Hi guys! Today, we meet for the first devlog of the actual development of the sequel of When The Wind Blew You Away (or WTWBYA for this devlog), which we will call Hold my Hand in the Whirlwind or HHW for this devlog (I can’t promise it will be the final name, but it’s the one I have for now). After all, I released WWBYA one month ago, and wanted to celebrate this month-versary with letting you know my ideas for the sequel!

Okay, so, for the game is still in early development and I still have to figure out a lot of things to make sure it is a good experience for everyone interested! But to make sure the sequel isn’t disappointing, there are things I considered:

– the game must not be a downgrade from the first one

– the gameplay has to be improved

– it has to be faithful to the first game and not make it meaningless

– it has to be a stand-alone sequel to allow more players to play the game

For this first devlog, I propose to explore these four points.

PART 1: The game must not be a downgrade.

What do I mean by that? Well, I do think a few things stand out when it comes to WTWBYA, I think two main things pop about it:

– the extra-features (2 sprite styles + toggle on typewriter effect)

– a slow-burn story about longing for someone and trusting them to let them entre your life

Of course, none of these features are unique or never seen before (admittedly, all the VNs I played which had a “sound effect” when the characters talk didn’t allow players to toggle it off, but I guess it’s more due to my lack of culture rather than the feature not existing anywhere).

So, while the typewriter effect is easy to implement back and the story, well, I’ll try my best but it depends on me, the two sprite styles are a bigger problem!

Indeed, the sequel is meant to be slightly more mature (13+) and the characters involved are older (you can check out the previous devlog if you haven’t to see Peter grew muscles for example), so a pure “shojo” art style as the one in the game might not work? But at the same time, players who enjoyed the first game enjoyed the art style and, let’s be real, it is gorgeous???

So, I’ll find a solution! Not right now, as the game is still in the early stages of development, but I’ll do my best to make sure to find a way to have art styles that match the more “mature” vibe I want but are still faithful to the original art styles!

Also, the original ending has three different endings, so the sequel should have some too. Surprisingly enough, it was actually very difficult to come up with bad endings for this game: Peter and Amanda longed so long for each other, it feels wrong to separate them. But in the end, players have agency on the bad endings, and I managed to find some that could work, and although it’s HEARTBREAKING for me, I still wanted players to be able to get a variety of endings.

But how could I implement these endings in a satisfying way? Well, let’s get to the second part of this devlog!

PART 2: The gameplay has to be improved.

So, WTWBYA was produced in less than two months, and if I’m overall very happy with it, there is one part I don’t like about this game: the neutral ending. Why? Well, for the following reason: it feels more like a failed good ending than its own ending.

So, for HHW, this is something I want to improve: I want all the endings to feel like an interesting and valuable experience. More than “bad endings”, I want the bad endings to feel like experiences players would feel as satisfying as the good endings.

So, I have ideas, but we’ll keep them for a future devlog.

Also, I would like to do something to make the choices more exciting! I’m having vague ideas, but I don’t want to copy an idea I have for Order me!’s remake (Order me! is a BL project I’m working on). But I would like to have the choices being more varied and fun to make (I consider adding timed choices for some very stressful ones in the story!).

I would also like to improve the QOL of the game. That means HHW will include more accessibility options, a gallery and other features I won’t detail too much… for reasons you’ll discover soon!

PART 3: It has to be faithful to the first game.

I’m speaking here from a writer’s perspective (because, before being a game dev, or someone drawing from time to time, I am a writer who wants to tell stories!).

Most sequels encounter a terrible issue: they fail to be relevant when it comes to their original, and feel more like an add-on rather than something enriching the characters and their stories.

This is my top priority for the game: the story has to explore Peter and Amanda’s relationship in ways that I haven’t explored in the original game.

Moreover, WTWBYA focuses on longing, on letting someone enter your life years after they left. I want HHW to be similar in that regard: and I can already tell you that the game will take an opposite direction. WTWBYA was about letting someone in: HHW is about letting them out to let them grow. And while the first game focuses on Amanda’s fear of letting Peter in, the sequel will focus on her hopes to have him back.

Also, the game can’t destroy everything I’ve built in the first game: so, despite my horrible phrasing, don’t worry, the premise of the game isn’t them breaking up! It would be a terrible way to “reward” all the efforts the players put into bringing them together in the original game (perhaps you’ve been the wind this whole time after all…) and you can trust me to treat the original material with love, care and authenticity.

So, expect HHW to be either very romantic or very bittersweet depending on your choices. I know the sequel will have to lose the “dating sim” aspect of the game, as Peter and Amanda are already a couple in it, but I don’t plan on giving up on the romance – and I actually want it to shine through more than ever. So I hope this is still exciting?

Also, I wanted to brush some more important themes for WTWBYA: while HHW won’t be a very detailed account of touchy themes, since it wouldn’t suit a 13+, do expect some more angst!

PART 4: It has to be a stand-alone sequel.

One priority is also to open the game to new players and not expect them to have played WTWBYA in the first place to understand the story. The main reason is the following: I know all too well that I can’t expect all the players who played WTWBYA to play HHW, as some didn’t like it, or tastes might change, or perhaps they are not interested in a 13+ game and enjoyed that WTWBYA was 10+... Well, since the target audience is a bit different (although I still target otome/josei/amare enjoyers and players), I want it to be as accessible as possible.

But of course, there is a balance to find between making the game a standalone sequel, but still making sure players who played WTWBYA feel gratified for having done so! So I’ll try my best to nod to some events from the game!

And I guess that’s it for the first devlog of HHW! If you guys have any opinions to share, I’m more than willing to get to know them!! So please, let me know, it will only make the game better!