At this stage I’ve been brainstorming a ton of ideas for events that could happen throughout the visual novel. Some of my ideas so far include:

1. You are presented with two different quests, and you have to choose one. After you’re done, Quinton will tell you how things went badly for the person you did not help (perhaps someone was really hurt or something equally bad – or worse). The artifact becomes upset and feels that this is all our fault!

The main character can now choose from several different attitudes:

• You can become angry about not having been given enough information. This leads to the artifact becoming more aggressive and, at a later time, might not have trust in Quinton.
• You can say that terrible things will always happen and you will never be able to help everyone, but you can do your best. This might make the artifact lose faith in you.

2. You encounter a group of bandits (Black Ferrets?) who want to steal your items. You can either avoid fighting and give the bandits your possessions, which will make Ribbon less inclined to fight. Or you can fight, which will make Ribbon more aggressive. Fighting could end in death or Ribbon being injured, which also will lead to Ribbon having less faith in the player.

3. You may need to rescue someone. Here, you are given the option to seek help or try to let Ribbon help (which might end up with it hurt). If you seek help, Ribbon will be less inclined to help later on, as it lacks confidence in itself. If Ribbon tries to help and fails, it will also be less inclined to help and also has less trust in the player. If Ribbon succeeds in helping, it will be more inclined to help but after seeing the player get scolded by someone – the rival, perhaps – for risking its life, it might end up having less trust in the player.

The key to these ideas is that I don’t want any choice the player makes to be completely good or bad. Just like in real life, actions have consequences – some good, some bad – some you intended, and some you didn’t. I think the true challenge will lie in letting the player know just enough about how their choices will affect Ribbon without making it totally obvious which one will have the most favourable outcome.

What sort of adventures would you like to take Ribbon on?