- Jul 12, 2020
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For those on neither Patreon or Discord, Ceo has recently been running a Q&A on the discord. He just posted the first set of answers. With Ceo's permission I'm posting them here. Be aware, he will not be taking questions like this from here, Discord only. (also, tried spoilering this but F95 being an ass so sorry...wall of text).
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Ceolag — Today at 15:07
Hello everybody, First, thank you all for asking your questions. There were more than I expected and some really good ones. I'll split up the answers into several parts (2 probably), this is the first batch. If your question isn't here, expect it to be answered in the 2nd batch.
Do you have plans for the number of chapters in book 1 or how many books it will eventually be? Or, is it still loose for now?
The plan right now is 10-12 Chapters for Book 1. That might change throughout development if I feel I need more time or I'm dragging things out. Regarding books, there are plans for Book 2. Everything else is just too far into the future.
How long have you been working on the story? And if you want to expand on that, could you tell us a bit about how it came to life? What inspired you?
The very first render dates back to November 28th, 2021. So that's roughly the point when I started working on The Neverwhere Tales. The inspiration for the story itself is clearly the Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher) and the Nightside series (by Simon Green). If we're talking about AVNs, there are quite a few but one stands out: Love of Magic. It was the first AVN with an Urban Fantasy setting I played and the final "nail in the coffin" for starting my own AVN. After playing LoM back then, combined with my love for the books above (Dresden Files being an inspiration for LoM, too), I just gave it a try and started my own AVN.
Did you expect Kaija to be such a controversial figure?
No. But there are quite a lot of people who see Kaija the way I had her in mind when I started writing her. It's one of the things I learned throughout development: No matter what your intentions are, there will always be people who perceive it differently. And that's fine. There's no right or wrong, everyone is welcome to draw their own conclusions about her (or the story in general). And to be fair, I started playing a bit with those opposites after releasing Chapter 2. It's one of the reasons why her character seems to change depending on your decisions. It doesn't really change as both opposites are still in character for her and fit her motivations though.
Did you expect such a strong reaction against the Templars as an organization? Will the Templars organization get a redemption arc, write them out as the story progresses, or have them be another antagonist?
Somewhat the same as the Kaija question: No, not when I started with the story. I get why some people have strong feelings against them but they were never intended to be the "good guys" or the "bad guys." Roughly speaking, they're an organization that lost its focus but the details should become more clear throughout the story. And they don't need a redemption arc, they're where I want them to be.
How much backlash did you receive for killing off "a certain character?"
Less than I expected
I was aware that there would be some backlash. Or better: I hoped for it. Because that means I succeeded in writing the character the way I had it in mind.
Bonus question here: Why did you kill "a certain character", you monster?
Because I could, Taja.
How much branching are you planning for TNT and how do you deal with such branching?
Tricky question because there was quite a bit of branching in the past that I didn't even think I needed. Combinations of choices I never thought someone would or could take. In general, I plan a friend path, a love path, and a "no path" for each LI depending on your choices. The main story will be mostly linear with a few branches (for example THE Chapter 5 decision) and it will branch according to your relationship to the LI's where needed. In general, I try to keep the branching as little as possible but as big as needed. Too much branching seems nice at first but it will bloat development times and "shorten" chapters toward the end of the story.
Will the MC be able to choose a side in the conflict?
Kinda "spoiler-y" but I feel I need to answer that because some people are already making plans about who they will join etc. MC will stay "neutral." He won't join any faction. First, because I never wanted him to be part of a faction, and second because of the branching topic above.
Who's your favourite Love Interest in TNT if you were forced to choose one?
I know this is going to be a controversial answer Kaija She was the first character I ever created in DAZ (outside of re-creating characters from other AVNs), and she was the first character I wrote for the story. So yes, she takes up a special place in my heart.
What's your biggest regret as an AVN developer so far?
No real "regrets" because I see every mistake as a learning experience. If we rephrase that to "What's the one thing you'd want to change?" it would probably be changing the role of Kaija from girlfriend to long-term friend at the start. The girlfriend stuff just gives too much trouble for pretty much no gain in the current setup.
I'm wondering about endings... is there a "canon" ending? Will there be multiple ends? Some good, some bad, some in between? I know we aren't there yet, but some developers get very insistent on the "cannon ending" idea.
There will be one ending for the main story. That ending will reflect the changes you made throughout the game. To give you an abstract example: If the game ends with Earth getting blown up, your decisions will influence if you're still on Earth when it blows up or if you can board a spaceship before. But you can't prevent the Earth from getting blown up. Each LI will get a separate ending scene, too.
Along the idea of endings, it's feeling like the "angry reject everyone" plot line is probably way out there in terms of what you might have initially imagined. Do you plan to bring it all back into a more common plot line, or completely develop it out into it's own thing? Like say if the MC is suppose to lead the Templars, as a hypothetical example, would the MC reject that and go off on a completely different plot line, or be forced back into it?
Rejecting everyone will work with the planned ending. You'll have to face the consequences for it, though. Nobody will invite you to their spaceship.
That's it for part 1. Part 2 will follow in a few days when I have the time to go through the remaining questions Cheers, Ceo
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Ceolag — Today at 15:07
Hello everybody, First, thank you all for asking your questions. There were more than I expected and some really good ones. I'll split up the answers into several parts (2 probably), this is the first batch. If your question isn't here, expect it to be answered in the 2nd batch.
Do you have plans for the number of chapters in book 1 or how many books it will eventually be? Or, is it still loose for now?
The plan right now is 10-12 Chapters for Book 1. That might change throughout development if I feel I need more time or I'm dragging things out. Regarding books, there are plans for Book 2. Everything else is just too far into the future.
How long have you been working on the story? And if you want to expand on that, could you tell us a bit about how it came to life? What inspired you?
The very first render dates back to November 28th, 2021. So that's roughly the point when I started working on The Neverwhere Tales. The inspiration for the story itself is clearly the Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher) and the Nightside series (by Simon Green). If we're talking about AVNs, there are quite a few but one stands out: Love of Magic. It was the first AVN with an Urban Fantasy setting I played and the final "nail in the coffin" for starting my own AVN. After playing LoM back then, combined with my love for the books above (Dresden Files being an inspiration for LoM, too), I just gave it a try and started my own AVN.
Did you expect Kaija to be such a controversial figure?
No. But there are quite a lot of people who see Kaija the way I had her in mind when I started writing her. It's one of the things I learned throughout development: No matter what your intentions are, there will always be people who perceive it differently. And that's fine. There's no right or wrong, everyone is welcome to draw their own conclusions about her (or the story in general). And to be fair, I started playing a bit with those opposites after releasing Chapter 2. It's one of the reasons why her character seems to change depending on your decisions. It doesn't really change as both opposites are still in character for her and fit her motivations though.
Did you expect such a strong reaction against the Templars as an organization? Will the Templars organization get a redemption arc, write them out as the story progresses, or have them be another antagonist?
Somewhat the same as the Kaija question: No, not when I started with the story. I get why some people have strong feelings against them but they were never intended to be the "good guys" or the "bad guys." Roughly speaking, they're an organization that lost its focus but the details should become more clear throughout the story. And they don't need a redemption arc, they're where I want them to be.
How much backlash did you receive for killing off "a certain character?"
Less than I expected
I was aware that there would be some backlash. Or better: I hoped for it. Because that means I succeeded in writing the character the way I had it in mind. Bonus question here: Why did you kill "a certain character", you monster?
Because I could, Taja.
How much branching are you planning for TNT and how do you deal with such branching?
Tricky question because there was quite a bit of branching in the past that I didn't even think I needed. Combinations of choices I never thought someone would or could take. In general, I plan a friend path, a love path, and a "no path" for each LI depending on your choices. The main story will be mostly linear with a few branches (for example THE Chapter 5 decision) and it will branch according to your relationship to the LI's where needed. In general, I try to keep the branching as little as possible but as big as needed. Too much branching seems nice at first but it will bloat development times and "shorten" chapters toward the end of the story.
Will the MC be able to choose a side in the conflict?
Kinda "spoiler-y" but I feel I need to answer that because some people are already making plans about who they will join etc. MC will stay "neutral." He won't join any faction. First, because I never wanted him to be part of a faction, and second because of the branching topic above.
Who's your favourite Love Interest in TNT if you were forced to choose one?
I know this is going to be a controversial answer
Kaija She was the first character I ever created in DAZ (outside of re-creating characters from other AVNs), and she was the first character I wrote for the story. So yes, she takes up a special place in my heart. What's your biggest regret as an AVN developer so far?
No real "regrets" because I see every mistake as a learning experience. If we rephrase that to "What's the one thing you'd want to change?" it would probably be changing the role of Kaija from girlfriend to long-term friend at the start. The girlfriend stuff just gives too much trouble for pretty much no gain in the current setup.
I'm wondering about endings... is there a "canon" ending? Will there be multiple ends? Some good, some bad, some in between? I know we aren't there yet, but some developers get very insistent on the "cannon ending" idea.
There will be one ending for the main story. That ending will reflect the changes you made throughout the game. To give you an abstract example: If the game ends with Earth getting blown up, your decisions will influence if you're still on Earth when it blows up or if you can board a spaceship before. But you can't prevent the Earth from getting blown up.
Each LI will get a separate ending scene, too. Along the idea of endings, it's feeling like the "angry reject everyone" plot line is probably way out there in terms of what you might have initially imagined. Do you plan to bring it all back into a more common plot line, or completely develop it out into it's own thing? Like say if the MC is suppose to lead the Templars, as a hypothetical example, would the MC reject that and go off on a completely different plot line, or be forced back into it?
Rejecting everyone will work with the planned ending. You'll have to face the consequences for it, though. Nobody will invite you to their spaceship.
That's it for part 1. Part 2 will follow in a few days when I have the time to go through the remaining questions
Cheers, Ceo
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