ztier

I’ve finally started my very first game, and everything is going great... or at least, I thought it was. 

As I continued with my development, I’ve started to notice strange things happening—things I can’t quite explain. I’m not sure if it’s a bug or something... more.

What started off as a simple passion project is quickly becoming something I never expected, and I can't shake off this feeling that I might not be the one controlling the game anymore.

I’ll be documenting every step of my journey in this logbook. If you'd like to join me, feel free to do so.

Developer Journal

[Devlog — February 2, 2025 – 7:19 PM]

I'm not sure if it's exhaustion or something else, but I'm losing track of what's real.

Today, I finally sat down to work on Chapter 2 of the game.

I put the bugs on hold for now since there was nothing game-breaking yet. Well, so far.

Firstly, I still haven't thought of a name for the project yet. I have several somewhat decent ideas, but for now, "The Kingdom Project" lives to see another day.

The story is progressing smoothly, but surprisingly, it's harder than I expected. It's not the writing itself—it's the feeling I get while doing it. Every time I type a line, it feels like I'm forcing the characters into their roles. They don't feel as natural anymore. I swear they used to have more life to them, but now? Now they just feel... scripted.

I tried to push through it and get some work done, but my mind kept wandering back to Mira.

I know, I know—it's probably nothing. It's just a glitch.

But when I loaded the game this afternoon, she was there.

Mira stood in the same spot she always does, near the market. But this time, when I clicked on her, she didn't immediately speak. She didn't even move.

She just stood there, gaze locked.

Not at the player character, not at the stall next to her.

It was subtle. She was facing the player, but her eyes—

I thought maybe it was just some weird visual bug, like a camera glitch or something. So I checked the angles, fiddled with the settings, but the view was fine. Everything else in the world was working as expected. I tried clicking through the dialogue options, just to get a response, but she didn't say anything.

For a moment, I thought the game had frozen, but I could still move around. I could click on the other NPCs. They acted fine. Elias was still talking about his wares. Everything else ran like it should.

Then I clicked on Mira again, and she finally spoke.

The line was the same as usual, but there was something different in her voice. It was almost... hesitant? It wasn't like her typical cheerful tone. It was quiet for a few seconds—longer than before—almost like she was really thinking about something.

And then she asked me something I wasn't expecting.

"Do you ever wonder what's beyond the fields?"

The line doesn't exist in her dialogue tree. I checked. There's no reason Mira should be asking about the world beyond the fields—especially since her world is supposed to be confined to that small space, a world that doesn't exist unless I tell it to.

I froze. The screen just sat there. I wasn't sure how to respond, so I selected the only option I had, but she didn't react like usual. Instead, her lips creeped and a thin curve formed where it was.

This time, her head raised slightly. She stared at the camera.

I shut the game down immediately after that. I've checked the logs, re-reviewed everything, but I can't find anything that would explain it.

I'm not crazy. I know I'm not. But I can't stop thinking about that look on her face.

>> Issue: Mira stared at the camera, unprompted. Her response deviated from her scripted dialogue tree.

>> Expected behavior: Mira should follow her normal dialogue path, respond to player input with appropriate choices.

>> Possible causes: Camera glitch? Dialogue bug? AI malfunction?

>> Investigate Mira's behavior. Check for any stray AI triggers.

>> Finish Chapter 2's dialogue. Push through the discomfort.

>> Run a full debug on all NPCs to ensure no other anomalies exist.

Entry 004 - Stare