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Strangers on Paper - DevLog #19 About Character Creation
🕑 Added 2023-07-31 11:30:01 +0000 UTCMC’s backstory? Amy’s curves? Becca’s hair?! We’ve been teasing at this dev log for long enough and I’m currently going through a fever-induced writing frenzy so sit tight, ‘cause it’s gonna be a long one.
First of all, let’s get some things out of the way:
- If you’ve been dying to support us but can’t spare any bucks at the moment, here’s your chance! Add SOP to your wishlist on Steam and you’re already helping a ton!
- If you actually can spare a few bucks, there’s ONE free spot at the Childhood Crush Tier, the only one to include a physical monthly reward.
- LAST FEW DAYS TO FEATURE YOUR WORDS OF LOVE IN CHAPTER 2. GO, GO, GO!
- Big disclaimer: This is a long dev log. Like, we’ve done some of those, but this may be the longest so far. And as such, you may look at it and wonder, why take time away from actual script writing? And the answer is, we're not. We write these dev logs, make weekly renders, create behind-the-scenes content and so on partly to stay in touch with our audience and to reward them for their support on Patreon, but also for ourselves. They're our little reflection time that allows us to have a better understanding of and deeper love for what we're doing. The time we spend doing these things is not time taken away from development, but time used to develop our skills, de-stress from the workload without completely disconnecting from SOP, heal burnout, fall in love with our story and characters all over again.
- Smaller disclaimer: Gizmo here, I did write most of this while burning up with a fever before passing out. I think you can read that in the way it shows my raw love for these characters but… that’s nothing new. I’d like to thank you all for your support and lovely messages, we’ve both fully recovered by now (well, Grogu’s still on the road to that).
- LAST disclaimer, I swear: This dev log was partly inspired by MibsMeebe, who asked about how we worked on the creation of these characters. Thanks for the question, sorry it took us A WHILE to get here!
Gizmo: From the moment I came up with Strangers on Paper, I knew I wanted it to be about the people in it. At least for this story in particular, I had no interest in weaving any intricate plot. I wanted to have characters that felt real to me, that were fun to talk with, that were flawed and struggling but doing their best. I wanted it to be about human connection, and how that (or the lack of it) can shape us.
As a writer, it is impossible for me not to put some parts of real people into these characters, which doesn’t make any of them an exact copy of anyone in particular. There’s quirks, mannerisms, pieces of backstories, and many details that have been inspired by people I’ve encountered throughout my life, people I’ve talked to at bars, and well, myself. And then a ton of shit I just made up because it felt right.
So… let’s dive into it.
Becca
I’ve said before Becca pretty much gave birth to SOP, being the character that inspired us to start this AVN, even if Amy was created years before in a different story of mine. She has undergone a lot of physical changes from her early days.
Grogu: Like I mentioned in a previous dev log, Becca was a character I already had in the works. At first, I had this concept for a game that just didn't take off, but thankfully, after showing it to Gizmo, she didn't end up collecting dust in some forgotten folder on my hard drive. It's pretty cool how certain features or stuff I do in the renders, and even the little mistakes I make unintentionally (hello, Becca’s fingerguns), influence Gizmo's ideas for writing about each character.
From the very first sketch until today, Becca has gone through some serious "physical" changes, way beyond just switching up her hair color. So, I wanna take this chance to share some renders of things that might not be super noticeable or appreciated in the final renders of SOP but are totally important in making her feel more like a real person (moles, stretch marks, and so on)
Gizmo: Now, let me get this out of the way: Becca was always meant to have a different hair color in every chapter. If you’ve been following us from the zone (or if you got the very early version of Chapter 1), you may have seen that one oldish preview of her with her red hair.
This is part of her character. Just like with many things in life, she’s impulsive, struggles to settle, to understand what “feels right” for her, not to mention she despises her natural hair color for personal reasons. I think it was on the week of release that Grogu had an epiphany and told me her hair should be blonde in the second chapter instead of red, which works much better for me narratively. In a way, blonde is her transition color.
Just like with her tattoos - which we spent over 2 hours choosing and debating about -, this decision was not a light one, and it came from a place of “this feels right for the kind of story we want to tell”.
As for the rest of her, the details of her backstory, her personality, her sexuality, and pretty much everything about her came to me quite naturally - so naturally that sometimes I’d forget to mention major things to Grogu only for him to go “wait, what?” when confronted with these, but I guess that’s part of Becca’s charm.
Amy
Grogu: Creating Amy was way more organic, not only because of all the things I learned making Becca but also because Gizmo shared some images of an actress we used as inspiration for her character.
The whole concept of the popular girl got me thinking about certain traits and preconceptions we have about this type of person, so I incorporated things like acne marks and skin imperfections, among other stuff, to give her that "realistic" touch and break away from the 100% flawless and plastic skin look I dislike.
Gizmo: Like Grogu mentioned, with Amy I was interested in representing a side of the popular girl that doesn’t usually get shown in most media I’ve seen. Just like characters like Becca sometimes get reduced to a manic pixie, girls with some of Amy’s qualities tend to be shown to behave a lot differently. I wanted to bring some much-needed kindness and compassion into this character - and it worked to the point in which I can’t think of her without smiling.
Where Becca thinks she knows what she wants and goes for it without looking back, Amy watches every step she takes without actually looking where she’s headed towards. This made her a tricky character to write, while conversations with her flowed the most naturally.
The complexity in her came from how her character handles her values in life which made her backstory a tough but fun one to write out. Many details about it were inspired by true life experiences, and some actually came from those things mentioned about her physical appearance: Her acne scars, the way she wears her hair, her… curves. Not a month goes by without Grogu or I pointing out that, damn, she turned out unexpectedly curvy.
I’d also like to add that this is, to this date, one of my most favorite renders of Amy:
Yet, the whole “jumping the fence” moment was not originally part of the script. Grogu was working on the scene, got inspired and created that masterpiece and sent it to me. The moment I saw it, with her disheveled hair and everything, I just had to write it into the script.
The MC
Grogu: Physically, the MC still remains a challenge because we're never 100% satisfied, but I've reached a point where I feel a bit more comfortable. All throughout development, the MC has been undergoing a lengthy process of getting small details added including wrinkles, dry lips, and a little mark/scar beneath one of their eyes (which, by the way, change color???).
I gave the MC the same treatment as Amy and Becca when it comes to their skin, and for those interested, I basically started using a program called Substance Painter (or as I like to call it, Substance Pain-in-the-ass-ter) to create the "normal maps" and add those beautiful pore details.
Gizmo: Here’s where it gets really tricky. To be completely honest, we couldn’t have cared less about him originally. I had a vague idea of what his backstory was and such, but it wasn’t until we got into r/AVN_Lovers that we realized our belief that most people prefer a bland MC so they can self-insert was… wrong. Plus, the more I wrote, the more I realized it was important for me to get to know the person who was actually telling the story, as obvious as that may seem.
That being said, there are some traits that were always there from the beginning: He’s a bit of an insecure guy, especially when it comes to his work or social situations. As a socially anxious bean, he will change his behavior drastically depending on who he’s interacting with, or how high his level of comfort around that person is - the most extreme examples in the first chapter can be seen in his initial reaction to Becca’s presence, who first completely throws him off at a moment when he was mostly “chilling”, and then their final interactions in which he feels comfortable to get out of his head and put himself in her high-heeled shoes.
His insecurities also come up when he observes Amy, and how easy it all looks for her. But there’s also the fact that he’s a bit of a judgemental ass and is constantly making mostly baseless assumptions about her… And about Tony and Becca and everyone around him. So yeah, he’s not the most reliable narrator, but just like the other characters, he’s doing his best with what he was given.
I sort of feel the need to reiterate these qualities of him because I’ve noticed some players seem to forget the story and characters are all seen through his lens, and like I said, not exactly the most reliable ones, for good or for bad.
While sometimes we may regret not giving him more importance in Chapter 1, I feel like it suits his character: He doesn’t believe this to be his story, so it’s only right it feels that way. He’s an observer, he’s looking to have his mind changed, and he’ll make the effort, once pushed in the right direction.
Which takes us to…
Tony!
Tony has almost-unexpectedly become one of my favorite characters to write. I mean, I should have known I’d fall in love with him.
Storytime: When I was twenty-five, I walked into a bar for the first time, Amy-style. Actually, it was more like MC-style, since that was the bar I was going to be working at. The bartender’s name was Tony, and that dude had the friendliest, coolest energy I’d ever seen. One night we were just getting to know each other, the next night he was creating a drink after me, making up a dance routine for the two of us, stealing my sweets and turning them into shots. For the months I worked there, everything was a lot more fun when Tony was around. He took care of everyone while he invited them to have blow jobs or jagger bombs, he would help me pretend I was sober the few times I overdid it, he would stand up for me and give me great, loving advice.
I knew I wanted to honor this person by giving a character his name, but SOP’s Tony has always been his own person. I wanted to convey that kind energy, plus the things I appreciate the most in the people in my life that would make up for his flaws because, well, nobody's perfect.
One thing I’ve sort of struggled with from the beginning is the fact that Becca’s story is strongly connected to him (for obvious reasons), and therefore pursuing Amy felt like missing out on getting to know him better. While there’s no escaping that, I’m happy about the way things have and will continue to play out, and nowadays I view each path more as different rather than less/more than. While open to discuss other’s lives in detail, Tony doesn’t necessarily open up much about his past, and visibly resents the MC for not participating more in his life. So, in Chapter 1, for instance, with Becca you may get a glimpse of what their past/family life was like, while with Amy, you get a glimpse of what Tony’s current life involves, with work and friends at the front.
Grogu: There’s something really interesting about Tony - he's the character with whom I can create the most funny faces and memes. For some reason, it's easier to let him be more expressive than the MC, who comes across as very dry and unexpressive (at least that's how it turns out for me when I render him).
I think that reflects a bit in his "cheerful" and always positive personality. Out of all the characters, he's the one who has undergone the fewest changes because we've been content with him from the beginning.
I've played a considerable amount of VN's, and even though Tony is our creation, and I have a lot of affection for him, I feel like he's the best bro-companion I've ever played with, and all of this is 100% thanks to Gizmo for writing his character so well.
Conclusion
Gizmo: I’ve had fun seeing how people react so differently to these characters. I understand it usually comes from a place of "this character reminds me of this person I met once and therefore this is how I see them" but some of the things I’ve read people see in them are wild to me. There’s also the fact that there’s only one chapter out there for people to judge them from, but that makes it even more fun.
I’d also like to point out that, while I’ve had chances to play with some of these peeps in DAZ with my very limited, close-to-none skills, nothing compares to seeing new images of them that Grogu creates. The amount of times my jaw just dropped. That guy doesn’t even know how freaking good he is at what he does.
Comments
snip_cz
I wanted to give this proper attention, so I put off reading it for a bit. Now that I did, along with the comments, I can only say that I'm almost looking forward more to what you'll come up with next, after SOP. :) Not because it's bad - on the contrary, if you're putting so much thought and depth into your creation, both visually and in terms of background/writing, then I would really love to see what you'll come up with in perhaps a bit more ambitious project with larger setting/cast. That is, if you decide to go for something like that in the future (no pressure.. :D ). Well anyway, let me get back to the present, still looking forward for more SOP. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!
Gloomy Ghost
You never fail to make us smile. "Allowing a player to have a different view of things than the narrator adds an element of unsureness which makes everything more interesting and a greater experience overall. Misinterpretations by the player, which I am sometimes prone to, are added to the mix." THIS! This is part of why I love first-person narratives so much. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and support!
Callisto
I don't like Mondays, but this one is an exception. A long gloomy, ghostly devlog gives enough of a good time to color a day. And I loved to read this. How characters and their personalities come to be is one of my favorite topics, so these insights where very interesting and enjoyable to read. It's also nice to see that the impressions of the characters as described in this log show up very well in that first chapter. And of course, reading it brings you even closer to these characters, which is always heartwarming. I also liked that you emphasized the unreliability of the main character. First-person narrators are always unreliable and that's why I love this kind of storytelling so much. Not only is it the most immersive way of storytelling, but there's always room for doubt regarding the narrator's interpretation. Allowing a player to have a different view of things than the narrator adds an element of unsureness which makes everything more interesting and a greater experience overall. Misinterpretations by the player, which I am sometimes prone to, are added to the mix. How bland, in comparison, is the omniscient narrator, who leaves no room for doubt or misinterpretation. And once again, the love and passion you have for your characters shows clearly and is felt while reading, it's a joy. And of course the same goes for looking at those renders; yes, Grogu is freaking good at what he does. Thanks for a lovely read that cheered up a grey Monday.
