What's Next in Tainted Harmony? - Dev Diary #8 (Patreon)

Hey friends!It's been a little while since I last posted something like this. How's everyone doing?

Okay, phew...This one's going to be a long post, so thank you for taking the time to read it. 😊

When I first started working on this visual novel, I had a lot of ideas I really wanted to put in. But as development went on and I kept working on it, I slowly realized that some of those ideas just aren't sustainable in the long run.

One example is letting players freely choose any girl they like and skip the ones they don't. Up until around Day 5, players could more or less skip content and focus only on specific characters. Early on, that felt fine. But when I started thinking of the story ahead, things got complicated very fast. Imagine this scenario. On Day 2, a player chooses Girl A and skips Girl B. Then on Day 6, they suddenly decide to pursue Girl B. Now I need to account for two versions of the story. One where the Day 2 scene already happened, and one where it didn't. On top of that, I have to make sure everything still lines up later in the story. And that's not even counting corruption versions and affection versions of scenes. That's just for one girl, and there are a lot of them.

I'm only one person working on this project. The last update alone took me around three months to finish. If I keep trying to do every possible variable and choice, updates will take much longer than that. On top of this, future parts of the story naturally require you to interact with all of the girls, so skipping some of them wouldn't really make sense from a story perspective anyway. That said, don't worry. I still plan to give each girl her own ending in the future and many more, as this is a multiple-ending story after all.

After thinking about what I had planned in the future, there are some ideas that just don't fit the story. I'm afraid adding more will actually make the story deviate from the main point of the story. Because of that, I've decided to focus the game on corruption and affection, which will later split more clearly. The corrupted path and the resistance path are not just small variations of each other. They are essentially two different storylines altogether. That means they need proper focus and care.

Now, about the main theme of this visual novel. I know there's been some speculation about where the story is headed, so let me clear things up a bit! The main theme of this visual novel is corruption through desires. That corruption can take many forms and explore different genres, but desire will always be the core. Personally, I'm pretty open when it comes to genres, but I also understand that everyone has their own preferences. Some people enjoy certain themes and dislike others. Because of that and the story, not every genre or idea can fit into the game. However, I do have something planned to make up for that, which I'll talk about a bit later.

Alright, with that out of the way, let me talk about the structure of this visual novel. Tainted Harmony is divided into three Acts, and each one focuses on a different phase of the story and character development.

ACT 1This is the story about how Allen's life begins to shift under Calanthe's subtle influence. It's slow, quiet, and in ways he doesn't fully understand yet. His desire starts to surface, and his behavior begins to change. Every choice you make builds the foundation for who Allen becomes. This act sets the tone of corruption, temptation, and the tension between who Allen is and who he could become.

ACT 2Your earlier choices split the narrative into two different paths, each revealing new sides of the story and characters. Either Allen embraces the influence and explores the darker side of his desire, or he resists the temptation, holds on to his humanity, and protects the people he cares about.

From the beginning, this was the story I wanted to tell. But since this is my first project, I didn't have the skill or the confidence to start with the full vision right away. People say your first project should be something simple, so I did. Right now, I'm learning, improving, and slowly building up my confidence enough so I can bring the deeper parts of the story forward. The tone will shift, the stakes will rise, and the world will open up. I hope that by the time we reach this part, I'll be ready to do it justice. So be patient, we're gonna get there.

What If StoriesThis is how I plan to compensate for ideas and themes that don't quite fit into the main story. The main game has its limits, but with these What If stories, I can be more creative without worrying too much about whether something fits perfectly into the timeline.

These will be short scenes, usually one or two per update, so they don't interfere too much with the development of the main game. They will add a bit to development time, but at least there will be something new to enjoy while waiting for updates.

Sometimes I really want to write a scene, but I can't include it because it just doesn't work within the main story. This is my way to reset, refresh, and experiment creatively. These scenes could be alternate versions of events, what if scenarios, or even continuations of certain endings.

I also want this to be a community driven thing. I plan to make polls so you can vote on what kind of What If stories you'd like to see. I want this to feel like something we build together.

Another reason for this is the long gap between updates. This gives everyone something to enjoy in between, while also allowing you to vote for content that wouldn't normally fit into the main game. That said, this will come a little later, as my main focus right now is finishing Act 1. We’re currently around the middle of it, so I want to make sure that part is done properly first.

ACT 3Well, Act 3 is still quite far away, but I already have a general idea of where it will go. That said, everything depends on how Act 2 turns out. Act 2 alone involves two fully separate paths, which is basically like making two games at once. I don't want to promise something I can't realistically deliver. I also need to be more careful with how I manage my time, so I don't burn out, as I do have a life too outside of this project.

I really want you to understand that this is a one-person project. I'll always try to improve with each update, but I'll never be able to please everyone. The game won't be perfect. There will be things you like, things you don't like, and moments you might think could have been handled differently. I simply can't do everything. What I can do is keep moving forward, keep learning, and keep doing my best. And for that, I truly thank you for sticking around and supporting me all this time.

Well, that's all for this dev diary.

By the way, I've just created a Tainted Harmony Discord server. If you'd like to chat with other players and supporters, feel free to join us there. 😉

[DISCORD]

Thank you again for supporting me up to this point. There's a lot more coming in the future, and I hope you'll continue this journey with me.

Also, the holidays are just around the corner, so I hope you have a wonderful one! 🥳

Now then, back to writing the next update!