Hi! Here is the second devlog documenting Waterlily on the Froth (WOTF)’s development, my genderbent High School Lolita (HSL)! Today, I propose to give you a short overview of Chris as a protagonist, and how he differs from HSL’s protagonist, Chloé Duchêne. So, if you’re reading this, beware as this devlog will contain spoilers of HSL (but of course, for obvious reasons, this won’t spoil WOTF).

I already mentioned the most obvious differences in the previous devlog: Chloé is an introvert and Chris is an extrovert; Chloé was bullied by his classmates, Chris is popular; Chloé is fond of literature, Chris is more of a soccer guy and has to attend literature tutoring classes because he is the ONLY ONE who failed his literature test.

So, this implies some differences: first, Chloé and Matthieu’s connection was more internal and natural, as they both shared an interest in literature and connected through it. Literature plays a role in Gaëtana and Chris’ connection, but more because it is a way for Gaëtana to explore Chris’ feelings and thoughts, but… let’s keep that a secret for now!

Another dimension of this difference is that Chris has had a social life and, when he first meets Gaëtana, he is not a virgin (unlike Chloé, who experiences sex for the first time with Matthieu), so Gaëtana’s influence on Chris is less total than the one Matthieu had on Chloé.

Another difference between them is that… Chris is a boy, and Chloé is a girl. And before you leave, undignified at the obviousness of the difference, this implies something major: Chris is subjected to the pressure of toxic masculinity, and is pressured into dating an older woman by his peers and friends as it is a sign of his maturity (after all, a boy can’t date a woman; but a man can, and what is more gratifying, for a 17-yo, to feel like a man? (Yes, I didn’t lie when I said I wasn’t taking the “men are as oppressed as women” route in the last devlog).

The last difference I’d like to raise here is Chris’ feelings for Gaëtana. The true nature of Chloé’s feelings for Matthieu is questionable, but overall, I think we can say she fell in love with him. Chris’ feelings for Gaëtana… are clearly more twisted, and it’s far from being as obviously romantic. Detailing more would be spoilers, but just know that you’re not going to play a lovestruck protagonist, and that Chris won’t have the devotion Chloé had for Matthieu (giving up on a possible friendship with Bastien and Lucie to make sure nobody finds out about Matthieu’s actions etc.).

Overall, to be honest, Chris is a very-flawed person, and he’s really at his worst during chapters 2-3-4 in my outline, so he’s quite unbearable to write at some point, but of course, that only means he goes through a lot of character development and, even more than Chloé, character growth. He really is one of my favourite protags of mine (my second favourite behind Katekyo Namida, for those more familiar with the rest of my work), and I really hope you are going to find his development touching and convincing in the end.

Now, to give more info about the current state of the game: the first chapter is fully written and is basically longer than a third of HSL. And the plan for WOTF is to have 7 main story chapters and three endings of three chapters each, leading us to 16 chapters to write, and therefore… 15 chapters yet to write (less actually, as chapter 2 is a work in progress). I do hope some chapters will be longer, but I do know that at least, chapters 1-2-3 are going to be more wordy, as a lot of things happen, as this game really is more eventful than HSL. I think I’m going to start implementing the already-written content to prevent myself from going insane later, but implementation will cause a lot of issues for this game, and I’ll certainly discuss it in a future devlog.

For now, I just hope you guys find the points I raised interesting, and that it makes you look more forward to this game! For now, I won’t be able to work on it as much as I could as I’m focusing on producing my Once Upon A Time VN Jam entry, The Birth of Cinderella, narrating how a young girl named Annelise became the Cinderella we all know after her father’s death. So, expect a lot of gaslighting and manipulation (maybe not the best way to tease a game, but I mean, this is published as an HSL devlog).

See you in a future devlog!