Behind-the-Scenes, Part Two.

Welcome back to hiatus week on Dragomir's Diary! We're between seasons at the moment, and that means a week of stuff from the development of season two. If that's not what you're looking for, here's a handy jump back to the beginning of the webcomic week that ultimately terminated the season. Fun!

If you ARE here for behind-the-scenes stuff, then you're in luck. Today I actually HAVE some, in the form of notes I took when developing the new season. I keep a little notebook nearby for writing down ideas, and I distinctly recall jotting down a bunch of ideas while doing some research at the library. (Yes, there's a soupcon of research in Dragomir's Diary. Admittedly not much. I like making up random gibberish more than historical accuracy - might be why I decided to set it in a video game.)

As with any story, a lot gets changed during development. Below, therefore, are some samples of random ideas which never got used in season two. A shame, in some cases, as a few of them are rather interesting. Perhaps in the future...? Who knows.

• Originally, Dragomir was going to propose the creation of some ridiculous cash crop which would earn Pubton money, as well as turn the village into a viable competitor against some rival villages. neither the cash crop, nor the rival villages, ever developed into anything. (Thinking back, I'm not even sure what cash crops actually developed in Pubton. The whole village-building dynamic got admittedly dull after a few months.)
• Most of the animals of Pubton were going to forage in the forest, and their disappearances - as well as the whole black eye thing - were going to be the focus of an arc of the story. That eventually developed into Barrel's animal rebellion.
• Pagan started out as a 'physically imposing knight getting on in his years; jovial, but only if you agree with his opinions'. I pictured him as a barrel-chested bruiser similar to Oswald at this point. By the next page, though, his concept had changed to a sketch which I've quickly recreated, since my scanner is not working this morning.

Lookit those feeble arms. He couldn't swing a sword if he tried.

• The dispute over the land was going to be solved by the Weekendists, who would claim the land in the name of their order - and then hand it over to Dragomir. Poor luck, Pagan. The Non had been out of the story for quite a while by then, though, so Kierkegaard's little invasion brought them back in and stopped Pagan's harassment.
• I'd planned on maintaining a map of Pubton as it was built, and have another rough sketch of the town's layout. Eventually the settlement just turned into an amorphous collection of buildings, and I gave up trying to make sense of its layout when Pagan's bunch moved in.
• Speaking of 'Pagan's bunch', I was going to delve more deeply into slave rights vs. their treatment at Pagan's hands, which is actually quite good. Maybe in season four I'll come back to it.
• Grayson was much less of a dick during development. His primary function was to defend the lock under the mountain from the Non, June, and the villagers. His whole thing with his mom... yeah. He became quite a twisted little boy.
• There was going to be a moat at one point? Huh. Don't even remember that.
• Dragomir was going to give in to 'the good life' for a while, becoming one of the nobles he'd disliked for so long. This ALMOST happened, but I ultimately decided that Dragomir is too uncouth, slobby, and smelly for the nobles to accept as one of their own, regardless of how much they might want to schmooze with the mayor.
• The town was going to have an ale-taster. There was going to be a competition to fight over the post. Wish I hadn't lost track of that one. Oh well.
• Aaaaaand the rats were going to play a stronger role in this season. Grayson took a great deal of wind out of their sails, because, frankly, he's more fun to write. (But they'll be back. Oh yes.)

That's all for today. Tomorrow, you get a look at the enormous concept art sheet that I drew up for season two! Woo.

Matt