Hey everyone,

This week I'd like to share my thoughts on the "ladder of importance", i.e. the hierarchy of how much screentime characters get and the factors that influence it. On top of that, the post also includes an addendum to the topic of Sunny's unavoidable romance from two weeks ago. Because of how long it turned out to be, I've included a TL;DR summary for the sake of those who have better things to do than read my rambling. And I couldn't find any good sketch to use, so I decided to let Grunvald provide you with comfort while you wade through the endless walls of text!

Not every character will have the same amount of scenes because some characters are more present in the protagonist's personal sphere (e.g. they live with him) and/or they will be more involved in the main story (e.g. Trisha is the daughter of a powerful landowner > Becky is a barmaid pouring drinks). This "hierarchy" will fluctuate depending on what's currently happening in the story, but if people are interested, I could do a little graph for every new release that shows how much a character is present in that episode (overall presence, not just erotic scenes). It will change with introductions of new characters and such, but I think the next episode would resemble something like this:

As an addendum to the topic of Sunny's unavoidable romance, I want to steer the dynamic of their relationship towards being very close friends who are comfortable enough with each other to romantically/sexually explore rather than making Sunny the MC's mandatory girlfriend right from the start. This is to settle the dilemma of side romances, because Sunny as an unavoidable girlfriend means that side romances are unavoidable cheating. In other words, you will not be forced into a committed relationship with Sunny, but you'll still share romantic and intimate gestures. It might be tough to introduce that sort of dynamic organically, but I think if I manage it it is the best way to let the players "have the cake and eat it too".

Like I've said in the post regarding Sunny's canon romance, Elvensang is not a dating sim – this means that not every character in the game is created equal. The screentime of characters will fluctuate as the story goes on, but the emphasis on "the main story" in Elvensang comes at the cost of less time spent on the stories of individual characters (specifically every individual love interest). If you think about it in percentages, my general impression is that a dating sim (or a harem game I suppose) with five potential love interests would evenly divide 20% of its focus between each LI (not counting the usually very simple narrative "glue" that's holding the story together, e.g. you are a student in some school, you just moved into a new town, you inherited a manor with five maids from a distant relative, etc.). While I have nothing against that format, it means that there is usually not much room for personal growth of the protagonist or any sort of a substantial main plot.

In Elvensang, personal growth of the protagonist and the main plot are the primary focus (maybe some 70-80%). This does not mean that everything is just about the plot or what socks the protagonist decides to wear today, but rather that characters who are involved in the main plot and/or the protagonist's personal sphere will naturally receive more spotlight. Take Becky, for example; she may have a small role to play in how things unfold, and her own personal story still has to fit into the big picture - but at the end of the day, she's just a simple village girl. Now compare her to Trisha, whose father is likely second only to the Ealdorman in terms of power and influence within the region. Not to give any spoilers, but when certain things start happening in the main plot, Trisha is far more likely to be involved in the bigger picture than the girl serving drinks in the alehouse, which will inherently make it more organic for her to have more screentime. There is also the fact that Trisha makes active effort to become Sunny and MC's friend, which gives her another advantage by putting her closer to the personal sphere of the protagonist. 

On that note, Trisha was due for an extra scene because she won the Patreon poll – but while I was writing, that additional "scene" extended to becoming nearly an additional day. This is just because of how easy it feels to write her into what is going on because of the aforementioned "proximity to the personal sphere of the protagonist". Had it been Becky or Olevia who won the Patreon poll, they would likely get no more than just one scene because I can't find a reasonable excuse to have either of them accompany the protagonist for half the day without derailing all of my plans for the episode.

Then there is Sunny and Anasteya, who are currently without a doubt the secondary protagonists of the story. That means that, on top of everything else, there's also going to be some focus on their own personal journey outside of their interactions with the protagonist (like Anasteya getting supplies in the village, or Sunny talking to Trisha last episode). Even if the player will get to make some narrative decisions from their POV, I wouldn't go as far as to say that this would make Elvensang a "multiple protagonist" game since that will be a relatively infrequent occasion. It's worth mentioning that some side characters will also have scenes from their POV, I think the key difference between Sunny/Anasteya POV and other characters' POV is that the former seeks to give some insight into Sunny and Anasteya's character and personal growth while the latter is used to provide context for the main plot – though it's not the best example given it's just a black screen with some text, but I think the final scene in the last episode would kind of fall into this category.

To sum things up - because they are the secondary main characters, and because of their importance to the main plot and proximity to the protagonist's personal sphere, Sunny and Anasteya will generally have the most screentime in Elvensang while with other characters it will vary depending on what's happening in the episode and the two abovementioned factors.

But since I mentioned Sunny...

The above is one of the reasons why making Sunny's romance optional would be so time-consuming. Sure, making anything optional is always extra work, but the differences in branched out narrative can be relevant sporadically rather than constantly. For example, whether or not you romance Becky will be acknowledged in certain conversations, and potentially require different scenes in cases where Becky is involved, but that's all – some things would change, some things (like sex scenes) would be gone. But with Sunny, the difference between romance or no romance would change everything; personal scenes between her and the protagonist, scenes during main story events, scenes from her own POV – everything that has Sunny would change, which is an issue considering Sunny's hefty screentime. I would have to write a parallel storyline where everything is the same except one thing that has to be constantly acknowledged in the narrative. If the romance was optional, it would also heavily impact romantic/intimate scenes because they would not always happen – so they either could not contain important information or there would have to be another scene that conveys that same information.

All the same, it's really important to figure out the specifics of Sunny's romance as early as possible. The topic is not crucial because a few people (around 7 that I know of, including survey responses) are very opposed to Sunny's unavoidable romance, but because as a mandatory romance, it dilutes the narrative of other side romances; if you have no choice but to accept Sunny as your girlfriend, then you also have no choice but to cheat on her if you decide to pursue side romances. And that is not something I want.

It's difficult to calibrate because everyone can perceive romantic relationships differently, but my wish is to give players as much freedom as possible without negatively impacting the flow of what I want to do with the story. To that end, I want to alter my plans for implementing Sunny as a canon "romance" – instead of making it unavoidable that the MC and Sunny become a couple, I've considered making it "unavoidable" that they are understood as very close friends who are comfortable enough with one another to share romantic gestures and intimacy. In other words, you will have to share kisses (and more...) with Sunny no matter what, but the dynamic should have a different "vibe" without taking anything from the actual romance.

This presents a compromise between making Sunny's romance optional and making her a "mandatory girlfriend". All of their romantic and intimate scenes still happen, but the different dynamic creates opportunities rather than restrictions, making their relationship to be a lot more flexible than a black or white "you are either faithful to Sunny or you are a cheating asshole". Of course, the difficulty will be with organically introducing this dynamic – and I know that whether you call them a couple or "close friends with benefits" really doesn't make a difference in how they are actually perceived. It will all depend on the nuances of how well I manage to write the right vibe, but I would like to execute it in the spirit of two young elves experimenting and exploring their affection and sexuality, rather than entering a committed relationship right away.

Said commitment will be entirely up to the player. I considered making it possible to choose a committed relationship early on, which would effectively lock you out of most side romances - but that would be a terrible idea when majority of side romances have not even made an appearance yet. Instead, commitment to Sunny should be an indirect choice - and refusing side romances should present the opportunity to acknowledge that the protagonist is doing so because of being committed to Sunny.

That being said, I need to emphasize that you should not worry if you are interested in experiencing a genuine romance with Sunny. I will still have them do all of the things that I planned, but instead of a romance of a couple in a committed relationship, it will be presented as a romance between two young elves who are sort of figuring out who they are to one another. And on that note, I would like to implement something in the distant future that would reward players who refused side romances for the sake of being committed to Sunny. I am not sure what exactly it's going to be, but I won't make it that sort of a reward that really just feels like punishment for people who "dared" to explore side romances. I'd like it to be just a neat little cherry on top, something sweet and wholesome that neatly ties the romance together for people who were in it for the redhead all the way through.

I think it will pay off, especially in the long run since being really close friends will mean the protagonist does not have to go through the motions of breaking up with Sunny should a proper alternative main romantic interest rival to Sunny appear in the future. 

Needless to say, these are just my projected plans for the future and things are still subject to change as I start writing the scenes that will establish that "close friends with benefits" dynamic.

But anyway, that's all I have for this week. If you have any questions, concerns or thoughts about either the ladder of importance or my addendum to Sunny's romance, please don't hesitate to reach out. And I promise to keep next week's post under 200 words (maybe).

Love you all,

Worlaix