Saninsakin!

It's been almost a day since Splendor & Misery's launch, and it got a lot more traction than we were expecting!

The next update (containing Ep1 Pt2) will be released on the 13th of March, now less than a month away. In the meantime, here are some pieces of concept art we created back while developing our idea for the cast that'd eventually get introduced in Ep1 Pt1.

ÖZBEY BETOM:

Original concept pieces. He was actually intended to be used in an entirely different Project Ulysses story before being reworked for S&M.

Fun fact: Özbey as a character was first introduced in S&M when it was still being developed as a Twine game.

FERMI BETOM:

Fermi has the unique distinction of being one of the only members of the S&M cast that predates the concept of S&M all-together. He has existed as a character for Ulysses since around 2016, and as such we have a backlog of concepts for him, but it's probably best to just stick to the pieces of Fermi we made during S&M's development.

Fermi has been planned to be one of the first characters introduced to readers in S&M for some time, though the circumstances of this meeting changed drastically over the years.

There reached a point during development of another Project Ulysses FVN in which we grew dissatisfied with Fermi's design and overall character, and as such there was a drastic shift in both, resulting in an interim version of the character.

Interim Fermi still wasn't there, so we continued working at it.

Which ultimately gave us the general design of Fermi that is now used.

HARLOWE VALDEZ:

Harlowe (Howie) was one of the later additions to the cast, having been created for a portion of the story further down the road, before being dragged (kicking and screaming) to where he can now be found.

A lot of his story arc is still tied to these older concepts, so we'll refrain from giving away too much!

But you get the idea: his design was pretty much figured out as soon as he was made.

You don't get a good look at this when it's shown, but trust that there is a design for his younger self, one that we had to go back and correct from the old version (left) to the version seen in Ep1 Pt1 (right).

SEMPER GAZDA:

Semper was another character that had his design figured out pretty quickly, having been worked backward from the character Özbey encounters at the port. It was a goal to balance unease with comfort in his design, allowing for him to startle Harlowe during his introduction, making space for his motives to be unclear to both Harlowe and the reader.

Semper's original introduction was meant to be in a sauna, though this was instead pushed to occur later, as it was deemed necessary to establish his dynamic with Harlowe earlier on, as it wasn't entirely clear what history they shared.

A small reference to this can still be seen in Ep1 Pt1, as the photos on the wall of the flat that Harlowe and Semper share (seen in the hidden scene accessed via the lighthouse) depict two versions of their original introduction from earlier drafts of S&M.

Hope you guys like getting to look under the hood of S&M to see how we go to what was ultimately in the build you got your hands on!

Thanks again for the kind words and downloads! We'll be back soon!

'Til next time!

-Lajos