosaur's favorite treats in Paleo Pines all had the same flavor combo? Like how Lucky's is always Juicy + Earthy, etc.?

Well, I think I've figured out another one: what combo is a dino's favorite may be determined by its color + pattern

IE, I keep going for Circle Variant Sytracosauruses; and the Turquoise one keeps having Juicy-Earthy as its favorite; meanwhile the Sky Blue keeps picking Juicy-Fragrant... across save files

sooooo... protip, I guess?

Hello!! Are you having a nice day? I hope you do!!! I wanted to ask, could u maybe tell us what the different classes are? Tumblr's search function always lets a girl down and the detailed info is not in the pinned post as far as I can tell, so I can't find the info :( Thank u and have a lovely weekend 💕💕💕

hi! today's going okay so far! thank you for the ask :)

so there are seven classes in larkin! in the game they kind of function like the traditional class system in a game like dnd combined with their background system, meaning they not only shape the players skills and abilities, but they also have an effect on some of their viewpoints and values, as well as having an impact on their relationships with other people in the world!

the outlaw - this is your traditional criminal class/background. an outlaw abrams has managed to survive through any means necessary--something that Wyatt doesn't exactly approve of, given his own 'moral code' 🙄this class is great with intimidation and making connections in the various underworlds that larkin's version of the US has to offer. character's like Nash might not take too kindly to some of their methods, but he would have to admit--they're effective.

the healer - this is your 'doctor' class, well, as close as one can come to being a doctor without any formal training. an expert in traditional medicine, a healer Abrams has survived on the kindness of others after delivering babies, pulling bullets out of rogues and tending to sick kids. Wyatt is particularly proud to call a healer Abrams his kid! Cassidy and Ethel would find you particularly valuable--as the Ward gang is currently down a healer.

the showman - this is Larkin's version of a bard. An expert musician and storyteller, you live for the stage, you shine best when you're entertaining, swaying an audience. Wyatt isn't particularly favorable towards your selected path in life--he thinks your talents could be put to better use doing something else--but you're his kid no matter what. Already kind of mentioned this, but Cyrus has a soft spot for musicians!

the conartist - this class aligns the best with the barest bones version of the MC, when they were first being developed in 2020. They've followed in Wyatt's footsteps, selling forged land-deeds and miracle tonics, swindling unsuspecting bleeding hearts out of their pocket change and making a big old show of it all the while. An expert at manipulation, Wyatt couldn't be prouder of the little conman you've turned out to be. Rose finds the conartist a little suspicious--like people trust them far too easily, but Dominic on the other hand, loves the way Abrams can get people eating right out of their palms.

the thief - this Abrams has sticky-fingers, great with pick-pocketing and breaking into places they shouldn't be, they'd consider themselves something of an expert thief. with a boost to dexterity, this Abrams has nimble fingers that help in terms of picking locks and other delicate tasks. Wyatt thinks you could be doing something a little more honorable, but he'd be lying if those nimble hands of yours didn't come in handy from time to time. Reyes absolutely adores the way this Abrams can rob a man blind without them even realizing.

the gambler - holding 'em and folding 'em is this Abrams' specialty. They've been counting cards since before they could read, shooting dice before they were old enough to enter a casino and hustling pool long before their twenty-first birthday. Wyatt is pretty happy with the little cardshark Abrams' has turned out to be, he admires how well the can keep a lid on things--well, usually. Hollis is hesitant around this version of Abrams. They usually have people figured out the moment they've met them. But this Abrams? This Abrams is unreadable--and they hate going in blind.

the slayer - now, every version of Abrams is a vampire hunter, though the slayer takes a different approach to the craft. Vampire hunter is all they are, it's all they'll ever be, it's what'll kill them one day--but they've long accepted that. Their knowledge of the Vamp world is unparalelled, their dedication to slaying all of Vampire kind rivalling that of the Pope's dedication to Christ. Wyatt is...well, Wyatt worries more about the slayer than he does the other Abrams'. Montero and Adam, both being Vampires themselves have differing opinions of the slayer, but--they'd be lying if they didn't say they weren't at least a little wary of them.

Just finished the latest video by pannenkoek2012 (of "half an A press/parallel universes" fame), and please just inject this into my veins. I haven't even played Super Mario 64 and had no idea invisible walls were a common problem in it, but I am a big, big appreciator of diving into game mechanics to explain exactly why the thing happens, and this video is just that for nearly four hours, in an incredibly satisfying way. He splices in videos of Twitch streamers raging as Mario bonks against empty air or dies out of nowhere or suddenly teleports under the floor, in between cheerfully replicating it and explaining precisely what was actually going on there.

(Some of the sequences of individual explanations of particular invisible walls can get lengthy and more spelled-out than they needed to be, but even then we didn't actually find ourselves skipping any of it, though you could.)

Just as a taste, you'd think invisible walls mean there's for some reason a wall there that's invisible, that maybe used to be there but the developers failed to fully remove it - but while that happens a couple of times, most invisible walls are instead caused by something like rounding errors or developer fumbles that lead to teeeeny-tiny gaps or misalignments in the level geometry, which lead to the game calculating a bunch of individual columns one 3D-pixel-equivalent wide as being part of the "hitbox" of a ceiling or out-of-bounds region somewhere below the floor. And he's modded the game to visually show these errant hitboxes, so you can actually watch what it is that Mario's bumping against. It's just concentrated step-by-step making the previously incomprehensible comprehensible. All I want is to understand everything like this and help other people understand it too.

If I could make a ROM Hack, I would make Eevee the most annoying pokemon to evolve.

All well and good until Eevee reaches level 10 ~ 15 or levels up with max friendship, then their unstable DNA goes bonkers. The old methods still works, but EVERYTHING works. In a patch of grass? Leafeon. Fighting while surfing? Vaporeon. Desert? Espeon/Umbreon. Indoors? Jolteon. Sunny day was active? Flareon. Sandstorm? Umbreon. Rain? Vaporeon. Hail? Glaceon. Eevee was paralysed? Jolteon. Infatuated or confused? Sylveon. Poisoned? Umbreon. Asleep? Espeon. Burned? You know.

This includes leveling up with items. Razor Claw? Glaceon. Reaper cloth? Umbreon. Choice items? Flareon. Tm/Hms? Jolteon. Berries/consumables? Leafeon. Potions? Vaporeon. Metal coat? Espeon. Upgrade? Jolteon. Oval stone? Sylveon. ect.

More than one conidtion? 50/50, 33/33/33 ect.

Eventually the player gets fed up with pressing B to cancel Eevee's evolution all the time so they slap on an everstone. This rock is the only thing that can contain Eevee's boundless natural energy from trying to evolve. Unkowningly, they just increased Eevee's base stats to 540. This is slightly higher than the other Eeveelutions and making it on par with them with the drawback of no items, making it more viable for a main story playthrough.

why am i so bad at keeping my sanity from not plummeting? lmao i can’t even keep mental health in check fictionally pls. any tips on not being trash with that stat lol?? am i crying too much lol???

MC's sanity stat is a narrative stat more than anything. It's "railroaded" in a lot of ways. For example, as of now, MC can't have high sanity. This is because they were recently captured by Plaithus, beaten, kept in a prison cell, and sent on a suicide mission. It wouldn't make sense for them to be in a stable emotional/mental state given all the news that's been given (and will continue to be given) to them.

MC's sanity is also very much tied to the main plot point of Book One, which is about finding the second half of Fate... the longer it takes to do that, the worse MC's sanity gets. There are things MC can do to help negate the effects of this (raise their sanity), but the decline will be steady.

So MC's bad sanity isn't your fault! The Commander is just going through it at the moment, and there's only so much they can do to ignore it. Crying or being emotional doesn't affect it at all!

For future reference though, MC purposely closing themself off to the group and/or distrusting them to the point it's problematic, will drop sanity. So will options that emphasize self-loathing and hopelessness. MC talking about how they feel with others, however, will always raise it, and the closer MC is with the other characters, the more they'll personally go out of their way to support MC, which will help as well!

For book 4's villain romance, will there be a possible happy? From what I understand, if we pursue the villain. It'll have consequences for the next books, but there won't be a continuation of the relationship. However, I was wondering if there was even a possibility of having a "walking off into the sunset evil cackling with villain ro" type ending lol? If not, totally cool, was just curious!

The villain in Book Four is a villain. Like...a real villain. Murphy was bad, but this baddy is baaaddddd, lol!

Although I like the reader to make there own MC, I do write with a good hero-type streak, as it's what I like to write. So the MC won't be becoming a villain. It's why I'm excited to write this romance as you've got the MC as the goody falling for someone they really shouldn't—is it because of fate, soulmates, or just attraction...who knows?

But because of what the villain will be doing, they do need to be stopped, and that will create some very angsty endings.

So yeah, not the romance you want to get into if you want happy, fluffy endings, hehe! :D

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much for the ask! :)

Idk if this is spoiler territory, so answer if you can.. I was just wondering if in the future can ROs die? And even Romanus for that matter. Can Romanus potentially die as well? Because I read a really good IF around Christmas and in the IF one of the ROs died. I was dumbstruck. I was like wtf ???? I had no idea that could happen. So it was a big surprise.

Some ROs can die, yes. I will say, though, that those deaths will always be tied to your choices. I'm not going to blindside you with an RO death, nor will them be scripted deaths. 

There are scripted deaths planned, but none of them are of the people you can sneak a kiss from. 😋

As for Romanus, it'll be a possibility in the last book — as a kind of ending. I'm not a fan of main character deaths sprinkled throughout the books if I'm honest. I much prefer when consequences are dealt with in a different way than a reset button. 

a very small, unimportant yet useful quality of life feature i think the next Ace Attorney game could benefit from is marking with a ✓ any piece of evidence youve already presented to a specific character during investigations if presenting that piece of evidence will not result in new dialogue.

that way, people who like me enjoy presenting every single thing to get extra dialogue arent ever in a situation where they forget what theyve already presented so they get the same lines of dialogue over and over again.

i know its trivial to just press the B button to skip through already-seen dialogue which is why i said this is a small unimportant thing, but it still takes time to do so for longer strings of dialogue so it would be nice if players could just avoid it altogether.

plus, sometimes the same piece of evidence being presented to the same person actually results in different dialogue because of the story having given more detail to it or whatever else, so the ✓ no longer being there could be a good tell for the player that theres new dialogue they could get from it so they can choose to present it again to get that sweet, sweet extra dialogue.

📦📦📦📦📦📦👍

There is something about Goodbye Volcano High's gameplay that really fascinates me but I'm not seeing it being talked about a lot even in positive reviews, probably because it's not stated outright and may take more than one playthrough to notice it's happening.

One of my favorite things about indie games is when they take a game mechanic or habit on the part of the player that we take for granted and put a spin on it related to storytelling. For example, Undertale expecting the player to instinctively gain "exp" to increase their "Lv"; Omori with the status conditions during battles being emotions (or lack thereof) that carry several implications throughout the story; and Anodyne knowing full well that the player will want to find every secret hiding in the game to the point of providing them the means to do so on a silver platter and simply letting them wallow in their obsession.

Goodbye Volcano High is at its core a visual novel. In visual novels you usually follow the story along, making decisions by picking options out of a list, that lead to different scenes and endings. Often, these decisions involve what the playable character gets to speak aloud in-universe. This is not the case with Goodbye Volcano High. When the protagonist Fang is asked a question, and the player picks an option, what Fang speaks is usually not the same as what the option says, altough it's usually the same basic idea. Sometimes, even when the options are very different, the inmediate outcome and dialogue are the same, yet the symbol that indicates that a decision has been made still shows up. Sometimes the options suddendly change their wording or become unselectable or behave weirdly. Why all this?

Because in this game the options aren't a call to action, they represent what Fang is THINKING and FEELING. Internally. And not just the options, but the basic mechanic of selecting them itself too. When you select an option, you are choosing what thoughts and feelings Fang accepts and internalizes, regardless of wether they act on them or not. When you so much as hover over an option, you are still making Fang think and consider that option, wich may have an effect on the options. As in, the character ends up displaying stuff like doubt, anxiety and bargaining in the form of the options changing their wording or becoming unavailable. If Fang is overly exited or nervous, the options may change constantly. Sometimes the options require more effort to select. Or they look a certain way. All these things and more play into a core idea.

In theory, when it's not skill-based, choosing the "right" or "wrong" option in any game is not exactly hard. Sometimes it's very obvious what choices will lead to the good and bad endings, and choosing becomes a matter of preference or completionism, the player becomes an spectator. Goodbye Volcano High works around this by aiming to put the player inside Fang's mind and make the most of it, with choices that should be obvious becoming hard and confusing through Fang's personal filters (is an option the wrong one or only feels like it because it requires more effort and looks scary as seen above?), and little things that players may do out of instinct ending up translating into in-universe habits that may be unhealthy (hovering over different options equals overthinking and doubting and thus the options may change). That there is sometimes a timer also plays a factor. And all this pays off through the game's other big mechanic: the affinity chart.

It's nothing new to have the player's choices affecting the protagonist's relationship with other characters. But as mentioned, in this game the choices are internal on the protagonist's part, and may result in seemingly the same outcome. How, then, can the choices affect this chart that represents how close the protagonist is to the other charcters? Because much like the choices, this chart is also internal. It represents how the protagonist FEELS about the other characters, or at least how much they are willing to open up to them, regardless of what's happening on the outside. And depending on that is that Fang may be willing and capable of speaking sincerely with them during certain moments of truth.

I haven't confirmed it myself, but there is word that the game also takes note of how the choices affect Fang themselves. It's not hard to believe, seeing as how some choices don't involve other characters, but reflect purely on Fang's self-esteem and being nice or harsh on themselves. Being on good terms with others doesn't change the fact that you need to love yourself.

And all this factors in the end.

Visual novels tend to let you make choices to get different endings. Goodbye Volcano High is about teen dinosaurs coping with the threat of an asteroid that may destroy the planet. We know that an asteroid hit the planet during the age of dinosaurs. The asteroid may be unavoidable. The end may be unavoidable. But by being you through the gameplay, the game lets you choose how to face the end. You can make it bitter, bittersweet, and even sweet.

i honestly cant wait to see how a mute touch averse(but also very starved) mc interacts with the ros

Without touch and words, there's still plenty of things MC can do to flirt with ROs/be flirted with... can't wait to write them ahh.

Also, I would like to implement a stat that keeps track of your MC's comfort at contact with the ROs (romantically or platonically) for touch averse characters for which I would normally wrote an interaction without contact. I hope I will be able to code it, because I think it's normal for some touch averse people to be comfortable only with one or a handful of people (or only in certain conditions).

New game system with simplicity in mind get it free on archfeyuk.itch.io