Sup y’all! Been awhile, yeah?

Just wanted to pop in and say hello real quick - there’s a massive new development update that just went out on my website today, check it out!



TL;DR version: The game’s gotten immense event and press coverage in the past few months (including from The New York Times!), development itself is going smoothly bar for a brief break to focus on bizdev housekeeping, the entire story is finally getting eyes on it, battle system is being played around with a bit, yada yada, just read the full thing. :p

I’ll be back later this week with a huge update concerning the Xbox One version, which will be announced at Xbox's X019 event in London this weekend. For all you other console players, don’t worry… there’s special announcements coming up in that regard soon! (hint: it’s something that’s been long requested by, like, everyone).

Talk soon! <3

Originally posted on my development blog here.

Hey y’all! Hope y’all are doing alright. It’s that special time of the year again, baybee… E3! Legitimately one of my favorite events year after year, and this year is no exception. I mean, Animal Crossing? Ghostwire Tokyo? Avengers? Cyberpunk?? Way to the Woods?? BANJO IN SMASH??? FINAL FANTASY VII AND AN VIII REMASTER MY GUY ARE YOU KIDDING ME IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL-

…um. Anyway.

I would’ve loved to show off She Dreams Elsewhere in some capacity this year (and almost did), but alas, financial and time constraints prevented me from doing so. Oh well, there’s always next year! It’s no big deal either, since there may or may not be a new gameplay trailer with extra special announcements coming next month… (hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge, yeugh)

With that being said, there are indeed upcoming events that the game will be shown off at! While I can’t reveal them just yet, I’d like to give a special shoutout to the folks running Brazil’s Independent Games Festival; She Dreams Elsewhere was graciously nominated in four award categories: Best Game, Best Narrative, BIG Impact: Social Matters, and BIG Impact: Best Diversity Game. I’m extremely honored and thankful for the nominations, truly. While I won’t be attending the event itself, you can still play and check out the game during the Games Exhibition – it’ll be in Sao Paulo, Brazil from June 27-30 and admission is completely free. If you’re there, I’d love for you to check the game and all of the other entries out. (And if you do go, snap a pic while you’re there and tweet it to me, yeah? Pretty please thanks I love you ❤)

Other press features include Lauren’s Morton’s fantastic writeup on developer’s dogs being put in their games over on Rock Paper Shotgun, and my interview with the dope Terminally Nerdy over on his website.



Honestly, it’s such a trip to see the game resonate with so many people even in its small, unfinished demo form. I was pretty confident about its quality ahead of the demo release but I really didn’t anticipate this level of love and attention, so many thanks to you all for the support. Not gonna lie, the pressure to deliver on the final product intensifies week after week… but I hope I can do you guys proud.

But enough about the demo. I bet y’all are wondering how the rest of the game is shaping up, yeah?

Development has been coming along a bit slower than I’d like, but it’s going alright. I had to take a two-week break last month just because I was feeling so burnt out. After GDC, I had just been running nonstop to the point where it just got way too much to handle. I was barely able to sleep (moreso than my usual insomnia, believe it or not), unbearably stressed, and completely burnt out. One day, I sat down to write a fairly simple cutscene… and just could not do it. That’s when I realized I seriously needed a breather; so on my break, I did a lot of hobby photoshoots (some of which you can see on my personal Instagram), caught up on TV and YouTube, did some screenwriting and future film planning, and generally chilled on the game minus business meetings and less-intensive tasks. It was definitely worth it and now I feel completely refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the game. Self care is important, y’all, it really is.

Anyway, I’ve been toying around a lot with the battle system and playing around with some new mechanics. One of the ideas I’ve been playing with is having most enemies be stunnable with 1 weakness hit rather than 2, mainly because the latter tends to drag battles out slightly longer than I’d like, especially later in the game. Stronger enemies and bosses will still have higher shield counts, though. To counterbalance that, once you use a skill, it’ll have a 1-turn cooldown to prevent spam.

And while Thalia will still be the primary magic user in the party, Amia and Oliver will also have access to elemental skills, so they’ll be able to exploit enemy weaknesses more effectively as well. I still need to do some more playtesting to see how it actually works out, but I like how it’s coming along so far.

But let’s say an enemy doesn’t have a weakness… what’s one to do, then? Simple. Just give one to them. Many elemental abilities have a chance to land an additional status ailment, which can then be exploited even further. Take the skill “Roast” for example: It has a 50% chance of setting the enemy “Aflame”, which not only does damage over time, but also increases damage of Ice attacks. So if one where to set an enemy aflame then follow up with ice attack, that’ll act as a weakness as well. Sounds cool, yeah?

I’ve also been working on adding even more polish / juice to certain attacks, specifically all of the Limits (which lowkey need a new name); those are getting fancy anime-esque cut-ins ala Persona, featuring new art from best girl Yanina. I can’t wait to show those off when all is said and done, so I hope you look forward to them.

Also, Thalia’s got a new sprite. Still a work in progress as far as the outfit and the back of her hair goes, but I’m digging it.

On the story side of things, things are progressing well. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback and made some changes to the opening of the game, mainly adding extra foreshadowing, dialogue changes, and other small details. (For example, if you leave the party without saying goodbye, Amia will roast you for it later in the level.) There’s also some bigger changes in store, but you’ll have to wait to find out exactly what those are. I gotta say, though; it’s been a bit difficult showing off content from the game without getting into spoiler territory, but I guess that’s just what happens when you have a narrative-driven game like this, yeah?



Anyway, that almost wraps it up for this update. I thought it was going to be much smaller, but here I am again overwriting shit… ah well.

One last question for everyone, though… how would y’all feel if I started up a Patreon? I’ve been considering it for the past few months now, and some people have even reached out asking if they could donate. For those that aren’t aware, I’ve been working on Dreams for the past few years completely full-time, and while I don’t have much overhead and the occasional (though not consistent) videography / filmmaking gig does bring in some dosh, it would be nice to have an extra source of income, especially since it would improve the game in various aspects and better allow me to attend events. Backers would be able to test new builds, get access to extra behind-the-scenes goodies, and other perks I’ve yet to think of. What do you think? Let me know in the comments (or tweet/DM me).

Let’s see, what else is there…? In terms of personal stuff, I’ve been bumping Tyler, the Creator’s new album IGOR, which is an absolute classic. It’s a bit of an acquired taste, but once you acquire that taste, oh man… s’pure bliss. (If y’all couldn’t tell, I’m a huge Tyler fan.) I also just finished watching Chernobyl yesterday; it’s a bit depressing but a great watch, I can’t recommend it enough. The Game of Thrones finale was disappointing as shit. Movies? Avengers: Endgame was a banger. Saw it twice opening weekend. Still gotta see it again. Detective Pikachu was good, though I was expecting a bit more. Aladdin was a fun watch. John Wick 3 is an absolute 10/10. They can make however many of those and I will watch every. Single. One.

Anyway. Enough of my dumbass pop culture opinions. For smaller, more frequent updates, be sure to keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram. See y’all next update and enjoy the rest of E3! <3

Hey guys! Hope you’ve all been well. I’ve got some brief, but HUGE updates or y’all today. Just like I promised, here’s the full, brand new trailer for She Dreams Elsewhere!



Please let me know what you guys think. Oh, and spread the word! Any little bit helps. Much love to Michaela for providing the song used in the trailer, which you can hear here.

Oh, and in case you missed it, Yanina cooked up some F I R E new cover art:


And last and certainly not least, GDC 2019 is upon us… as many you know, the game recently got into this year’s Indie Megabooth, so I’ll be showcasing it there on Monday and Tuesday. If you’ll be at GDC, definitely come through! It’ll be playable from 10am-6pm in the Moscone Center (West Hall, 2nd Floor). Who knows, there might be some brand new surprises for ya…

Note: Original version located here.

Hey guys! Happy belated new year! I hope it’s been treating y’all well so far, and if not… well, at least there’s another 10 months of the year. I’ve been mostly alright; development on the game has been progressing well and there’s some upcoming events and news that I can’t wait to share with you!

But first, today I wanted to talk a little bit about how sidequests are gonna work in the game. I find that in a lot of games, sidequests usually revolve around “go fetch bear asses”, “fight a wave of enemies for five minutes”, etc. – it tends to be very dull and uninspired, which is something I’m trying to avoid at all costs.

One of my main goals with the game was to make each area and objective unique, varied, and constantly surprising in terms of mechanics, story, presentation, etc. – and the sidequests are no exception to that. In fact, they actually allow me to go further with that variety and dive into the even more surreal, weirder elements of Thalia’s psyche. I’m also going to be focusing on quality over quantity, meaning that the final sidequest count is going to be around 10-12 maximum. Not only that, but most of them will center around your very own friends! Er, Thalia’s friends, I should say.

These are known as “Connections”. It’s like a mix of Persona’s “Social Links” and Mass Effect’s “Loyalty Missions”. Each one will have you hanging out with one of your friends and going on a mini-adventure with them. In these, Thalia will play a variety of character roles, with some having her as a co-lead, part of a larger ensemble, or in a decreased, supporting role as opposed to her being the central focus like she is in the main story. Connections will appear after certain story beats and are accessible via The Mirage (the game’s hub area) at the player’s leisure.



Though they will all have their own rewards and bonuses for completing them, I really want the Connections to be more of a “journey, not the destination” type of experience, so that element will be a bit de-emphasized compared to other games. And as the game only has one ending, Connection completion (or lack thereof) will not affect it… for the most part, anyway.

Meaningful relationships, especially between friends, are not only a core aspect of the game, but also an essential aspect for my own life as well. I want players to feel a genuine connection (heh) for these characters, and that starts by giving them deep, rich personalities, backstories, and dynamics.

One of the things I initially struggled with was giving character arcs to characters who don’t actually exist, as the entire game takes place within Thalia’s mind. The end solution was basing the level design on their own insecurities and emotional issues which Thalia, and by extension, many of us IRL, also share. I think understanding other people is key to understanding ourselves, and vice versa, so I hope players will take the time to experience their stories and find something relatable within them.

Connections will make up the bulk of the side content, but there’s also separate, one-off sidequests the player can discover on their own., often much shorter in length than the normal Connections (but also equally varied). I won’t spoil what those will be like, but I’m positive you’ll be surprised and entertained regardless… if you’re willing to do some exploring, that is.


An example of one of the Connections, with this one taking the form of a 80s slasher flick.

So that’s the gist of how side content is gonna work. What else is new? Well, there’s some very exciting news coming within the next week or so! Not only that, but you’ll be seeing a very special new video coming up, too… I’ll of course post it here, but if you wanna be the very first to know as soon as its uploaded, feel free to give the YouTube channel a follow, yeah?

In any case, that’s all for this week’s blog. As we get closer to the eventual launch, I’ll go more in-depth into the actual level design process, but I’d figured it’d be best to start with a general overview first. What do you guys think? Are you excited to play through the Connections? Got any ideas, questions or extra thoughts? Lemme know! I always love hearing from you guys. With that being said, I’m off to watch more Game of Thrones. I just started it earlier this week and I’m a little over halfway through the first season… I don’t know what took me so long to start, but I am LOVING it so far! (If any one of you spoil it for me, I swear to god imma cut ya throat off)

Oh, and one last thing – if you haven’t already, go give Russian Doll a watch over on Netflix. It’s super trippy, emotional, and engaging from start to finish (I watched it in a night, then rewatched it the following day; it’s THAT good. Plus, one of my friends and filmmaking mentors, Jamie Babbit, marvelously directed a few episodes. And you can’t go wrong with Natasha Lyonne, who should just be in more everything. Definitely give it a watch if you’re into surreal, mindbending shows.

…I really oughta do less TV binging and more game dev. Will I, though? nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

See y’all next time! ❤

Hey guys! I'm happy to announce that the official demo for She Dreams Elsewhere is now LIVE!

Here is where you can download it from:

-itch.io
-Game Jolt
-Here on RPG Maker.net

The Steam version of the demo will be launching later this week, as well.

Let me know what you guys think! Feel free to stream it, post gameplay footage, share around social media, do whatever! I can't wait to see your reactions. Oh, and if you come across any bugs, please let me know!

Enjoy <3

-D