This is written on FEB 3rd, 2026.
After two long posts from previous posting, this devlog is going to be a little bit shorter as we were focusing on discussion and catching ourselves back up with our thesis from the break, as well as joining Global Game Jam this past weekend (1/30-2/1)!
Current State of the Game
What – OUR GOAL!!!!
Inspired by Anatomy of a Fall (2023), this is the vision that we are sticking to and keeping in mind at all times! We have made a decision to focus on the theme of sensationalization over the varying perspectives that first inspired us from the Rashomon effect. It is important to us that, rather than requiring the experience to have players coming out with different POV to discuss, they may have formed a perspective, be in-between, or have none at all, but realizing the one truth is that there is a death. In the game, we will put breadcrumbs and lead the player to be within a pool of possibilities, but their final conclusion will be drawn by their own biases.
What – The ‘Happy’ Device
I have decided to go forward with the device design currently called the ‘Happy.’ This is mainly because of its shape fitting to our goal of a divide designed for kids and recognizable silhouette. This decision will also go on to inform our new UI art style as I finalize the design of the device.
The device will also display the time on it, connecting it to the next point, out time progression!
What – Time Progression
Time has started to take shape in the game! A more detailed explanation can be found in Caelan’s post!
What – Interaction Flowchart
All of the interactions we have designed, as well as possible interactions have been mapped out (it is currently in Miro right now but we might switch to other platforms). This really helped us see the full scale of the game and think about what to consider, production-wise. It also visually mapped out how the time progression is affecting the which part of day within a loop. There might be some modifications as we flesh out the design of some parts that we haven’t expanded on yet, for e.g. eavesdropping on adults, but this flowchart is what we will be referring back to when we design.
What – Best Friend DMs
We have been lightly touching on the design that once a player forms a relationship with another kid NPC and that relationship reaches a certain level, they will be able to unlock a direct message system that lets players chat with the NPC (with stickers of course) more directly than just reacting to statuses.
We are planning for this to happen around the mid-game point, somewhere in day-3, in which the player would then be able to gain significantly more information from one perspective from their best friend, which will be guiding them towards the end of the story. The first time this function unlocks will come in a form of NPC initiated action, through being in proximity and the NPC asking the player to tap the device together to unlock that DM. After that, when in proximity, the NPC could initiate the chat directly or via a reaction to their status from the player.
This DM feels more natural than a best friend constantly updating statuses, and the tapping of the device as a way to connect will help amplify the feeling of closeness. Plus, the change visually in UI and feedback from status to DM will also signify closeness to that character.
What – Exploring the ‘Why’ side of the story
This came up as we were re-reading the 4 perspectives we have written down when we first formed the story. Caelan has brought up that players would draw a connection that Blueberry has something to do with the deaths, having been there at the scenes both times, even if the game has 3 other perspectives that doesn’t have to do with Blueberry at all. Therefore, he brought up the ‘Why?’ question of it instead: why are there deaths around Blueberry? Why did these all happen? A more detailed explanation can be found in Caelan’s post!
This is a big shift in our narrative framing, so we are going to test it out as advised by Winnie, giving ourselves until 2/12/26 to make a ‘why’ prototype to test it out!
What – External Advisors
We have our list of external advisors that we will reach out to!
What – Art Style Technical Test: Fixing our terrain issue
There was a part in my last Devlog in the Scene Setup & Art Style Technical Test section about our current setup of the environment which makes it probably impossible to have an area with terrains. We have a possible solution to this now!!
As with the sketch, I will be trying out having an unrendered 3D terrain which the character can walk on, with a painted ground placed underneath the 3D terrain with the hills and slopes directly painted on. Everything else in the scene, for e.g. characters’ bodies and heads or structures, will be at an angle like the previous test version, and we will see how that looks!
Also, we are going to try out having the game in one big map.
Next Steps
As mentioned above, we have given ourselves a deadline of until 2/12/26 to make a ‘why’ prototype to test it out. As such, these next steps are mainly for that goal, with some technical tests alongside.
For ‘Why’ Prototype
- Caelan will write statuses for prototype scene
- Draft cold email for external advisors
- Jib will draw and build Map - just areas needed for the ‘why’ prototype
- Caelan will start building out the ‘why’ prototype in-engine scene according to the Map
Other
- Jib will finalize the device design (and a bit after that testing out a maximal art test scene with all the art styles in theme to see how they work!)