Multifactor Considerations (BTS #19) (Patreon)

Visual novels have many considerations to take into account. Everything a player sees and reads informs them about the story, setting, and characters. It is a difficult balancing act to introduce anything without it becoming overwhelming or, conversely, superfluous.

The concept art renders I created have narrowed my focus to these intertwining factors.

This scene featuring Teri is connected to her personality and story arc. I won't spoil anything yet, but her familiarity with getting onto the roof of her home is relevant to many facets about her personality.

Teri is doing Teri stuff. You'll understand once you meet her while playing Motherhood.

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The intro's setting of a private plane gives me a great opportunity to carefully introduce elements that are important while simultaneously feeling natural as to why some aspects, like the rest of the cast, are currently absent. I've forced myself to stick only to a certain subset of key characters. They are Leslie (MC), Gina (Wife), Morgana (Older Tenet), Teri (Younger Tenet), Nola (Player defined), Clover (Best Friend), Vanko (Boss), and Vanko's spouse.

Originally Vanko was going to be gay and married to a man. I mentioned before he was supposed to be a confidant type of character who MC would turn to frequently for advice. But this didn't really sit right with a lesbian themed adult VN. I mean, what would be the point of having him on screen for countless lines of dialogue, but without any romantic relationship development with him?

Plus, then I'd have to either create another character for his spouse or rewrite his backstory. I needed a new character to fill this gap. So I came up with someone suitable. I call her Denise.

She's a pretty good fit for this new role. Taking over for Vanko, Denise will be Leslie's friend who doles out advice. Note that Vanko is still the MC's boss, just his role has been restructured so Denise can be front and center.

This new dynamic introduces a motherly type relationship with MC being in the "daughter" role (instead of like with everyone else where she is usually in charge). Despite the age difference only being a few years apart, I believe this will work better. Plus, who's going to turn down another love interest?

From top to bottom I designed Denise to fit the MILF archetype, well my version of that archetype. I know there are other popular MILF characters out there, but a lot of them look like a slightly older age skin was slapped onto a voluptuous supermodel. My particular spin is obviously heavily favoring realism. This last shot in particular shows Denise has a relatively flat butt, along with other physical "flaws" like graying hair. To me, these "flaws" only enhance the aesthetic.

P.S. I slightly tweaked some render settings yet again for better clarity and modified this portrait scene for more even lighting. I'll be creating portraits like this until I invariably find another new way to improve the quality.