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Dating in a World on Fire 0.55
🕑 Added 2024-12-27 08:59:11 +0000 UTCHere's the latest update of Dating in a World on Fire with new material that introduces a new character Alex, and answers a fair amount of mysteries while introducing new ones. I'll avoid spoilers and let you play it and find out.
The download can be found at https://arianeb.itch.io/dating-in-a-world-on-fire/patreon-access
Some changes to the early game:
I made access to the "Go back to Relay's place" activity after the holo experience easier to access. Partly by adding more trait points you can earn in the Potluck path, partly by changing some requirements widening the acceptable window of some stats.
I went through the text using Microsoft Word looking for grammatical and spelling mistakes and fixed everything it found.
I added a scene involving the roommate Tom, he only showed up if you failed to get a date from relay, now he shows up no matter what.
A couple of the "Meet Relay" scenes are more animated as I added more reactionary renders for the beginning and ending of that scene.
I added some markers to keep track of which choices you made during the "date". These will be presented after chapter 1 is completed. You have to redo the whole game to see all the markers, but the game will work fine without the markers if you are only interested in seeing the new material.
I added a choice at the beginning if you completed chapter 1, you can replay it or skip to chapter 2.
New material notes without spoiling anything:
Took me a while to find an "Alex" voice I liked, literally recorded all their lines with 3 different voices, and listen to a couple hundred samples. Remember that voices are not "canon", just an aid to reading that can be disabled. The printed words they say are more important.
The last line of the new material is an obscure Rick and Morty reference to end on a funny note, it will be changed in future updates into player choices that affect the outcome for the rest of the chapter.
The tone of the game in the new section is an abrupt change from chapter 1. The tone will not stay this way in chapter 2. Just like chapter 1 started with a "Meet Relay" scene, this is a "Meet Alex" scene. More "Dating Sim" type content will be coming in the future.
The pace of new material may slow down a bit. In part because I haven't written any of it yet, and that takes time. My tentative game plan for 2025 is to switch back and forth between Dating in a World on Fire and Date Ariane 2.0 with the goal of having new material in one of them each month.
Comments
Ariane Barnes
I was worried about this game needing more structure, a better planned outline to follow. My plan was to have specific endings for each chapter, and sort of wing the in between stuff. I worried that won't work. But then I was blessed by the YouTube algorithm who fed me a video from someone I don't even subscribe to "How to Write a Novel with the Save the Cat Beat Sheet" by Grayson Taylor. I do subscribe to channels that help with writing, so maybe that tricked the algorithm, but this video was perfect. The "save the cat" beat sheet is a list of 15 story beats that result in a compelling story, I watched this with DiaWoF in mind, and I pretty much have the first 4 beats in the story already done. Origin and Meet Relay = #1 Opening Image, first meeting with Samantha = #2 Theme stated, except she doesn't state the theme, so I'm giving her new lines "We live in a broken world. Not much we can do about it. That shouldn't stop you from finding love, if that's your goal, or finding opportunities to improve the broken world if you can." Makes her sound more like a therapist than a roommate, but it works. Date with Relay = #3 Setup, maybe a little long for a story beat, but its important to the story, and finally the new "Meet Alex" = #4 Catalyst, a call to adventure that Relay is excited about, but your feelings... Well that's what the next section is about. The beat sheet has 11 more story beats, and I used it to finish a full story outline, including alternate choice versions. So now I have a clear outline of where this is going, and an ending.
Ariane Barnes
Thanks. Yes the Samantha twist was meant as a twist, while I was developing the game. I got the idea for Samantha as a substitute for alt-Rachel in SITAR, and my second idea was, "what if she was an AI that lives in VR?" because "future". The only hints I dropped, other than her being very helpful and willing to pose nude when asked, was that her scenes all started with a drop in from above, like you were putting on a VR headset. Also the fact that you couldn't touch her was suspect. That of course means she is not your second roommate, which turns out to be your sibling = the other gendered player character. The only hint for this is found in the "former heir" origin. (And the screen where you choose the gender of your character.)
LB876
I REALLY enjoyed chapter 2. Whole lotta interesting world-building, character-building and, well, buildings - some neat-looking stuff on the River Walk. Also, the tonal shift IS pretty hefty. I know you've said it won't be the entire chapter, but that is a doozy of a left turn. Not a bad one, just a big one. One question, though: Was the "twist" with Samantha intended as a twist, or am I just really dense and missed that about her in chapter 1? Cuz I was pretty confused / surprised. (I don't think that R&M reference is that obscure, and I laughed at it. I'd be OK if it stays.)
