So, quick housekeeping update: I got the sprites back. With a little bit of tweaking, they'll be ready to put in the game. I've finished working out my label and menu flow, as well as making sure all the variables are operating as needed.

Thanks again for all your patience and support. Although I will be marking this game as "published" (and taking a MUCH needed break from it) after it's uploaded, keep an eye on this page, because I 100% plan to revisit and retool a few things.

Now, on to this week's feature:

Designing The Puppeteer

So the Puppeteer was entirely created for two reasons: the first, I wanted to have a figure of authority Coppelia had to be somewhat afraid or cautious of. The second was because I needed The Beloved to have another human character to interface with, and to be able to show who she is via dialogue.

Initially, the Puppeteer's name was "The Performer," and before that, they were "The Ringmaster;" ultimately, I settled on them having a hyper-specialized role in the circus- as a performer, an engineer, and production designer.

Their appearance was entirely dictated by my own desire to draw something super dynamic- a pose with a lot of movement and direction.

It was entirely thanks to them, and this pose, that i ended up going with ballet poses for the "promo art" that I ended up making for the rest of the characters. Their hair...well. Hm. I can't really explain it, to be honest. I just wanted something extremely swoopy!

The way their hair works is a little like a pompadour combined with like, extreme scene kid swoopy bangs; it comes down over their eye, and sweeps upwards into a magnificent, gravity and euclidean-geomety-defying swoop!( ...It has caused my sprite artist endless headaches lmao.)

(The above was my rendition of them prior to commissioning someone else to do the main sprites.)

Around this point of the design process, I decided to make The Puppeteer a non-binary trans person, bc I am also a non-binary person, and also because I felt like it.

From there, the Puppeteer only became more fun and self-indulgent, and I am still very happy with that aspect; although, admittedly, now and then, i still misgender them and think of them as a "her" instead of a "they." >__<

For their color scheme, I actually was of a few different minds; I had already decided that The Beloved and Coppelia would have warm toned color schemes, so I wanted to try and use a cooler scheme for them. So i went to my handy-dandy internet palette generator and made a whole lot of palettes to try out. 

This ultimately resulted in the following line up of potential color schemes, which I then posted to my twitter and asked "Hey! what do you guys like better?" (Quick plug to follow me on twitter so you, too, can be a part of such exciting decisions.)

(My roommate made a joke about these sounding like DLC skin names, hahaha.)

Although the first colorway, "Midnight Blue Raspberry" was very popular, I ultimately realized that any attempts to draw them from different angles with this sort of hair would be absolutely IMPOSSIBLE, so I decided to go with the second most popular, the palette on the far right, "Pistachio."  

And with that, the Puppeteer's design was finished!

Those of you who follow me on twitter will recognize this was the "promo art" I posted back in September.

Personality

In every iteration of their character had the same personality- over the top,  theatrical, and melodramatic. (In short- a theater kid).

Initially, they were intended a 1-note, melodramatic, princely archetype, who was somewhat shallow and a little prissy.

But, as I worked upon the script,  the Puppeteer unfolded into someone a bit different. What's resulted is a person who can't help but reflexively play the character they've chosen to become, on and off the stage, but has a big heart, despite being notably Weird and unusual. The prissiness is totally gone- although they're absolutely a bit fussy about their appearance on stage, lol. 

I also developed more about them, and The Beloved, that will absolutely never be seen or mentioned in-game! <3  

Personally, I'm hoping to include a bit of that background in an extras gallery, at some point, but we'll see how that goes, lol.

Next update, I will expand upon the anomaly that is Doctor Janice.

Thanks again for all your support and patience, and I hope you guys look forward to playing The Skin You're In!