May was a very hectic month for me personally, so there wasn’t much progress made this month – but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any!

I wrote about 4k words for Canvas Menagerie. I also did a fair amount of editing for Act 2 of Canvas Menagerie, proofreading what’s there and trying to make sure it all fits together.

There’s one somewhat frustrating character in particular that is fully introduced in Act 2 who’s named Rose – I won’t go into who he is for spoiler reasons, but I will talk a bit about him as a person. Rose is a very secretive person with low self-esteem and not a solid self-image of himself. He’s quiet and can come across as rude because of how little he responds to others, preferring to keep to himself.

Rose is very important to the later half of the story and a fair amount of it is centered on Niko trying to break Rose out of his shell as they’re now coworkers. However, it can be hard for 2 reasons:

1. Rose isn’t a love interest
2. Rose doesn’t respond honestly (and hardly at all) to others

Rose isn’t a love interest – Ren is. This is a romance game about Niko and Ren’s growing relationship rather than a simulator game where there’s multiple love interests. It’s surprisingly hard to balance having scenes between two characters that could theoretically date but aren’t going to. The overall focus is on Niko and Ren, but Niko and Rose’s relationship is also important to the later half of the game – it’s just not romantic.

Rose doesn’t respond honestly – Rose is a very timid person, mainly because he doesn’t have much confidence in himself. Rose is similar to how Niko is at the start of the game, but the interesting thing about their relationship is that by the time they meet, Niko is a different person. He’s not overly confident, but the Niko that Rose meets has become more confident in himself and more comfortable with others than the Niko we first met at the beginning of the game – it’s only because of meeting Ren that Niko changes. So, in a way, it becomes Niko’s job to do the same for someone else.

I swab some lavender paint, hesitating to lay it down on the canvas. Just as I reach over to my phone, there’s the sound of one of the doors opening. —And then, the door to my painting nook.

Rose “Ah—”
Niko “Oh.”

As probably the last person I thought I’d see, Rose steps in the warehouse room. Just as quickly as he stepped in, he looks like he’s about to run off again.

Niko “What are you doing here?”
Rose “I—”
Rose “I got turned around...”

How do you get so lost to end up here?!

Niko “What were you looking for?”
Rose “...The script reading rooms.”

Wow. I know this studio can be confusing to navigate, but that’s a whole new level.

Niko “That’s...kinda far away...”
Niko “W-Wait, I didn’t mean to laugh!”

Rose tries to hide his face and shut the door, but I quickly reopen it. I’m not good enough at giving directions so he’ll definitely be lost if I don’t help him.

Niko “Do you have to be there immediately?”
Rose “...No?”
Niko “Well, if you’ll give me a minute to clean up then I can walk you down there.”
Rose “...”
Rose “...Sure.”

He says everything with a careful pause.

Canvas Menagerie – Act 2

I call Rose "frustrating" because, while I do like him, I sometimes feel like I’m Niko while writing his scenes – it feels like I’m trying to pull any kind of information out of him with little to no avail, just like Niko. I hope by the end though we’re able to see Rose’s true colors!

During May our playtesting for Act 1 was in full steam (and still on going). While I haven't sat down to go over all of the feedback I've received yet, I have made a few small changes based on early feedback, such as making the subtitles for the filming sections easier to read.

Before:

After:

Once more changes have been implemented based on feedback, I'll be updating the demo.

Last but not least, May 31st is a special day – it’s Niko’s birthday!

But I’m writing this in June a few days late because I was at OffKai Expo so...

HAPPY PRIDE!

— Arimia