March 2019

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MAN it's been around year since the first chapter has released and im super sorry for not stumbling across this gem sooner, but holy shit it was so fun to read through. It might not mean much so long after its release and hiatus, but im genuinely so happy this came out. I hope everything's going all right for you guys, whether or not you plan on continuing this amazing piece, but know that there are still people out here silently rooting for you. damn this wasnt even a question im very sorry

You are totally fine. I’m thrilled that people are still aware of JEA and enjoy it. I still consider it weirdly some of my best writing. It’s easily the most fun I’ve had writing.

It’s sadly not going to be continued. City parted from fandom and we are no longer in touch, so the project sadly will not continue.

Which is a shame because man the plans for episodes 2 and 3 were a BLAST. So at the end of episode 1, if you take the correct path, Jake gets ahold of Dirk’s phone number. That carries over to the next time you play. Obviously there is a hint of this if you replay JEA– suddenly, you can dial that mystery number, but then the game ends! Cliffhanger!

So in episode 2, having that number would open up a new “loop” for the player. If they didn’t call it, they would just replay the content of episode 1 with no variation. But if the player calls Dirk at the start of the episode, a whole new path opens up in which Jake makes an ass of himself cold calling a stranger. Later, in the mailroom, Jake runs into Dirk, who recognizes Jake’s voice as the weird cold caller.

They weirdly hit it off. Jake gets invited up to Dirk’s place, which he is excited about because he gets to figure out what is up with the weird guy upstairs.

DURING THE DATE, Dirk has to step out to grab the pizza. Jake has enough time to look around at one thing, and what the player picks determines what route they are on. In one, Dirk is a vampire. In another, he’s a runaway robot Crockercorp created to compete with Alexa. In another, he’s an alien. In yet another, Dirk is just a DJ.

So Episode 2 focused on like 5 or 6 small, funny routes, and the gimmick is that each one kind of ended with Jake and Dirk living together in a small domestic happy ending.

That was the roadmap for Episode 2. Then Episode 3 was…….. something rather different. 8)

- @callmearcturus, who just for reference is now writing another visual novel with a small team if you want to follow me and keep up /eyebrow waggle

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Okay, What About Episode 3

callmearcturus:

Follow up to last post obviously. I’ll be brief.

So once the player completes every route in the second ‘loop’ of the game (i.e. all of the routes introduced in episode 2), they set off another persistent variable, just like they did at the end of episode 1.

When this persistent variable is flipped, the player can replay the game, and instead of it loading into the same intro sequence of Jake arriving home from his trip in the morning, the player is given a choice.

“When is the best time to start an adventure?” it asks, and the player can choose “In the bright morning” or “In the dead of night.” The first option loads them into the usual scenario and all the routes of ep1 + ep2. However, if they pick the new option, they are loaded into a new intro.

Jake arrives homes late at night. As he heads upstairs to his house, he passes the floor below him and sees Dirk’s apartment being searched by people in red uniforms. They all urge him to move along, sir.

When Jake reaches his apartment, he finds someone lurking on his fire escape. It’s Dirk, who professes to be the downstairs neighbor being swatted right now. He apologizes and says he’s been hiding out in Jake’s place whenever these people come calling. (He also admits he’s been watering Jake’s plants while he’s away.)

Jake invites Dirk to hide out overnight and gets him settled on the couch with some bedding so he can rest. While watching Dirk sleep, Jake’s mind runs amok trying to guess what kind of exciting mess Dirk is tangled up in. He comes up with three or four scenarios that the player picks from immediately, and that begins a long, more dramatic route through episode 3, each eventually culminating with Jake having to help Dirk run away from Crockercorp.

In one route, Jake supposes Dirk is a researcher from a top secret lab who’s absconded with a precious experiment. Thus, Dirk becomes a CC researcher who has stolen Bec, a supernaturally powerful dogcreature that CC was experimenting on. Dirk knows fucking nothing about dogs, so Jake has to help him dog wrangle and eventually escape with Bec. The happy ending is all three of them on a road trip, safe and free.

In another route, Jake supposes Dirk IS the precious experiment that’s escaped from captivity. Thus, Dirk becomes a CC refugee, a reality warping man known as the Heartbreaker. He has an incredible power: he can conjure forth whatever someone’s greatest desire is. The catch is once he does, the person forgets the thing ever existed. At the height of the experiment, CC had Dirk bring an orphaned girl’s mother back to life, only for the child to completely forget her. It broke Dirk, and he ran away. Learning of CC’s horrific treatment of him, Jake does everything in his power to protect Dirk and save him from them. In the end, the only way to truly rescue him is for Dirk to use his powers to pluck Jake’s greatest desire from him: Dirk becomes safe from CC, but vanishes, and Jake immediately forgets he exists.
BECAUSE I HATE UNHAPPY ENDINGS there is a coda to this route in which a year later, Jake is still listless and unhappy, hanging out in the coffee shop. Dirk shows up, and asks if he can buy Jake a drink.

In the last route, Jake supposes Dirk is someone of great importance who is running from CC’s evil regime. Thus, Dirk becomes an alien prince who is hiding out on Earth as he’s the last living person entitled to the throne. Jake leads a little spy mission into CC to try and figure out how to save Dirk, and discovers that back on his homeworld, the Baroness can’t keep hold of the peace because she’s not entitled to the throne as long as there is a living royal remaining. But time is running out before Dirk is sort of auto-abdicated. Jake convinces Dirk to return home to his planet and take up his place. Dirk anxiously asks if Jake wants to come with him. BOY WOULD HE. It’s finally revealed that Dirk’s alien form is basically a blue skinned alien space babe, like Jake’s deepest fantasies. They live happily ever after.

So that was the road map. Each episode was basically set up around answering a Question. In episode one, it’s who the strange noisy neighbor is. In episode two, every jokey route reveals what is inside the second apartment Dirk has. And in episode three, each route focuses on Dirk’s backstory, leading up to Jake finally leaving on a great adventure.

All centered around the mystery of one Choice Babe.

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callmearcturus:

Oh and if you did Something Specific in Episode 3, it revealed the combination to Jake’s locked diary and that was the secret ending. But that’s one bullet I’m keeping in the chamber.