#developer log

[allieebobo]

Feb 2026 Dev Log

Hi everyone!

February feels like such a short month, but lots of it was in preparation for March, which is absolutely jam-packed with activity! Hope this month has been kind to all of you. Happy lunar new year and Ramadan Mubarak to anyone who celebrates!

As of March, I also started my sabbatical year, so here's to hoping I get lots more time to write and make games and be outdoors :)

CT:OS

Chapter 7 update was publicly released on 14 Feb, which brings the entire National Doubles Championship arc to a close. 🎾 

Valentine's Day bonus snippet 💕

Merry Crisis

Finished the Merry Crisis Visual Novel extended demo (well, music's not done and there's a bit more play-testing and polishing left to do)

The extended demo will be released on Mar 6th!

Read the full dev log on Patreon or Ko-fi!

[thefestival]

The Festival - Developer Log 17, 02/25/2026

February blows, doesn’t it?

Hey folks, I’m back with the second developer log of the new year. While I’ve only recently been getting back to working on the project itself in Unreal, I’ve been quite busy behind the scenes. The biggest update I have to share is that I have been collaborating with two new teammates – Grace and Ashley! Grace is handling the game’s UI/UX considerations, with a heavy focus on the dialogue UI and accessibility concerns. Ashley, meanwhile, is providing Unreal programming assistance, and was introduced to me by my friend Morgan Taylor, who previously contributed 3D environment help in late 2024.

I will be making new “Meet the Team” posts dedicated to the two of them in the near future. For today, I’d like to talk about the game’s dialogue UI.

The dialogue UI I've been using up to this point has been very sloppy, but it got the job done. I was using a modified version of the ‘CRPG’ widget that came packaged with the DialogueTree plugin. I was using two royalty-free images as backgrounds, and I was using this font by Beary.dsgn on Fontspace. For the longest time, I wanted the game’s UI aesthetics to be based around pen and paper – dialogue would look handwritten, while browsing the game’s info menu (for objectives, mission details, and characters) would have you browse pages in a notebook (like in Pentiment or Life is Strange).

I would still like to build the game’s UI around these skeuomorphic designs, but I’m prioritizing legibility and ease-of-navigation over aesthetic choices for the time being. Enter @in-case-of-grace – she previously provided some vital feedback to me when I showed off a very early build of The Festival, especially on accessibility features. After reviewing her work, I asked if I could commission her to handle UI/UX considerations, to which she agreed. After some deliberation, a contract was signed, and she’s been iterating on blockouts since roughly the start of February.

She’s made a handful of prototype blockouts, but after some further discussion, we decided to try replicating Disco Elysium’s scrolling dialogue panel. Below are a couple different examples of what Grace has come up with so far:

And here is my attempt to incorporate it into the game from the past couple days:

It’s very rough. For now, I’ve gone back to basics – no fancy font or royalty-free images acting as backgrounds.

I was working on this the past few nights, and got programming help from Ashley last Sunday afternoon. I am still using a modified version of the basic CRPG dialogue widget from the DialogueTree plugin. To make a long story short, I made a copy of what I was using before, broke it apart to understand how it functioned, and then did my best to rebuild it and reformat it to match what you see above.

Overall, I think it addresses a lot of my major concerns with legibility while presenting a very unique framing for the dialogue. It also means I won’t have to make full-body sprites for each of the characters; I can get away with just having their portraits as icons (to be added at a later time).

I was initially reluctant to make a Disco-style dialogue UI window, because I did not want to rip off Disco Elysium wholeheartedly. Grace, being a TTRPG dev, assured me that I had no reason to worry, as many TTRPG devs are very chill about others incorporating their work into their own ideas*. To that end, I was willing to give it a shot, and this is the direction I’d like to keep heading in for the time being. We still have a lot of prototyping to do, but I’m very excited to see this new UI taking shape.

*(also, the original ZA/UM team members were very open about where they lifted their creative decisions from, so this adoption is in keeping with their ethos as well)

Lastly, while I was using royalty-free assets for placeholders, I plan on commissioning custom UI art for The Festival. I am currently figuring out how best to move forward with this, and I hope to update you all on it in the near future.

I’ll mention more about Ashley’s role in her introduction post. I will follow up with her and Grace’s “Meet the Team” posts as the next updates.

Hope you are all staying warm this brutal winter.

[aregularnewyorklife]

Writing Will Now Resume!/Technical Developer Log 23/09/19

Welcome back y’all! I’ve been on a long hiatus due to school and the such, but with the beginning of my short holidays also begins my short return to writing the update! Hopefully by the end of two weeks, I can get that dastardly assassin update out soon!

But in the mean time, I’ve totally forgot that I drew art in the previous few months. If you’re a local to my (yes technically dead jdhajsfodk) discord server, then you might have seen these. But for everyone else, nope! So here’s some art to make up for my absence. These mainly consists of a lot of Jumaz and two future side-side characters that will appear later!

But thank you for all dealing with my absence and being patient, I will try my best to deliver on a future update!

[allieebobo]

Aug Dev Log

Hi everyone!!

This month has flown by, but I feel so revitalized, it's so good to feel like I'm back on top of things again.

I've gotten a lot done this month, though I think most of it will come to fruition / released to you guys in September, including a new CT:OS update that I hope y'all will enjoy!

Aug Dev Log

Allieebobo published a post on Ko-fi

Aug Dev Log | Allie

Get more from Allie on Patreon

A big shout-out again to everyone who's out there playing CT:OS and Merry Crisis and sending in messages and supporting me on Ko-fi and Patreon. Y'all mean the world to me, and I hope you're all doing great <3

I'll release an announcement post on CT:OS update in a bit!

[allieebobo]

Jan 2026 Dev Log

Hey everyone! Hope 2026 is off to a great start :D

I started the year full of New Year Energy, and am very happy to report that I did manage to meet all the goals I had for the month, including finishing the CT:OS Chapter 7 update (early-release is live!)

Read the full Jan Dev Log (on Patreon | Ko-fi).

Happy Black History Month to everyone as well!

[allieebobo]

Hi everyone! Hope you've all been having a wonderful September! 

This month, CT:OS passed the 5,000 Tumblr supporter mark! I'm so honored and grateful for you guys's support. It has been such a wonderful journey so far and I cannot emphasize enough how much you all mean to me. 

Read the rest of the Dev Log here on Ko-fi and Patreon!

[allieebobo]

Hi everyone! 

I hope you all had a wonderful start to 2025. If you celebrate, happy lunar new year! 🍊 

Here’s the third monthly dev log (progress made in the month of Jan, for both CT:OS and Merry Crisis)!

Ko-fi edition

Patreon edition

[allieebobo]

CT:OS Dev log

Tennis/Sports x Slice-of-life x College x Found-family x Coming-of-age

Demo | Features | Cast of Characters | Back to main post | Ko-fi

Wordcount: ~468k words with code (~100k words in a single playthrough)

CT:OS Update 1.0 (15 Nov ‘21):

Prologue—USTA U18 championships match semi-final against Rayyan

Summer before college—hang out with Sam

Move-in day—meet Mike (RA), some of your hallmates, and hang out with dad

CT:OS Update 2.0 (15 Dec ‘21):

Detailed player build—decide on your strengths, weaknesses, and overall playing style

Team introductions—meet the Cargill team

First day of training—strength and conditioning test, 5-mile run

Training snippets, team lunch—dance with Tobin, chat and listen to live music with Rayyan

CT:OS Update 3.0 (25 Mar ‘22):

Singles challenge match against last season’s No. 5 seed, Emerson

Hall party before freshman orientation begins—meet the French exchange student on your floor, and hang out with your hallmates

Rooftop scene with G

CT:OS Update 4.0 (28 Aug ‘22):

Freshman orientation—meet the rest of your hallmates, including your roommate, and play some icebreakers

Orientation activities—win the amazing race, and laser tag

Sign up for a club at the club and activities fair, pick a major

CT:OS Update 5.0 (16 Oct ‘22): 

Attend your first week of classes, and find out if you’ve done enough preparation not to make a fool of yourself (a surprise test...)

More training—get the chance to show off your finesse chops!—achieve the Devil’s Dozen

Challenge match with Jacks or Max

Find out if you’ve been selected to be part of the Cargill singles line-up—and which position you’ll be playing

CT:OS Update 6.0 (29 Apr ‘23):

Weekend hang-outs—head to the library with Tobin, go on a run with Rayyan, and skype with Sam

Meet Felix, Tobin’s ex, while hanging out in a café with G and D

Doubles matches partnered with Tobin and Rayyan—prove your chops as a doubles partner

Find out who your doubles partner will be (along with their reaction)—includes a potential angry locker room confrontation

CT:OS Update 7.0 (28 Sep 23):

Have dinner with Tobin after training—something steamy might ensue...

Bump into Rayyan in the tennis courts at night—resolve some issues, and get embroiled in others...

Convince the coaches to let you swap doubles partners (or stick with your original one)

Finalise your doubles partner for the season!

Study sesh with G at the Haynes student lounge before the first official match of the season

CT:OS Update 8.0 (21 Dec ‘23):

First doubles match of the season against Cornell

Sam reunion(!!)—bear hug your best friend at last

Possible fake fight with doubles partner (or a real one)

Post-double match shenanigan—seal your doubles match with a kiss just before the singles matches

Nickname functionality added to earlier portions of game