The Term 'ship' Is Too Vague. I Don't Think They Should Date I Think They Should Be Fucking Regularly.

watching the original skam in multiple parts on google drive when i was 17 was literally the last time i felt anything

Was listening to the Dungeon Meshi opening a normal amount and had the urge to draw Friederick and his one (1) party Member, Elxian again ( @revoleotion ).

[ID: a digital drawing of Friederick and Elxian, two OCs. Friederick is a gnome with light skin and brown hair in a bun, wearing sailors clothing and is holding a harpoon. Elm's fire is hovering over his head. Elxian, a pale elf with blue hair is standing behind him with his eyes closed and singing. She's wearing a simple blue top and a golden pearl necklace. /End ID]

Jesus can always reject his father But he cannot escape his mother's blood

Tabitha Scarlet for the Scarlet Hollow community fanart event! Background is from the game (altered). ID in alt text!

Relationships in Scarlet Hollow

Have you ever wondered why every playthrough of Scarlet Hollow feels so different? It isn't *just* from branching off of major decisions. A lot of characters make use of a hidden 10-variable relationship system that maps to their perception of the protagonist.

These variables influence a *lot* of dialogue, as well as the sprites and emotional range of these characters in a given scene, and tracking this much information lets us take a very nuanced approach to PC/NPC relationships.

It's also why SH will probably never get voice acting.

So instead of just looking at someone likes or dislikes you, we can look at "trust" as its own value separate from surface-level likeability

ex: You and your cousin can be at each other's throats and still trust each other with your lives, or you can be cordial and share nothing with each other on an emotional level.

This system also dovetails into other parts of our narrative design, often unlocking different paths or scenes based on who someone is to you.

Your relationship with your cousin, for instance, has the possibility to unlock an entirely separate outcome in episode 3.

We go out of our way to not show off this system, even though it's a big part of our secret sauce, mostly because the whole point of it is to make our story and characters feel more alive and dynamic.

Having a meter to see that x statement gives you y openness points with Tabitha would ruin that immersion and gameify things to the detriment of the narrative.

When you're making decisions and choosing what to say in Scarlet Hollow, it shouldn't *feel* like a game, at least not in the sense of it being something you're playing on a meta-level. You should pick what feels right for you, and the game should respond accordingly.

Hiding the system has other benefits as well, including being able to *change how it functions* as time goes on without calling attention to those changes.

Values move A LOT (almost every dialogue choice) in episodes 1-3 as you make a first impression on characters, but by late episode 3/early episode 4, most of the characters in Scarlet Hollow have decided who they think you are, and it starts to take big, character defining moments to move that needle.

Just like in real life!

Anyways if this stuff interests you and you want a longer read on it, please take a look at this devlog!

Medium

Creating a dynamic relationship system in Scarlet Hollow

In our first run at figuring out the relationship system for Scarlet Hollow (play Episode 1 for free on Steam), we tried a kind of Dragon…

Or if you haven't played the game, try episode 1 for free!

okay i'm clearly on a journey through fandom memory lane but it really is wild to me that a random norwegian teen drama cracked the code on how to perfectly market and promote a show in the age of social media and NO ONE ELSE (besides the countries trying to create their own version of the same show ig) has emulated it?????????? like?????????? legitimate social media profiles for your characters????????? with posts and instagram stories from them that fit within the plot as well as offering a fun little extra insight into the characters/friendships/relationships?????? groundbreaking. i had instagram notifications turned on for FICITONAL CHARACTERS. one of your characters wants to be a director??? here's his real youtube channel with a video he made for his boyfriend's birthday full of never before seen clips that don't exist on the show?!?!?!?!?! unbelievable. you want your show to be immersive??? you want the audience to feel like they're living within the pov of your main character?? drop a clip/sneak peek in real time as it's supposed to happen in the episode so your audience is thinking about it 24/7. genius!!!!!! like can you imagine if circa 2018 everything didn't move to full season dumps and instead shows that aired on a weekly basis and incorporated even one of these things became the norm??????? we were robbed of what could've been

In the spirit of encouraging people to comment on fanfics while also making it easier to do so, I feel obliged to share a browser extension for ao3 that has quite literally revolutionized the comment game for me.

I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!

From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!

I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.

The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.

(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)

If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.

The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.

insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box

add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box

delete -> self explanatory

on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic

The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.

Comments are what keep writers going, and as both a writer and a reader, I think it's such an easy way of showing support and enthusiasm.