Great news! Not much progress again! Did some drawing and writing this month involving some other project. It's not been a good month otherwise. My "I" key is loose and won't snap into place, my headphones broke and don't sit right on my head, my dog ate my homework... you get the idea.
What little I did get to was planning on Chapter 7. Finalizing what obstacles I want and how often they'll appear, deciding if extra enemy types are necessary, and spriting out the bases for obstacles.
Hmmmmmm what could the level theming for this area be... probably disco-related or something.
I did start plotting some of these elements down into level design structure. It's a unique chapter, like a I mentioned before, in that it's a point-of-no-return, so no chest puzzles and purposefully linear. The challenge is meant to be an endurance one, collecting the scant health drops and stocking up on drinks before going through a gauntlet of hazards and enemies to reach the end. I feel like it's going to be a short chapter that'll probably need a lot of refining afterwards, to find the right difficulty.
But for now I'm just figuring out functionality.
Something else I did was finally setting time aside to start a proper debug mode object, something that'll let me toggle settings and pick out rooms rather than binding a bunch of random keys. It feels pretty dumb I never did it this whole time, usually focused on other aspects of the game...
That's about it. Like I said just not a good month. It's all mental stuff I've brought up before; it feels like 3-4 major things happen in the past 4 weeks. The Boys ending, TADC ending, Mina the Hollower coming out, Deltarune chapter 5 coming out, Mouse P.I.... not that I played any of those games, but I do keep up with and it does weigh in a lot on my mind about my own game. I never feel like I'm doing enough, and it always seems pretty modest to me.
My approach with obstacles wasn't trying to come up with something super wacky/innovative, or being overly punishing. I tried to stick to pretty straight-forward stuff that feels more conducive with each other. It would easier to justify all of this if Pocket Adventure was made in 2 years instead of over 10, but idk. I really wanted to make something that fell like a full game, I'm hoping people don't find it underwhelming or annoying.
Next month, I'll be working on chapter 7 object functionality and level design. Hope your summers are going well!
You know what, it’s 2026, it’s time we have this conversation Professor Layton fandom:
Layton’s Mystery Journey is way too over hated.
Whoa, whoa, put down your pitchforks, let me explain. I won’t lie, LMJ has its fair share of major flaws; its storytelling and puzzle design suffer quite a bit. However, we can’t deny that things like the LMJ anime are actually very solid pieces of Professor Layton media that deserve far more attention than they receive. Even though I often find myself disinterested in LMJ and what it adds to the Professor Layton series, I can still find aspects of it to enjoy.
I believe a huge reason the fandom has doomed LMJ to an eternal pit is simply because we’ve been told to. Much of the hate comes from people who haven’t really experienced LMJ for what it has to offer and only have heard about how “bad” it is. I’m not saying you have to play LMJ, but at least consider watching some of the anime. I think it’s time we start realizing that even though LMJ has its fundamental flaws, it’s still a very decent game, and so is the media that surrounds it.
could you tell me about your visual novel a bit? only if you're ok ofc!!! just dropping random questions, you don't have to answer any of them :)
who is the protagonist?
who is your favorite character story-wise and favorite character design-wise?
what are your main inspirations?
what is your favorite scene so far and one you're excited to finally write/program out? (idk the terms for visual novels apologies!!)
are you putting in any symbolism in any of the color choices/designs etc? if so what is your favorite little detail of foreshadowing so far!
what is your favorite thing to talk about when it comes to rayverie?
what is one piece of advice you have for fleshing out your stories and characters? I've had my own ocs for going on 4 years and most of the plot is still really vague. as hard as i've tried to flesh things out, none of the details come to me yk?
if you ever wanna yap to me feel free to!!! i really adore your art it's so pretty!!!! also i love your username!!!
sorry if this is random and weirdly worded i'm always a bit awkward reaching out to someone i just met but want to get to know feel free to just ignore this haha!
Heyaa, thanks a lot for asking! That's a bunch, so I'll assign a number to each question:
‿̩͙⊱༒︎༻⋆ ⭒ ⋆ ⭒ ⋆ ⭒ ☾ ⭒ ⋆ ⭒ ⋆ ⭒ ⋆༺༒︎⊰‿̩͙
The visual novel that I've been working on is called Rayverie. It's a story of fate, loss, and finding purpose, maybe even an analysis of the human condition. It takes place in a world filled with errant symbols and messy figures [literally, I mean].
It's hard for the characters to tell when or how this world, together with all of its odd properties (such being able to code thus create anyth- uh what who said that) came to be. Though most of them don't even have to wonder of it, as its hard for some characters to even see such side of their world. They only see its concealment by a mask, a story, perhaps just like the true natures of some characters, or for some others, just like their own memories.
1. Who is the protagonist?
That said, the story follows parallel narratives, which means there are two protagonists that I can speak of: Seline and Ray.
Seline faces an uncertain future and a foggy past, with nothing left of it but broken fragments of monochromatic memories and dirty insects. Yet in her heart remains a light of passion, longing to restart anew, toward a better future. For the time being, she’s unemployed and living in her friend’s dorm [JOBLESS CHUD!! WAIT, DID SOMEONE SAY JOB? So then she’s decided, fixing that will be the start of defying her ‘fate’!
Ray, one can only wonder if that’s even her true name. She’s nothing more than a fallen star [quite literally, she fell off the sky] who has found herself in a momentarily colorful dream of a life. What more can be said of her, she herself would not know how to put into words.
Though they follow greatly differing paths, remaining unbeknownst to each other, certainly their stories of struggle have something in common, and certainly their paths shall meet up at the same point.
2. Who is your favorite character?
Now these two aside, who's my favorite character! Story-wise, my favorite is Ray. I love the symbolism and mystery surrounding her character. I also like her monologues.
Design-wise, however, it's definitely Jax. I like his color palette; it reminds me of a sunset. [heh, what do you take me for, of course that symbolizes something!]
3. Are you putting in any symbolism in any of the color choices/designs etc?
For the symbolisms and foreshadowing, all you need to do is take a look at some of the poems I've posted in this account. But for a quick answer, the very icon of the game, the one with a star and a moon, is a symbol. The rest you must figure out as you play the game, and I must say, there's a lot!
4. What are your main inspirations?
Though none of my characters are directly me, I've gotten inspiration from my most varied experiences, all kinds of poems I've written, and my daydreams.
A lot of things were stuff I came up with in class as I was bored (like when I came up with Kseno's name from the periodic table), so one can also say my main source of inspiration has been precisely that boredom, or maybe, the freedom to explore myself.
Then my inspiration was simply the ideal of being listened to and understood by people like myself, because they aren’t always easy to find, and who doesn’t want to be heard when they have something to say?
5. What is your favorite scene so far and one you're excited to finally write out?
There are a lot of scenes that I enjoy writing. Mainly the banters between Seline and her very new friend Kseno (there's always something going on between these two), Ray's stupid monologues, or Odon's stupid dialogue (easy way to sneak in lore drops).
As for what I'm most excited to write out, like most writers, I'm assuming, it's the end of the game! I'm eager to finally see all the seeming plot holes, the character development, and the final lessons wrapped in a beautiful and enlightening end.
6.What is one piece of advice you have for fleshing out your stories and characters?
Regarding my advice, it would be to write with a goal in mind. A goal for yourself, and a goal for your story. Is there something your soul gains by putting in that much work? And is there a main message you want your characters to convey as they approach their ends? I think that must be the first thing everyone decides on.
7. What is your favorite thing to talk about when it comes to Rayverie?
Lastly, favorite thing to talk about is my game: Anything. I like it when people are curious about things I've spent hours upon hours building, so I'm very grateful for your questions!
The game is still in beta, but anyone who wishes to become a playtester is free to dm me, either here on tumblr or through discord (@aikkonic)
