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

[Jenocide]

This story is so cute! To be honest, I almost didn’t check out this story because it seemed childish(and I’m not a huge slice of life fan) but I’m glad I gave it a chance! The customization options are actually insane. Though, when their mother gave the twins their lockets, the star locket is given to the curious and precocious one; seeing that the children are 5 years old(if I remember correctly) at that time, I would’ve thought they would ask what that word means. It is a “big” word for a child. Though I can just be nitpicking, haha.

Moving on, I love my twins and their bond. I named them Cassandra(Cassie) and Cameron(Cam), with Cassie having the heart locket and Cam having the star locket. I was never particularly close to my older brothers, so it was nice to put myself in Cassie’s shoes and be best friends with Cam(he’s the older twin). I now wish I had a twin of my own…

Besides that, I do agree with some of the posters here. The pacing is nice at times, but there’s some parts I did skip over since it didn’t seem super relevant… An example is when you find out B used to be part of the friend group and afterwards you and your twin go and hang out with the others, I wasn’t really interested in Wayne and Rosie’s argument, I was more interested in finding out if B was telling the truth and what went down to cause the rift. Though that’s just my nosy side coming out.

I’m interested to see where everything goes and leads up to! I did read the sidestory so it was nice to see the little references and connections here. I don’t really post much since I’m a big time lurker, but I was compelled to. It’s an actual crime how underrated this WIP is with how customizable it is and I can only imagine how time consuming it must be to code it, as well to write an engaging story and characters; especially ones as young as the cast… Kudos to you, truly.

[Comet]

This was so good, It made me feel so nostalgic about my childhood, it really reminded me what it was like to be a Filipino kid growing up, I couldn’t help but tear up. This story also made me realize how lonely I am these days, as a graduating SHS student living alone in a dorm, I can’t help but miss my old friends. I appreciate my childhood even more now after reading this. Thank you author!

[TheSleepwalker]

As a longtime lurker, I never realized my lack of interaction could have an effect on the author’s mood and motivation. Please continue with public updates: this is the one demo I don’t ever finish reading because I know it’ll end and I’ll want to read more. You are great at this, and I’m not big on slice of life stories. I hope you’ll stay on the forum.

By the way, this is a little nitpicky, but I’d like it if we got to choose what kind of bag our twin wears (backpack, shoulder bag or roller) and maybe if we got the chance of going through their bag and finding another secret (whether they find out we did or not)

[Franzinyte]

@AlexHaydenX I am Filipino, yes! I don’t really know what else to say here, but I hope you enjoyed reading the story!

@radioactivechicken @Comet And thank you to both of you as well!

If you don’t mind me asking all of you, who are your favorite characters in the story so far?

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@Abe To be honest, I don’t really have any idea how to write any other setting. I also imagine LCU looks like a mix of all the schools I went to.

And yup, don’t we all want a sibling like Ate/Kuya Paddy?

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@Jenocide Thank you so much for your feedback! It’s always nice to hear that people like the story even if they’re not slice-of-life fans.

@Jenocide

I would’ve thought they would ask what that word means.

I mean, I imagine it wouldn’t be the first time Maggie used the word. And considering how much stories they’ve read and listened to, the twins would definitely have a much larger vocabulary than other 5 year olds.

@Jenocide

Besides that, I do agree with some of the posters here. The pacing is nice at times, but there’s some parts I did skip over since it didn’t seem super relevant…

I wouldn’t say it wasn’t relevant, since Wayne and Rosie’s little argument further establishes one of the conflicts and sidequests later. If you wanna be nosy, there’s already a sidequest for finding out about Roselyna’s parents, and another one for helping Wayne’s parents get back together in Chapter 4.

But yeah, one of the disadvantages of having a huge cast present in the background is that MC and Twin will have to take a backseat sometimes so the other characters can talk and interact. I always try to make MC’s thoughts involved, but I can’t make them the only focus of the story.

Anyway, I really appreciate your thoughts and for sharing your twins with me! I wish I had a twin too.

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@TheSleepwalker We’ll see how I feel about it in the future when I make progress on Chapter 4 again. I posted about this before and no one really batted an eye, so I kinda had to resort to desperate measures. I don’t feel great about it.

@TheSleepwalker

By the way, this is a little nitpicky, but I’d like it if we got to choose what kind of bag our twin wears (backpack, shoulder bag or roller) and maybe if we got the chance of going through their bag and finding another secret (whether they find out we did or not)

I dunno about letting you choose your twin’s bag. At some point I have to draw the line somewhere. It’s not super relevant, it’ll only drag the pacing down further, and I don’t really wanna make a duplicate variable for every customization option MC has. You can definitely headcanon all those other things if you want though!

Also, I’m not sure what you mean with the second question? You can already look through your twin’s belongings in Chapter 3 for a trinket, and you can discover a secret by checking their phone messages.

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Anyway, I’m just working on a few things, and then I’ll upload another small update to incorporate some of the other feedback I received.

[Sad_Boi]

Is there a way to figure out the password of your Twin’s phone? I may have missed something.

[Franzinyte]

A link to the secrets/trinkets guide is linked on the first post! But here it is if you can’t access the link:

Twin's Password

The password is “ILOVE + (YOUR NICKNAME)” without the quotes, parentheses and spaces. If your MC doesn’t have a nickname, then just use your first name. Make sure to type it in ALL CAPS!

[Christopher_Bull]

Lol u sneaky thing. The things when u do the twin isn’t around. Hopefully u won’t get caught later.

[Kelly_Seastar]

Plot wise, are there any differences between the bed time stories/favorite genres? Everytime I’ve played pre-update, the genre aesthetics would change but the bed time story was always “The twins were celebrating their birthday when (insert villains here) attack. Mom fights them off and sends the twins to live with their aunt and uncle”

[Christopher_Bull]

I haven’t seen any in that part. U always get picked first regardless of who’s older. The genre just gives a boost to friendship with those who like it as well.

[Frieza]

Sorry if this was already mentioned but this scene from the piggy bank, our room and beds and stuffed animals repeats again after a little while

[Franzinyte]

@Kelly_Seastar The mystery genre has a very slightly different structure from the other genres, but otherwise the whole point is that the same plot can be in completely different genres just by a simple change in the setting.

There will be flavor text differences during the fight scenes and chase scenes with the villains later, and of course the genre also affects the setting of your story world, but otherwise they all play out mostly the same.

The favorite genre choice itself has a lot of other effects besides changing the short story—it unlocks special dialogue, interactions, flavor text, and even gives extra benefits on certain quests and sidequests. It also affects what kinds of powers and abilities your MC can learn/acquire later in the story during your adventures.

For example: Fairytale Lovers will gain the ability to talk to (or at least understand) animals later. Each genre combination has their own advantages!

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@Christopher_Bull Wait, does picking the genre still show the relationship bonuses in the notifications? Those aren’t supposed to show up at all and I thought I fixed those already.

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@Frieza Hello there! Did you choose to snoop on your twin’s bedroom/belongings? If so, I have a fix for that coming soon!

If not, please tell me which choices you have picked, starting from when you first received the quest (where you choose if you want to shower first). It would help a lot in narrowing down the cause of the problem. Thank you!

[Christopher_Bull]

No it doesn’t I was just commenting on someone’s post

[Link]

I would just like to pop in and say that my favorite character is B, and that is probably because I can relate to them the most personally. Next in line is Wayne (because he’s a troublemaker like my MC,) and then finally Lily because her personality is just so interesting. All the characters in this game are phenomenal in my opinion, but I think Maggie also deserves an honorable mention. There are just so many questions about her. Why did she leave us? (“Working abroad” just doesn’t seem likely) Why is our father not with her anymore? Why did she not answer our call to her in Chapter 3? I’m really anxious to find out all these answers eventually.

I discovered this game about a year ago, and I had not yet watched Stranger Things. When picking Supernatural as your favorite genre, one of the town names is Hawkins, and I did not get that reference back then. Now that I have watched it, I realized how much it makes sense there and I love all these tiny details that are sprinkled throughout the game.

I think one of this games strong points is its customization. There is SO much customization, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Most of it isn’t flavor text either. It actually has an effect on gameplay. It must be a nightmare to code, but this game is just one big daydream. Some people might not like the slow pace, and I respect that, but I’m completely fine with it. This game is a way for me to live a life of a 12 year old again, and seeing my character go through his mostly stress-free everyday life is just so relaxing while also entertaining. I also know nothing about the Philippines, so this is an interesting setting for me as a reader too.

Now I have a question: what social media platform does our MC post on when taking a picture of themselves in Chapter 3? I thought it was a really cool option for players who feel like their MC would rather take pictures of themself instead of getting ready, and it’s certainly true for mine. My guess is that we’re using Facebook, since people are able to like and comment on us changing our profile picture. Plus Mrs. Baines seems like she would use Facebook a lot!

[ShawnCarter]

My favorite characters:

Roselyna

JM

My twin

Paddy

That argument I had with my twin over who took the first shower was so funny to me. My twin ended up overpowering me but I got revenge by snooping around in her phone

Also me talking to myself in the mirror was really funny to read. I hope we get more interactions with our imaginary friend

[Pocahotness]

Did anyone else create a character named Percy Jackson that loved mythology? I just think its so cool that we can create real life characters in this game. I also did a girl named Cinderella that loved Fairytales and a character named Nancy Drew that loved Mystery and tries to collect as many trinkets and secrets as possible (that guide was super helpful btw!!!)

[Franzinyte]

@Link Hello there! Thanks for popping in and sharing your favorite characters! If you’re curious about Maggie, you can check out In Auctorem Credimus if you don’t mind spoilers! It doesn’t answer all your questions about her, but it should give you a pretty good idea about what she might (or might not) be hiding.

And yup, I love putting in a lot of references throughout the story! There’s a lot of them scattered throughout. I’m glad to hear that you find the setting interesting as well.

And yeah, I love customization a lot so I put in a lot of effort in them too, making sure that they’re actually relevant to the story and not just immediately forgotten. It’s not really that hard to code, there’s just a lot to keep track of that I don’t remember half the time.

@Link

Now I have a question: what social media platform does our MC post on when taking a picture of themselves in Chapter 3?

I purposefully kept it vague, so you can just headcanon it! But you’re definitely right, Ma’am Bianes would use Facebook a lot!

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@ShawnCarter Hehe, I’m glad Roselyna is your favorite! (And JM too, considering he hasn’t got much screen time yet.)

Ooh, I didn’t think of the snooping around as a way to get back at your twin.

And yes, you’ll definitely get more interactions with your imaginary twin! There’s actually an achievement for that if you do it enough times. (Oh, and if you haven’t discovered it yet, Roselyna likes talking to herself too when she’s alone!)

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@Pocahotness Hi hi hello hiii! Welcome to my little corner on the forum!

I’m glad you’re having a lot of fun creating your twins! It must be a surprise when Lily mentioned JM also likes Percy, hehe. I wish the other characters can comment about those names but there are just far too many to consider!

And I’m also glad you found the guide helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions!

[Christopher_Bull]

I did the same lol and found a secret. I’m not saying anything. Also is that password really gonna be that if the twins are on bad terms since mum left

[Link]

@Franzinyte

If you’re curious about Maggie, you can check out In Auctorem Credimus

I actually discovered Dear Diary through the game jam! I was looking at the games that did well and came across In Auctorem Credimus so I decided to see what other stories you had written which led me here. I thought it might be better to play this game first and got so caught up in it I forgot to go back to Auctorem. I’m going to go play it right now!

@Franzinyte

Roselyna likes talking to herself too when she’s alone!

How did I not discover this? Someone just went up on my character list

@Christopher_Bull

is that password really gonna be that if the twins are on bad terms since mum left

I wonder if it truly is that way for all twin relationships🤔 I would probably get a good chuckle if our twin’s password was IHATE + [NICKNAME]. Not that we can actually get our twin to truly “hate” us in-game!

[charger]

you know, i’m usually very awkward when talking about games i like so i mostly just lurk and see what other people have to say. but this game is just so good i can’t stop thinking about it.

it’s honestly so, so good. i was shocked when i got to the end of the demo because i forgot it wasn’t a finished game.

i love slice of life, and the characters were so likeable i actually wasn’t even slightly annoyed by anyone (which might not seem like too much but every game i play has a character i despise. it’s just so easy to annoy me lol). i’d love this even if it had no plot at all and it was just about hanging out with everyone. especially wayne. he’s adorable.

i could say much more tbh but this is already too long and i’d probably just keep repeating how in love i am w this, so i’ll end it here

(one thing i noted though is that the characters felt a bit younger than twelve at times — but i think it has nothing to do with the characters themselves. it’s just that the children in my country are alarmingly precocious so seeing 12 year olds act their age is so weird lol)

[ElliWoelfin]

@charger

(one thing i noted though is that the characters felt a bit younger than twelve at times — but i think it has nothing to do with the characters themselves. it’s just that the children in my country are alarmingly precocious so seeing 12 year olds act their age is so weird lol)

It may be some level of remnants from older iterations, as originally they were 8 I think, but Franzinyte has raised them bit by bit over the years. I do think they might feel a bit young, but really 12 year olds can be such little kids that I can’t say it’s beyond possibility.