[details = “Content Warning!”]
This update contains:
Very frank discussion of suicide- the latter half of the update is entirely about how a character we’ve not met committed suicide,
Details on how a bunch of characters died in the past.
[/details]
[details = “Day 1: Part 2”]
Welcome back! When we last left our hero, Rosangela, she’d just defeated Jim Burdo, the door man.
Along the way, she learned some history about her dead aunt, discovered that she might have a deadly case of “Joey-itis” in her future, and found a new friend in her neighbor, Nishanthi.
We now tune in to Rosangela’s house. Get used to seeing it.
Home.
Thank God. I’ve never been so happy to see a 500 square foot room in my life.
Commentary Classic- Creating Rosa's Apartment
This room, strangely enough, is one of the most frequently seen rooms in the game- but it was the last one drawn.
When Tom Scary, the backround artist, sent it to me, I was just like, “it’s pink”- and I have to admit, I had never really thought much about what Rosa’s apartment should look like.
I’d always kinda imagined it as being very bare, with lots of books, and not a lot of personality- and the fact that he made the walls so colorful, a lot more colorful than I imagined they should be- Well, I look at it now, and I kinda like it. I think that it’s very important to establish Rosa’s home as her sanctuary. It has to be comfortable, and it has to be a place you’d want to return to, otherwise she wouldn’t wanna be there all the time, and that kinda makes sense.
And the fact that it’s pink is kinda nice, cuz it gives Rosa a bit more of a feminine quality, which she didn’t really have before. She’s so standoffish that you don’t really get a sense of her personality most of the time, so it’s nice that she has this colorful apartment, that kinda shows a little bit more of her. I thought that it was very effective.
So, nice call, Tom Scary.
Commentary Classic- More on Rosa's Room
I guess I can talk a little bit more about the creation of this room.
I mentioned earlier that Tom Scary created this room, which isn’t entirely true- Chris Femo actually drew a lot of it as well. Tom Scary drew the basic outline- he did the walls, the kitchen the table, the shelf, the computer desk, and all that.
Then Chris Femo came along and, after Tom Scary became too busy to finish, he added so many extra details.
He kinda took what he knew about Rosa, and- he created that bulletin board for her newspaper clippings,
he put the teddy bear up there (which is a reference to one of my earlier games, I kinda wanted that there),
he added the bedroom, behind the door. He added the plants (which I totally wasn’t expecting, I never thought of rosa as a plant girl- so I included a message saying they were fake, that’s- that’s more of a Rosa thing.
He added all those books, he added the notebook there, he added the couch, and the table- the end table. So I had to redo all the walkable areas, so… Yeah, thanks Chris, haha.
He really helped make the room come alive, so… Good job, man.
Unlike the areas we’ve seen so far, Rosa’s house is lousy with stuff we can look at.
Like this photograph.
It’s a photograph of Auntie Lauren and me.
Commentary Classic- Eyal Jamer
Way back when I completed the freeware version of The Shivah, around the end of June 2006, it wasn’t long before I got an email from a guy named Eyal Jamer, this graphic artist. He asked me, he said “Hey, I like your work, and if you ever need artwork done, I’d be happy to help you out!”
And this is, I love getting letters like this! It’s always great when talented people want to help me cuz, my art, sucks! If anyone’s played my old freeware games where I’ve done the art, you’d know- my art sucks!
So EJ, I saw his work, and he did that- if you look at the Wadjet website, you can see that promotional picture for The Shivah, this beautiful picture of Rabbi Stone looking over the New York skyline.
This one, I believe.
He came onboard the Blackwell train when another artist who was originally gonna do these closeup pictures here, turned out to be too busy so he bailed. I sent a letter to EJ, and said- “Hey, could you do this? Could you help us out?” So he said, “Sure!”
I sent him Matt’s sketch, and within two days he had this done. It’s beautiful, I mean- look at this! It’s just amazing.
We’ll take another look at it, then!
This picture itself, I really wanted to-
You know, I don’t really mention it, and I hope you get it, cuz I kinda hammered this home a lot, is that Rosa earlier poured the ashes off of Brooklyn Bridge, and here’s a picture of her and her Aunt, on Brooklyn Bridge.
The only connection she has with her aunt is on this bridge, and so they return to the bridge many times, it’s sorta a reoccurring thing, because that’s the only memory Rosa has of her aunt.
So I hope you got that! I hope it wasn’t too subtle- or too obvious, for that matter. But anyway, Eyal Jamer- Awesome guy, amazing work, singlehandedly saved the project, he just did so many little things, he did the graphical interface, he did all the inventory items, he did the map screen… He did so many little details, that nobody else had time to do, and he just did such amazing stuff, so…
Thank you, Mr EJ, you did an awesome job.
You can also click on certain things in pictures.
Auntie Lauren. She took care of me after my parents died.
For most of my life, Auntie Lauren was a vegetable, slowly rotting away in a hospital bed.
I don’t remember what she was like before that. This picture is all I have to go by.
In case you didn’t read the commentary, and didn’t notice- cuz I didn’t first time through- this photo was taken on the Brooklyn Bridge, the same place Rosa scattered Auntie Lauren’s ashes. :c
It’s me. Hah, I look scared out of my mind…
I don’t remember when this picture was taken, but I look about four or five years old.
Nothing for it. Let’s look at everything!
I don’t need to touch it. I know these plants are fake.
That letter we got from Dr. Quentin was dated October 2006, meaning Rosa’s probably got Oblivion on this thing.
Hey, did you know Oblivion came out in 2006? Wild.
Oh?
Sigh
I am just feeling so uninspired today. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel up to it. But today…?
It’s just not happening.
same
This kitchen is unnaturally clean.
Cook?
Why bother, when every Chinese restaurant in the area delivers?
And that’d be why.
Commentary Classic- Yes, I stole this line
Yes, I totally ripped off this line, I’m an evil thief.
I remember a previous game of mine, called “Two of a kind”, where Timothy Walters goes into this other person’s kitchen, and says, you know, like “Why should I cook when every Chinese restaurant in town delivers?”
It’s a very New York thing to say, so it seemed appropriate to put it into this game.
I made sure I was covered- I asked myself permission, if it was OK if I copied from myself.
I thought about it, and I said, “Sure, OK”, but I wanted it in writing, so I drafted up a letter and I sent it to myself, and I signed it, and I signed it, and I filed it, and I gave a copy to myself, and I kept a copy for myself…
So I’m covered! I’m covered. Neither of us plans on suing the other, so I’m good.
Wow, maybe THIS is The Blackwell Legacy. It looks old as hell.
I don’t need to bother. I don’t get any reception, anyway.
Commentary Classic- TV Reception
One of the beta testers, seeing this for the first time, was like, “How come the TV doesn’t have any reception? I don’t see the point.”
This is kinda a New York thing, maybe outside of New York, you don’t get this, but I dunno- it seems like most of the people I know don’t watch a lot of TV, at least not the people I hang out with.
We like to watch movies- I know me personally, I have a TV, I have a nice TV. I get zero reception, but I have a DVD player, and I like to watch movies!.
And a lot of people I know seem to live the same way, so this kind of lifestyle isn’t that unusual.
Looks like it’s from Bellevue.
[details = “Commentary Classic- The Letters”]
When I created the original, freeware, Bestowers of Eternity in 2002, or 2003, people told me that the letters that Rosa reads were their favourite part of the game- in fact, they seemed to be “the thing” that made the game for them. I wonder if I hadn’t put those letters in there if people wouldn’t have liked it so much…
I hope that it’s just as effective in Blackwell Legacy, even though I kinda moved the focus away from Rosa and her family, to the case that Rosa’s working on. If only because the backstory is now so much bigger, and so much better, that it’s gonna take a while to get to it. So I kinda wanted to give you a little taste of the backstory now, and then in the future you’ll see more of it.
So hopefully you’re not kept in total suspense, but in the meantime this is a bit of Rosangela Blackwell backstory that you get.
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Woof. OK, get ready for this goddamn, collossal dump of images. I’m gonna hide them, but they aren’t hidden for like, spoiler reasons, read them if you can.
I’ll also summarise the gist of the messages, in case you have trouble reading 25 goddamn handwritten jpgs,
Auntie Lauren's backstory and also some Blackwell family history
So, to summarise:
1960: Lauren moves away from her mother (Patricia), brother (Jack), and father (unnamed?), to attend college. From the letters here, there’s nothing to suggest anything unusual is happening.
1961: Patricia is beginning to worry Jack. She’s always looking over her shoulder, and she covers her ears to block out sounds nobody can hear- she insists that she’s feeling fine, however.
1962: Jack overhears Patricia talking to someone in an empty room- someone who she calls “Joey”. She refuses to talk about him.
Shorly thereafter, her condition takes a turn for the worse, and she’s committed to a mental ward after a mental breakdown that results in self harm.1965: Lauren graduates summa cum laude, which I guess is good.
1967: Jack falls in love with a woman, Maria. He also mentions that he’ll “come by soon”, so I presume Lauren moved closer to her brother some time after graduating.
1970: Probably early in this year, Patricia passes away. According to Jack, after that happens, Lauren stops returning calls. She’s also changed her lock, apparently just to stop Jack using his spare key to get in so, wow, rude.
While standing outside her locked door with a christmas present, he overhears her talking to a “Joey”.1971: Understandably freaked out, Jack hires a private detective to see what Lauren’s up to. Apparently she’s walking all over the city, talking with random strangers, doing some really weird inane nonsense. She’s also having fainting spells, though she just sorta picks herself up a few minutes later like it’s nbd.
1973: Lauren sends a letter to Jack, this time, and she asks him to stay away from her. She also says that she understands what her mother was going through, which, yeah Jack probably guessed as much.
Jack tells her to shove it and then angrily invites her to his upcoming wedding with Maria, and according to a followup letter, she DID attend.
Their father has passed away, by now.1976: Maria gives birth! Jack dubs Lauren “Aunt Lauren”.
1981: This letter is from some law office, written by a John Durkin. Jack and Maria have both passed away, and Auntie Lauren now takes custody of her niece, Rosangela.
The game does a cutscene after you read all of that, but we have some photos to look at first.
This is Jack’s wedding, which Lauren, despite acting weird, did show up for.
The lady herself.
That’s definitely Auntie Lauren.
She’s looking at something off camera. I wonder what it was.
Maria’s going after her dude’s cake.
I assume that’s my mother.
She sorta looks like me, I guess. Other than that, she’s a total stranger.
I’m liking Daddy’s tux
Is that my… dad?
He looks so young! I always pictured my dad as being older.
You can’t select any of the people in this picture, but we’re looking at a young Lauren and Jack, and Grandma Patricia.
Anyway, back to the game. We just finished reading the letters.
Ring ring, It’s me, the phone, here to distract you from the horror story that is your family’s past.
Hello?
RosANGela, hi.
Hi, Bob.
Thanks SO much for submitting your last review on time. For once.
Yeah.
I’ve got a LITTLE assignment for you today.
Assignment?
Human interest, Blackwell. Suicide. A college girl, named JoAnn Sherman.
That’s awful, but-
You know the Brittany house? The NYU dorm?
Yes, but-
Speak to some people on her floor. Get a word in with the roommate.
Listen-
Speak to the R.A, too. And hey, see if you can score a picture of the girl.
But I don’t do that stuff! I write book reviews.
Versatility! Time to get out of your comfort zone.
Jeremy’s over at city hall covering that strike, so you are it. Get cracking.
I don’t want any book reviews- I want pictures of Jo-Ann!
I HATE him so much.
Is freelancing for that stupid paper even worth it? I guess it keeps me writing, but…
Oh, whatever. I’ll just go over there and get it done. It’s not like I don’t have enough death in my life right now.
What does that mean
Maybe this isn’t a bad thing. It’s like being a real reporter, sort of.
My old notepad should come in handy for this.
In other words, we have a new mechanic now!
Commentary Classic- Notebook Interface and Discworld Noir
All right~ New option~ On the menu~
Yeah, just got the notebook. One of the things people really seemed to like about The Shivah- they really praised me for being original- was the clues interface, where you’d use clues as inventory- and they praised how awesome and original it was.
I want to DENY this, because I feel that the credit should be given to Discworld Noir, the third game in the Discworld series, this beautiful noir adventure.
It actually inspired me to create mystery adventure games.
Discworld Noir had clues as inventory- they did it first, not me. So, I wanna give those guys credit- all that credit you guys are giving me, give it to Discworld Noir. They deserve it.
You learn key topics throughout the game, and many conversations basically come down to asking people about everything on the list.
You can also get Rosangela’s thoughts on how subjects might relate to each other, by clicking on two items on the list. Not everything works, mind.
All I know about JoAnn is that she was an NYU student who killed herself.
And with that…
Oh before we head out let’s take Nishanthi up on that offer and say hi.
Knock knock.
Come in!
Seems like it was only yesterday we saw you, Nishanthi.
Hello, Rosa.
Come in, come in!
WOOF
Don’t mind the pooch. He’s harmless.
Let’s start this visit out strong
So. Um…
How are you?
…
Oh, I’m just fine.
Right, Moti? Aren’t we just fine?
WOOF
This is a highly relatable conversation already.
Thanks again for helping me out earlier.
I’d probably be sleeping in a motel tonight if it weren’t for you.
Oh, didn’t you hear?
The strike’s over.
Really.
It only lasted a few hours, according to the report on the radio.
I suppose that’s irony.
I suppose so.
Commentary Classic- Nishanthi and the strike
I think this line might have been a little too subtle- there was a bit of subtext there andI’m not sure
if people got it.
Basically, if it wasn’t for the strike, Nishanthi and Rosa never would have met. So when Rosa gets all in a
huff about the strike being over so soon, Nishanthi’s a tiiny little bit insulted, even though- even though
she knows it’s totally unintentional, a totally innocent thing to say, she’s a little bit insulted.
But, it’s extremely subtle, and I’m not sure if anybody picked up on it or not, but… That’s what this
commentary is for!
So, lucky you.
You might remember that Nishanthi was playing the flute when we met her at Washington Square park earlier.
So you play the flute, huh?
Yes, I play the flute.
It’s called a bansuri. What about you? Do you play an instrument?
Me? No. I can hardly play the kazoo.
Let’s see.
You strike me as being creatively inclined.
Are you a painter? A writer?
Well, I’m TRYING to be a writer.
I knew it!
[details = “Commentary Classic- Giving subtext to Nishanthi”]
A problem with a lot of Nishanthi’s lines here, is that it’s just a lot of straight information giving without
a lot of character. When Ruth read the lines, we found it very difficult to give it… something.
So, we kinda talked about ways to give each line some subtext, and- I’m giving this information to you advance, so you’re ready- they’re about to talk about the newspaper that Rosa works for, and I told Ruth- “Hey, Nishanthi’s gonna say “Oh, I’ve never actually read it, but maybe I will!””
Then I said, “You know what, you actually HAVE read these newspapers, and you use them to housetrain your dog, so, you feel guilty about it”
And so that’s how she read the line, and… You know, it’s not something that anybody would get, there’s no way you would get that, but…
You’ll definitely notice that there’s a little more character to the line than there would have been otherwise- a little trick to make the lines sound a little more interesting.
This is another one of those, “You’ll just have to take his word for it” examples, I’m afraid.
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Anything published?
Nothing really. Aside from book reviews in the Village Eye.
Village Eye? You mean that little paper they sell at the stand?
You’ve read it?
I’ve seen it around, but I’ve never actually read it.
Perhaps I will, the next time I see it.
Woof they just keep adding new options to this list, huh
That dog is adorable.
Moti? He’s spoiled rotten, but he’s good company.
He’s taken quite a shine to YOU, that’s for sure.
Heh. Yeah.
Usually I’m not good with animals.
You never had a childhood pet?
A pet? No, I… had a teddy bear.
[details = “Commentary Classic- More about Nishanthi”]
There’s a game called “The Longest Journey”, which is critically acclaimed- a great game, you should all play it- one common complain- a complaint I have- is that you could spend HOURS talking to the peripheral characters, and…
It’s not so much that there’s a lot of dialogue, nothing wrong with a lot of dialogue, it’s just- the dialogue itself, you could spend an hour talking to the main characters, like April’s landlady, and learn that landlady’s life story. You then never see the landlady again, none of that information moves the story along.
I found myself doing the same thing with Nishanthi here, it was very tempting to delve into Nishanthi’s life story, to learn everything about her.
I held myself back, but what I decided to do instead, to kinda justify long dialogues with Nishanthi, cuz she’s such a cool character, was to spin everyhting you ask Nishanthi into learning something about Roseangela.
You’ll see in this dialogue how we’re talking about Nishanthi’s pet, and then she asks Rosa whether she has had any pets, and you learn that Rosa didn’t, but she grew up with a teddy bear. So in learning about Nishanthi, it actually moves the story along- a bit- because you learn more about Rosa.
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Hah. Well, you probably had the right idea.
Moti’s a little thing, but you wouldn’t know it from the amount he eats.
He’s very… active, it seems.
Yes, that probably explains it.
See that box of biscuits? I buy a new one every two days.
Moti doesn’t have a stomach. He has a black hole that sucks in food. Feel free to give him one, if you like.
TARGET ACQUIRED
Could I try feeding the dog?
Sure! Here, take one. I have plenty.
Go ahead and feed him. He’s always hungry.
Come here, boy!
! I will greet him.
Hi, um… Dog?
His name is MOTI.
Right. Moti.
This is what you sickos are here for.
Good as hell dog.
Um, what do I do now?
Just say “Go get it!”
He’ll do the rest.
Go get it!
Faith In Humanity Restored: Dog Takes Infinite Biscuits From Miserable Woman
[details = “Cooper and Moti”]
I mentioned earlier that I’d looked after a dog, a friend’s dog, for a week, the dog I took to Washington Square park.
That dog was a Boston terrier, named Cooper,. His owner’s name was Sarah.
I based Nishanthi’s relationship with Moti- which means “Pearl” in Hindi, by the way- I based that relationship on Sarah’s relationship with Cooper.
I love Boston terriers! Ever since I looked after Cooper I’ve just become obsessed with those little squishy nosed guys.
And every trick Moti does here, Copper does the exact same thing. The whole “Go get it” thing? Sarah did the exact same thing. She’d hold up a treat, the dog would beg, and Sarah would say “Go get it!”, and the dog would just snap the treat right out of her hands. I totally based that off Cooper.
Man, People love their dogs! I happen to be allergic, so I can’t own a dog permanently- but that’s alright. Allergies can’t stop me putting a dog in a game, so I can live vicariously though my games, and have a dog that way.
Not quite the real thing, but probably the closest I’m gonna get.
[/details]
Alright, back to work.
You have a very nice apartment.
Thank you!
A bit small, but that’s New York for you.
Rosa has met none of them.
You seem very… friendly… with the people in this building.
Well, I didn’t grow up here.
I didn’t realise it was taboo to chat with neighbors.
It’s not taboo, exactly. It’s just…
Oh, I know. It’s just one of those unspoken things.
I’ve found that most people are pretty friendly though, once you take the first step.
People have their defenses up, most of the time. You know what I’m talking about?
Yeah. Yeah, I do.
Honestly I’ve gotta say this scene is trying to make Rosa seem awkward but Nishanthi is being a really bad host.
We’ve been talking for like ten minutes and we’re both still standing?
Why do you play the flute in the park?
It’s a place to go, I suppose.
I was walking there one day, and I had the bansuri with me, so I started playing.
Next thing I knew I had a bunch of people around me- so I go there as often as I can, now.
It gets me out of this stuffy apartment, and I admit I like the attention.
Plus Moti loves the dog run there. Well, he did until they closed it down.
Oh hey yeah the dog place was closed, let’s investigate:
Why did they close down the dog run?
It seemed OK to me.
Nobody really knows. It started about a week ago.
Dogs started howling, running around like maniacs, acting strange.
Some even hurled themselves at the fence door, trying to get out.
They SAY it’s some kind of high frequency wave that’s caused by electric cables, or something.
Some high pitched sound that the dogs can hear, but we can’t.
But I know better.
Oh god, Nishanthi, please.
You… know better?
Definitely.
I notice these things. I could tell that things weren’t quite right. Something… in the air.
They’re putting chemicals in the air that’s turnin our dogs into cowards
It’s not a high-pitched noise. That would only cause a dog pain.
This was more than pain. The dogs were… scared.
What was there to be scared of?
I have no idea.
But I know what I sensed. Just like you did.
Me?
You sensed it. Don’t think I didn’t notice.
I didn’t sense anything.
Well, perhaps.
Maybe I’m just spouting nonsense.
(Hissing through teeth) Ah look, sorry, look at the time, I gotta- I gotta go…
Well, I’d better go.
Take care, Rosa.
Come back whenever you’d like.
I’ll just, let myself out I guess.
That was a nice visit. Got a bit weird at the end there.
Anyway, we’ve got a job to do. Time to investigate a suicide, by pestering traumatised college kids.
Rosa’s getting quite the workout today.
Ah, to be in college again.
I never, attended, myself, but I’m sure someone relates.
Update: Rosa still has a headache.
Ugh.
I feel like hell and I have to interview college kids.
Hopefully this won’t take too long.
[details = “Classic Commentary- Peter Gresser”]
Peter Gresser did the music for this game- figured it was a good time to talk about him, because this is my favourite tune in the whole game, This crazy electronica stuff.
I debated whether or not I should link to youtube videos of the game’s OST, and decided against it- there’s no official uploads, and it’d feel gross to share unofficial uploads.
He did the music for The Shivah, and I think he really went all out with this game, he really kinda made the music more unified, and it’s… really cool.
It’s this kind of very mystical, electronica soundtrack, which I wasn’t expecing- I was not expecting this electrical synth stuff.
I think it kinda works, because it does kinda give you that feeling of uneasiness, like something is kinda not right, which I kinda dug.
Peter is a great musician, you should check out his myspace page, I linked to it on the wadjet website.
We both know I can’t show you this dude’s myspace any more. I also can’t find any reference to peter on the Wadjeteye site.
But yeah, Petter Gresser, he’s really good, you should… Check him out.
[/details]
Let’s talk to the R.A, first.
Knock knock.
Well, hello.
Hm?
You come here often?
Hi. I’m Rosangela Blackwell.
Can I help you?
Perhaps. Could I ask you a few questions?
Oh. This is about JoAnn, isn’t it?
You know her?
Well, I am the R.A for this floor.
I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t know everybody.
The campus police found her about 5am this morning.
Can you tell me about her?
Hmm. Well, alright.
But could you leave my name out of it?
That’s kinda weird but alright
That shouldn’t be a problem.
Good. JoAnn’s parents have already asked the Dean to fire me.
I don’t need anyone else knowing who I am.
What do you want to know?
This is the main way you use the topics in the notepad. They just replace normal dialogue options sometimes. New topics are added basically every time you talk to someone.
Could you tell me about JoAnn again?
Well, as I said. I didn’t know her socially, but she seemed nice enough.
Nobody ever complained about her. She always had friends around her. She never had any trouble, as far as I know. Her… suicide… came as a total surprise.
Speaking of:
Can you tell me anything about JoAnn?
That’s almost word for word what you asked before, Rosa.
She jumped off the roof.
She died instantly. It was the middle of the night. There was…
There was no way anybody could have stopped her.
Makre sure you print that.
This guy’s all about covering his own ass, huh
Would you have a picture of JoAnn?
A picture? No, why would I?
Just asking.
God, he’s giving us very little to work with.
Screw it, tell me about yourself, stud.
So how did you get to be the R.A of this floor?
What do you mean?
Well, it’s a girl’s floor, and you, well…
Aren’t?
Yes.
Well, it’s like this:
Someone at the registrar thought “Adrian” was a girl’s name. So here I am.
None of the girls have complained?
Not yet. They seem to prefer it.
This sort of thing happens quite frequently. You’d be surprised.
I see the cis are still up to their tricks.
Well, that’s all for now.
Thanks for helping out.
Just remember to leave my name out of it.
Well, that lead absolutely nowhere. Guess we have to talk to at least one other person before we can leave.
What have we here?
I’m not stealing stuff from college kids.
Excellent.
Knock knock.
…
Most of these doors don’t open.
There’s nobody home.
Knock knock.
Oh thank god someone cool.
Yeah?
[details = “Classic Commentary- Investigative Shift!”]
I admit that this section I was a little worried about.
You’re suddenly told, by a character you’ve never heard of, to go to a location you’ve never been to, and talk to characters you’ve never heard of about the death of another character you’ve never heard of.
I was worried it was very sudden, and very jarring, to suddenly shift gears entirely. Whenever it was beta tested, whenever I gave this to a new beta tester, the first thing I would ask when they got this far was, “Did this seem strange? Did this seem jarring?”
And no one seemed to mind. No one said anything. So I kinda took a step back, and said "Well, OK, I guess it’s fine- if these guys, these very strict, anal beta testers- believe me, these guys are PICKY- if they didn’t say anything, then I’d like to think it’s OK.
[/details]
I wanna join your band
Hi, I’m Rosangela Blackwell.
Am I supposed to know you?
No, I’m with the Village Eye.
The Village What?
The Village Eye. The newspaper.
I’ve never heard of it.
Times are tough for print media, I guess.
It’s just a small paper.
Yeah, I guessed that.
What do you want?
I’d like to talk to you about your room-mate, if that’s all right?
Jesus Christ.
I’m busy with midterms. I told the campus police everything. Do you have to bother me?
Look…
So she killed herself. Big whoop.
Why is that my problem?
Coming up against some serious 'tude here.
I understand that this must be a difficult time for you.
Difficult? Hell no. It’s been great.
You know how long I’ve been wanting my own room?
Jesus. I’m putting that quote in the article.
Why don’t you elaborate on that statement? Oh, don’t worry, I’m not a cop.
You don’t care? Not even a little bit?
No. I don’t. Why the hell should I?
And for that matter, why should you?
I’ll have you know that I take my job of pestering you VERY seriously.
Will you please calm down?
Calm DOWN?
Who the hell do you think you are?
Me? I’m the lady who’s about to cut you a deal.
Look, just tell me a little bit about JoAnn and I’ll leave.
Please?
…That deal is, “Do what I wanted originally and I’ll stop bothering you.”
…
Fine.
You want to know about JoAnn?
She’s DEAD. She couldn’t take the pressure, so she jumped off the roof.
Did JoAnn act… unusual before she died?
Nope. Same ol’ JoAnn.
Studied at her desk all day and slept all night, as usual.
Quiet as a little mouse.
Oh boy, we’ve got some options. Not every option leads to a meaningful response, though.
Do you have any thoughts on why JoAnn would kill herself?
Nope. Just another kid who couldn’t hack it.
Just gimme a photo and we can get outta here.
Do you have a photograph of JoAnn that we could use for the newspaper?
You want a what?
Just a photograph.
You’ll get it right back.
Yeah right. You think I’m giving you anything?
Think again.
Come on kid there’s two people on this floor if neither of you give me a photo I’m gonna get fired
Can you tell me anything about Adrian?
The R.A? He’s OK.
He helps us when we need it, and keeps out of our way when we don’t. That’s the way it should be.
Sounds fake and suspicious. This is a college.
JoAnn never had trouble sleeping?
How would I know?
You lived with her.
Like I pay attention.
Well, this went nowhere. Kelly seems a little unwilling to share with the pushy reporter from the newspaper she’s never heard of.
Thanks for helping out.
Yeah sure, whatever.
That said, we have some new topics now, so let’s check back in on Adrian.
Knock knock.
Hm?
Hi. It’s me again.
…
You have more questions, I imagine?
Yeah. Is that OK?
I suppose so. What do you want to know?
That Kelly, huh? Real piece a work.
What can you tell me about JoAnn’s room-mate?
Kelly? Have you met her?
Yes.
Quite a sight, huh?
But don’t judge her by that, she’s the sharpest kid you’ll ever meet.
She gets straight As on everything.
Really?
Yep. She’s pre-med.
Tell me about her sleeping habits.
Do you know if JoAnn had any trouble sleeping?
I’m afraid I wouldn’t.
Her room-mate, Kelly, never complained, but that’s not surprising.
Why is that?
Well, Kelly rarely spent the night in her room.
She only comes here to study, as far as I’ve seen.
They’ve got libraries, Kelly
Do you know where Kelly was sleeping?
No. It’s not my place to ask.
Well, we’ve learned something new. Let’s ask Kelly about where she sleeps, I guess. Something seems…
Off.
Knock knock
HOLD IT
So, you’ve been sleeping somewhere else lately?
Yeah, I’ve been at my boyfriend’s.
You’ve been following me or something?
No. No.
Just confirming the information.
Looks like Adrian’s been talking.
Sorry, Adrian. Snitches get stitches.
But now what? We’re out of clues.
Unless…
We combine two facts, and arrive at a contradiction.
Waaait a minute.
Something isn’t right. If Kelly’s been spending her nights somewhere else…
How can she know if her room-mate was sleeping well or not? Hm.
I think Kelly was lying to me.
Oh you are gonna get it you brat
Knock. Knock.
KELLY LIED TO ME
Do you think Kelly would lie to me?
I’ve got no idea.
Why don’t you ask her?
YEAH THAT MAKES MORE SENSE
Knock knock
Kelly, do you think Kelly would lie to me?
Your R.A told me that you haven’t been sleeping in your dorm.
Yeah, so?
You told me that JoAnn slept in her room every night.
So?
How would you know JoAnn slept here if you’ve been sleeping somewhere else?
…Huh?
Oh! Well, I just assumed…
Did you lie to me?
I didn’t lie! I just…
Oh, screw it. You wanna talk? Fine. What do you want to know?
Kelly honestly you’re allowed to lie to me, I’m way out of line here.
But so long as you’re being co-operative…
So what was JoAnn really like?
To be honest, there’s nothing to say.
She was studying political science, which is kind of cool, I guess.
But she was just so… vanilla.
Vanilla?
Ah yeah it means she hasn’t got any mods.
You know, sweet, but not much there?
Just a typical college kid. Acted just like everybody else. She seemed proud of it.
Alright, now we’re getting somewhere. Getting some actual answers.
Did JoAnn act… Unusual, before she died?
Well, no.
Although the last few weeks she’s been talking in her sleep.
What did she say?
No idea, couldn’t understand her.
She swore up and down that she wasn’t doing it. She looked a bit scared, though.
Scared? How so?
Just scared.
I didn’t need the drama, so I’ve been sleeping at my boyfriend’s place.
So you weren’t here when she…
Killed herself? No, I wasn’t here.
N-not that it would have made much of a difference.
Are we done?
Almost, just gimme that picture and I’m outta here.
I could really use a photo of JoAnn, if you have one.
Hm. Alright.
This was hers. It was on her desk. She won’t be needing it anymore.
JoAnn is the girl on the left.
[details = “Classic Commentary- Kelly’s Brooklyn Accent”]
You might have heard me earlier, saying that I don’t like accents- rather, I prefer not to work with them- but the girl playing Kelly here, her name is Chen-Yung Hsu, she’s a really versatile actress.
I originally had her in mind for the role of Alli, the sad lonely ghost you’ll see later on- I hope you’ve played through the game already, that’s not the only thing I’m gonna be giving away- But I said to Chen, I said “Hey, you’re perfect for Alli, I know you can do that, but”- it’s such a small role, and I felt it was wasting her. So I said “Hey, how do you feel about doing two characters?”
And I gave her the script for Alli, and she read it and, kinda as a joke at once point she read it in this tough Brooklyn queens accent, and I said “Hey, that’s awesome! Let’s do it that way!”
Because I figured, with the accent, it would really differentiate between the two roles.
And admittedly, my experience with accents has not been great, as I said earlier, people tend to focus more on getting the accent right then acting, and I had the same problem here.
It’s not fault of Chen’s, she originally did not wanna do the accent, she was trying to go for this kinda goth girl thing, but I’m like, “No, do the accent”. I really wanted the two characters to sound different.
I suggested that she did the accent, but not put too much effort into it. Just kinda make it there, don’t worry about being authentic, just kinda let it come but speak naturally.
I think she did a good job, and I put the two voices together as a test, and they sound pretty different, and the characters are so different that I don’t think people- beta testers didn’t seem to to mind, so I think it worked.
So yeah, if anyone needs a lady voice actress, get in touch with me, I’ll get you in touch with Chen, because she’s awesome.
[/details]
Thanks for helping out.
Yeah sure, whatever.
We did it. Journalism is easy.
Rosa says the same thing for the girl in the middle as well.
I assume that this is a friend of JoAnn’s, but I have no idea who she is.
There she is. Wait, are we just gonna publish this whole picture? I feel like we need to ask for permission or something first.
According to Kelly, this girl on the left is JoAnn.
A final urf for the road.
Urf.
This is getting worse. At least I have enough for the story, now. I’d better get home.
Not 100% sure why the school icon is gone but the hospital is still there.
Urf
This is… getting bad.
Take some panadol and go to bed
Oh. My. God.
This really hurts.
Sleep, that’s all I need. I’ll just type up this story and get to bed. Shouldn’t take that long.
Let’s do some work.
Right. No more interruptions.
(Fade to black)
Done.
Article’s finished. Picture’s scanned. And I am DONE for the day.
Watching a person have a severe headache is giving me a severe headache honestly.
No! What’s…?
Oh? What’s goin on with that photo?
Headache continues.
This scene is a pain so far.
What… is… happening?
Will this ever end?
…
It’s gone.
The pain. It’s gone!
That was strange. it was like…
Dang picture’s glowin again.
…
What… is… that…?
Of course, we remember this picture. What’s wrong with it?
The photo… Something is different about it.
I almost don’t want to look, but…
No. No. No!
I did not just see that. I am not going crazy. No, it’s just the stess, that’s all.
Auntie’s death, work, life- I just need a rest. That’s all.
???
!!!
!!!
…
Why do they always do that?
[/details]