嘿,大家好!欢迎来到Patreon问答环节。音频不是很好。我没有时间去想如何把它做得更好，但希望下次它会更清晰。希望大家能理解。我有时候发音很软，但如果听不清我在说什么，就会有文字回答。感谢所有发来问题的人；我们有很多问题！我可能无法在不长篇大论的情况下回答所有这些问题，但您下次可以随时询问他们，或者只是给我发一条消息，我可以用文字回答。
这些问题将按时间顺序回答。相同的问题被放在一起，我可能无法进入的非常长的问题被放在最后，然后有一些问题我真的没有答案，主要是关于Our Life 2，这些也在最后，我会看看我是否可以尝试为这些问题想出一些东西， 或者他们可能不得不等到以后。
但是，我不想拖得太久，所以我会直接进入问题！
第一个是：
Our Life 1和Our Life 2之间艺术风格变化的原因是什么？
老实说，我只是喜欢拥有一支不同的团队和全新的面貌，尝试一些新的东西。我认为，对于一个艺术风格来说，真正完美是不同的，对于多个项目来说，即使它们有点相似的前提，但这只是我喜欢做的事情。
What is my favorite design for Cove in Steps 2, 3, and 4, including the hair styles?
Well I like all of them! I think in Step 2 the shorter hair and the red shirt; in Step 3 I like the black shirt and maybe the ponytail? But I like all the Step 3 hair styles a lot. In Step 4 I like the flower pattern blue shirt, and I guess the second shortest hair style? But again, I do really like all of them a lot.
Were Cove, Baxter, and Derek always going to be the love interests/only ones?
Yeah they were! I came up with them specifically to be love interests, they never were just regular side characters.
After finishing Derek and Baxter’s DLC, do you plan on doing anything else with OL1?
Have you thought about doing more DLC with the current LI for OLB&A with Cove after Derek and Baxter?
I mean probably not, honestly. It’ll be nice to do another Patreon bonus because that was pretty fun and I think people liked it. But I don’t know if there’s gonna be time. I guess we’ll see, but definitely not promises!
Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
Not in big ways, there are definitely like small preferences and opinions or terms or phrases that I get from other people that I use in my games. But there’s never one person that I can point to and be like “that’s the inspiration for this character.”
Summer and Fall are over; got plans for Winter and Spring games? XD
So far there’s been a game for each season: summer and fall. Will that pattern continue?
After OL2, is there a possibility for OL3? If so, what season would be more appealing, Winter or Spring?
No; there won’t be one that’s exactly like Our Life 1 and 2. Maybe we’ll do some other slice of life game with a seasonal bent, or maybe we’ll do a fantasy game that’s set in a tundra. That’ll be kind of like a winter story. But we won’t be repeating the concept of you’re a child, you grow from childhood to adulthood, and live a life with your neighbor. We’re definitely gonna come up with some other kind of concept for our future games. But whether or not they’ll be seasonal based is a consideration; it’s not impossible.
What were some ideas you couldn’t execute in OL1 that you were able to try out in OL2, if there were any?
Yeah! I definitely wanted to do a lot more with the MC creation, like having multiple pronouns and being able to accessorize clothing options, and having more color freedom in terms of the shading and the tint. And for other things like we get to have multiple arm poses for the leads in this game, and there’s more variation in the art overall, and that’s really nice. I did want you to be able to change your interest level in the middle of a Step in the first game, but I ended not doing that because the game was very big, and I was like “You know what, something needs to be limited, I’m just not going to worry about changing the relationship in the middle of a Step”. But after doing the first one now I feel like I can do more with this one. And there’s probably other things I can’t think of! But yeah there’s definitely been a lot of additions that I had hoped to do before but weren’t able to.
Are there any plans to keep going on with XOXO related content after you’re—completely—done with Our Life?
I mean, it’s definitely what I want to do. But will we be able to? I don’t know for sure. I still love those characters, it’s still fun when people send messages about them, and it would be nice to write them again. But I just don’t know how much time there’s going to be, especially with how Big Our Life 2 is already.
Do any of the other Our Life characters from either game have a favorite flower like Cove and the MC from Beginnings and Always do? I’d love to know all the love interests’ favorites in particular, like Baxter and Qiu.
Honestly, I have thought about that, but I’ve yet to make a decision. Maybe once Baxter and Derek’s DLCs are further along, I’ll be able to say for sure, and it’ll be a while for I can decide that for OL2.
Besides testing/debugging purposes, do you play the games you make for fun?
I do, but only after it’s been years. Like at least three years, but probably more like four or five (and it’s crazy that my games are old enough for that to be true!). But yeah, if they’re even kind of recent, then I cannot play them for fun at all.
Will we be able to see OL1 characters in OL2?
Any chance we’ll see more OL1 characters in OL2?
There’s Baxter, and anyone else being there is not impossible, but definitely not something I have planned for sure. It would be much later, like probably only in Step 4, there might be one other cameo. Or maybe not.
Will be there be additional characters we meet in Steps 3 & 4 of OL2, besides the aged versions of those in Steps 1 & 2? Or is the cast already plenty big just with this school cast alone?
I would say maybe. I think at least one or two more people might show up, but not a lot more.
Who’s your most favourite character you’ve created?
I can’t pick! There’s too many, and I like them all. I’m pretty bad at choosing favorites in general, for everything.
Will we get to see a baby picture of Derek at any point in the OL1 DLC?
I mean, I wasn’t planning on it, but maybe that could be inserted if people are particularly interested.
Are you thinking about adding romanceable characters through DLC for OL2 like you did for OL1?
I’m thinking about it, but I’m not thinking that it will for sure happen. It’s going to take a very long time to finish that game, and I just don’t know how likely it is right now. I definitely have to finish Derek and Baxter before I can sort of start to guess how long Our Life 2 is going to take without extra DLC, but for now it’s definitely just the two.
How your meetings with all your colleagues go? Your typical meeting, for example.
There are no meetings! At GB Patch Games I just email everybody individually and they don’t have to talk to each other.
Could you tell us more about Cliff’s past? The few things they said in the game made me curious.
Well he’s an only child, and obviously he did not have a very good relationship with his parents. He was also born in California, and raised there, and he was kind of a trouble making child. He acted out, he did things he shouldn’t, he fell in with the wrong crowd. He probably broke laws, he drank and he did drugs, as in like weed. But I guess it’s hard to say because I’m not totally sure what to mention. I guess that’ll have to do, sorry! But if you wanted to know something more specifically, you can let me know.
Would love to know a bit more backstory on our moms from OL1! Like how they grew up or how they met and fell in love :)
Pamela grew up in the mid-west, and her family is more traditional. She does have a sibling. Noelani is an only child and she grew in Hawaii. Her family is more progressive, but they’re not as progressive as some of the other characters in the game, like the main cast. But they at least try to get it. Both of them moved to California for collage, and that’s where they met. And then they fell in love there!
What do you look for when considering VAs for any of your projects?
Definitely better audio quality than mine! And being able to accurately express a range of emotions, especially in a short amount of time because we do a lot of little quick lines that have to say a lot right away. And there’s one thing I don’t look for, and that’s really sort of energetic and extra expressive types of delivery that you might do for an animated show. And sometimes if they go a little too expressive, then I have trouble considering them because with a visual novel where the images are static, then the emotions can’t be too high because I just don’t think it fits that much emotion with an image that doesn’t move. So if you audition for one of our projects, being able to act but not add too much extra excitement is usually the best way to go.
What type of coding /software do you use? Cause making a VN is simple enough in planning, but when you hit the physical coding I could see it being confusing or an Actual block in progress.
We use the engine Renpy. That’s always what we’ve used for all of our projects. It uses python, and then a lot of preestablished scripts that do a lot of general visual novel stuff. I don’t do the really complicated stuff like the character creation screen, but in terms of just adding text into it and putting images and music and choices, I think it’s pretty easy to get if you follow a good tutorial and check out example scripts.
Even if it’s not part of the OL series, will you make choice heavy games like this from now on? Or is it too much to code?
The answer is probably yeah. I definitely really like the high amount of choice. I don’t really think I could go back. It would definitely have to be way, way, way more plot heavy for me to start taking away the amount of choices. But if it’s at all about romance or about life, then I’d definitely want to have as many choices as possible because that’s what I like!
When giving instructions to the character sprite artists, how detailed of an idea do you usually have of what the characters should look like?
I would say it’s fairly detail, but not 100% strict. I write out “I want their hair at this length, in this style, and here’s some example images”, but there’s usually room for them to not copy the example images 100%, and they can do it a little differently based on what sort of the overall look is going to be like. It is partially collaborative, but I definitely specify every aspect, every piece of clothing, every part of their face, and they’re different body types and any things like scars or moles.
OL is such a choice-heavy game that I’ve always wondered how you guys manage to keep track of all different choices/branches! Do you use any special programs to keep track of them?
How do you keep track of all the possible choices and outcomes while you are working on the game script?
Mostly I just remember them! I don’t us a program, I don’t even really write them down anywhere else, I just remember the scripts. And basically if I don’t remember it, then it doesn’t get referenced. If I tried harder to keep track of it maybe there’d be even more references. But, I like to say that if I don’t remember it, then maybe it’s not actually that important to reference. I’m usually pretty good at remembering the best things to include for choices and branches and alterations.
Hello! I have a question: a while back, after the release of the Patreon 18+ Moment, I recall that maybe there could be another one for Step 4?
I sort of mentioned this before, and the answer is I do want to, but I don’t know if I actually can do it in between finishing everything else. We’ll see.
Have you considered posting an interactions map for players looking for specific dialogue?
Technically, that was a reward for the Kickstarter, but I’m starting to think I might have to refund people who got that because I don’t know if it’s going to be possible. The game got so much bigger, and with so many more little alterations than I thought. I don’t think there’s going to be a reasonable way to present it all in like a PDF that anyone could actually follow. It would just be too convoluted and confusing. I mean, I might try one more time, but I don’t know if that’s ever going to end up existing.
When the Baxter DLC is in development, will we get a sprite for when we see him in the soiree?
I was going to say no, and I have said no in the past because the fun is that it’s sort of a surprise that is just a random faceless character, and then it turns out to be someone you actually meet. But by the time Baxter’s DLC comes out, maybe it won’t be worth keeping the surprise anymore because a lot of players will have seen that interaction with him, either through Cove’s story or Derek’s. So maybe it would be more fun to have him appear if you get the Baxter’s DLC. I guess maybe? Can’t say definitely yes, but I am starting to lean towards that being a possibility.
Hi, I was wondering if you’ve ever thought of making a yandere DLC?
No; well, I do have XOXO Blood Droplets of course. But if you mean for future games, then no, just because there isn’t going to be time to make those kinds of fun extra types of things anymore, unfortunately. At least, not a brand-new thing. Maybe we can still do things like the second Patreon moment, but can’t promise even more new DLCs.
Will you be including pets in the second game?
For a future game, would it be possible for the MC to get a pet from a small pet shop/animal shelter?
In Our Life 2, I don’t think so because it’s such a long amount of time, and the pet – first of all it could likely die, depending on what you get, after so many years – but even if they got it later in life, or it was an animal that could live a long time, I just wouldn’t want to make a pet that’s just a super, super minor thing that’s just referenced barely. But I also don’t really want to have to write in a pet as like a character in its own right, where it’s sort of constantly showing up in moments and basically always having to be considered – where it is and what it’s doing – I think it would just unfortunately take too much time away from other things. But if we do a future game, where it’s less of this super long story that is already having so many things it needs to get to, then yeah maybe we could have another game with pets.
I was wondering if there will be extra content for OL2, such as the 18+ moment for OL1? Completely understand if this is too far out to know though (:
Do you ever plan on making any more bonus moments for OL 1 or 2? Whether it’s 18+ or not?
I guess there could be! It’ll be a very long time from now, but maybe when Our Life 2 is finished, things won’t be as busy as they are now, and then we could start doing extra DLCs like that again, but it would definitely be years from now, unfortunately.
Assuming that this is the last of the Our Life series, have you thought about what the next project will be or are just strictly focusing on the next Our Life game? I recall a post last summer discussing some future Ideas you’ve had.
Yes, I definitely have actually, I have a lot of ideas about it. It could still change over the years it’s going to take to finish Our Life 2, but right now I do know what want, at least what I want in this moment. I do pretty regularly write down ideas, and do brainstormings. If you see my updates on Twitter and you see “miscellaneous planning” or “miscellaneous brainstorming”, that’s means it’s for that future project after Our Life 2. And I think it’s pretty cool so far!
Hey curious, this might be too much of a spoiler, but will you be able to have a wedding with Derek in his DLC at the endgame?
No, unfortunately not. The Wedding DLC with Cove is so long! It’s I think the second longest DLC there is. It’s probably as long as Derek’s whole DLC is going to be by itself, so we unfortunately can’t replicate that with Derek, otherwise it would basically double the amount of content he has. And unfortunately there isn’t time to give him that much content. But hopefully the storyline he does get will be a good time.
I have had a question in mind for a while: Will OL2 have the same range of customisation as OL1 doll maker? Are there specific things that will be locked depending on steps like hair styles and such? Will anything visually that wasn’t in OL1’s customisation system be added? (Like new piercings, Earrings, Etc.)
Will the MC in OL2 have more piercing’s options? As I like my MC to have a tongue piercing when they are in step 2 or 3.
I would say yes to all of those. The doll is definitely incomplete. The artist is still working on new batches all the time. I would imagine there will be some elements that you can only have once you’re older. We are doing new piercings and earrings. I think that’s actually in the current batch that the artist is making right now. It’s still going to be a little while longer before that’s finished, but hopefully we’ll be able to share previews in the coming weeks.
Will there be voiced MC names in OL2? Would MC nicknames also be VO’d?
There will be voiced names, but there won’t be voiced nicknames. Since there’s four Steps and two leads, it’s going to take eight voice actors to get a single name done, and we can’t coordinate that for first names and then also nicknames. So unfortunately, those will have to go unvoiced.
I feel like people have probably asked this but will the Derek DLC be released altogether step 2 & 3, or will they be released separately?
It will be released all together. Step 2 and Step 4 will be released in one DLC, at the same time, and then it will be complete.
Do you have any exact plans for the Kickstarter, like what will be tier and if they will be similar to OL1 except, for the voiced name tiers lmao, and maybe a season you think it will go up?
It’ll definitely be sometime next year. I am starting to have plans for the tiers, and they will be somewhat similar to Our Life 1, but definitely not exactly the same. I guess optimistically maybe it could be Spring 2023, but it probably will be late Spring 2023. But yeah I would Summer is probably too late, so tentatively I guess Spring 2023 for the Our Life 2 Kickstarter.
Also will we get a scene like the near kiss with Cove in Road Trip for Derek and Baxter?
No? But maybe I’m not sure what you mean. There’s probably not going to be a moment where you try to kiss them and they run away because they’re not really like Cove! If you tried to kiss them, they would be happy about that. But if you maybe mean, I guess moments where there’s almost romantic progression but then they pull back, then yeah there will be things like that, but not exactly the same.
Can I date Nicolas someday?
No, unfortunately not. But I’m glad you like him! I think he’s pretty cool.
When will XOBD DLC release?
I have no idea. Probably not until Derek and Baxter’s DLCs have released. Unless – something I’m considering – is maybe just having someone else entirely write the last routes. I usually write all of the XOXO stuff myself, but maybe I will have to see if I can find someone else who can just write it. But it’s like, I don’t want it to be done just to be done, I still want it to be good and what I imagined. So, we’ll have to keep thinking about that one.
Having/adopt children was mentioned in the cove DLC and I believe in step 3 also, so what would be some Cove approved baby names?
He’s not very creative, so he would probably want to name it after someone they know who they cared about, like a family member, or go with a really on the nose ocean themed name, or go with something like Poppy. He would go with the obvious options, that is how far his creativity goes. But he’d also be supportive if he had a more imaginative partner who could come up with a wider range of ideas.
In OL2 Step 3 they’re about 18 right? Will Step 3 take place in their freshman year of college? Or will it be senior year in high school?
It will be after High School, but they may not be in collage, just because Step 1 and 2 is probably going to have a lot of school stuff, and I feel like having a third step that’s focusing on finishing school probably would be overkill, and so they’re going to be graduated by then.
Will the jealousy options in OL2 be enough to cause a rift in friendships?
No! It can cause drama, but there’s no way to actively ruin your relationship with the characters. Like, you can go from being friends or crushes to just being neighbors, but it wouldn’t happen in the middle of a Step, where you have a big falling out just because it’s just not really the type of scenes I want to make. I’d rather focus on making content that’s not as depressing, but still dramatic.
When Cove was attending high school with MC and friends, could he handle the noisy lunch room– or did he choose to eat/go somewhere quieter, like outside or to the library?
He definitely didn’t like the lunch room, there was way too much going on, way too many conflicting sources of sounds, and so he would usually go outside. Or at least somewhere else if he wasn’t able to get all the way outside.
A while ago it was mentioned that from Step 2 onwards in OL there is going to be a jealousy mechanic. I don’t understand completely. If you cannot go into how it works, but I was wondering because at one point it said something about a divide between wanting attention from and being protective. What determines this? Is it the optional attitudes you can choose at the end of a step? (Doting, Idolising etc.) Or is the jealousy mechanic a one size fits all thing? I hope the question is clear and thank you for everything that you do. Your games have helped so many people, me included and I wanted you to know how grateful we are for them.
Yes, the jealousy feature will work like the other dynamic choices where you get to pick if they’re jealous because they want the main character’s attention, or they’re jealous because they want something the main character has. And what exactly they want will depend on what your main character is like, it can be different things. Maybe they’re jealous of the relationship they have with their mom, or maybe the way they fit in at school, or if you give you main character a talent maybe they’re jealous of that. And then obviously if they’re just jealous because they want the main character’s attention then what they’re jealous of is the fact that they’re not getting as much attention as they want.
Would you ever consider selling the soundtrack for OLBAA & OLNAF? I’d love to own them! Or if you could put them on Apple music! Or Spotify!
You can get the soundtracks for the first Our Life on Itch and Steam, and once Our Life 2 is out the soundtrack will go up there as well. I have no idea how to put things on Apple Music or Spotify, so I don’t know if that will ever happen.
What programs and pens do the artist use to create the OL1 and OL2 characters?
I don’t know what pens they use, but the programs they use are Photoshop and MediBang. Some of them might use other programs. Sometimes they send me the program files, and sometimes they just send it as PNGs, so I’m not sure for all of them.
Oh, hey, I had to pause for a second because I realized there was a question people didn’t ask but I think might be helpful, and it’s how to pronounce Autumn’s name in Our Life 2 because we’re getting into some questions about them. And so I’m just going to say that first. And my Chinese pronunciation is not the best, but it’s “Qiu” (sounds like “Cho”). So if you hear that name, that’s who I’m referring to, the love interest from Our Life 2.
Does the OL2 MC influence Tamarack and Qiu’s relationship in any way, or are they friends either way?
They can based on the jealousy meter, but other than that not really. Obviously if they’re not sort of conflicting over that element then they’re not really going to be any less close because of what the main character does. And they have their own ups and downs based on their own dynamic.
Would it be possible for a Ren route DLC similar to Derek/Baxter exist after OL2 comes out?
Maybe, that’s one of those thing that will have to wait until much later in Our Life 2’s development, but it’s definitely something I’m considering for her if it’s possible.
Do you ever plan on working on Floret Bond again, or has it been completely scrapped?
I would like to! See this is the problem: I have too many things I need to finish before I can start promising new things. But, unfortunately for that project, we would have to start almost from scratch, so I really don’t know if we could pick it back up. And it’s because none of the artists are available, that’s why we had to stop it in the first place. And I don’t think we could find someone who could perfectly match the style, and so it’d all have to be redone. The script wasn’t finished – it was further along than the demo – but it wasn’t completely finished, so I just don’t know if it can be completely reborn and released. But it would definitely be nice if we could.
Are there actual ghosts or vampires in the OL universe?
They exist as they do in the real world, where they’re not a proven fact, but some people do believe in them and swear they exist, but it’s kind of up to you to decide if you believe in them or if you don’t think there’s evidence of that. But it’s definitely not a for sure thing.
In the Derek and Baxter Step 4 DLCs will there be 5 moments, or is it more like one big long moment?
It will be one long Moment for Step 4, but there are five moments in Step 2 for Derek, and Step 3 for Baxter.
I have a question about Qiu. His characterization as a popular kid is interesting, and I’ve been thinking about the Step 2 cast. Seemingly there’s no character that somehow follows the trend of adoring Qiu (besides maybe MC). Vianca thinks of them as a rival; Serenity thinks they’re very unapproachable; I don’t think Ren sees them that way; Baxter sees Qiu as a kid and so on. Maybe some of them (Serenity?) do express that kind of “adoration” for him? Or is it only relegated to background characters\classmates?
Mostly yes. Serenity and Bianca and Tamarack and Ren, they definitely all see them as extremely cool and definitely someone who is talented and impressive in many ways, but they don’t really act super adoringly. A lot of the other classmates don’t either. It’s not sort of like they have “fans”. It’s just they’re deemed as like cool, as like high on the social food chain. And so there is some of that with the Step 2 cast, but no one’s treating them like a celebrity sort of thing.
Will there be a new OL merch? Like the mug Cove bought for MC, Cove’s perfume, and Cove’s pajamas?
Maybe. I still can’t promise for sure. I think it is something we’re working towards, but I still can’t promise it 100% for sure yet, unfortunately. I’m sorry about that.
The art work shows Tamarack and Qiu full body but most of the game you only see part of their legs. The scene usually describes if they have certain pants, socks shoes, or whichever. But will we ever see them further away? Like Qiu T2 shown walking with his bike, but will we see him full body actually doing so, or like Tamarack with her new leggings and new boots?
I don’t actually know. I have no idea which scenes are going to get CGs yet. I do think they have a cool design and nice shoes, so maybe there will be CGs that show those off.
Is there a chance for an OL prequel? Back when the parental figures from OL1 and/or OL2 were young?
I’m afraid not. It’s a good idea, but I don’t know what I would do with that. I mean, it wouldn’t be a game. It would have to be a set story because you couldn’t influence what happened really. I guess a kinetic visual novel, but there probably won’t be time to make it. Regrettably, there is very little time, and these games take forever.
Would our MCs be able to display souvenirs in their room in OL2?
I don’t actually know. I definitely need to talk to the background artist about how many alterations in a background are feasible and reasonable. But I am hoping that the rooms can be a little more customizable in this next game, and maybe being able to display things you get throughout the story in it will be one of those things increases in customization.
Would Qiu take advantage of how popular they are if they really wanted to?
I guess yes, kind of? They mostly see it as a hinderance rather than a benefit, but later in life, once they’re older, they could potentially sort of make that work for them.
If Cove woke up from a nightmare, what would he do to calm himself down? (walk around, listen to music, talk to MC about it, etc.)
That’s very sad! It would depend on his age: like in Step 1, he would probably just sit on his bed and wait for morning to come, and he might cry because he’s upset that he can’t go to his parents because his mom’s not there and he’s mad at his dad. And when he’s older he might get up and open the window and look outside – he might even sneak outside! – and he could potentially call the MC or sneak over to their window depending on how late or early it is, and how close they are.
How do you come up with ideas for Moments?
I’d also really like to know how Moments are chosen!
I don’t know – well, I do know. Basically, I want a sort of – there are things I know that I want to come up in terms of like emotional beats, and I know I want there to be a balance of fun Moments. And so I’ll divide it into “This is going to be this Moment that focuses on the main character’s life and what they’re going through, and this Moment that’s more about the leading character, and then there’s gonna be this Moment where it’s sort of like both of them going through something together, and then there’s gonna be like two where it’s mostly just like fun and light hearted.” And then I’ll start coming up with things that are different from each other, and that sort of have enough going on to be worth a full Moment in terms of length. I usually want the characters to go from one location to another, or if they are in one location it’s got to be something big and interesting. And so I think about things like that. And then I start considering classic Summer – or in the next game, class Fall – activities. And what I’ll usually do is I’ll come up with a few things I think are fun and then usually put at least two together to make that long enough to be a Moment. And then it kind of comes together like a puzzle piece, where I know certain aspects that it needs to have, and then I start creating things to fit the spots that are unfilled.
Out of all the games that you guys have made, what was your favorite to work on?
Probably XOXO Droplets in terms of making it because that game is dialogue only, and I struggle writing descriptions. And that game is also almost entirely comedy, and I definitely have to work harder to do more serious, emotional, or dramatic things. And so making that game was very easy, it just sort of came on very fun, very simply. I didn’t to like really study or like come up with interesting ways to phrase things. I just got to write silly conversations. And so that was my favorite in terms of working on it just because it was so much easier than almost all our other projects.
Do you think the romance in OL2 will feel different for players than in OL1 with Cove? Since we have 2 romanceable characters for OL2 from the get go, and they’re different characters than Cove.
Definitely, yeah. The two leads are not like Cove at all, really, and you can do more in this game. They dynamic system changes a lot of things in terms what you’re impacting. And so I do think it’s not going to be comparable to Cove. But I think that’s a good thing! Because – I don’t know – if they did compare that close to Cove, they might lose.
Will there be a platonic route for the Derek/Baxter DLCs, or are they strictly romance paths?
Yes, you do not have to have romantic feelings for them, or you can start having a crush in the first Step they appear, and then not have it in Step 4. It’s definitely fine if you’re just very good best friends forever.
Will there be a crossover event with the MC’s from OLBAA and OLNAF?
No. Yeah, I don’t know how I’d be able to write that because they’re both so customizable, there wouldn’t really be a way to determine how one should act, unless you’re controlling both. And I don’t know how that would work if you controlled both. So I’m afraid they can never meet.
If Cove was the new kid in OL2, what would his relationship with Qiu and Tam be like?
He definitely wouldn’t be that into them because they come on very strong, and that is not his style in Step 1. I think he would grow to be close friends with them later in life, but his relationship would probably be quite sour originally. Because those two would want to be friends and get along, and he would “No, I don’t want that.”
In OL1 every once in a while there would be an opportunity to decide how school was going. How is that going to work in OL2, since our MCs are actively going to school?
It’s going to work a similar way where they’ll just be pretty obvious telegraphed choices where you can determine “Yeah, I’m having an easy time”, “Ah, I’m having a hard time.” And it’ll probably just happen a little more often, where it’ll be like you’re in class and you can choose if you’re struggling, and then maybe in another scene you’re doing homework and you can decide if you’re doing well, and then maybe there’s going to be a test and you can decide if you’re doing well. And it’ll sort of all combine together to make a decision on how well your character is doing overall in school.
Will there be more scar options and such for the MC?
Whoops! That was supposed to go up with the other one. Yes, we are working on more options for the main character. It’s definitely very much still in progress.
Is there a plan for Delinquent options?
Yes. You can’t be super bad, but there will be times where you can refuse to participate in things or not be in a good mood, and not care about school that much, not try. But you probably can’t do super bad things that are gonna get you expelled.
What was your inspiration behind Cove and how did the process of making him come alive?
Did you have any inspirations for Cove’s character? Like his personality, the iconic hair and eyebrow colour?
What led to Cove having wavy eyebrows and green hair? (asking as both in game reasons and as a creative decision).
I wanted Cove to be – well basically – I definitely wanted him to be my preferences, and I knew when I was making a summer game with one lead character, I just instantly decided he was gonna have this super distinct, bold, sea foam green hair color. Because love characters with green hair, and I really wanted just that super sea foam color. If we were going to do a summer game with just one lead, it had to be that. And other parts of his design came from wanting him to be able to genuinely lean in like a sport or studious way. And in Step 1 he’s supposed to have the potential to go either way, where he’s kind of like a dorky looking kid, but you can sort of see how he might grow up to be more sporty, or stay more studious. And then the wavy eyebrows came from the fact that he was a very sad little boy, and the bent eyebrows made him look even more sad all the time. And obviously wavy also fit the theme of summer. And honestly, I really like characters with distinct, weird eyebrows. That’s one of the best traits you can have! And for his personality: when he very first started out, basically everything I came up with for him was to work with all the crazy gameplay features I was coming up with. The warm and the cold, the sport and the studious, the fact that he has different ages, and I wanted him to be different in the different ages. He was originally sort of very hollow because of that, and I honestly did not know how I was going to write him or make him interesting because he wasn’t a character, he was a vehicle for gameplay elements. What got me into finally being able to really get into him as a character was to do what I like to do, and that’s give him very distinct flaws. It was for Step 1, I realized that I could make him – he could still have all his other traits – but I could make him a very grumpy boy, who’s blunt and not very friendly because he’s going through a hard time, and he is just a kid. And that’s when I started really getting into Cove and thinking of him as an actual character and a person. Like “What would he be going through?” and “How would he act?” And I could start giving him real personality traits based on himself and the story, rather than the starting point where he had to be able to go either way for those gameplay elements. And then we got to Step 2: I realized he was kind of nervous in the first Step, and then I really wanted to go with that in Step 2, and he was sort of awkward. He couldn’t be grumpy anymore, he had gotten past that, and so I started leaning into the nervousness and the awkwardness, and that fact that he’s a little bit spoiled still and does what he wants, he always does what he wants. But then by Step 3, that was the important moment. Because it was a story where you have been with this character for a long time, you’ve been through his grumpy phase and his really nervous stage, and it’s really the only time where it’s – I think – it was justified to just go all in on just being affectionate and cherishing the main character. Because you can’t just do that out of nowhere. But I think it was earned. You earned that amount of sweetness because of everything you went through before. We didn’t just say it happened, you had to actually go through it. And that meant that I could make a character who as sweet and affectionate as possible because you actually had to work to actually get there. And so I definitely went all in on that, and I thought it was very fun. And then of course in Step 4 it was mostly continuing how it was in Step 3, but a little more confident, a little more mature. But that’s basically the thought process of how Cove came along.
And now we’re mostly into the longer questions, and then the questions that I don’t really have a good answer to, or there are a couple questions that are answer in the Q&A that I already have in text form.
I think I’m only going to have time to answer one of these broader questions that are more discussion topic-y, and the one that came in the most is: How did you get the idea to make the OL games? What inspired you to first create the Our Life series? And so that is the one I’m going to do. The other ones will have to wait until another time. But I appreciate how many questions got sent in! I think it went really well. But, for this final question:
I would say that Our Life is a game that’s definitely for me. It’s what I like. It’s what I hope to be able to create, and a lot of it is inspired by my own life and the people that I know. When I first started making visual novels that I intended to sell, I didn’t know if I would be able to do it full time, and I had that sort of moment where, you’re trying to make something more of a business, and you start to wonder “What can I do that people will want, that people will buy?” And I tried to come up with an idea that I thought would be a good thing to make in terms of being successful. And eventually, usually, you have to get over that because most people don’t have the sort of marketing ability to make a game that’s good for other people. You just have to accept that you need to make the game that you want, and then hope you can succeed at the execution well enough that other people will like it to. And I was able to get there. I was able to go back to how it was when I was making games just for fun, when I made what I wanted, and it didn’t matter how other people would feel about it. I mean, it was slightly different because with Our Life I did care a lot about how other people would feel about it, but it’s because I had sort of an experience that I wanted to give other people. It was: I wanted to make a story that felt nostalgic and sentimental. And if other people didn’t feel that, then what was the point? And I wanted that because I’m just a nostalgic and sentimental person! And also I really like games with aging, where characters grow over time, or even games where characters just have different versions or forms. There’s just something I really like about characters who have one version of themselves and then another that you can compare, and so I knew I wanted to do that. And I’m also a big fan of the childhood friend trope; that is my trope! And some people like to say that it’s boring, and I had to come and show them that it could be good! You just had to be there. So, I just started coming up with all these things that I liked, that I wanted to do, that I didn’t know for sure if it would all come together, and if people would enjoy it the way that I did. But I wanted to try. When I started coming up with this, the idea of basically having it be the player’s life came to mind, where obviously if it’s going to be sentimental and personal, then it needs to be their life. And that’s where I started coming in with letting you customize the relationship, and letting you influence Cove over the years because you’re having a real relationship with him, and being able to choose all this stuff for yourself. And whenever I sort of didn’t know what to go with for the main character in order to make it something that everybody could feel good about, my solution was just “I know! I’ll make it a choice, and they can decide!” Like in terms of how physical contact went, how can I make that something that all players are going to feel good with? Initiative system! There we go, just add another choice for them to make. And so that’s how more and more customization became a bigger part of it because if the goal was to make people feel a part of this, so they can really connect to it, I had to let them actually have their own influence over it. And, to get sort of some the event ideas and the setting, that did come from my life. I was born in California, that’s where I was raised. My parents divorced and my dad got custody – it wasn’t as nice as it was as in the game – but just things like that. I tried to just make it something that could mean something to me, and then hopefully would mean something to other people. And I think it went alright. I’m very happy with it. I’m really happy to see how many other people have come to enjoy it.
And that is going to be the whole Q&A! Thank you so much for sending in questions, and if you listen to this or read the transcript, I think it was pretty cool to try this out. And we will try to do another Q&A next month. So, by everybody!