Hello, happy April Fool’s Day! I don’t have any pranks for this devlog, just some updates for Canvas Menagerie.

A majority of the work in March was for scripting Act 1, though I did end up writing about 5k for the game!

That means that Act 3 is about halfway written. It’s come a long way and now it’s nearing completion!

It was funny (though pretty hectic) swapping between writing the ending parts of the game, as Niko and Ren deepen their relationship, and to the beginning of the game where they’re both not on great terms.

I was hoping to have Act 1 ready to beta test by the end of the month, but that was a bit too optimistic (I also wanted to write more this month on Canvas Menagerie and Lost Lune and ended up writing almost 10k total over both). Progress is progress, though!

One part I was able to script was a brand new character—Jules, Niko’s agent.

Jules is an easy-going guy with a hectic job. He almost seems too casual for an agent, but he does enjoy his job and the experiences that come with it. He’s known Niko for around 4 or so years at the start of the game.

I’ve also been able to implement some more nice dynamic cut-ins, thanks to Fenik’s layered image mask system (and their patience helping me with positions).

Act 1 is about half scripted, including the parts that were already in the demo. Not near as much finished for it as I had hoped but I want to do it right the first time (and my way of scripting scenes into the engine is slow going since I add things like cut-ins and such).

I was also able to do a little bit of extra artwork, featuring Niko & Ren of course~

That’s about it for updates this month! Hoping next month to have more of Act 1 scripted and possibly ready for testing. If you’d like to see updates as they happen, join our Discord server.

— Arimia