So. Dr. Janice. Or as I refer to him in my notes, DJ.

I haven’t discussed DJ very much in regards to the story of The Skin You’re In because…he wasn’t originally part of the story. 

In fact...he wasn't even originally made for this game!

Dum dum DUUUUMMMMM! 

So Wait, Like, What's His Deal, Then??

Doctor Janice was an entirely unrelated original character that I came with on my way to pick up a prescription from Walgreens in late August of 2020. I can’t entirely remember the train of thought I had, but it was something along the lines of:

“omg, wouldn’t it be freaky if the Tooth Fairy was actually a disgusting amalgamation of teeth??”

“Hang on, that would be a REALLY COOL concept for a 5e warlock’s Patron Deity…like, they go and collect teeth as part of their pact. Oh, what if they were a dentist? It’s like, an inside job. And you could potentially try to convince the GM to let you use the stats for a dagger for a scalpel…”

His design came shortly after- a lanky, bony man with his hair in a ponytail and a huge, shark toothed grin. If you ask me why, there’s no deep reason. I just REALLY like sharp toothed characters and wish I was built like a CLAMP anime boy. The green hair was because “hmmm…I don’t have any green haired OCs yet, that will be fun.”

I typically like playing good and lawful-aligned characters, but recently, I had a lot of fun role playing as a chaotic aligned OC, so I decided to mix it up and make DJ a lawful evil character. The thing was, his “laws” were entirely related to the acquisition of teeth; they had to be extracted while someone was alive, or shortly after they died- because his magic relied not only on the teeth, but the pain. This concept was later incorporated into The Skin You’re In, albeit not overtly, with DJ’s “rules.”  

The only reason DJ ended up even becoming a part of the game was that a few days after I created him, I decided to take part in the Spooktober Jam. I had 3 different concepts lined up, but “A puppet trying to become a Real Girl by gathering body parts” was the standout my roommates liked the best.

One of them asked, “Is that creepy doctor guy gonna be in the story, too?”

I replied immediately,

“No, he’s not a part of it, haha...But..he COULD be. Oh my god, you’re a genius.”

So, I ended up folding him into the storyline by combining him with the concept of a "Blue Fairy" I had been playing  with to bring in those Pinnochio motifs. 

It’s no exaggeration to say that without The Skin You’re In would have had a very DIFFERENT vibe; Whether or not that game would have been ‘better’ is certainly up to your personal tastes, because personally, I think that both the game that ended up being made, and the original concept of the game would both be very interesting, while very different narratives.

For The Skin You’re In, Dr. Janice developed from his initial sketch of a “weird, violent dentist,” and became more like a Mephistopheles type of figure- a corrupting influence, looking to lead Coppelia astray.

As mentioned in earlier my log on the development of Coppelia, originally, the horror and tragedy of her character came from her having a fundamental misunderstanding of reality; She had a childlike innocence, and a difficulty differentiating between the fairy tales that she was part of on stage, and the real world. In this early version, the idea to build herself a human body came from within, inspired by watching the construction and repair of other puppets; In contrast, in the story’s present incarnation, DJ appears to her with an offer, and Coppelia decides to do something she knows is wrong.

A small echo of Old Coppelia still remains in a few places in the game, but a significant part for this log lies in how Dr Janice talks to Coppelia. He introduces himself as her “fairy godmother,” uses infantilizing language to address her, and makes multiple references to fairy tales and children’s stories.

Although it’s something easily dismissed as him being a weirdo (which he is), the actual reason I decided to keep him that way was because he is Extremely Aware of Coppelia’s not so hidden desire to play the part she’s already cast herself in.

Dr. Janice manipulative and opportunistic, and although New Coppelia is a lot more cautious and aware of how absolutely sketchy he is, by playing to her romantic inclinations, he manages to get her to take a leap in the name of true love, without even asking what he would get in return for it.

As mentioned, love or hate him, DJ is absolutely the reason TSYI became a narrative about desperation and hope, instead of one that was, at its core, an extremely macabre comedy of errors.

Bonus silly fun fact:

Dr Janice is also the reason I could literally never have this game be voiced, because I have an EXTREMELY specific idea of what this horrible man would sound like, and directing or searching for someone to get there would be absolutely awful, lmao.

(In case you were curious:

I’m gonna go Extremely Specific Anime Subs Nerd for a moment here, because man, I don’t have One Voice in mind, but I ABSOLUTELY have an idea for cadence, and its not one that is Normal for English.

Basically, in my mind, Dr. Janice’s voice is a combination of the extremely insufferable, lilting speech pattern Takehito Koyasu uses for Roswall in the earlier parts of Re:Zero, and similar in vocal pitch and tone to Daisuke Hosomi voicing O.D. in Gachaman Crowds, with an additional quality of what I can only describe as “the absolutely baffling affectation of a sometimes-falsetto that’s constantly wandering up and down in a way that seems like his vocal chords are being bowed on like the strings of a badly-tuned violin, which he drops when he’s angry or serious.”

Yeah, it’s horrifically specific, but it’s absolutely worse having this imaginary caterwaul in your brain when you write him.)

Well, that’s the last entry I have for the Early Development!

Tomorrow, the game will be uploaded, and you will all finally have context for these entries, lol.

Thanks again for everyone who’s been so encouraging, and thanks again for being patient!