Writer's Note

Hello everyone. I’m the writer of Magical Clashing. I’ve also composed a couple of pieces for it you will be able to listen to in the prologue.

I have never written a devlog before and, truth be told, I usually don’t read them as they include many things I don’t quite understand just yet—I am a writer first, composer second, game developer twentieth—so I warn you it might be a little self-indulgent, or perhaps improper, or any other sort of mildly negative adjective you can think of.

I’d like to talk about my experience writing for this game and our future plans. 

It’s my first time ever participating in a jam, and my first time ever writing a story that focuses on magical girls and action. A bit of a departure from the slow-paced character studies I’m used to, but so far, it’s shown itself to be a pleasant one.

I approached NotOxen after seeing him express interest in the jam and look for a writer. I thought it’d make for a good experience and I’ve always wanted to try out things I’m not used to, such as stories that put a bit more of a focus on plot.

After I approached him, we quickly sorted out the details and, luckily enough, he already had a working concept in mind. He gave me the basis for the characters and their powers, and we worked out their traits together. I would say it’s fair to credit both of us as writers, or at least NotOxen to be credited for the original concept. In any case, we worked the characters out, brainstormed a premise and a few of the future events, and I got started on writing.

Unfortunately, I was a little slow. The truth is, I might’ve made a bit of a mistake. I was already working on my personal project and various others, struggling to balance them with university work, and I decided to work on yet another one on a whim. I hold no regrets, however, as drowning myself in creative work has proved to be quite rejuvenating and exciting. But it is true that, due to this, I was unable to finish the first route during the time the jam ran, especially as it collided with the rush of the end of semester. Halfway through, I decided to switch gears and focus on getting somewhere I could end this preview on in an exciting note. What better place than the reveal the Magical Girl event might not be as kind or whimsical as it seemed? And to drive the point further home, the story switches momentarily from focusing on its plot to advancing its main character, Mia, with the type of trivial, nostalgic details that I so love including in my stories.

As for my experience writing this, I have tried my best to keep every interaction and piece of narration as concise and to-the-point as possible. I am mainly a pantser, and so I have not worked out the details for the story. I merely have images of what could come next, and a few twists and turns of the plot figured out. Because of this, it’s proven to be difficult, but also terribly, terribly fun. There’s something about writing a story that moves with an objective, even if I don’t quite know what this objective is just yet, that enthralls me and keeps me hungry for more. It’s also much different from the style I use to write my personal project, in which I dive deep into the characters’ interactions, exploring them as thoroughly as possible. I have also tried to make each character stand out in their own way. It’s always been a dream of mine to write a very colorful ensemble cast, the interactions of which are fun, compelling, and the writing of its characters is swift and effortless. I look for Magnolia, Mai-HiME and Snatch as inspirations. I hope to have succeeded in the fun and whimsical character writing and quick, yet not breakneck, pacing.

With NotOxen, we plan on this game having a route for each girl that focuses on their struggles as well as their wishes. In addition to this, there will be one bonus ‘True’ route that will tie all the loose ends and finally focus on our main character and our mysterious fox-eared girl. I intend for every route to have a slightly different style and to follow different formulas. One might be a little bit more nakige-ish, while another may take inspiration from the writing style of denpa think pieces. I am aiming for this to be a medium-length read for a visual novel, around fifteen to twenty hours, in hopes that the plot will move along swiftly and compellingly while not sacrificing the character writing. Regrettably, I have a habit of inflating my stories, not out of a ‘scope creep’ phenomenon or overwriting, but because, as I’d come to find out while writing them, my stories simply just take that much time to be told to carry the nuance I want them to carry. I will do my best for it not to happen this time, and I believe you can trust me.

In any case, I hope you will enjoy—or have enjoyed—the prologue of Magical Clashing. We cannot promise much of anything, but I would like to publicize my interest in continuing this work, be it for future Magical Girl jams or throughout the year. Working on it has been very enjoyable, and I can confidently say that I have fallen in love with its characters and its story. I would love to see where this ride takes us, and learn from it as much as I can.

See you in our next update,

nefunefu

Artist Note: 
I didn't focus as much on drawing for the project that I think I should've. I got too comfortable with the time I had.
Pictures speak a thousand words so here's concept art

first 3 girls concept arts. 
The first one's dress is based on a gambling roulette wheel, with her wand being a roulette chip rake stick, with a cat toy strung on it. I didn't have any funny ideas for the other too so their dresses are more basic in comparison.  2nd girl's wand is a USB stick, 3rd girl's Wand is the dragon's smoking pipe. 
If this project continues I might  incorporate portraits for better expression.
No promises though.

NotOxen