It’s the start of August so it’s time to look back at progress made in July, of which there were a lot. First off and more importantly, the first draft for the entirety of Canvas Menagerie is complete!

Act 1 & 2 are already past the first draft with Act 1 currently receiving final touches from beta testing, and now Act 3 is joining them as being fully drafted.

The final wordcount on the documents is 153k words, though once it’s ported to Ren’Py this number will go down slightly, so more realistically the full game will be around 140k words with Act 2 being the shortest (but only slightly). Here’s a small snippet of a scene in Act 3 where Niko is wishing Ren off at the airport.

Niko “You’ve got your passport, right? And ID? And chargers? And medicine?”
Ren “Who needs to make a checklist when I have you?”
Niko “That’s the problem. You’re not going to have me for a few weeks.”
Ren stops walking, making me almost run into him. He steps towards me, takes off one side of his mask, and kisses me.
Niko “You’re going to be caught on camera.”
Ren “What’s so bad about that?”
I lean in and give him one more quick kiss. If I stay this close to him I won’t want to let him go.
Niko “If you get lonely in your hotel room, you can call me.”
Ren “Lonely? How do you know I won’t be out enjoying the nightlife? They have actual markets over there, you know.”
Niko “That’d require you to care about getting out.”
Ren “Everywhere I go I’m the life of the party. I’ll send you photos, don’t worry.”
Niko “I’m sure I’ll see them online before you get the chance to.”
Niko “Just...try not to push yourself too much.”
Ren “You should worry about yourself. If I’m not here to kick you out of bed you’re going to keep skipping practice, aren’t you?”
Niko “I didn’t skip, it just wasn’t in person!!”
Ren “Trying to make yourself feel better now, huh?”
I raise my hand in protest, but he puts his hand on my head.
Ren “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Act 1 is their meet cute and working through their differences until they realize there’s a connection there. Act 2 is the beginning of their romantic relationship as a couple, slowly getting to know each other better and navigating their everyday lives as a new couple. Act 3 is their relationship growing and being tested to see if they truly understand the person they’re with and what baggage the other person has.

When I set out to make Canvas Menagerie, I knew that their growing feelings for each other (while unadmitted) was just the beginning of their story and the true meat of it was them navigating life together.

Aside from just writing, though, I also made substantial progress on scripting! I’m currently halfway through scripting Act 2 to get it ready for beta testers.

I’m hoping to wrap up scripting Act 2 by the end of August and sending it off to beta testers. If you’re interested in testing it, join our public Discord server! I’ll be sharing the beta testing info there as well as on our newsletter.

— Arimia