When December 17th arrives, it'll mark four months since the release of Don't Give Up On Me! on itch.io.

Time flies so fast! And there hasn't been a single day where I didn't think about this visual novel ever since it came out. All of its story moments still stick with me. Of course, it might be weird for me to say that, as I am one of the writers of the whole game alongside my dear friend and artist Ryuzi_nea. Maybe it's a bit biased. But I would argue otherwise. 

Don't Give Up On Me! was something we both gave extreme attention to detail and overall care. We've spent an entire year developing this game together, having necessary breaks when we couldn't focus on the game properly, just so that it'd have the attention it deserved at the proper time. It's not an incomplete game, nor one we'd like to do differently if we had the chance. It's a genuine fulfilled vision - and something we are proud of. And seeing some of the reactions to the game itself is just a confirmation that it was all worth it.

The reason I write this series of devlogs is to reflect and share a bit of how the entire writing process went down. Many things sticked, many things changed. Many scenes were rewritten over and over. Many inspirations were taken from various sources. By sharing all of that with you, dear reader, I sincerely hope some of the things here serve as tips for your own writing - be it for a visual novel, be it for something else.

In this part one, I will talk about how the project came to be - after all, how was the whole concept of Don't Give Up On Me! born?

Beginnings

At our first brainstorm, Ryuzi_nea and I discussed what game we wanted to make. It all came down to the things we mostly shared in common with each other as to what we liked, and that was already a huge starting point.

The thing is, it's pretty much easier to write something if you're naturally fond of that, and that's what happened with Don't Give Up On Me. At the time, we were watching many anime series here and there, but the ones we most enjoyed were the romantic-comedy ones. Not only they served as indicator as to what genre we were looking for our game, but also served as huge inspirations to our writing. I can't remember all the inspirations we had, but I can list Kaguya-sama, Wotakoi and Go For It, Nakamura!! (this one is actually a manga) as the main ones.

When taking these series as inspirations, it was up to us to figure out what we wanted to borrow from them and what we would leave aside, and this is where things get interesting.

All of those three stories share the romcom and slice-of-life aspect in common, but the way they construct themselves around these genres differ from one another. Kaguya-sama, for instance, aims to repeat the same "love is war" premise over and over in different circumstances, parodying other romcoms and even real life itself, yet it knows when to dive deep into drama and leave the humor aside. Wotakoi is more focused on the daily life of its characters and how they share hilarious and sweet moments inside and outside their workplace. Go For It, Nakamura!! borders some absolutely crazy events while Nakamura lives his life and tries to become friends with his crush.

All of these three are similar to each other, yet stand out on their own. So it was time to mix elements from the three of them in any way we could, essentially grounding the desired tone for our story. We aimed for something even more absurd and insane than the shenanigans of Go For It, Nakamura. We wanted friendly, realistic and imperfect characters that would engange in really sweet moments, just like Wotakoi. We wanted to repeat the premise over and over to the point it annoys people like in Kaguya-sama. What came out was a story about a love confession, something simple, that'd go wrong again and again. And every time it went wrong, the player would desperately want it to go well next time, both for the sake of love finally blossoming and for the poor protagonist, who's doing his best, even though that's still not enough.

This all may sound a little bit long, but it really isn't. Every story has an inspiration from somewhere. whenever it's from an experience you've had in real life, or just a little chat you had with a friend, or some dear memory from childhood. Ideas sometimes are born out of thin air, but even the air comes from somewhere. It was really important for us to have many inspirations, so that founding our own tone could be clear from the start. However, tone doesn't come only from ideas. It comes down to the emotions you want to convey.

Next Parts?

The next two parts of this series of devlogs are expected to come out in the following days, so follow me on Itch.Io stay tuned for more news!

Thanks for reading this whole devlog, and I sincerely hope it helped you somehow! And while you're here, consider checking out Don't Give Up On Me! It's a free game, it'll surely be a great time for you.