This is written on FEB 16th, 2026 .
Current State of the Game
What – The ‘Why’ Framing
We have made a decision to shift our narrative to the ‘Why’ framing!!!!
As of 2/12/26, we have playtested our first prototype with the ‘why’ framing of the narrative with Winnie, Eric and Patrick. We feel that this narrative framing is compelling and serves to put us closer to the goal that we have set: “All of the arrows point to the fact that there was a death, and that’s it.”
This ‘Why’ prototype consists of 1 perspective, which is that Blueberry’s past trauma has resurfaced and caused Blueberry to act in this way to make others ‘understand.’ After discussing, we have decided to expand on this past trauma reason and make them into 3 different why’s, which is that Blueberry is now behaving in this way because:
- He’s trying to get people to understand ‘his world’. (this is the reason in the current ‘Why’ prototype)
- He’s enacting revenge on the cause of his past trauma.
- He has skewed morals and through that is saving or punishing people.
Having the why’s coming from the same root reason allows the different perspectives to coexist and not cancel each other out, allowing the player to be deeply convinced into one reason, as well as in-between. As the player progresses, they will further surround themselves with one of the why’s more than others, this and the player’s own biases we hope will lead them to convincing themselves of why Blueberry did what did.
As for the 2nd loop of the game that we have designed before changing the framing from who did it to why did he do it, that will be tabled for now! We will have to discuss and think more if or how that 2nd loop would help with the ‘why’ framing, and how to use the 2nd loop to convey our core themes of sensationalization and multiple truths.
What – The Boar
There are boars in the town of our game! They are a local animal that coexist with the people in town and mainly serve 2 purposes for our game!
- Worldbuilding – these people are living within a bigger natural world, where there are other living creatures in close proximity to them!
- Thematic reason – the boar acts as a presence of nature that contrasts the structure of human society in which sensationalization thrives.
What – Town Map
I have revised and digitized the town map to be the actual size for the game! We are having the whole map in one scene, so the game will be set mostly in one scene. This helps us not to worry about characters' behaviour as they navigate across areas but not across unity scenes. It also helps me see the scale of everything altogether as I make the assets in the finalized art style.
There will be some tuning to do with the building sizes and their proximity to each other as some of them do block the player from the camera right now. plus we can fade out the building when the player goes behind it.
What – Forum System
We also have the forums in the game now! These forums are for the player to get a glimpse into the town’s reactions to the deaths, as the player cannot fully understand adults as a kid, and provide the player with theories and various backstories. Forums are designed to be explored at the end of each day when the player is at home.
With that said, we don’t want players to think that the forums are the answer sheet to the mystery, and want to highlight the point of talking to all these kids about the mystery. The player is a kid, afterall, and we don’t want the adult player’s desire to dig for the truth overshadow the kid’s inaccessibility and disinterest to the truth, if any. Therefore, we are going to limit player’s access to the forum by either limiting the amount of forums the player can read before they are told to go to sleep, or allowing them to only read the title and first few lines of the forum posts as they are locked to adult users only.
What – Time Passing
Time passes when there’s no critical information
Time frozen with critical information
What – Status and DMs
Previously, we have decided that statuses are divided into normal status, close friends status, and then the direct messages. We have come to a conclusion that “that’s too much!!!” The differentiation between statuses and DMs are plenty to provide players with the varying levels of information and feeling of closeness. Statuses and DMs will also have a distinct UI to show their different functions as well.
What – Adults
Players will not be able to communicate with adults at all, not even eavesdrop, for now! We are working with scoping, and the forums seem to provide a contrast of amount of information well enough. We will wait and revisit the design of the adults later!
What – The Detective
Same as the other adults, no direct interaction between the detective and player is available right now! They will have behaviors that let them walk around and do their jobs, and possibly communicate with the kids in specific events.
What – The Device
The Device design is done! We don’t have the name for it yet and have been calling it the ‘Happy’ device for now. They are drawn in the same style as the characters and human-made objects and have non-interactable buttons. More details in Artlog #2!
What – External Advisors Email
Emails have been drafted! We are reaching out to 5 external advisors total and will send them out soon🫡
Thesis II Final Version of the Game
As we are moving closer to the end of Thesis II, we have roughly planned out what would be the final version we submit as deliverable. We are considering what is most important to convey the core ideas of the game, making it as the “best 1 chapter instead of multiple chapters” as Eric has said!
Final Version:
- Day 1, 2, and 3 (not necessarily a looping day 3)
- Should unlock a BFF on day 3
- Possible day 0 onboarding
- Art
- Polished school area
- Polished town one area
- Polished Lighthouse
- Environments assets
- UI
- characters
This of course can be changed as we work towards the final version, especially as we finalize the narrative.
As for closer goals, here are our Next Steps!
- Send out emails to external advisors
- Onboarding writing (Day 1 & 2) (Buildup)
- Day 3 writing (Turning Point)
- UI for status & DM boxes
- Character designs
- Environment setup with multiple cameras
~Personal Thoughts Section~
We have shown Patrick and Eric the ‘why’ prototype of 2/12/26, which is the first time Eric is seeing our game and hearing about it with more details! We got some very good advice, and both of them mentioned Despelote a lot as a point of reference. We also realized that we really need to get better at explaining our game!!!!! Wahhhh!!!!
Another thing is that as we get closer to the end of Thesis II and are making hard calls on what we will and will not have, I am feeling like we are an angel and a devil on each side of our project’s shoulders, with me always being extra worried with scope and Caelan being extra chill and confident with it. I think it’s good to have both sides!🙉