Wonder Tea is a collection of visual novels. Each novel is independent, there are different plots, characters, and settings each time. The mascot fox Tia is common for each novel, she is the owner of a café situated in between worlds. Tia is collecting stories and telling them to her clients.

We have created a character builder, composed music, and developed our own background creation system, specially for Wonder Tea.

The first launch starts with the app presentation: mascot Tia leads the user through displays and shows all available functions.

A technical
Solution

The Arrrive studio used Flutter framework at the beginning. But eventually this option didn’t satisfy our needs, so we wrote a new system core from scratch and used Ren’Py for the novels.

Character
builder

In order to boost the development process, we have composed a character builder that allows two artists to create about 10 to 15 characters per month.

We have our asset library, where we add all the unique pieces of the characters. Later, they can be used again.

The builder was planned from the start, as we knew that content support is the most important thing in this product. The builder allows to boost the character creation process and maintain the same quality level.

A background
creation process

Creating a background from scratch takes too much time. We have created our own system that is a mix of AI and collages. We have divided all the backgrounds into two groups – the primary ones (they have more screen time) and the secondary ones.

The creation of a primary background starts with a sketch, then image blocking is added, the background is modeled in 3D, and finally, the image is rendered, textured and details are added.

The method of creating secondary backgrounds is not the same: first there is a collage, then AI processing and finishing touches. With this the same artist can do all the backgrounds within the deadline.

As mobile devices have different display proportions, we have created the backgrounds in a square format. This allows us not to worry about black frames appearing on some devices. Also, we do not need to adjust the backgrounds for each display solution.

Monetization

In the Wonder Tea project we have created a store where users can buy coins or activate gift codes.

We have implemented a gift code system, in order to monetize a project on the platforms, where users have difficulties with mobile store payments.

There are several scenarios of monetization and interest, such as: Piggy bank, premium stories, paid plot changes, chapter access timer, and a subscription.

User’s interest

To boost users' interest in Wonder Tea, we have added the possibility to collect art and character profiles.

We pay special attention to social functions. Each player has their personal account, where they can keep an eye on their gaming process and learn about their achievements.

This has a good influence on the users’ interest for the app. Users can share their achievements on social media and thus advertise the app for free.

Music and lights

There are 28 music compositions for the three novels. Each track was created for a specific event and location. We used live instruments, such as:

First three genres

Unlike other apps which have only one unfinished story, we have prepared three stories: «Witchy Cheerleaders», «Pinewood» and «Island of Spirits». This became possible thanks to the experience of our team.