I'm kind of a sucker for childhood romance, so I'm leaning more to Matt. Though I like Riley and Isaiah as well. So I would at least replay the game three times with three different guys once it's complete. Or maybe more. Because Julian also kiiinda pique my interest as of late... 😆
I do hope you give them all the same amount of attention though, in terms of writing. I'm sure having a lot of characters is not easy to work with...
When I write each storyline, I treat the character being focused on as if they're Connor's co-lead to make sure they get the attention they deserve. Their storylines all differ, so some will weave into the game at different times and in different ways, but I do think I pay the same amount of attention to each of the romance guys.
That's one of the reasons the upcoming update has taken so long. All the storylines converge at one point, and since they can vary so much based on choices, it involves a lot of writing and some complicated coding. But I think it's been worth the effort for the reactivity.
Take your time, no rush. I'm sure you would do everyone's characterization and storyline well. I'm curious where you're going to take the story. Can I assume you already figured out how the story would end for Connor and his friends/love interests? Sometimes in writing, we know how they start and end, but bringing them to that point is the challenge
I definitely have an overarching plan for the whole game, but I only get down to planning the specifics once I reach the part of the game I'm currently working on. I used to only write with everything planned out beat by beat, but I've since developed a hybrid style between that and just writing freeform. I'll often come up with details or ideas while I'm writing certain scenes that'll reshape some of what I have planned, so I like being flexible.
But that doesn't mean I don't know how to take the steps to bring the the stories from beginning to end. I've been writing professionally for many years, so I have a lot of experience with that. What is new to this project is basically writing alternate realities alongside each other, which has been the real challenge.
My biggest frustration is I can't write, make art, and code fast enough to get to all the scenes I really want everyone to see as quickly as I want. But as I've worked on this next update, I've been spending a lot of time adjusting my workflow to make future updates easier for me to create and faster to produce.
I was gonna write a post on here about that, actually, but I couldn't tell if anyone was all that interested, and it would also take time away from what I need to work on to complete the update, so I set that aside. But I may write that at some point as a sort of condensed version of all the posts I write on Patreon about the process and how I've adjusted it over time.
