Because We're Here ~Mohnblume und Blauerose~

Wowee. It's been a while since I updated this devlog! I'm just writing to let you know that the Steam store page for Acts III and IV of WW1-themed otome VN Because We're Here is now live! Wishlists are appreciated. You can find it here!

I wrote a general state-of-the-union blog post on Steam a little while ago, which also covered how Acts III and IV are being combined into one release - here's the relevant section:

I also want to say that I've decided to combine Acts III and IV into one release - primarily because they felt like very much a two-parter, and I didn't want to risk another long pause between them! But also, Act II was always going to be the longest act, so if people had been expecting something that rivalled or exceeded Act II in length then they may have been disappointed when a solo Act III came out. So 'Act III and Act IV' is going to be a single game, of comparable length to Act II! The story's still four acts - just now told via three releases.

And some cool news is that it's going to be a 2026 release!

(It'll be for sale on Itch too, as per, but the gamepage for that one won't be live until the game's out.)

In other news, Because We're Here Acts I and II are each 40% off for the next few days, as part of the Steam Otome Games Celebration organised by Crystal Game Works.

I hope you're all doing well. I'll be back onto this devlog with much more regularity in the coming months. ^^

In the meantime, did you know BWH has a mailing list? I'm about to send out the very first newsletter, ha. That's a pretty good way to have all major developments appear spontaneously and conveniently in your inbox, if you're worried about missing stuff on social media~

Hi! Just making a very quick post here as I've realised I've not said anything in quite a while! (Where does all the time go... -_-) I've been tending to give (small) updates on the Discord channel, but in the off-season between releases, I forget that I should post things here too~

Essentially, I just wanted to reassure any BWH-blog-checkers that things are still ticking along! I'm sure you all know by now that (to lift from a comment I just posted on Itch) I tend to keep my head down and not post online very much while I'm working on things. But I care a lot about finishing this story; I really cannot foresee it being abandoned at any point, no matter how slow progress is.

Just a very quick post to mention that Acts I and II of bleak WW1 otome VN Because We’re Here are currently 30% off in the Itch Summer Sale! Act III is really coming along and so this seemed like a good time to push the first two acts for one last potential influx of new players before the next act is released, ideally sometime this year~ I’m hoping to get the store page up within the next couple of weeks!

The Because We’re Here fanart continues, in the slow run-up to Act III’s release! (I love the thought of making the fanart page of this tumblr as comprehensive as possible! It’s such a cool thing for me to look over when I need pepping up!)

This was also the subject of a discussion on Windmill Corner (the BWH Discord) recently - so I’ll try and summarise it into something publicly on the tumblr here rather than locking it behind a Discord haha.

SO! ESSENTIALLY...

It’s pre-determined. The game has romantic scenes at irregular intervals, in which you can choose who to spend time with, but the remaining 90% of the game’s content is the plot, which is one set storyline that you cannot alter - including the fact that a large amount of the cast do not survive the war. The plot segments are almost reminiscent of a traditional novel, or a kinetic VN - but there are dialogue choices that affect your relationships with the characters and whether you can choose/remain on their route. The only branches to the storyline are very small alternate endings on occasion. 

I think Danganronpa is a good example of a VN that had the same narrative balance of ‘diminishing cast story with a pre-determined plot’ and ‘building relationships within that framework’. Characters' stories (including any unfortunate fates) remain the same regardless of whether you are on their route or not. (Although, in BWH you do get some additional scenes if you are on a character’s route at the time that they die.)

After this project is done, I'd definitely like to try and make a VN with a similar concept but with branching paths concerning characters' fates - after writing BWH, it would be a new challenge to try and capture the same feeling with a very different format. But this project, and its depiction of the war, really didn’t feel like the right fit for branching paths.

Although! A Small Announcement!

However! This seems as good a time as any to mention (and I don't think I've said this publicly before) that future acts are going to contain character-specific flashback arcs! So the death of a character does not mean that they won’t appear in the story anymore. I really think each of these characters brings something very different to the game, and I love them all (well... almost all) - so I’m keen for none of them to feel completely ‘written out’ just because their story, like a lot the cast’s, ended in tragedy. I think that these scenes are a really neat way to keep developing these characters and to paint a richer portrait of their wartime lives, whilst keeping the unflinching nature of the storyline in a way that I didn’t feel like branching paths would quite accomplish for this project. So I hope people enjoy seeing further windows into these characters’ stories. ^^ I’ll give more information on how these work at a later date.

Announcement Over!

The year’s been slower for me than I’d have liked, but Act III is at least still slated for 2022. I’m working on getting the storepage just right and hoping to have that made public quite shortly!

There was an anonymous Ask that I wanted to repost so I can reply (as it had a lot of characters’ names that I had to redact for spoilers haha):

‘Okay okay.  I don't usually write to the authors of visual novels because it makes me so damn stressful.  But I HAVE to write it.  I am in tears after completing Act II and I don't know how to live now.  I do not hide, I was sure that [Redacted 1] would not die.  I made a list of characters for whom I was sure who would die.  And I was right every time.  But [Redacted 1] killed me.  I don't even know if I can play the third act without him.  I am literally in mourning.  Never understood people's attachment to fictional characters, but now?  I feel like a widow who lost her husband in the war 😭.  Before [Redacted 1]’s death, I thought about restarting the game after ending act II and trying [Redacted 2]'s route because he is one of my favorite characters, but I don't know if I can find a heart for it.  The fact that  [Redacted 1] could die without feeling loved. kills me too much.  The game is great, I love it. Right now I don't know if I can ever play different game for a long time.  Because I would feel like I am cheating on my dead husband 😭.  Now this game is the only thing in my head. I feel that I need to write a lot of fanfictions to ease my pain.  In my world,  [Redacted 1] is alive and happy BYE. But I don't have time for this right now because exams aaaaa.  I have always been interested in history, damn it, after all, I'm going to get degree in history goddammit.  And I only played your game because of the war theme.  But I'm broken now.  Of course, I'm going to play act three, I'll force myself do it.  For my second "beloved" I took [Redacted 3] because I know at least that he will not fucking die soon. At least I hope. And he's a great character.  I identify with him strongly because of our interest in [redacted ;)].  And his scene at the end of the act charmed me.  In general, I love the fact that each character tells about a different part of the war. As if, no character is even alike, and I love it.  So I had a problem with choosing the route.  But I chose [Redacted 1] because I didn't want him to suffer alone.  And I'm glad my Elfriede showed him that someone loved him and at least he didn't feel alone during this war.  I hope you will have a good day because I will 100% not have one.  It's time to live as the widow of a fictional character I guess. Btw English is not my first language and I had a problem with reading because I did not know a LOT of words.  But at least I expanded my vocabulary haha’

And I just wanted to say thank you so much for writing all that!! It’s encouraging to know the game still finds its audience even when I’m in these quiet periods of not posting online very often. I apologise for any anguish caused, but I’m glad you seem to have found it cathartic at least. :’) And it’s also really cool to hear that it helped you pick up some new English words! :’D

Hahaha I'm glad to hear it won you back around! The tone of the first hour (or thereabouts) of Act I is definitely quite different from the rest of the game. The slow climb felt important for the story, but I tried to pepper hints here and there of the kind of themes that might be upcoming too~

Some more Because We’re Here fanart for the archive! Today’s post features a wide selection of characters, and these pieces have all been received since the BWH Act II release in late 2019. These are absolutely wonderful! Thank you all so much~

No. 1 + 2 - Marius Sauer and Walter Bergengruen (very much the two extremes on the ‘tolerable/intolerable human being’ spectrum), by the ever-wonderful @heidengames (check out their own games on Itch or Steam!)

No. 3 - Elfriede and Marius, by Marie from Windmill Corner (the BWH Discord server)!

No. 4 - Laurent Grebe, from Yaneko on Twitter!

Ahhhh that's so lovely of you to say, thank you! <3 I'm glad it's still able to affect you in that way upon replaying ahaha.

Happy New Year from Because We’re Here! Here’s hoping 2022 is at least a little better than the lousy last couple of years.

I thought I’d share this beautiful piece of fanart from Brit (from Windmill Corner, the BWH Discord server)! Ouch, my feelings.

(Needless to say, if you’ve not played Act I of bittersweet WW1 otome VN Because We’re Here, it’s available on Itch and Steam if you’d like to better understand this piece~!)

The new year is bringing a small amount of cool BWH news! I’m hoping to make the Act III Steam page public later on this month, and talk much more specifically about a release date. Exciting! I imagine the first few months of 2022 will be me slowly trying to build up publicity towards the release~

I’m also going to continue posting the collection of fanart I’ve received via Twitter/Discord - I think it’ll make for some really cool posts on this tumblr, as well as building up a nice archive in the Fanart tab!

Hello all! As you doubtless know if you're one of the people who check the devlog here - I tend go very quiet when I'm working on BWH, and Act III is coming along well! So that's the reason for the radio silence~ I'm just being my hermetic self and polishing up the next act amidst the usual array of Slowdowns And Circumstances. Thanks for your patience.

(Side note: oh my gosh it’s nearly been a full year since I posted! and yes, spring 2021 was quite the optimistic prediction, eh? >.>)

I'm briefly popping my head back round the door to answer a few asks that have built up into my inbox now! I won't answer every single one as a lot of these are a variant on "any news on Act III?" and I don’t want to fill up people’s timelines! But I appreciate all the interest, thank you so much if you contacted me! It's nice to know that people are anticipating it! But I get a bit shy posting publicly during the BWH off-season, and tend to reply to things in big waves like this. :')