Hey everyone, Johnny here with another devblog.

Today, I want to share a bit about what I’ve been working on lately, and even though nobody asked, I thought I’d mention some of the media that has inspired me and my writing.

As you may recall from the last devblog, I’ve been playtesting the game as part of our effort to port it to the Python 3 version of Ren’Py. It’s been challenging, but it has given me the chance to really dig into the game and “touch up” the writing.

For example, I’ve been refining Hermione’s behaviour during certain public and personal events to ensure that her attitude remains consistent for that tier. This includes things like strengthening the reasons why Hermione would ever agree to dance in front of Snape, her attitude towards kissing other girls, and how she reacts to Genie using derogatory terms. Previously, the player could change her nickname to a derogatory term, yet one of the events featured the same term being used and Hermione acting negatively towards it. There may still be a few instances where this inconsistency is present, so if you happen to spot one, please let me know.

Regarding writing improvements, I’ve mainly been adding more dialogue options and checks, as well as additional and improved writing during events. My current goals are to make the world feel more alive, let the player participate more in what Genie says, and add further replayability. I’ve learned a lot since I went over the writing last time, so hopefully everything should now feel even more interconnected.

Some examples that I’ll share today include a new section for the “Dance for Snape” event. On each replay of the event, Hermione now takes the player’s choices into account and lists all the new things she’s learned about him. The other dancing variants of this tier are being improved as well, mainly by adding more variation between the different choices. In the future, I’d also like to add even more variations for higher tiers.

I’ve added more checks during the event where Hermione opens up to Genie and Tonks about the naughty behaviour of her peers. Now she’ll mention the most current Quidditch events that she has witnessed and participated in.

That’s about it for work, but as I mentioned at the start, I’d also like to go on a bit of a nostalgia trip and talk a little bit about the media that has influenced me and my writing. It might not be interesting to everyone, but it may explain Genie’s dumb tangents and stupid humour, as I put a lot of myself into his character.

When I was growing up, I was mostly drawn to games that didn’t base themselves too much in reality or take themselves too seriously, such as the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Ratchet and Clank, Sly, Jak and Daxter, Rayman, and Tony Hawk’s Underground series. Some of you may have already noticed what is similar about these games. No, they don’t all have furry characters in them (I added Tony Hawk just so you couldn’t make that comparison). What makes them similar is that they were all filled with funny one-liners and humour, some of which were even fourth wall breaking.

Once I got older, I started reading the Harry Potter books and playing the games. They’ve always been a big part of my life, during both happy and sad times. When it comes to the games, I’ve played just about all of them, including the versions for the various platforms. I say “just about” because I haven’t played the Deathly Hallows games, and I haven’t had the chance to pick up Hogwarts Legacy yet.

I could probably elaborate on the games, books, and movies for ages, but I’ll leave that for another post. For now, I’ll just list my favourite games in order from best to worst. Just in case there’s at least one other nerd like me who has played them all. I’ll specify a console when there are multiple games for the same school year. I also won’t list the handheld games:

• 3 (PS2)
• 2 (PS2)
• 1 (PS2)
• 3 (PC)
• Quidditch World cup
• Lego Year 5-6
• 5 (PS2)
• 6 (PS2)
• Lego Year 1-4
• 4 (PS2)
• 2 PC
• 1 PC

Comedy has always been something that I’ve been drawn towards in every media, and especially for TV and movies. My favourite movies growing up were the ones starring Jim Carrey, especially The mask and Ace Ventura. I also enjoyed and still enjoy cartoons a fair bit, I’m currently watching the Aladdin series and Star Wars The clone wars. Funnily enough, Aladdin was my favourite Disney film growing up, perhaps due to the Genie character providing the type of comedy relief I enjoy.

Of course, there’s also other adult media that has inspired my work, but this post is starting to take up far too many inches on my screen, and I’m feeling a bit insecure about that. So to end this devblog, I thought I’d pose a question for you all as I made have had a realisation when typing this up. Does anyone else remember Courtney Gears from Ratchet and Clank 3? Is it just me, or does her body type look a bit similar to the characters in… Never mind… Forget I said anything.