🌈 Dear Diary, We Created a Plot Hole! (A Slice-of-Life Fantasy Adventure set in the Philippines) ~ [UPDATED Aug 31 | 608,000 words]

[Franzinyte]

Oh hey, I finally found the inspiration to finish the other two introduction songs! They were mostly complete, but I had trouble figuring out some of the lines until now.

Here’s a peek sneak!

Lily's Introduction Song

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I Am My Own Mystery

Is that all you really think about me?
That I’m just JM’s secretary
That bossy leader obsessed with spying and secrecy

You think I know everything
About you and your feelings
But you’re all forgetting one thing I don’t even know…

It’s me, myself
I am my own mystery…
The prologue to my own story…

I know that I should be grateful
And that I shouldn’t be so doubtful
But it’s so hard to keep it all a secret
When I am dying to know

I wish!
My moms would tell me why
But every time they always deny
What happened, what I’m really meant to be…

Someday I’ll find, I’ll solve
The truth, my own mystery…
The prologue to my own story…

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JM's Introduction Song

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Fa∙mi∙ly (noun)

Family, what is a family?
Family, is it two parents and their children?
Family, is it a mother and a father?
Parents who’ll love you unconditionally?

I try to be good and study very hard
But it seems like he’s never even proud
All because my existence is a mistake
A mistake I’ll never know who made

Family, what is a family?
Family, is it the siblings you grew up with?
Family, like the brother and sister you always shared with
Even if it starts with a step- prefix

It all started with a little jealousy
So yes, I tried to be considerate
But no, he/she refused to cooperate
To betray me for a position he/she didn’t want all along

Family, oh, I know what’s a family
Family, it’s all the friends you’ve made
Family, the people who care about you
Telling you that “Hey, you’re stressing yourself too much”

Oh yes, I know it’s not the actual definition
But no, I much prefer its other connotation
And sure sometimes we don’t get very well along
But now I have a place where truly I feel like, I belong…

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By the way, I forgot to mention: the front/center/window/back seat choice will now also determine who your seatmates are, instead of you picking who it is. So that means two more minor classmate characters along with Francesca and Randelle. I was going to introduce them in Chapter Four, but I thought it’d be better if they show up as the other cleaners.

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@Abe Thanks! I’ll make sure to pass the greetings along too! Anyway, does Paddy look like how you were expecting him to be? He’s always been tall and big since he’s supposed to be the twins’ father figure. Well, supposed to, at least. Hehe.

And yup, I’ll probably draw most of the characters you meet, so you have that to look forward to!

@TheMorrigan You’re learning? I’m glad to hear that! You don’t hear that everyday.

Anyway, how do you like the story and the characters so far? I hope you enjoyed it!

[Max_Jones]

I read a few posts that make it seem like you can play as your twin is this something we can actually do or am I just reading them wrong?

[ElliWoelfin]

It basically is meaning “make the opposite choices (when applicable)”, which is what your twin does.

[Abe]

i think there will be a scene where we will play the Twin (aka a switch of POV character) somewhere farther down the story. But i’m not sure if that is set in stone though

[Franzinyte]

@Max_Jones Hello there!

Right now there aren’t any plans where you can actually play as your twin, but yes, there most likely will be scenes where the POV will be from the twin (and some other characters) with very limited choices. They will be optional branches which can be accessed when you finally unlock your locket’s powers, and additional ones when you replay the game in NewGame+.

In the meantime, you can replay the story as your twin instead.

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On an unrelated note, I made a more detailed sketch of the cover art!

The line weights are all over the place, but this isn’t final anyway and I’d love to get some feedback first. There’s minor spoilers, so I’ll hide it under details.

Updated Cover Art Sketch!

Bonus points if you can recognize what the flying creature is

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I will also most likely switch the current character art to have a more cartoony face like the ones in the cover since it fits the style a lot better, and because it’d save me a lot of time drawing.

I just realized I made the title a little small, but let me know what you think!

[Eiwynn]

Love the new cover…

@Franzinyte

I just realized I made the title a little small

Perhaps move it to the upper right a bit more while increasing the font size just a tad… the right corners have more “open space” than the left side.

But I am far from an artist, so you have every right to ignore my feedback here

[Abe]

i’m loving the updated cover art.

Feedback

• The deer and the airship are too close to one another.
• The deer and/or the airship are a bit too close to the bus, kinda ruining the illusion of the chase.

[Franzinyte]

@Eiwynn Yup, I agree! I was having a little trouble with the spacing and scaling, but I’ll leave that for later since it’s easily adjustable. I’m glad you loved it!

@Abe I think I’ve made the lines too thin, but the reindeer are actually helping the airship to fly! It should be more noticeable when I color it in.

It should also make more sense within context, but the reindeer and the airship aren’t actually chasing the bus. I’m thinking of actually shrinking the reindeer and airship further into the background since the characters are a little too small.

(By the way, you can click the picture and open it in a new tab so you can zoom in the picture!)

[Franzinyte]

Hello! I know this is a bit late for me, but Happy April Fools!

I kinda wanted to make a joke post earlier, but I was lazy and I don’t think it was worth the effort when I don’t really have much in terms of new updates. I’ve taken a break on writing for a while to do some artwork, and I can’t wait to finally share them. And as extra motivation for me I won’t show them until I finish the next update.

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So anyway, I know I’ve said before that I won’t be making the MCs any older, but…

I’ve thought about it some more, and realized that I don’t really have any good reason not to make them 12 since they’re already preteens anyway. Previously I was holding it back so that they’ll be teenagers in the sequel’s epilogue, but let’s be honest, that’s too far away, and I don’t really have anything concrete planned for it anyway. Besides, I think there’ll be more opportunities to gain than lose if they graduate to “technically teenagers” a year earlier.

I don’t have to change anything plot-wise either since Level 12 is still perfectly fine for a sixth grader. I’ll age up Lily, JM, and B too, but not Wayne and Roselyna since I need them to have their birthdays in the story.

So yeah, I think that’s the really real final age adjustment. I know the majority prefer to play as older characters, but I don’t really wanna make them teenagers (well, at least right at the start). There’s already plenty of other stories with that.

[OtherGrimm]

Are we SURE the age change isn’t an April Fool’s joke?

[Franzinyte]

I mean, it’s technically not real until it gets updated But beginning the post saying it’s April Fools and then not actually going with it is just evil.

…Now I want to write a short story with the MCs at a younger age, like their first day at school, or their first meeting with the group. That could be fun.

[Abe]

You mean like side stories? If it’s possible, i would like also like to stories about the MC’s family.

[Manaxaggd]

@Abe

MC’s family.

I think the author will use story about our MC’s family for one of the main mystery so probably it won’t give us any significant information about their personalities and backgrounds

[Abe]

i was actually talking Julie and Robert (and depending on the player’s choice, Patrick’s younger siblings) since Maggie and Patrick are going to be the main players in the story. Though i wouldn’t mind a story featuring younger Patrick.

[Erio_Boi]

I don’t know if this has been asked before, but is this in filipino? Because damn reading words and slang in my native language have me huge whiplash.

[Abe]

Yeah. It’s set in the Philippines too.

@Franzinyte, other than Filipino, English, and Roselyna speaking Waray, does everyone else speak other Filipino languages?

[Franzinyte]

Hello everyone! So I’ve got some good news and bad news.

Bad News:

The update will take longer than I planned.

Good News:

I think I figured out how to solve the pacing problems!

I’m currently editing the current chapters to accommodate all the new changes and feedback (age change, character personality adjustments, twin fight resolution), and then I realized that I can easily cut 1.5 chapters off the outline without changing too much.

I’ll admit that Chapter 4 is a bit of a filler – it’s mostly just a normal school day, and the plot relevant bits can be moved somewhere else. And hey, I can always write a short side story about the school stuff later.

So the story will now begin one day later, during Roselyna’s birthday. This also means that Wayne’s birthday and the fieldtrip will now happen the next day, when the adventure actually starts.

Chapter 3 will now be a small birthday party at Roselyna’s house, where the story will then branch:

• you can go home early and investigate about your parents (maybe with some help from Lily and JM)
• or stay at Rosie’s house with Wayne and learn more about their backstory (and potentially get clues for B’s quest as well).

Because of this I’ll go back to my original plan where everyone shares their short story during the group meeting, or the birthday party in this case. So that’s less editing work, at least. Hehe. But now I’ll probably include the beginning of Chapter 3 with the update which includes the short stories.

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Anyway, I’ve updated the survey so that it no longer requires a playthrough code to submit. So if you haven’t answered and given feedback yet, please do so while I’m still editing!

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@Abe

i was actually talking Julie and Robert (and depending on the player’s choice, Patrick’s younger siblings) since Maggie and Patrick are going to be the main players in the story. Though i wouldn’t mind a story featuring younger Patrick.

Patrick doesn’t have younger siblings anymore. I removed that in the rewrite. That was stupid, actually – being a single child is part of his character arc.

Also, now you’re reminding me when Patrick was still the MC of the story. Is anyone interested in seeing some snippets of the original story? I reread it recently and it’s so bad it’s good. I might actually steal some lines there.

@Erio_Boi

I don’t know if this has been asked before, but is this in filipino?

Yes, but the main characters aren’t (half) Filipino necessarily! Otherwise, the customization would be a lot more limited.

And welcome to the forum!

@Abe

other than Filipino, English, and Roselyna speaking Waray, does everyone else speak other languages/dialects?

Well, there’s a fantasy English dialect in the fantasy story world, and the MC can choose to have their own invented language with their twin. But other than that, there’s nothing else at the moment. I’d love to get some other languages in there in the future (you’re gonna be meeting lots of characters, after all), but I’ll definitely need some help in that regard.

Fun fact: Roselyna speaking Waray is actually plot relevant! You’ll know more about it in her Chapter 3 branch.

[Franzinyte]

Hi! Just a quick update: I’m making good progress with the edit, and I’ll share some of the new stuff once it’s ready. But now I’m wondering if I should split the next update into two.

My plan was to include the first half of Chapter 3 (which contains the group meeting originally planned for Chapter 2), but because the update also includes a fair amount of continuity shifts, I thought it might be a good idea to push the new changes out first before releasing a new chapter. (The wait in between should be much shorter, but I’m fine either way.)

• Split the update into two parts.
• Wait until the first half of Chapter 3 is ready.

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In the meantime, I’m also updating the character emojis! Trinkets and inventory items will most likely have icons too.

New Emojis

[Abe]

i don’t mind either way but ngl, i am leaning towards the “waiting until a good chunk of Chapter 3 is good to go” option.

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The character emojis are so cute!

And aww, the sad Roselyna has a tear. i’m gonna feel bad if ever i’m going to make decisions she may not like.

[Franzinyte]

Well, that seems like a clear majority! I expected the results to be a little more even.

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While you wait for the next update, here’s another preview of the new choices I’m adding. This is just a preview, so stuff definitely isn’t final.

Reason why you kept the old locket picture

Reason why you replaced the locket picture

Let me know if you can think of another reason not in the list, and I’ll see if I can add it in! Bonus points EXP if it has a counter-argument too.

Character Class / Dream Job Selection

Level 12 Students can finally change their class to something else! The class basically functions as another trait/passive – it’ll give percent stat bonuses, and depending on what class you choose, may also trigger special flavor text or unlock special interactions.

You can also choose not to change classes and stay as a Student, which will give you bonus EXP instead. (Yup, it’ll be possible to level up to 13 before your birthday , which awards an achievement and gives a big all stats up.) You can probably change classes later on, but I haven’t decided yet.

So anyway, what classes are you all rerolling to? And yes, you can even input your own!

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@Abe

And aww, the sad Roselyna has a tear. i’m gonna feel bad if ever i’m going to make decisions she may not like.

Hehe. Sad Rosie always had a tear, but I made the emojis slightly bigger too so it’s easier to see. Oh, and you might have to, choices with a may have positive plot-relevant consequences later on!