Hello, everyone! Welcome to the February 2023 Patreon Q&A. There’s nothing really major to mention, so we can just get right into the questions.
During that scene when Qiu and Tamarack are talking about their favourite colours, and you set Qiu to crush, how come when we mention that our favourite colour is yellow, they look to Tamarack’s boots and make a look of disgust LMAO?
It’s because they want to have a way to connect themselves to the color you like. And if it’s yellow, there’s nothing particularly yellow that they can point to. But there is something very yellow about Tamarack. And so it’s like, “Oh no, not only can I not come up with an answer for myself, there was a very obvious answer right over here.” So it’s sort of just like a not ideal set of circumstances.
During their dates, Cove and the MC can say how they feel like they would have found each other no matter what. Is this actually the case if the MC hadn’t been adopted? Or did everyone just get insanely lucky?
How much of it was sort of meant to be, and how much was just sort of the-right-place the-right-time, based on luck, is up to the player. I know some definitely do like to think that they’re soul mates and absolutely would be together no matter what, and maybe others don’t feel as strongly about it. So it’s not something that I would decide for everybody.
I’m super proud of everything you’ve been doing. Look at you go!! (Thank you very much! And the question is:) What do you do during your spare time? Do you have any hobbies outside of writing and game development?
I do kind of. Most of my time is working on game related things, either ones that are actively in production or imagining things far in the future. But in the rare hours that I’m not doing that, I like to go hiking and bike riding, and I like to play other visual novels. I listen to audiobooks too, and I like to watch YouTube videos. Occasionally I watch movies, but I never watch TV shows.
Do you plan on any Patreon exclusive DLC for Our Life: Now and Forever?
The answer to that right now is no. Just because I’m only going to promise the base game and the three Step-based DLCs. I don’t know if there’s even going to be a wedding DLC right now. We won’t be able to have any potential plans for that for a long time, I’m afraid.
So we are able to pick body shapes and height in Our Life 1, with those choices which would be Baxter body shape and height? I assume slender and soft? But I’m not sure.
He would be slender, but he’s kind of fit. So I guess either soft or fit.
In Our Life 1, did Pamela and Noelani make any efforts to connect Elizabeth to her own heritage in a cultural sense? For example, through language classes or foods or involvement in a local community or in any other sense.
I think they would do that. They’re very involved parents, and they want to make sure their kids get everything they could possibly need, and being able to have a connection to their own culture is something they would count as important. But it’s not something we were able to put as an event in the game. That’s Elizabeth content off screen.
But then one comment is no questions, just lots of love and admiration from us to you and your team. Thank you very much! That’s nice of you to say.
Thanks for all the hard work of your team. I just wonder, will Baxter and the MC have a happy ending?
Yes. That screenshot we shared is not the only way things can end in Step Three. He doesn’t have to be that rude about it. And then obviously, there’s his Step Four content, and also meeting him again in the Cove wedding. So even if things do end up in a bad foot in Step Three, there’s more than one way to go on and have it recover and smooth over.
Thank you for all your hard work! After Step Four, in an instance where Baxter and the MC were dating, would he want to introduce them to his parents/take them to Golden Grove? Or is that something he would only do if the MC/his parents requested it?
This is a little bit of a spoiler. We’ve kind of mentioned it, but Baxter does not talk to his parents in Step Four. He doesn’t see them himself. So no, he will not take you to the parents. You don’t go to Golden Grove in the actual DLC. You could maybe head cannon that someday in the future he does return there. But seeing his parents would not be a part of that visit for sure.
How recently did Renee they come out? From the end of Step Two to the start of Step Three.
I imagine it’s kind of just like halfway in between them. It’s not just happening, but it also didn’t immediately happen as soon as Step Two was over.
All the mishaps that happen in “Drinks” – be it with not waking up, or with the anxiety and frustration later on - did that happen to Baxter in previous relationships? And if it did, did he take them as hard as this time?
And not really. He is used to things going at least a little better than that. Some problems, not perfect, but you can see it in most of the other moments where he’s able to recover from small problems and problems don’t always happen. But in that case, yeah, definitely did all go wrong and he was very upset by it. And he would not be as upset with other people, like especially the random people he knows in college. He’s got a good thing going on at Sunset Bird and would like that to last, at least for as long as that one summer.
In Step Three, Baxter is canonically way richer than the MC, which makes sense. But I feel in his route it would make sense for the MC’s financial status to be more relevant later on. So is that a thing we’ll be able to set up in Step Four, or is it still a headcanon?
It is still a headcanon. Your wealth doesn’t matter in Step Four because he cuts off his parents and has no connection to their money, and is just a regular guy in Step Four.
Will we be able to, at some point in the game, set up for the MC that the relationship with Baxter was never “just a summer fling”, but that they agreed to that because they didn’t want to overstep and make Baxter uncomfortable, not because they preferred it that way themselves?
Yes, sort of. There is a choice at the end where you can be like, “Oh, I’m sad it’s over, but he wants to leave and I can’t force him”. But it doesn’t go too deep, where you’re having like a whole conversation saying, “I want you to stay, but I won’t force you to stay”. You’re just sort of like, “Okay, I understand. It was nice knowing you while I had the chance”.
For the love interests of Our Life 1 and 2, what “Love Languages” do you most associate with them and the way they show their love to the MC?
That’s undecided for Our Life 2, and I don’t really know that much about Love Languages, but based on just sort of a very surface level summary, I picked words of affirmation and gift giving for Cove, acts of service for Derek, and quality time for Baxter.
Why does Baxter not want to go back to Golden Grove? He seems to either lie or not think about it ever.
There’s just not a lot there for him to go back to. He doesn’t like to face his problems, and mostly there are just problems there.
We know that Liz is straight, but has she ever been in love before off screen, or is that just not her forte?
I don’t think she was ever in love over the course of the game. She had other things she was worried about, and maybe even further in the future at a point in time that we aren’t making content about it does happen. But it’s not really something she’s experienced so far.
Is the default for Tamarack and Qiu to be friends with each other? I wondered this after seeing them in the diner sketch together.
Yes, they will be friends regardless of the relationship you have with the both of them.
Does Baxter smoke at any point in his life? Would he care if the MC smokes?
No, he doesn’t smoke. This is one of those writer biases where I have very bad asthma and smoke is very terrible to me. So as a gift to myself, I imagine that none of my characters would ever smoke. And smoking is also not a choice that would come up in the game itself. But if you want a head cannon that your MC smokes, that’s fine, and I can’t imagine Baxter would care.
If you were to make it possible for a poly relationship in Our Life 2, do you know what kind of relationship that would be? For example, where you are dating Tamarack and Autumn, but they aren’t dating each other.
Yes, that is how it would be. Tamarack and Qiu are only friends, and even if you were dating both, they wouldn’t be dating each other.
Did you have any other town names that you considered? I think Sunset Bird and Golden Grove are both really cute, and wanted to know if there were any others that could have been!
Not really. I went with those choices because they were kind of the first that didn’t have something I decided I was against. And so everything else was crossed out before I came to them. Although with Golden Grove, I did pick that one pretty soon because I realized that it was sort of like Cove Holden. You know like, Grove Cove, Golden Holden. And so that one just sort of came together that way. After looking at sort of what towns were named at, and I noticed things like colors and nature stuff.
Just a fun, lighthearted question: If the MC wanted to match with Baxter and it wasn’t black and white or purple, since that seems to have also joined his color scheme and Step Four, would he do it? Additionally, what if the MC wanted to wear something like those silly couple Tees? And if in the end he refuses, would he compromise by at least matching in silly pajamas?
In Step Three, he would not. He would politely decline if it wasn’t black and white. But in Step Four, he does wear any color. Purple just happens to be what he’s wearing in his casual clothes, but he is willing to wear any color, and he would wear silly couple tees or bright colors to match with the MC, whatever they wanted. He’s only super committed to his aesthetic in Step Three.
In Our Life 2, after you all meet for the first time and are walking home, how do you get to the front of your houses? Like I guess I don’t understand the geography or something, because I don’t understand how you get to the front of your houses without having to have gone through one of your backyards.
Well, if you meet Qiu second you are in their backyard, and then you just go around his house and then are in the cul-de-sac. And then if you meet Tamarack second, you just walk down the path and then walk down a sidewalk and then you’re in the cul-de-sac again.
This is just a little question of mine: If Baxter were to have kids with the MC (since he is willing to have children if his partner has their heart set on it), what kind of parent would he be like? Would he be on the stricter side, or a bit more easygoing?
I would say out of the three love interests, he is probably the one who would be most strict, with Derek being in the middle, and Cove being the least strict. But it’s not because he’s extremely super strict, but mostly because he is a little bit more finicky, a little bit more prissy, and overall the least childlike in any way. Like he’s super proper, and he would just kind of bring that to his interactions with his kids. He would definitely try not to be suffocating, or make them miserable, or deny them opportunities, but he would definitely come across more like a strict, very grown up, adulty guy, even to his children. He’d still make some attempts to be entertaining to a kid, and he can be silly in his own way. He would bring that to his parenting as best as he could as well.
Don’t know if this has been asked before, but I know that whilst making games for everyone to enjoy is fun and fulfilling, it must sometimes be a little stressful. How do you ensure that yourself and your employees are keeping a good balance? Sorry if it’s intrusive, just curious.
Well, for the work on the game, I try my best to not give them amounts of work that would be stressful to do in the timeline they have. Occasionally there are sort of rush jobs where we have to get a release and something needs to be done before the end of the month or by the specific day. But usually there’s plenty of time to get the things done. It’s sort of like small pieces and they have a week to do it, and there’s another small piece and they have another week. And so in that way I hope it’s not very stressful. As for me, honestly, I don’t really know. I guess usually I’ll just stop working sooner than I might have otherwise, but I don’t actually have a lot of good coping skills when it comes to stress.
Hi, thank you for your hard work. Given how close Lake of Voices and Our Life 1 came out, would it be safe to assume you were working on both at the same time? If you don’t mind my asking, how was it handling the two different genres simultaneously?
I actually don’t really remember! I think for the most part we weren’t doing that much on Our Life 1 at the time. It was very minor things, mostly just sort of planning. But unfortunately, once sort of a development period has passed, I have no idea how it happened. Where did this game come from? I don’t know! What was I doing all of those days? I have no idea. It’s just gone! I think that’s actually kind of common with people who create something that takes a very long time to create. Like other game devs, or like novel writers, where after it’s over, they just can’t even recall how it all happened.
So I’m not sure if this has been asked before or if you’ve really thought about it, but how good at singing are the love interests of Our Life 1 and 2?
That’s something I actually like to say is based on whether their voice actor is. Like if their voice actor also happens to sing, then sure, they’re a very good singer, and if not, then I guess they don’t sing.
Has Baxter I read “My Immortal”? If not, I am highly skeptical of his goth status.
He has not. And it is okay to question his goth status because he’s actually very preppy for a goth, and hilariously he doesn’t consider himself much of a prep, but he definitely is. Baxter is your fantasy rich boy. Whether he accepts that or not, at least in Step Three.
I was super curious, is Baxter’s “suitor for the season” thing something he’s done in the past? Or did you just take a strong liking to the MC that he decided to go for?
Baxter has had flings in the past, but it’s never sort of been a vacation kind of relationship. It’s sort of just he’s at college, and sort of temporarily with someone, with them both knowing that it’s not really even much of a relationship. So it is something that’s brand new, but also not something he’s had no experience with.
Hello, I hope you’re having a fine day. (Thank you!) I’m not sure if this has been asked before, but what happens to the $20 soundtrack download if the time expires to claim it? Also, will there be more chances to get a game soundtrack if it was already set as a previous reward? Thank you for reading, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day.
So this is talking about how on Patreon. the highest tier comes with a monthly bonus reward, and right now the bonus reward is a soundtrack. And what happens is the link to it will be removed from the post, but the link won’t be deleted. So if you just like bookmark that link, you still have access to the download. We do cycle through the rewards, so soundtracks will appear again. Probably not for another few months, but it’s not going to be gone forever after this month.
We know how hard Derek tries to be the perfect son, but would there ever be a situation he’d get in trouble/reprimanded for something? How would he feel about it?
I’d say maybe a few times he did something a little bit too reckless, a little too impulsive, and went too far with something. Then his parents would get worried, and they’d have to talk to him about it. But it probably always be because they were concerned rather than him really doing something bad or wrong. And he would feel very bad about it. He would feel like a failure, and like, why does he even try. But then his parents would probably have to help him feel better, and likely take back any punishment they gave him.
Did you have a backup plan or career in mind if making games full time wasn’t feasible? Or did you try to make being a game dev work from the very beginning? Thank you and the team for sharing your wonderful stories with us!
Thank you for playing! And… sort of? I started it out just as a hobby, and I was going through normal life while doing that. Sometimes I was in school, sometimes I was working, sometimes I was working part time and in school and all while making games. And when I decided to attempt to do it as an actual job, I was in college studying to be an accountant, so I guess you could say that was my plan. Except I wasn’t that into it, so I don’t know if I ever even would have finished that, even if game dev wasn’t something I decided to pursue. And if it does fail, I probably wouldn’t go back to accounting. So, I didn’t have a very great backup plan, but I was trying to pursue a more typical 9 to 5 job before then deciding to pursue making games full time.
All right, that is everything. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted a question. As always, it was really fun, and I hope you found that interesting. I’ll be back again with more answers in March. Have a good day!