itch.io

Hi Noodie,

Since you mentioned Katnir, I will talk about his character more specifically XD;;. From what I've been told, Katnir's behavior is a bit confusing it seems to some people  because he starts out more flirty and fun, and gets more guarded and prickly with the TO, the more he falls in love with them.  This is his defense mechanism, the more he starts feeling attached, the more he tries to push them away and keep them at arms length for fear of losing them and being hurt. Even as his romance route matures and he starts to feel a bit more secure and accepting, he's still fearful of losing the TO while trying to mentally prepare for that reality. fun fact- Most of the characters will reject friendship if they have been flirted excessively with, as they feel "led on" with Katnir being one of the exceptions. Katnir's thinking being that he reasons that being friends is the more logical, pragmatic and safer relationship to have with the TO, regardless if he was falling in love. Samuel is another exception but he will accept any relationship the TO requests, as he's very charitable towards the TO's intentions (TO's foreigner status), and philosophically supports/promotes all forms of love. As I was orphan myself, I struggled with more subtle manifestations of attachment issues, Katnir's avoidant style makes perfect sense to me, but may not be as relatable to others. 

Speaking of which, here's other random thing probably related to my childhood. I'm a terrible sleeper my whole life, prone to chronic nightmares and probably only getting around 4-6 hours sleep a night. I go to bed early to "rest" but  often I have trouble falling or staying asleep. Because I used to be afraid of constantly having nightmares, I started telling myself stories when I can't sleep. It started out by "rewriting" the nightmares I had, because often times when I'd wake up from a nightmare, I'd fall back asleep into the same nightmare. so I got afraid of sleeping. To solve this issue, I started imagining the nightmare as having a good resolution and it calmed me down and I started having less nightmares. Eventually this began to change to imagining scenarios with favorite fictional characters to imagining scenarios with my own characters and stories. Lots of times when I'm laying in bed, I think of my characters getting ready for bed or waking up, or doing other mundane daily things that never get put into the actual stories/games.  The thoughts and routines they have... I think this probably helps "flesh" out my characters somehow and make them feel a bit more authentic.

So bringing that back to Katnir. What is his nightly/daily routine like to me? Though it's not mentioned overly in the story, Katnir does have a 'air' of refinement about him, even though he was essentially raised in the woods by animals LOL. It's implied through the games that he might have been abandoned by a noble family, that didn't want him to inherit in some kind of family feud. Though he dislikes the thought of this possible history for himself, (he's pretty salty about the nobles for many reasons, rejection, poaching, inequality, ect) He's also got a slight superiority complex in the dynamic of the the forest bandits, both for his "elite" aura, his intellect, talent and his good looks. I think he would rather die than admit it, but he puts a lot of deliberate effort into towing the line between fitting in with the other rough and tumble bandits and maintaining a clean and pretty appearance. He probably thinks he's blending right in, while the other bandits probably think he's being a 'princess' in comparison while never daring to say so.

Also I'm glad that you are happy to talk to me as the developer of this game, as I am also worried that people would be bored to hear me go on and on, as I don't expect the vast majority of people in this world to care anything about all the time I spend thinking about this world and story. To be frank, it's the most niche of niche obsession to have, so  am the one who is honored that you'd want to ask me about it!!