Devlog #01

9/03/2025: With the plan to make a narrative game, I started brainstorming different stories that I wanted to explore. I knew I wanted to do something with one of my OCs, and ended up choosing Merium, a shut-in who lives on her computer. Since she is always online, I decided I wanted to have her searching the internet for an old friend, since it would be very narrative driven and I also just enjoy searching for information online. Since I only have two weeks, I decided the art would be very minimal.

9/04/2025: I decided I wanted to make the disappearance of Merium's friend to be more recent to increase the urgency of the situation, and to make it more alarming to her, instead of looking back for someone nostalgically. I also came up with a variety of potential endings and fleshed out the themes I wanted to explore. I made sure to consider the personality of Merium to influence the endings and for future consideration of her dialogue.

9/05/2025: Today I finalized the gameplay loop concept and progression, and made a vague plan for audio (which will be very simple). While planning how game progression works, I made sure to keep in mind how I would code it so that the logic makes sense. I also planned how the story branches/where to find information to continue, as well as the topics of the links found in each section of the game.

9/06/2025: I started working on the script today, completing the intro sequence and working a bit further. I made sure to lay out my scripting document so that each game section (based on search results) is isolated and well formatted, so it's easy for me to implement as well as understand while I work. I finally made a list of assets I would need for the game, which includes the desktop, two apps,  banners/icons for each link, and a few others.

9/08-09/2025: I took a break to play silksong (lol) and to refresh my view on the project.  I figured that the scope of my project was too big and decided to tone down on aspects such as the intro sequence (which originally included logging on to your computer, and opening a DM app as well as the browser), since it wasn't mandatory and would greatly reduce my coding/art workload. Next I plan on finishing the script of the game before starting coding.