Our director laid the groundwork for the VN, providing the main story outline and concepts for four side characters.

I was brought on to fully develop these characters, including their individual stories, dialogue and voiced lines. Another writer handled the main story and cast.

I expanded on the director's initial concepts, drawing inspiration from real Reddit stories to craft relatable character arcs.

One character, an office worker, secretly pursues his passions for VTubing and doll collecting – hobbies he feels pressured to hide due to gender stereotypes.

When he joins the player's agency, he finally finds a space where he can express himself without judgment.

This approach enabled me to create authentic characters that players could easily connect with.

The main story takes a dark turn when these side characters are doxxed by an unknown hacker.

The player grows and nurtures these characters in their agency, only to have them meet a tragic end in their stories.

We wanted players to feel awful and even guilty about what happened to them.

Given the player reactions in the video on the right, I think we were successful!

I also wrote satirical flavor text for in-game tasks to enhance the VTuber manager sim experience.

This included sponsorship opportunities, collab requests, and pitches from salespeople, all designed to be comedic.

The interwoven side character stories and sim gameplay amplified the main narrative’s emotional stakes. Those elements helped to create a rich and engaging VN.

CREDITS

Director, Story, Editing, GUI Designer, Programmer, Animator: Justinn@CuteShadowProgramming Support: Tanix, rinaCG Artist: Pumpkin Spike, couopSprite Artist: cyrinide, OtokenekoVoice Actor:
Meg TheLovableDork @Meeli
ItsNotMika @Regina
Josh Wells @Taylor
samgrace @Andrea
Solisa Adna @Elise
Katie Marie @KennaComposer: Melancholy Marionette, Manit .KWriter (main story): sunfirerings

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We brainstormed ideas for the story and landed on a synopsis I wrote.

Using this, our director created a “Primary Arc” section in our design document which became the foundation of the game.

It was crucial to finalize the story before production to ensure alignment with art, level design, and mechanics.

During production, we iterated several times on the dialogue script.

I wrote the script for six cutscenes and other voice lines throughout the game, working with a voice actor for the first time.

To progress the story, I wrote seven potential scenarios where the player performs morally questionable acts.

We selected three that best fit the narrative for the story's twist.

We planned to include lore through audio logs to support the twist, but we cut them to prioritize the main story and meet the jam’s deadline.

CREDITS

Milo Kent: Game Direction, Game Design, Adl. Writing, Adl. Programming, Adl. SFX, Recruiting, Project ManagementEeni14: ProgrammingHillE: Character Art, Animation, Props, Tilesets, Marketing ArtPixelemy: Tilesets, Props, Adl. BackgroundsTrashBoat93: BackgroundsFrogFriendMax: Enemy DesignnarcolepsyDriver: MusicFoster Stone: Environmental SFX, Effect SFX, Adl. Character SFXGrant Johnson: Actor, Character SFXbucktoothfrog: Project Management for Art and SoundR0nnie: Project Management for Design and Programming

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We had a countdown mechanic that required the player to beat the game within a certain amount of time.

As time progressed, the moon and screen became more red to convey the curse worsening.

Tomoe's dialogue reflected her slowly transforming into a demon as time counted down.

If the timer reached zero, Tomoe fully transforms into a demon. Game over.

At the end of the game, the player destroys a meteorite which reverses the curse and saves Tomoe's village.

I wrote lore about the meteorite being the curse's source, but we ran out of time to implement storytelling around it.³

The original ending cutscene involved Tomoe sacrificing herself to reverse the curse and restore the villagers.⁴

Due to time constraints, I had to quickly rewrite the ending to only a few lines of dialogue.

Multiple endings based on playtime to motivate the player to do multiple playthroughs were also cut for time.⁵

APPENDIX

¹ The environment description document I sent to our artists and sound designer that inspired the art and sounds of the game.² The list of sound effects I sent to our sound designer to immerse the player.³ The lore I wrote for the meteorite.⁴ The original ending cutscene I wrote before I had to come up with a new ending using in-game dialogue due to time constraints from the jam.⁵ The multiple endings idea I wrote to motivate the player to do multiple playthroughs.Credits to:
- Team Lead and Design: Yiaz
- Programming: UrbiEtUrbi, Pheedsta
- Art: Pixi, Hanako, JonnyBlips
- Sound and Music: Jazz

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The forest environment has surreal elements to represents Chase's fragmented mind as he struggles with amnesia.¹

He is lost in his own subconscious, not an actual forest.

Strange objects like floating gems and wrecked car parts create a dreamlike setting that reinforces his disoriented mental state.

To create intrigue, I introduced a mysterious character named Aurora.

I sprinkled subtle clues of her by:
- Hiding her name in dialogue stylized as *^^^
- Having her appear as a ghost periodically²
- Leaving hidden notes about her relationship with Chase

These details provide breadcrumbs and motivation for the player to uncover her identity.

The gameplay loop involves exploring the forest to find puzzle zones and objects representing Chase's memories of his relationship with Aurora.

Completing puzzles unlocks more of the forest. After each puzzle, a cutscene reveals the actual memory the puzzle symbolized.³

I designed the narrative to gradually reveal more about Chase and Aurora's relationship as the player unlocks more of the forest.

We reveal after the wrecked car puzzle to show that they were in a car accident.

This leads the player to initially believe Aurora is dead, especially since her ghost appears in game.

After completing the next puzzle zone, the player encounters the bad ending.

In the bad ending, thinking Aurora is dead, the player can either persist in escaping the forest to find the truth, or abandon hope and remain lost in the dark woods forever.⁴

APPENDIX

¹ I wrote an environment description document for our artists to provide art direction for the forest.² Here's the spec for Aurora's ghost, including her sprite behavior and placement in the map.³ You can read the script for the campfire cutscene here.⁴ You can read the script for the bad ending cutscene here.⁵ Due to time constraints from the game jam, we were unable to implement the true ending cutscene in-game. The script can be viewed here.Credits to:
- Team Lead and Developer: Flameful
- SFX Designer / Composer: Theo D
- SFX Designer / Composer: asherwaves
- Character Art: MotoLuigi
- Game Art: Zuzu

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