I Would Like To Announce

The important things have passed, the post apocalypse concept is simply a fun world building thing at this moment thankfully. But man the, those dragons... I don't know why I became such a dragon lover in the past few months. I've been sleeping on em for years wtf. But I don't need another if idea, or any creative project by any means.

Wanting to make a story about dragons and another post apocalypse story. Why must my brain come up with ideas when I'm supposed to be doing important things, I must focus plss

Bear Paw Armor Cuprum Arm Guard, Indo Persian Islamic Empire Dynasty

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Don’t want to find my way out

A Blight has taken over, blanketing the world in darkness and malevolent monsters. Everything with an ounce of life or humanity is lost in shadows.

You are a mage. The only one left , the only hope for the future of your village and world. The pressure is on your shoulders.

But you fail. You fail and your town is taken. Your friends, your peers, the old lady you see on the streets everyday, the grass, the flowers, taken. All hope is lost.

Or is it?

Romance one of four characters, 2 male, 1 female, 1 nonbinary(or two of four if you fancy that ) plus a pretty female fae fling

Traverse through realms forgotten with your best friend-turned-Shadow

Play as a woman, man, or nonbinary person

Use pronouns separate from your gender

Save the world, or don’t

For more in-depth game mechanics

This IF will be rated 18+ for mentions of suicide (of a character close to the MC) , mental disorders, hallucinations, mind control, optional sexual encounters, mentions of sexual assault (of another character), mentions of human trafficking (of another character), and possibly other triggering themes (this will be updated as I write).

Kieran | M | He/Him| The Best Friend

Kieran has been your best friend for as long as you can remember, he was there for you when you needed him, so it absolutely crushed you when he was taken in the blight. But…Even as a Shadow, he seems to remember you. He was there for you when you needed it, so you decide to be there for him (begrudgingly or otherwise).

Kieran is made of shadows for the time being. You can not see his face, and the outlines of his body seem to blur into the air, his eyes are the only thing light about him. Sometimes, he prefers the shape of a wolf over his human figure. Originally, his freckled dark bronze skin, wild brown curls, and golden eyes were the features that painted your history.

romance-able by all genders, he is demisexual and panromantic

Eliahs | M | He/Him| The Rogue

A charismatic and selfish con man, he grates your nerves but upon Kieran’s pushing, you eventually decide having more people on your side will be beneficial to your survival. Turns out, he’s much more valuable on your side than not, and he wasn’t just bluffing. He knows a guy, and he will show you the way, if you’ll have him.

Eliahs is slim but firm, like an acrobat. His pale skin does little to ccontrast his milky blonde curls that nearly brush his chin. His eyes are light green and in the right light they look ice blue. His smirk is as easy as his relaxed stature.

romance-able by all genders, he is pansexual and aromantic (he usually leans romance-neutral, and rarely positive)

Thalia | F | She/Her | The Fae Guide

It is not easy to know where you’re going in the Forgotten Realms, but it is easy to lose your way (or your mind). Thalia has lived here her whole life, and seems to really like you.

Thalia has cool dark skin and a dark green afro, she is all supple skin and curves. Her wings are holographic and green, resembling that of a dragonfly. She has vitiligo on her face and on her body.

she is not romance-able (in a sense), you can sleep with her as any gender but she is not willing to leave her home to travel with you, and will not do a relationship where you’re both in different places.

Meiri | NB | She/Xer | The Half-Changeling

The half-changeling who tries to kill you. Yep…She’s flippant and peculiar. She claims to see things that aren’t really there, and is strangely paranoid. Xe is especially curious, but other than that you can’t figure out why she’s so eager to follow you. Nevertheless, xer powers are something you can use.

Xer hair is hip-length and dark black, and xer fringe is cut into straight bangs. Her skin is porcelain white and her body is lithe and angular. Xer face is marred by a large scar on the right side, a gash that appeared to blind xer in one eye. She is missing the usual facial “petals” that most changelings have.

Meiri is romance-able by female and nonbinary MCs, she is greysexual and lesbian.

Anesa | F | She/Her | The Witch

She is who you’re looking for. She is a legend among mages, whether she is a legend for good or bad is all up to opinion. She is known as a prodigy, for her age, it is nearly impossible to get where she is now, so why hasn’t she tried fixing the Blight? What does she know that nobody else does and why does she keep the secrets so close to her chest?

Anesa has long, mid-back length dark grey hair, despite being in her mid-twenties. Her skin is tan and sunkissed and her body is pear-shaped, thin at the top but thick in the hips and thighs. She has multiple black-inked tattoos on her body which range from small runes and protection charms to beautifully intricate depictions of nature and mystical creatures or plants.

Anesa is romance-able by all genders, she is bisexual and biromantic.

Amity | F | She/Her | The Ghost

Amity is a small ghost child who died in the Blight. Her parents became Shadows and ended up killing her. Anesa retrieved her soul and turned her into what she is now. Amity seems to be Anesa’s weak spot, as do children in general. It’s unsure what Anesa’s motives were when turning Amity, but Amity is enamored with her nonetheless, and makes good, quiet company when you need it.

Amity is transparent and blue. She almost seems to glow. She is often in a dress and with her hair to her shoulders, the ends curled outward.

Amity is obviously not romance-able, seen as though she is a child.

Poly Route is Meiri x Anesa x Female/Nonbinary!MC

And possibly others!

DEMO | PINTEREST |

Innovative Relationship Stats in Interactive Fiction

This is the write up I've been most excited to do--this is one of my favorite things in interactive game design--doing cool stuff with stats. I really, *really* wish someone had told me this stuff when I was starting out.

The most ordinary way to handle a relationship stat is to track it with a number that goes up and down according to choices and tests in some predictable fashion.  So, for example, if I do something that Gilberto likes, according to some reasonable option, like “support Gilberto in the argument,” I get:

*set rep_gilberto %+10

And this makes sense to everyone.  I gave Gilberto a gift, I get reputation points with him.  I showed that I’m good at swordfighting, this impresses him, and I get a higher number.

Similarly, if I insult him, if I’m nice to his enemy, if I do something stupid in front of him, I get

*set rep_gilberto %-10

For my first game, this is the only kind of relationship stat I used.  It was the only one I knew!

So the relationships were very simple to track and very simple to test.  If, by the end of the game, Prenzie likes me 72 much, and that’s over the romance tester of >= 65, congratulations, Prenzie and you can have a happy ending together.

You can write a totally fun game never using anything weirder than that.  But I thought it would be fun to share with you some other interesting ways to conceive of relationship stats.

A character who only goes to 0 or 100. That's it. Her relationship stat with you is essentially a boolean true/false. You can do everything for her, but the second you do something she doesn't like, it's down to 0. She loves you or she hates you. This is very character defining. The number tells you everything you need to know about the character.

That same character, who only goes to 0 or 100--except that you can do something over the course of the game to change them, to allow them to have a broader range of relationship numbers. Suddenly there can be shades of relationship. You did something to help them mature, to understand people better.

A hidden relationship number. If you look at the stat screen, whatever you do, nothing will change their number. They neither like you nor dislike you. They are professional, perhaps, and nothing more. However, you can do something to break down their shield or facade, and then, you can see the number moving; or perhaps the number doesn't move at all until that shield is broken.

The above, but in reverse. Something happens to chill someone's heart, and then nothing you do can affect the number. Or perhaps it can only go down, and then you are in a constant battle of attrition where you can only lose affection from someone.

When you reach a certain level of love and trust from someone, the bottom of the scale raises permanently. No matter how much I annoy my true love, the number just bottoms out at 40.

A relationship number that can be tapped as a resource. The bartender at the Noble Gases Club likes me reasonably well. Let's say she likes me 60 out of 100 much. When I need something in an emergency, she can do astonishing things. If I have over 35 relationship with her, she'll help me. Each time I use her, it depletes her by some amount depending on how big a favor it is. So this one is interesting, because now I have to balance whether I want to keep her liking me because I want to pursue this relationship, or whether I just really need her help right now.

A relationship number that can be a catch-all variable for a test. If you have a high relationship with Toppers, the club millionaire, I can throw that in as a variable in a test to see if you can impress someone by talking about high finance on the grounds that you may have had a conversation with Toppers about her money in the past. (*if intellect + toppers >= 50) Then, if you pass the test *because* the Toppers variable made you cross the threshold, you can add flavor text talking about that conversation with her. This is very, very good, because it tells the player that the game has taken into account your having done things to get close to Toppers (and there's a reward for it--you passed the test, sure, but...here's more content, too!)

A degrading relationship stat is incredibly powerful and characterful. This stat declines, scene by scene unless you do something to raise it. This is a "what have you done for me lately" person, and even though it take a little setting up, code-wise, it's really powerful, and your player will feel smart for figuring out that's what's going on. Also, it's stressful. If you want to create that stress, this a great way.

You can, of course, do the opposite--this is how you code your biggest fan. I like you, and I just keep liking you more and more and more and more!...until you do something to halt that, at which point, the growth shuts down, which is a gut punch. The numbers tell such a story here.

Finally, numbers that seem to tell a different story than the narrative. Players are going to look at numbers; they are going to look at the stats. Not everyone, but a lot. And so they are part of the story, they just are. So you can make them part of the push-pull of romance, for example, or rivalry. What does it mean that as my relationship number with Haze goes up, they are more and more standoffish? Does their scale mean something different from other people's, and if I figure out out, will I understand them in some sense? Perhaps there's a tremendous amount of pushback in the 60-75 range, but once you get through that minefield, something changes?

More musings on game design and other Jolly Good stuff here (I just wrote up a thing on "hidden relationship stats and their use")--I'm on a relationship stats kick today, I suppose:

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A Moon so Cruel - Upcoming IF

DEMO - Last updated on September 11th, 2023 Prologue + 1/3 of Chapter 1

A Moon so Cruel is a 17+ slice-of-life, paranormal mystery (with optional romance) interactive fiction book written in Twine- where you, a college student, suddenly find yourself with a spirit attached to your side.

This game is still in early stages of development, and will undergo significant changes as I develop my own writing and new ideas come to mind.

It was meant to be an ordinary college party. Dozens of kids drink until they puke their guts out, couples grinding on the dance floor, and the only smell in the air is that of drugs. Your intention was a brief two-hour stay, merely for a couple of drinks before finding a ride back to your apartment. You stuck to the plan, making sure to never go above your alcohol tolerance.

However, everything took a dramatic turn when the lights began to flicker, and the ground started trembling. Suddenly, every step you took felt as though you were walking through a torrent of frigid air.

Now, you find yourself compelled to confront the hand fate has dealt you. You must seek innovative solutions to strange challenges, all while grappling with the demands of a hectic college life.

Unless...

Completely customize your MC, in appearance, majors, beliefs, and more!

Adhere to college life! Go to parties, work after school,

Form platonic and (optional) romantic relationships with the cast of characters! All of who will react differently according to what you say, do and believe in.

Tons of flavor texts, and some things you won’t notice change until a second time around.

Learn how to deal with the trials and tribulations of having a ghost be stuck to you like glue, a ghost of that was born in a completely different generation.

Solve the mystery of a lifetime, and maybe even help a simple spirit move on.

Interludes in-between chapters to give you and MC a break from all the havoc *Please note that the MC is semi-set in the form that they will care about their studies regardless of what you say and headcanon. It can be some care or a lot of care, but they are in college for a reason!

THE GHOST: Felix/Edith Mongrove

The spirit that seems to be haunting you. They told you they weren’t here to harm you, that they had a deep sense of empathy and kindness. You’ve yet to test it out.

You can only assume they’re above 6’0, they don’t walk around like normal humans - The Ghost likes to float instead. They’re stuck in a grey hue, the only identifying features being hair that falls to their shoulders and the out-of-fashion academic style.

THE JOCK: Max/Laurie Tanner

Someone you see occasionally throughout your school, surprisingly, you tend to have a portion of your classes with them. However, they’re always on the move- whether it be physically with sports or mentally with fast paces in the library. Their vitality is contagious, and they often try to drag others in their ideas with a strong self-assurance. The Jock likes to take charge but put a little spin on the dramatics, often making a 5-minute-long presentation to last 15 minutes.

Max and Laurie both stand at 5’7, one of the smallest jocks around campus. They both have pink buzzcuts, originally taking it as a dare freshman year of college- which ended up being their main hair color. Freckles adorn their skin, but usually covered up by streetwear attire.

THE GUITARIST: Kade/Jade Salvatore

The person who rings up your weekly coffee order, and also plays as a guitarist for the local band in the background. They’re a challenging one, that is. They thrive on pushing boundaries and questioning the status quo, fear rarely holds them back. The Guitarist is known to chart their own course, often using their sheltered independence as a way to fuel their creative pursuits. Oh, and they also have a wicked motorcycle.

Kade stands at a good 6’4 with brown eyes and long eyelashes. Jade is tall for a woman, exactly 5’8 on the dot. They both have a long, shaggy mullet that fades from blonde to black- it pops out against their olive complexion and Italian heritage. The Guitarist is often seen wearing a style that mixes between y2k and grunge.

Hunter's Requiem

demo [tba]

dark fantasy, horror (?), romance

You are a minor deity of the Hunt, known by your followers as The Hunter, used by the other Higher Beings as The Hound. The All-Seeing Sun had given you countless tasks over your existence.

Yet one day, while on a mission sent out by him, you were summoned and judged for treason. The punishment left you mangled, your magic ripped off.

Cast away, you went into a deep sleep to recover.

After centuries you awoke to find your name spoken in whispers in the darkest nights. The Traitor. The world has changed, yet you still have true believers who await your awakening.

Will you be successful in your revenge? Will you be able to topple the gods or will you try to live in peace?

Features:

Play as male, female, nonbinary.

Your choices will affect the fate of your followers.

Befriend, romance or even antagonize a wide cast of characters.

Have a loyal shadowy companion by your side.

Astaroth [M]

"And to think I hated you. Now I can’t imagine living a single day without you.”

Your “other half”, attached to your psyche. He is content to stay in the backseat and offer comments. Tall and lean with gray skin. His face is sharp and angular, eyes with black sclera and white iris. Long black straight hair parted only by his antlers. His hands are black, tipped with long claws. The gradient loses color the closer it gets to his elbow. When he grins at you, you see beast-like teeth glinting in the light.

The Beloved Moon [F]

"That was the worst mistake I ever made. Please, I will do anything you want for you to forgive me.”

Moon has a curious interest in you. Since the moment she saw you, she had sought any chance to talk with you.

A short woman with deep blue skin and freckles that shine like stars. Her skin is shifting between deep blue and purple. She has a round face with full lips and a button nose. Round eyes with black sclera and bright blue iris stare at you with curiosity. Her long curly hair is white with pale blue streaks. Massive white feathered wings cover her back, sometimes used to cover her body like a cloak. Her smile might be gentle but the sharp fangs showed less so.

The Eternal Night [NB]

“I have turned a blind eye to the world far too long. I will no longer allow anything to happen to you.”

The Eternal Night is a distant person. Even more towards the other gods, yet for you they show a kinder side. They are tall and slender. Their sharp face is softened by full lips and expressive eyes. They have dark grey skin paired with stark white hair, that reaches their chin. The wavy strands frame their face nicely. Their eyes-- black sclera with crimson iris—are often covered by their mask. Massive black wings sprout from their back, and then the light catches the feathers right they look more blue than dark.

Santana [F/M]

"Why is it that every time I look at you I feel that I knew you for lifetimes? Why does my soul yearn for you?"

A priest you met in your past, a rather interesting person with a stubborn brand of kindness.

Tawny skin sprinkled with freckles. Golden hair is kept in a braid, far away from their face, yet a few strands escape and frame their heart-shaped face. Expressive eyes look at you, their blue gaze shining brightly.

They stand at an average height, donning the white and golden robes of the priests of Sun. Over that, they wear a chainmail.

You thought you lost them to the sands of time.

??? [F/M]

“Do you have any idea how long I prayed to see you, to hear your voice?”

Every day, they're slipping farther, their grip on the edge of the chasm growing fragile. Can you drag them back or will you shove them off?

how do you do, fellow Creatives™