⍰ The History of Reverie ⍰

Development for Reverie started October 2020, where it went by a different name-- one that I can't really share without spoiling half of the story. During that time it started as a visual novel with many more characters than today's. But with the scope getting out of control, the project died for a while. Until I discovered RPGMaker XP...

Wanting a small project to learn the engine, I repurposed Reverie into a small scale horror puzzle game where it has stayed mostly the same. You play as Marco, our resident amnesiac, as he travels throughout his grandparent's manor. Initially there were two floors to explore and two main antagonists, but after the scope again grew wildly out of control, a  culling was in order. And so one of the antagonists-- the Burning Woman, was dismissed.

Which brings us to today...

A few weeks ago, a close friend (another game developer) I was talking to about Reverie, pitched the idea of having more RPG elements in the game-- turn-based combat specifically. I thought the idea was charming and with a newfound burst of inspiration, I got back to work. However, not having used RPGMaker in that way before (I know right?) I got frustrated and gave the idea up. But the burst of passion remained, and so here I am-- continuing on.

⍰ Making Reverie - Dev Log 0.1 ⍰

Don't worry, that's the first and last time I'll be talking about the history of Reverie. We're also starting with Dev Log 0.1 so that when we get to a MASSIVE breakthrough, we can bump it up to singular point status! Yayy!

Anywho, I created the final header graphic this morning and updated the itch.io page to reflect this. 

The first version I made was a LONGGGGG time ago, I wouldn't be surprised if I had made it upward of 2-3 years ago. That being said, it was more of a placeholder than an honest-to-god attempt...

It did it's job all these years, but it didn't have a lot of thematic relevance. The art in itself was also fine, but I could've done better. Overall, it just didn't have that presence I was looking for. Then a couple days ago, while tinkering with the code on the main menu, I decided it was time for an overhaul. I had finished making the tile screen soundtrack a day before, and so my final try at making the graphic had me listening to it on loop as I was drawing.

And finally, I came to this...

Which is much more thematically relevant, a little unsettling, and grasps the tone I was going for perfectly. I doubt I'll change it again beyond this point. This one takes a bit of inspiration from Junji Ito's Uzumaki-- which I hoped wasn't blindingly apparent, but you'll spot it if you're looking for it.

Very happy with this one. I had been struggling with tone a little so this is a good step in the right direction.

~ Zero