Hello, everybody! 欢迎来到 2023 年 9 月的 Patreon 问答，再次感谢所有提出问题的人，我们现在将进行回答。
你好！我喜欢你的作品！ Thank you. 我主要的问题是，Baxter最欣赏/喜欢什么样的时尚风格，以及他与模特的MC在一起会有什么感觉？
Baxter既喜欢极端的另类衣服，也喜欢非常传统的服装。像哥特和西装，诸如此类。而且他不会对MC成为模特有什么很强烈的看法。当然，他会为祂取得的任何成就感到骄傲。但他不是那种会被一个高权力、高收入的职业吓倒或特别惊讶的人。
当我们在Kickstarter众筹时，提交姓名将如何进行？如果有人选择与我们相同的名字，我们是否有机会提交另一个名字？
它由你选择，一开始就包括多个名称。你可以按照喜好列出优先级，比如“这是我想要的主要名称。如果这个已经存在，请使用那个名称。如果那个已经存在，请使用另一个名称”。您可以包含您想要的任何数量。但是我们不能让人们改变名字，因为如果你之前先提交名字的人想要改变他们的名字，它会永远变得像一个不断的来回。因此，您只需要包含您可能想要的所有名称。我们不会告诉你是你的第一个选择权，或者是否有人选择了你的第一个选择，而你的第二个选择进入了，或者你的第二个选择是否因为其他人碰巧选择了它。
Our Life 1和Our Life 2中的恋人会如何反应他们的伴侣给他们一件写着“我爱我的女朋友”的衬衫作为玩笑的礼物？他们中有人真的会自愿在公共场合穿这件衬衫吗？
我无法回答Our Life 2，但对于Our Life 1，嗯，他们可能会发现它，你知道，不同程度的有趣和可爱。Derek肯定会自己选择穿它。Cove会对此感到非常害羞，但他可能愿意做。如果有人要求他，他肯定会。Baxter会是最犹豫的。他愿意把它当作睡衣穿，但肯定需要一些谈话才能让他在公共场合穿出来。
在没有孩子们在场的情况下，Cliff、Noelani和Pam在第四步的关系是什么样的？他们是很亲近还是更愿意打个招呼，然后就这样结束？
他们仍然非常亲近。他们是朋友。他们绝对是朋友，他们出去玩，花时间在一起，他们是彼此的主要伙伴，尤其是在孩子们都离开之后。
你好。我以前说过，但我最近开始痴迷于你们的游戏，想说它们有多棒，它们给我的生活带来了多大的安慰。
非常感谢你留下这样的好评！
Hi. I absolutely love the soundtrack to the first game. I found it’s great background music. Do you have a favorite background track, and if so, what?
I don’t think I can pick a favorite. I like a lot of them. Cove; Nostalgia; Lovely; Relaxed; like most of them, honestly.
提问时间。Yay。首先，我只想说你们的游戏对我和我的过渡时间有多重要，尤其是术后手术。很高兴看到我的角色可以像我一样有伤疤。Oh，谢谢。我真的很高兴能够让你开心！对于问题：lead最害怕什么？
我猜你问的是Our Life 1，可能？如果是Our Life 2，我现在无法回答，所以这就是为什么我要为Our Life 1回答。Cove最大的恐惧是改变和失去对他来说重要的东西。而Derek怕成为一个失败者，让人们失望。Baxter害怕受伤，因为他会试图接近某人，然后祂最终不会真正喜欢他，或者祂厌倦了他，或者祂越了解他，祂就越难相处，诸如此类。
有点愚蠢的问题，但在Our Life 1中，微小的颗粒在四处游荡？它们是被光线照亮的尘埃斑点，还是飞来飞去的小蚊蚋，还是完全不同的其他东西？
它就像空气中的小灰尘一样。
Hi! I’ve always related a lot with Miranda. I love her design and personality. She is so cute. I’m glad you think so. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the reason she invited the MC and Cove to her birthday party in Step Two before they really became friends? Was it an “invite everyone in the class” type of tradition, or did she choose them specifically?
It was an “invite everyone in the class” type of thing where her family wanted to invite as many people as possible to the big party they were throwing for their daughter.
Who’s been your favorite character to write in our life to so far?
Well, obviously it’s Tamarack and Qiu. My favorites are the ones that I make the leads. But besides them, I really like writing all the characters, honestly.
I was curious about how much of OL2 you have planned at this stage. It’s pretty early in development, so are you playing it by ear where future scenes are brainstormed when you get closer, or do you have a vague idea for future moments and scenes?
It is not that planned. Like, I have ideas for Step One and Step Two, but Step Three and Four are really vague right now, with just a few small like general things that I know are going to have to happen.
Okay，所以我们知道Baxter喜欢穿上清爽、量身定制的西装，但蕾丝和褶边怎么样？因为这个男孩非常漂亮。他的衣橱里有女性内衣吗？他知道如何穿着高跟鞋跳舞吗？
Baxter会穿一件蕾丝和褶边衬衫，但他不会穿裙子或连衣裙，除非他的伴侣特别要求。他确实拥有内衣，他可以跳舞，比如小高跟鞋，就像一英寸之类的，但不像真的，像醒目的高跟鞋。不过，我很高兴你觉得他很漂亮。
With Qiu being gender fluid, will they ever experiment with she/her or strictly he/him and they/them?
Qiu是性别流动的，祂尝试使用她或严格意义上的他和祂吗？
祂只使用他和祂。祂从来没有想使用她的时候。祂非常确认这不是祂的代词。
有没有角色对神话感兴趣？如果是有，是哪些？就个人而言，我喜欢希腊语/罗马语。
可能塔马拉克和Baxter可能对神话感兴趣，也可能对希腊和罗马感兴趣。但这不是我能想到的任何角色的特殊特征。也许在Our Life 2的开发后期，一些角色最终会喜欢它。但谁知道呢？
How did you come up with the idea of the Moments mechanic? Do you ever get frustrated by the limitations of telling a story in a non-linear way through Moments?
I came up with that feature because I didn’t want it to be linear. I very intentionally wanted it to be just sort of days in the life that you could do in any order. And that’s actually always been my style. The first game I made was this little interview, my character’s game, where it was like these separate stories for different characters that you could do in any order. And then another game I made was also just sort of events that happened on a day, and you could do most of them in any order. And even the ones that were kind of linear had events in between them that could be done in any order. And it’s just basically my preferred way of doing things. I think having a single linear story is a lot harder to do. It’s more of a challenge and less of my preference. But there are some cases where you need to have a linear story, and it’s something I do want to be able to do well in the future.
Next we have two questions that are about the same thing, and it’s: Which step of life do you enjoy writing the most? and Thank you for hosting these Q&A’s. I look forward to them every month. My question is which step would you say has been the most fun to write, generally speaking?
And thank you. I’m glad you enjoy the Q&A’s. But I don’t know. I struggle to really remember what it was like writing those earlier Steps. I don’t think my favorite was Step Four, because that is just one long linear event, and I prefer the ones that are divided into Moments. But I just can’t recall step One and Two well enough to sort of compare it to Step Three.
Hi GB Patch folks, how are you? I don’t know everyone’s name, so I hope everyone is doing well. It’s the first time I have a question to ask. In short, I really love the designs of the game. If possible, send my compliments to the artist. I especially love the love interests and their different hairstyles in Our Life 1 I had my favorite, so I always chose. But for Our Life 2 it’s impossible for me to decide. I said I was going to let the love interest decide between each Step. That’s when I wondered, do they really choose or is it random? I mean, will the choices we make impact the hairstyles? Thanks again for your work. My savings are ready for the Kickstarter. See you and have a nice evening/day.
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. You want to support the Kickstarter. Right now, in the Step Two preview we’re creating, their hairstyles are determined entirely randomly. But I do want to come up with some system to determine which one you get through gameplay, so it’s not entirely random. But I don’t know what exactly it will be yet.
What is your favorite type of character trope to write? Is it the angst/dramatic kind like Baxter, or maybe the fun loving, energetic type like Derek? Thank you.
And I got to say, my favorite type of character to write is what I would call “flaws forward” characters, where they are very much in your face with qualities that are not positive. And a lot of times that could mean they’re a jerk, but it could also just mean they’ve got a bad attitude that’s not actively mean, but still definitely not positive. And yet they’re so amusing or intriguing, that writing them is just a great time. Like, it could be Cove in Step One where he’s just grumpy and sensitive. Or could be like any one of the asshole characters from XOXO Droplets who are just jerks all of the time and it’s very funny. Or it could be a character like The Guide or Lou from Lake of Voices who have terrible dispositions and are not doing anything really nice or particularly good, but are just so interesting and mysterious. And they have all this stuff going on behind the scenes, and it just makes them very fun to write. Secretly there a character in Project W who I think might be my favorite character I’ve ever come up with in anything. And that is a very, very “flaws forward” character. I can’t wait to actually start writing them. It’s probably going to be very obvious who it is because they are the worst person in the world when they show up!
How did/would Derrick react to Baxter being the MC’s partner? In the Baxter timeline/route, mind you.
He would think that’s a little bit odd, but he’d have an easier time accepting it than like, Cove would. So he just sort of be tentatively supportive, where as long as the MC was happy, he would be going along with it, but he would be very prepared for anything to go wrong with this guy.
Baxter长大后会考虑留胡子什么的吗？他不会让我觉得是一个满脸胡须的人，但我也许可以看到他在某个时候留着绅士般的小胡子，哈哈。
你是对的，Baxter永远不会有满脸的胡须。也许在晚年，他可能会留着小胡子，就像60年代或70年代一样。但总的来说，他确实喜欢刮胡子。
在第四步，Cove的头发是典型的直发还是卷发？
Cove确实是卷发。
Once again, I want to say thank you for your work, and I’m extremely excited to see how Our Life 2 develops going forward. Take as much time as you need. Thank you very much. Omit my questions if they’ve been asked before or you can’t answer them at the moment. 1. If the player selects for their relationship to be Crush with Tam or Qiu, will either of them be able to tell the player reciprocates their feelings whatsoever?
And that would depend on the Step and the MC’s behavior. But it is at least theoretically possible that at some point in the game the love interest will be able to notice that the MC likes them before they’ve actually come out and said it. And there’s a second question, but unfortunately I can’t really answer it because I haven’t written enough of the game to know for sure, and it’s not something I’m 100% planning on right now. So, we’ll just have to see.
非常感谢你制作这些游戏。在过去的几年里，他们真的帮助我度过了紧张的时期。哦，我真的很高兴他们能给你带来一些快乐。我在Step Three MomentsDLC发布之前就开始玩Our Life 1，从那以后我就被迷住了。如果Our Life 1男孩计划与 MC 约会，他们会有什么约会的想法？我想Cove’s可能是在海滩上野餐，但我总是对Derek和Baxter’s感到好奇！再次，谢谢。
我不能说得太详细，但Cove’s会像“让我们一起去海滩或一个漂亮的开放户外区域”，甚至“在家里做点好玩的事情”或“去一个我们都已经知道和喜欢的地方”，或者“尝试一些完全随机的新事物，因为我并不总是做所有的事情都一样”。Derek会说，“让我们玩一项运动”或“让我们玩电子游戏或看电影并点外卖”。Baxter会说，“让我们吃晚饭，跳舞，去博物馆，或者像是现场表演剧院一样”之类的事情。
The next question is one I shortened a bit, but hopefully will still cover the main point.
Hello! Considering the themes of Our Life 2 relates a lot to gender, figuring yourself out, and such similar aspects, say I have an MC that identifies as female but presents in a more masculine way, or an MC that identifies as male but presents more feminine –gender non-conforming, basically– would there be a chance in the future when gender questioning characters begin to figure themselves out for them to ask how the MC came to figure out their identity? Or do most people in the world of Our Life 2 just not think of clothes the same way real life society does?
And I’m afraid there’s very little chance the game will be able to decide what is masculine and what is feminine clothing, and then compare that to the gender your character has defined for themselves and then have that come up in the script. The clothes and hairstyles will just have to be clothes and hairstyles that you pick because you like, and we won’t be able to make any judgments about them because there’s just so many options, and very few of them are so distinctly male or female. You know, if you wore one thing that was kind of feminine, but then all the others weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to track that. So we’d have to have an even more complicated system that was judging your entire look from hair to accessories to clothing. And I’m afraid it just wouldn’t ever happen.
Hi! I just want to say I loved your work. Our life games have easily become some of my favorites. Thank you. I’m not sure if this question has been asked or not yet, but in Our Life: Now & Forever , let’s say you have one of the main leads as your crush and the other as your best friend. Is there ever going to be a part or something where you tell the other about your crush on them? Hope you’re having a great day.
Thank you. I hope you are too. And yes, that will happen. I don’t know if it will happen in every single Step, but they will at least be some scene sometime where you can talk about the crush you have on one of the leads to the other leads.
The next questions are from two people who are wondering the same thing, and that’s:
Will Baxter be romanceable in Our Life 2 as well? and Will Baxter get a DLC in Our Life 2 ? Thank you for all your hard work.
And he will not. Baxter will not be getting another romantic story. I’m afraid he’s just a fun cameo in Our Life 2.
Extremely excited for the Kickstarter! Thank you for the hard work y’all have done so far. These games truly hold a special place in my heart. Well, thank you very much. As for my question, you mentioned pet names for couples in a previous Q&A. So just wondering whether Qiu or Tamarack would have a pet name for the MC as well.
And yes, they can call the MC by a pet name. You can choose it yourself, or they might have like one they suggest based on your relationship or past experiences. But I haven’t gotten that far in the story, so I don’t know what that might be like.
Hi, love Our Life and looking forward to Our Life 2 . Thank you. Not sure if this has been asked previously, but I was wondering how the core members of GB Patch got into making VNs and picking up skills along the way.
I can only answer for myself; nobody else answered these questions. So, I got into making VNs because I like reading VNs a lot myself, and I thought it was the only game genre I could actually maybe make. It seemed like it’d be pretty easy, and I wanted to make a little story about my Harvest Moon OCs.
Curious whether you have/are already considering including disabled characters in your games.
And I definitely would like to. So far, it’s just been a lack of confidence to write it accurately and not have it feel like super tropey and bad, or just like included for like the sake of including it and making it feel really natural and normal. And I just have been worried that I wouldn’t do it well. I do hope to be able to do it at some point, though.
What do you get inspiration for first: The world you make or the characters you create? Just want to see how your creativity works.
The very first thing I always come up with is the tone, the genre, the general experience that I want people to be having, the feelings that I want them to have through this game. Like, what kind of story do I want to write? Will it be something scary or funny or heartwarming? Whatever. And then I come up with a world that can facilitate that kind of vibe. And once I have that, then story and characters start coming next, and I’ll start fleshing out the world to go with the story and characters.
Overall, between Tamarack and Qiu, who do you think fans like romantically more? Is there an obvious difference?
And I’d say Qiu is the more popular one. They’ve got a very charming personality and tend to win people over because that is their goal early on in the game, and then also with their Step Three self. So, so far they’ve definitely been the popular one. But I also think once there’s more of the game to play, people will come to like Tamarack more too.
I was wondering, are voiced nicknames going to be available to be chosen by Kickstarter donors?
No, they voiced nicknames are there to sort of even the playing field. They’re not there to be specially chosen by one specific person. They’re there for everyone to basically decide on and to make as many people as possible happy. So, there will be no way to get your own personal voiced nickname. But you can still get your actual name voice. So that’s the main thing.
Might be an odd question to ask, but have you always been writing? Was writing something you picked up when you became interested in VNs? Also, would you mind sharing any thoughts you have about writing VNs? Like, is there certain challenges to it? Is there a specific approach that makes it different from other styles of writing and whatnot? Thanks.
For the first part, I did only start writing for VNs. I had literally written nothing in my life until I decided to write my first visual novel. But for the second part, I don’t really know. I’d need to think about it for a lot longer and it’d have to be a much lengthier response. So, I don’t think that’s a question I can answer in this kind of Q&A. I’m sorry.
Hello. I would like to thank you for the multiple wonderful games you’ve made! Well, thanks. Firstly, I was wondering if there’s going to be DLCs for side characters in Our Life 2.
And right now the answer is no. I’m not planning on that. It’s not part of the timeline. It’s not impossible, and if there was a DLC, it would be for Renee. But it may or may not ever happen depending on how long the base game takes.
Secondly, I was wondering when we could suggest a name to be voiced for Our Life 2 ? Would they be through Kickstarter, or a specific Patreon tier?
And the Kickstarter will be the way to get a voice name. I don’t think I’m going to make it available through Patreon this time around.
And this would be my last set of questions. How would Baxter and Derek feel if the MC tried to play matchmaker and find them partners with personal friends they know about? This would be their adult selves. Also, did Liz ever end up with anyone romantically?
Honestly, both Derek and Baxter would not appreciate someone trying to play matchmaker for them. It’d make them pretty uncomfortable and they would prefer that not to happen. And I do think Liz probably did get into a relationship later in life.
Okay, this is something I’ve been a little curious about. Does GB Patch mean anything? Like what’s the origin behind the name?
And it is just old usernames I went by online combined together because I needed to decide on one name to go by, and I went by like a couple different names on different sites. And I just came up with this, which combined a couple of them. And when I first started making games, it was just as a hobby. And now it’s my company name and it sounds kind of non-specific enough that no one would question it as clearly not a real name, but it was just nonsense, basically. It doesn’t mean anything!
Do you ever think that at some point you would consider making a one-off Moment spin off where you can get to know Cliff more and potentially attempt to romance him? Also, your works have been such a big inspiration for me. I’m so excited to keep supporting and seeing what the new Our Life game goes.
Thank you so much! Unfortunately, there will ever be a moment about Cliff. I like him a lot and if it could magically appear, I would love for that to happen. But unfortunately, I will definitely not have time to create that. Sorry, Cliff.
I think you mentioned that you can only be best friends with either Tam or Qiu, but not both. Is it possible to be best friends and dating/in love/married? Thank you.
And yes, you can date or marry the person who you have titled as your best friend if you want to. But yes, it can only be one of them. They can’t both be your best friends because the point of best friends is to choose that it’s the better friend out of the both of them.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve had when making visual novels? Fun challenges or difficult challenges.
Honestly, probably dealing with storefront stuff, like making the pages and uploading the builds and doing releases and also making the builds themselves. It’s always very stressful and hard to do. And luckily, I have a lot of help with that now, so it’s no longer much of a challenge. But before it was always the worst part.
Will important Our Life 1 characters make cameo appearances in Our Life 2 ?
I’m afraid not. Baxter is there, but Cove and Derek and the MC won’t be there, and neither will any of the other side characters. Baxter is the only one I have planned to show up from Our Life 1.
What is the story behind Xavier and Nicholas meeting again? Is it simply that Nico happened to walk into their bakery and he recognized them, or is it something else? I love both characters so much, so it’s funny to imagine something like this. Thank you and sorry if this has been asked before.
I’m glad you liked them. And it happened where Nicholas did just randomly go to this bakery one day. But Xavier was the one who recognized him because of his wild hair and those hair clips. And they were like, “Were you that kid from the boardwalk? I used to paint faces there.” And then he was like, “Oh yeah, you’re that person who painted faces.” And that’s how it happened.
Does it feel weird to have finished writing content for Cove/ Our Life 1 in general after so many years of working on it?
And I don’t know, not really, because so much of making a game is not writing it. It’s like programming and marketing and doing stuff with the storefronts. And that is still happening to a degree. Like I’m still working with the art book designer and, you know, making sure those pages are done and they have everything they need, and there’s still some bugs to fix, and I still want to make it available on other storefronts. So even though I’m not writing, it doesn’t really feel like it’s completely gone. So maybe someday, when I’m truly doing absolutely nothing for Our Life 1, I might feel weird, but even years from now I’ll still be marketing it for like sales and stuff and maybe doing merch. And so, I feel like it’s never really going to go away.
I’m not sure if this counts as asking about future assets, but if it does, you can ignore me. Is there a possibility of getting certain NPC doll features to use for the MC? Things like Mrs. Murray’s freckles, Mrs. Lynn or Baxter’s shade of dark blue/gray hair, hair sparkles like Tama, or maybe other things the players would want? Thank you.
And for most of them, the answer is no. There won’t be more hair colors; you won’t be able to have hair sparkles. Maybe they will be other freckles styles that are more like Mrs. Murray’s. But mostly the NPC features will stay unique to them.
Since it’s not really shown in game, how would 19-year-old Baxter react to the MC announcing they got engaged to Cove at the end of Step Three? I imagine he would be outwardly supportive at least, but he would feel skeptical or pessimistic about it, considering they’re only 18 at the time.
And that’s basically how it would go. Baxter would think that’s very dramatic and hasty, but, you know, he would decide know that’s not his business. He’s leaving after the end of summer, and while he hopes the best for them, in a way, it would seem kind of like poetically fitting for these, like, charming summer town people he saw to have this whirlwind romance. And it would feel almost kind of unreal to him. And he wouldn’t really imagine what would happen in the future. It’s almost like once he leaves, you know, they had their happy ending and he will never check in to see what happens next.
I hope this hasn’t been asked before, but I’ve recently got into attachment theory, and is Baxter fearful avoidant? Not sure about the other two, but the whole hot-and-cold and abandonment issue and low self-esteem makes me think so.
I’m not an expert on that topic, but I would say just based on like a general description, he probably does have that kind of attachment style.
In Cove’s Wedding DLC, if you dated Baxter in Step Three, the first thing he says when he sees the sea and Cove in his office is “How unfortunate”. He then quickly picks himself up and reassures the two that it’s not their union that’s unfortunate, and that he’s happy to help plan their wedding. I was just wondering, what exactly did he find so unfortunate? Was it the awkwardness of the situation? Was he kind of dreading it for a second there? Sorry if this is a weird question. But thank you for your time and making these lovely games + characters.
Well, thank you very much. And it was definitely the sort of awkward reuniting after he had intended to never see them again, and that this is their sort of special moment. And it’s he thinks it’s kind of ruined by it being him. And he’s like, “Oh, man, you know, this was something that was never meant to happen”. And then it happened at like the worst possible time in the worst possible way. So that was what was unfortunate in his mind. However, if things ended on a positive note, even if you did do his Step Three content, then Baxter is fine with the reuniting happening and he’s just sort of jokey about it.
I’m glad you’ve taken more days off. It’s important to listen to yourself. Thank you. My questions are what was the weirder stuff Cove won’t tell us about that happened during his part time job? When we asked has anyone ever flirted with him while he’s working.
And honestly, I didn’t come up with anything specific for that. It’s probably just people coming on to him and even more explicit and like sexual or odder ways.
And then it continues: Also, how would Cove react if someone was flirting with the MC when they were working in the same place?
And I can’t really answer that question, unfortunately. It would depend on his personality and their dynamic, and other things like that.
Edit, got another question idea: Would Cove ever try skinny dipping? Thank you for your hard work!
And he would not do that. He is willing to strip down to his boxers, but that’s as low as he goes.
Another month, another chance to simp openly for the art, lore, music, and development of GB Patch games. Thank you. My question is do you, GB Patch lady, like romance as a genre? You’re very good at writing sweet and charming moments with the LIs. Does the romance aspect of the script come naturally to you?
I do like romance as a genre, but that did not come naturally to me. It took me a very long time to actually attempt like a real genuine romantic story. The earlier ones I did were either like completely comedic, or the romance was super, super light and in the early stages. I doubted my ability to write romance for a long time, and Our Life was my first attempt to really go for it. And I’m glad it came together well. You know, I went all in on it and decided, you know, if I was going to do this, I was not going to like half ass it or, you know, be embarrassed to write romance stuff. And I would make it really romantic. And I hoped it would work out, and I’m glad it did. But yes, I do like reading romance, and I’ve come to really enjoy writing romance. But for a long time, I was scared to attempt it.
I find it hard to believe that Cove would have a full sleeve of tattoos by Step Four. Boy can’t sit still for too long, so having him sit there for hours for who knows how many days getting it done is something I can’t picture. Also, he is sensitive. Can we get the story behind this, please? Did he get it done with the MC there to help, or a friend or family member with him? I need answers here, please.
And Cove can deal with things if there’s something he really wants. And he loves the beach and ocean and he really wanted that water sleeve tattoo. His parents both have tattoos and that’s the only tattoo he was interested in having. And so he was able to make it happen. But he would have had people come with him if they had free time and were able to do so.
I think I know the answer to this, but still I’m going to ask, would Kyra and Cliff ever get back together after all these years if they are both free to do so?
And the answer is no. Cliff stays single and Kyra finds a new husband eventually. Though, if people want to headcanon that Cliff does get a new partner, they definitely can. It’s just not something that ever canonically happens or is mentioned in the game.
Hi! Super excited for the Kickstarter next month. I can’t wait to support the game. I just wanted to ask what tropes in media do you personally enjoy most? Because in Our Life 1 you could play the MC and Cove as a very slow burn from indifference to fondness, to a crush to love, or immediately have them be interested in each other. So it had me thinking of tropes like Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Love at First Sight, + all the other fun stuff, and what your preference generally was.
I don’t have any preference in anything besides interactive games. Like for movies or books or graphic novels, I have literally no opinion. It can be anything and I’ll give it a try and it won’t make me like it more or less. But I do have preferences for route types in like visual novels or interactive fiction or story-based games with multiple romance options. And the ones that I usually like are childhood friend types who are close from the beginning, and they haven’t admitted their feelings yet, but both probably already like each other or very quickly grow to have romantic feelings for each other. I also really like true equals, where it’s either like they’re both beginners and are learning and growing together, or they’re both already very skilled and it’s like, “Oh, I’ve found this match and either we’re working together or like we’re working against each other to prove who was better.” And then I also like sort of the insider and outsider, and not like a forbidden love kind of thing. That’s usually too over the top for my taste. But when it’s like there’s all these people who work at the same place, and then one option who works at some other place. Or everybody’s a team going on this adventure, and then there’s this other character who just shows up sometimes. And I really like those characters because they usually have the most creativity and difference in how things go with their story, just from the fact that they’re not a part of the main group. And so those are just usually the ones I end up liking most out of a set of characters.
Also, in Our Life 1, did you want to implement the mechanic that’s being worked into Our Life 2, with the relationships being able to shift mid-Step with the player being able to decrease the relationship in between crushes to just neighbors. Was it just too complicated at the time, or were you not really interested in doing that? Also, happy early birthday. I hope you can relax and eat some good cake if you like that lol.
Well, thank you very much. So yeah, you can decrease relationship between Steps and then you can increase mid-Step, but you can’t decrease mid-Step. So in between Steps in Our Life 2 anything goes and then in the middle of the Step you can only go up. And it was too complicated to do in Our Life 1, but also I just wasn’t interested in doing it. Like I made no effort to do it. And it’s sort of like, you have to go take things in Steps. Our Life one was already such a huge step up in terms of customization between any game I’ve ever done before, and I already had hoped that there would be a second one. And so I was like, “I’m going to have this system where you can start with any type of relationship you want and then have other relationships in the future. And that’s as complicated as it’s going to be. And if we can do that and continue to make another game only at that point will I consider adding the extra complexity of going down in terms of relationships and being able to change it in the middle of a step as well.”
When they met, was the tone between Opal and Yusef flirty? I couldn’t help picking up vibes.
Yusef was being flirty, Opal was being friendly. Yusuf is the one who was interested right away and just sort of took a liking to her from first blush. And she’s the one who needs some time to sort of get the hint.
Hi! First, thank you so much for Baxter, the Oreo-themed disaster of a human. He’s made an incredible impact on me and inspired me to write again. Well, I’m very glad you like him. So, I wanted to pick your brain on two little questions I have about the B-man. My gregarious MC went abroad and made lots of friends at Uni and they introduced her to Eurovision. Do you think that adult Baxter would be bemusedly tolerant of it, or get into the dorky/exuberant vibe if she shared it with him after they started dating again?
He would probably start out bemusedly tolerant and be like, “I’m charmed that you like this thing.” But he might eventually actually get into it more after a few years of watching it.
Second is, when I was playing through the wedding DLC, I noticed that Baxter had his dusky gray hair again, but he still has his black hair and his DLC. Was there any reason why he stopped dyeing it if not romanced?
That must be some kind of typo or mistake because Baxter’s hair is the same in either one. If you can tell me the line you’re thinking of that mentions it, it might just be like a poorly worded sentence, but he does still have dyed hair in the wedding DLC.
Hello there! I’m curious if there will be a gallery feature in Our Life 2 similar to the one in Our Life 1 , with the CGs for Cove through the years and the CGs of Baxter and Derek.
Yes, there will be. We’re still planning how we want that to look, and then we’ll have to get assets for it. But there is already like a basic framework for a gallery and there definitely will be one in the future.
Quick question: in Our Life 1 , if your super friendly in Step Two to Jeremy and you say you wish you could have been friends at the end of Step Two, does Jeremy feel any regret towards the MC? Et cetera. Sorry if that’s confusing.
No, he feels no regret. He doesn’t want to be friends and never will at that age. And he just thinks it’s kind of annoying if he somehow made the MC sad that they weren’t friends when he was so terrible to them. He thinks that’s absurd, and he doesn’t like to be made- like he doesn’t want to be guilted, and anyone feeling sad on his behalf is an offense to him because he takes that as like they’re trying to guilt him even if it wasn’t intentional. He’s just got a very bad attitude in multiple ways. He also dislikes it when people try to make him happy by doing things that he likes. So, Jeremy’s just a very sour person, unfortunately.
Hi, super excited to see more of Our Life 2 . I’m also glad to see you taking days off. I hope you’re taking care of yourself. Thank you. My question, if you can answer it, is when does Tamarack get her glasses? Does she need them in Step One at all? Does she get them sometime between Steps One and Two?
Tamarack gets her glasses in Step One. You’ll have to see how that goes in future updates!
One more question: In the Our Life 2 tutorial, you said you could potentially have a hostile relationship with Qiu and/or Tamarack if you’re just neighbors. So you can have an actively negative relationship with them? As opposed to Our Life 1 , where you could only really be uninterested in Cove, but not actively antagonistic. Totally understand if this isn’t answerable at this time.
You can choose options to not like them at all and to be rude to them. I don’t think Qiu and Tamarack will ever be super actively hostile against you. It’ll definitely just be the MC being mean towards them, but they won’t necessarily be super attached to the MC if you’re just neighbors either.
你好你好！希望你和团队都过得好！我想知道Cove，Baxter和Derek对彩色婚纱，或者更具体地说，黑色婚纱有什么看法？
他们都不会对MC有彩色裙子有问题，特别是黑色连衣裙。巴克斯特会发现这是相当大胆和戏剧性的。当然，他喜欢黑色。Cove会认为这更不寻常，Black并不是他真正喜欢的颜色，但如果这是MC想要的，祂可以拥有它。德里克也会认为这真的很酷，有点前卫和与众不同，他会非常支持这一点。但这显然也不是他的风格。他只是觉得这对祂来说很酷。
这可能以前问过，但Qiu和塔马拉克对花的看法是什么？另外，我知道巴克斯特喜欢冰淇淋三明治，但他有最喜欢的冰淇淋口味吗？
塔马拉克和邱都喜欢花。我没有给他们特别喜欢的花，他们都不是超级爱花。他们往往更喜欢其他类型的树叶。巴克斯特没有最喜欢的冰淇淋口味。他没有那么喜欢冰淇淋，也没有最爱的口味。
You guys seem pretty involved with fan feedback and responses. Have there been any that came out of left field for you? Characters that were more popular than you expected or vice versa, or something you thought was minor that the fans picked up and ran with?
I would say I’m surprised at how popular Baxter was because he’s such a weird and difficult man. But I am glad people ended up liking him as much as they did. And there’s a line at the start of step one where you can call a space cadet. And people ended up really liking that. I used it in Step Two again, but I kept using it because people really got attached to it and calling him that. And so you could call him that in the wedding and in the Step Four bonus Moment, because that became something people really were fond of that I hadn’t originally expected. I was only really thinking about it in those first two Steps, and then it really became a long-term thing.
Will we have in Our Life 2 a character who cheers on our relationship with the love interest like Lee and Our Life 1 ? It was so cute how involved she got.
I’m not sure how involved the side characters will be, but probably by Step Three, the other lead you’re not romancing will likely be very supportive and cheering on your relationship.
I really hope you had a great birthday! Thank you. I remember you saying that Elizabeth is the type of person that wouldn’t fall for someone that she grew up with. Is Baxter similar to her in that way? Would he not want to be with someone that has seen his awkward/spoiled brat phases?
Technically, I guess the answer is yes, because he would not canonically end up with anyone from his childhood. But I don’t think he is the same as Liz, where he sees everyone he grows up with as like a sibling or like a cousin. I guess it could theoretically be possible that he’d end up with someone he grew up with because he wouldn’t really mind if they had seen those different phases of his.
在Our Life 2中，我们能否与巴克斯特和Renee亲密到他们认为MC是真正的好朋友的地步，即使只是在第一步？
可能？好吧，你绝对可以在剧情里和Renee成为亲密的朋友。我不知道小时候能有多亲密。对于巴克斯特来说，你不可能真正变得亲密，因为在他的身边不足以让他真正将MC视为亲密的朋友。主要是你决定你真的喜欢他们，但我想我们会看到故事中更进一步发生的事情。
Did Cove move far from his old home when he and Cliff moved to Sunset Bird, or was it really not that far from when they used to live?
It was not actually that far. It just felt like, you know, so big because it meant leaving his home, leaving his school and being in a place that, to a kid, he couldn’t walk to anywhere that was familiar. But in the grand scheme of things, it was not that far away. Like his old home might be as close as like 45 minutes away.
In Our Life 1 the MC can have, or state that they have, crushes on other people like Cliff or Shiloh. In Our Life 2 , will something similar be a thing? Like could the MC just start crushing on Devon or Mrs. Lin?
Yes, you will be able to pick who you have a crush on and you can pick other characters in the cast besides just the two leads.
Lastly, did Baxter ever do like a black and white split-dye? And would any of the other LIs from any game do crazy dye jobs like Baxter did?
Baxter never did a black and white split. And to keep this a little bit easier to ask, I’ll only answer for the other two Our Life 1 leads. And neither Derek or Cove would do a crazy dye job.
Qiu喜欢MC在序幕中拥抱吗？对不起。我不擅长提问。
是的，Qiu喜欢MC拥抱祂的时候。祂只是没有真正期待它，因为你知道，祂往往不会让人们那么快喜欢祂，即使祂想成为朋友。祂只是惊讶于它如此迅速，而且MC已经如此深情。但祂绝对认为这是一件好事。
好的，这就是整个问答！嗯，希望我没有错过任何问题。我试图尽可能多地回答。感谢所有提问的人，希望这很有趣。下个月的问答，我会再回来。大家保重！