when writing a psychic-themed episode." The game was a crime-based spin-off of Surviving High School. As many of the CoD writers also work on Surviving High School and switch between the two projects, there is a major contrast between the lighthearted and dark tones, particularly in the earlier years of SHS, which provides a nice change of pace and variety. Though originally Cause of Death and Surviving High School were constructed in two very different ways, over time SHS was altered to reflect CoD, becoming a more plot and character driven story rather and being directed at a more adult target audience. The Surviving High School visual novel engine was repurposed toward the gritty crime drama in Cause of Death. The art style also changed to become more realistic, expressive and gritty, and the minigame-style gameplay was replaced by an interactive movie structure. There has been at least one crossover between the two games, and some characters gave from one game have family members who are only present in the other game. Some of the choices made by the writing staff have led to backlash by the audience. In particular, the Blaise-Jeremy pairing was seen as controversial to some, arguing that it is unrealistic and unwarranted, so the writers explained the rationale behind it: "There's something significant in looking at how opposites attract. You see it in real life all the time. Nice girls date jerks. Straight-laced guys go after free-spirited girls. Sometimes we're secretly looking for that person who will push us beyond what we're comfortable with...The BlaiseBird thing is all so refreshingly simple. I think Blaise was fed up with drama and just went for something she wanted, for better or for worse. Everyone else's love life on CoD is so pained and complex, so it's nice to have a romance that is so unromantic". Writers for the series include Winchester, Georgia, Doc, Lily, Rasputin among others. They are hired due to certain talents while they stay away from other areas. For example, in the wedding episodes between Natara and Oscar, Winchester's role consisted on planning the "wedding-themed violence" in the action scenes, while Lily did some of the more "grace[ful]" writing. The Maltara kiss at the end of the episode was a tough moment to write that went through many drafts, as it was an integral "exciting" turning-point of the series. While "originally, it was a smaller,