#PTverse

[plottwiststudios]

PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW FOR OUR GAME "Women of Xal"!

STEAM PAGE

If you haven't already, and you have a paid copy of the game, please, please leave a review! Right now Steam is not counting a dozen or more of them, and only counting nine due to bad apples exploiting the system in the past. But we'd very much would like to see the "All Reviews" thing update to say we actually DO have reviews on our game! A review for every gay disaster in this game would be great~

[sonicasura]

Persona 5: Tower Scramble

Yup. I'm expanding more on the crack idea of Peppino being Ren's biological dad. This is basically a deeper dive into the concept like worldbuilding, further shenanigans and a slice of some plot. Hope you enjoy! Link to alternate version here! Make sure to check the reblogs for extra stuff.

First thing to start with is actually the Pizza Tower universe. I decided that there needs to be more stuff involving the Who Framed Rodger Rabbit dynamic aka toons interacting alongside normal people. Everyone in PT are cartoons in nature which includes Ren/Joker. Arséne nor his adjacent forms doesn't escape this either since he was born from Ren's heart.

Due to the Velvet Room contract, our hero is forced to take on the appearance of those in Personaverse to not draw attention. Although it doesn't fully suppress his toon capabilities. If I can summarize Ren and Arséne's appearance as Toons then it's the Persona 5 Tactica iteration but mixed alongside some Pizza Tower aesthetics.

Like any other cartoon, Joker and his Persona have cartoon abilities. There's the basics like the hammer space but unique ones that suit a toon's particular trope. Ren alongside Arséne have the escape artist/thief type which means they can break in or retreat in various cartoony ways. EX: Instantly teleport via smoke bombs to slipping under doors.

Like I said in the previous post, Ren did inherit some of Peppino's abilities such as incredible speed and strength that can be boosted through rage. Although being in the Personaverse suppresses a good chunk specifically his unique trope. Ren sulked a bit when he couldn't stretch his arm under a door to unlock it or pull a keyring from outta his hair.

Only his dad's abilities remains untouched by the change. Being in the Metaverse actually loosens the restraints on Ren's toon abilities. How a Toon interacts with the normal is much different than vice versa. Toons can subject others to cartoon shenanigans on varying degrees that usually depends on their trope.

For example a Toon with Magician trope can successfully do extreme tricks like sawing someone in half on a normal person without killing them and undo the damage easily. The non-toon will feel degrees of pain though. How bad it is depends on whether the act is malicious or not. Death is too cheap for a toon.

The new contract Ren receives after Royal's events freely allows him to shift into his toon form without being in the PTverse. Arséne was unaware about Ren's cartoony heritage would affect him too. The Persona found out very quickly when he manifested at Peppino's Diner and notice the place was a bit too roomy. Cartoon heights vary erratically from normal people.

Peppino is barely 4'8 ft, Ren is around 4'4 as he still has a growth spurt awaiting him, and Toon!Arséne's height about 10'2. The toon Persona got noogied by Captain Kidd who thought the new difference was funny. Jokes about Toon!Arséne being fun size will never die amongst the Persona.

(Unrelated note, Ren as an adult will be much taller than Peppino. His forms heavily contrast at that point. Under a human guise, Ren is about 5'8 and looks barely different despite being more physically fit alongside having a mustache. His real toon self is the epitome of a fucking bear. Adult Toon!Ren is 7'2 feet tall, beefy and quite hairy. He does take more after Peppino than his 'mom'.)

Toons are prone to comical gags with Ren being no different. He's quite happy to show it to his friends as well. Casually stretching his arm from the kitchen to snag some chips outta Ryuji's snack bag whilst his friends sits at the farthest booth by the door... Sojiro did his absolute best not to drop a fresh pot of coffee on his feet via sheer shock.

Arséne couldn't resist the pull of mischief either. You know the Genie In The Lamp? Let me present Arséne in a Teapot! Milady and Haru were the only ones who knew something was up when Ren brought over a closed up teapot. (He barely hid a smile too big for a normal person before reaching the table.) An awareness that kept their dango from going airborne once Arséne shot out of the teapot the gremlin he is.

Unintentional gags are also prone to happen around a toon which includes the infamous banana peel. Yusuke was planning to paint around the subject of litter and gotten a fresh one from Ryuji. What do you get when you add: 1 Clueless Ren, 1 Banana Peel and 1 Ghost Mushroom(an invasive partially sentient powerup which turns a toon into a ghost)?

You get Yusuke panicking as he believes he just killed their leader while Gustavo calls a priest over to unghost a Teru Teru Bōzu!Ren. (His Japanese heritage changed the form to that instead of being the normal bedsheet ghost.) Peppino feels like he went from a father of one to ten(pending) at this point.

It isn't uncommon for his son's friends to the visit his pizzeria. Sometimes it is a study group where Peppino prepares some snacks for them and help with some of the questions. He makes sure Ren's Stupid Rats get a cheese log to keep them occupied as Crouton likes eating schoolwork. (Makoto got to use the rats ate her homework excuse at least.)

They often show up to help around the restaurant and hang out on slow days. Having extra hands to help around made things easier especially when it came to deliveries. Peppino wholeheartedly agrees on why Ren thought Morgana was a Toon as a cat becoming a van is very toonlike.

Peppino can't help eavesdropping on Phantom Thieves discussion though. Some of the requests these kids get can be really concerning even for an adult like him. Morgana had been kind enough to explain the 'Changing Hearts' and 'Metaverse' spiel.

If this is what they want to do then Peppino wouldn't stop them. The Persona already promised to keep the group safe. (Not like there was any chance to turn back.) He doesn't know who made those Golden Pizza Cutters but they definitely are there for the purpose of helping his son if needed. (Or help with his stress as beating up Shadows is therapeutic.)

On some occasions one kid from the Phantom Thieves would show up at odd hours. Whether it be looking for advice or have someone listen to their problems. Peppino does his best to help as he understands how hard and suffocating life can get at times. (If he's ordering a few adoption papers then no one will know or stop him.)

They definitely left their mark on his diner though. Paintings, group photos, books, little knickknacks from Japan and ironically Phantom Thief merch. Peppino picked up some Japanese vocabulary too as much the teens learn a bit of Italian outta him. The Persona just add more languages to the table.

Now I mentioned how Ren practically gets shoved into a non-toon form when entering the Personaverse. Well the same DOESN'T apply to other Toons. If one ends up there then they won't be restricted to a human form and everyone sees their true appearance.

The new Velvet Room contract does provide a neat effect though where Toons companions(keyword there) only look like normal people/allies to those who aren't Ren's confidants, other Toons or Persona Users. It makes things easier for Peppino alongside his toon companions. Whether it be attending the kids' special events or take a simple break around Japan.

Peppino isn't the only getting dragged into Metaverse. The Golden Pizza Cutter isn't restricted just to him as Gustavo, Brick and Pep(Fake Peppino) also join in on the mayhem. Sometimes on accident when you consider Persona's habit of snatching someone into the Metaverse unexpectedly.

Gustavo and Brick are the only ones who aren't as off put about the Phantom Thief business. The pizza chef had help raise Ren whenever Peppino couldn't so he's used to the chaos this kid gets into. Brick is from the Pizza Tower thus any oddities are ignored since that place is just as weird.

While they can't break through Physical resistances like Peppino, the duo's teamwork makes recon, item searches or corralling various enemies much easier. Gustavo tends to snag little knickknacks from any Metaverse excursion. Brick just munches on whatever he can find since various snacks can be found there.

Pep is someone Ren hadn't expected to meet upon going home. Although finding a malformed froggish clone shapeshifter of your father made by an insane pizza toon that definitely squat in the pizzeria and eat what is most likely roadkill for dinner is a given at this point. Ren pulls the Clone = Your Kid card, like the little shit he is, on Peppino.

Man had no room for rebuttal either since Pep took a liking to the younger Spaghetti. When you consider Ren's more eerie Personas such Legion, Abbadon or Mara, none of the Phantom Thieves were bothered by the clone's Eldritch Horror trope. Although Joker is the only unfazed when it comes to surprise goopy hugs.

Like Peppino, Pep tends to be very protective of the Phantom Thieves. Sometimes hitching a ride in Ren's bag much to Morgana's annoyance upon discovery. (Can I say Strikers with a shit ton of Pep antics?)

Some Shadows learned the hard way on why not to piss off a clone who can shapeshift into man eating giant monster. Nevermind that Pep has amped up versions of Peppino's abilities alongside his own. The Phantom Thieves have various allies to call when needed.

Although trouble won't just be from the Personaverse. Peppino has his own rogue gallery specifically one who ain't too happy about this new predicament. Nor the existence of Ren Amamiya Spaghetti.

Hope the Phantoms been taking on the Tower Scramble mode in the Thieves' Den. Toons fight way different from Shadows. Nor do they have limits to the chaos one can cause.

[prophetrick]

Chamelion Twist

Trickster Online is an MMORPG which takes places on the mysterious Caballa Island. Don Cavalier, a man of indescribable wealth, has passed away. Instead of choosing a successor by hand, he has left instructions in his will for a more open-ended form of selection: come to Caballa Island, collect the 15 Secret Cards and win the game. In short, Don Cavalier has created a game on the island where contestants must clear certain areas having accomplished tasks and beaten bosses. (Think Evermore Park, a Dungeons and Dragons larper’s dream as an example.) The contestants use skills to defeat monsters and help the quest-givers in order to advance through the game. Every contestant must register in Blooming Cora Town. They’re identified with an animal as one way to keep track of their progress and must wear a costume resembling an animal in some fashion. As such, Yasuhiro’s animal is the horned chameleon (headpiece and tail). Having predicted heard of Don Cavalier’s death and the challenge of enough wealth to last for lifetimes over, Yasuhiro has gone to Caballa Island to take the inheritance for himself seek enlightenment. In his greed, he’s failed to realize just how perilous his journey is. Nor does he realize the world-ending stakes involved--and who would think that such a game involves gods involving themselves in mortal affairs? What does Nefertiti and Poseidon have to do in all of this? Trivia:

Yasuhiro doesn’t have much esteem for Star Gazer Stella after an incident.

Once he’s strong enough, he’ll take his time in Phantom School to help out those whose ghosts want to move onward into the afterlife.

He’ll be exceptionally fond of Snow Hill due to his preference for colder weather. Techichi and Tapasco Volcano will gain no love from him. 

One of the horns on his headpiece is a dowsing rod.

His build fits between Sense and Magic, leaning more towards Sense. This makes him more adept at finding things hidden underground.

[johnathan-johnson]

When I’m not finishing up Women of Xal’s script, I’m busy making a custom tabletop game that will never see a commercial release*.

If anyone is curious on learning about my modest tabletop, hit us up on Jess’ fan server for the PTverse! (Discord). 

[elvensemi]

The chapter is still late so while you agonize over the wait, why not hold yourself over with some of my already-written, finally-published work for another fandom? (You guys are always saying you’ll read my other work. T_T Please.) To celebrate the release of the new Women of Xal demo (links on Ao3), I’ve decided to finally publish some of the WoX fanfic I’ve been writing over the past few months for fun. 

I hope that people who are already fans will enjoy it, and any of my readers who haven’t checked it out now will give it a shot and see if they like it! 

[plottwiststudios]

And now! For more promised facts about WoX’s development:

I spent half a decade preparing and creating Women of Xal believing most would not like it or would not care for it. Reason? A long and impressively consistent history of friends upon friends upon friends ignoring, criticizing, or outright getting nothing out of the stories I created. From This Crazy World to Parody of Affairs. The fact that people are writing and vocalizing essays about WoX -- outside of the usual 3 people who typically spoke positively about my works throughout the years, is as uplifting as it is staggering. I legitimately was not expecting the overwhelming majority of people to fall in love with the flawed, but beautiful world of Xal. It’s like moving out of America and learning that, yes, the place I lived in was less welcoming of my works than the new place is.

This is not to slight those who follow my blog and happen to have given me criticisms. It’s just... quite literally, my experience and I need an outlet that explains my critically high depression levels at some points during development.

[plottwiststudios]

DID YOU KNOW THAT?!

The PTverse, which includes stories like “Women of Xal” has an Archive of Our Own page. Link below!

LINK HERE

Ao3 is a bit tricky for my “keep it as simple as possible” brain, but the gist of what to expect by following our page there:

“Totally Not Canon And Totally Fanfiction” stories that cover interesting plot elements that the visual novels, games, books, and animations/movies don’t cover.

Unknown lore details that we, SOMEHOW, have access to.

We take mini and/or short story requests

Collections of fans’ fanfiction compiled in one neat area.

A lack of references to any Patreon, Youtube, Steam, Itch.io pages!

The first “big” story we plan to drop there is the scene between Slythra and Launda Xufoe, over how the latter treats Proxis. This happens around the time Yexa starts training people.

NOW YOU KNOW!

[plottwiststudios]

61 Likes so far. Allllright! Let’s start with those dev facts! O”:

Post Based on This Thread Where 1 Like = 1 Fact!

Women of Xal Fact #1: Women of Xal was going to be twice as long. Now it’s two games instead. Reason? Imagine having gotten to the end of WoX, but instead of credits, you’re only halfway through the twists and tears.

Women of Xal Fact #2: Not counting the Kickstarter backers, we have 50 people on staff, from writers to voice actors.

Women of Xal Fact #3: Women of Xal will have 72 playable days.

Women of Xal Fact #4: All but two tracks in the soundtrack were composed by yours truly. That means all the different styles, genres, and techniques? Me! :D

Women of Xal Fact #5: Big fact, the first hour of the game was done back in 2017, just when my depression started hitting so hard it literally did its best to keep me from working on the game. Fighting it was...not fun. But as I started taking meds and allowing more breaks (RELATIVELY SPEAKING), both the pace and the quality of the writing picked up. Some of you might have felt the game feeling more and more engaging the longer you played it. That be why. Especially the last 10 or so days of the game, as they were written a few months ago.

[plottwiststudios]

I made this dumb meme about my own game on Discord and now you all must see it, too. For those of you who played Mario Party, you know how dangerous this minigame is. Question is, will Women of Xal make it to the finish line where “Good Writing” awaits?!

(If you’re new here because this jank meme hit your feed, the game in question is this one. Inspired by the fact that some dude, some young dude in his upper 20s, definitely not under the handle PlotTwistStudios on Tumblr, decided to make a visual novel dedicated to a Matriarchal society. And so far has done a decent job dodging the canon balls he could have easily hit. But the jury is still out!)

[plottwiststudios]

Upcoming 2.5 Update:

Women of Xal Patch Notes:

Fixed several typos, including some sneaky game breaking ones

Fixed some dialogue (I nitpicked)

Added 3 additional endings, including “True Ending”

Liz’s Arc Available

Velvet’s Arc Available! Velvet’s Arc Available!

New Animations

New CGs

New Voice Acting

Overhauled UI

New Music

More library books available!

Made it slightly easier to unlock Artimis’ Route

Additional small tweaks

What’s likely not going to be in 2.5:

The five or so CGs we’re still waiting on.

One more animation

Sound effects

Merixa’s Arc(?)

Axay’s Arc(???)

The final UI look

Romantic Dates

Romantic CGs from dates

Most of the selfies

The last bit of the library

[plottwiststudios]

You ready to see some voice acted, animated Mannah Xufoe? A Xufoe I swore up and down would be the most ‘infamous’ before Launda came in and proved me wrong? lol

[plottwiststudios]

Late night pondering: Anyone else wonder if anyone (else) would ever want to be with you romantically? For me, it feels like if my girlfriend ever left me, I'd be pretty darned single for life. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but it does go to show how difficult my personality is, especially long-term and living together.

Also here, a Women of Xal CG to stay dev-relevant.

[plottwiststudios]

Women of Xal screenshots.

This set gives a sneak peek at some of the antagonists, love interests, and storyline.

[plottwiststudios]

The Women of Xal game looks SO EXCITING! I can't wait for it to come out!

My thanks!

[plottwiststudios]

Writerly question! How did you approach building such a politically complicated world? In practical terms I mean, like figuring out how changing X about society will affect the Y part of its culture and history... does that make sense?

Making an ungodly amount of mistakes! Chiefly with Earth’s lore since it and (Mesto) Accelerando are based on ideas I used when I was a literal child and teen/young adult. Women of Xal saw the mistakes and decided to use the unexplored universe to address...a plethora of things!

Now how I directly approach it (these days), I sort of just sit down and think about what idea/concept I want to explore, what past mistakes I want to correct/address, how people will view the idea vs. the actual point of the idea, and ways to make sure everyone is on the same page at the end of the journey. So like for Xal, I went with a “How would a world of sky with largely isolated islands work if the wrong magical women were in charge during the world’s earlier days?” and “What’s the best way to keep sexist men from using my game as an example for why feminism is bad?” (The answer is to bring past and present-day Earth into the equation, by the way! lol) Another big one was “What lesson do I want to convey and/or criticize?"

Everything else, from the laws to the xragoons and whatever lies beyond Vijiri’s Path grows from those questions! Hope that helps! :’3

[plottwiststudios]

Progress Report #5

And this isn’t even the big announcement post!

Progress is speeding along for Women of Xal! And although I won’t drop every single new asset we can showcase, I am pretty happy to say that we’re finally out of the preliminary stage where everything and everyone is just setting up camp for the months ahead. It’s a tumbling snowball of content from here! But hey! Let’s get to showing off new stuff!

(Dialogue wasn’t written by me for these particular test shots.) 

Our UI artist and I have been wondering which type of dialogue box appeals to you folks more. Neither of them are finished, polished versions, but they are shaping up and should be ready to go by month’s end. So whichever style we end up picking, we’ll be making some changes. The UI artist also apparently really digs Naxia because instead of using a finished sprite with transparent backgrounds and everything, he actually cropped her out of her character sheet. (Which is fine, we love you, Naxia.)

We also have a new background artist that will help speed things up. She’s...

Pretty. Darned. Good.  Not that the first BG artist we have is a slouch!

To keep the slight differences of styles from clashing too hard, however, the first artist will be handling Xjena’s home island, while the new artist will be handling the rest of the game. But hey, we’ve been doing BGs for a while, haven’t we? Let’s show some new character art!

I, obviously, need to allow the character artist to create her own characters, because she knocked it out of the park with this design! The only requirement we asked of her for this character was that she had to be Xulian. Everything else was her idea! You’ll learn more about her later.

And this lady, too. I’ll be giving them their own posts!

Kickstarter backers can expect their wallpapers by month’s end, as well as the lore document and information on what’s to come schedule wise! Thank you for your patience, and stay tuned~!