1542: Rise of the Witchhunter

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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I will most likely go down a combination of these roads. For one, I’m 100% commited to allowing a role-playing route where you can play a bigoted close-minded Witchhunter who just wants to destroy everything and everyone not of their faith. But I will also include a route where you are more tolerant of other faiths and more “mercyful”. Another route I will likely include is one where you progressively become more and more indebted to demons in return for power.

Since this is a game, it’s not really up to me to restrict the possible choices players have. I want to give as many possible archetypes to play as possible, within reasonable limits. So one route would indeed be more of a 16th century mindset, while the other may be more “modern”.

What I am NOT going to do is censor the option to be a militant and self-righteous witchhunter, just because it might offend in one way or another. I don’t care. If people want to play that route they are free to do so, if they don’t, don’t pick the route.

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What do you mean by “someone who prefers to avoid gender titles”?

(And what do people in this thread in general mean by “gender sensitivity issues”?)

I’m not familiar with this (likely American?) sensitivity thing.

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@Pilgrim

There are some games that are different than just male/female about gender - for example, how its phrased in Marine Raider:

I’m a sir, of course.

No need to get into details, I’m just a lieutenant.

He’d better call me Ma’am.

If the italicized option doesn’t suit the story, don’t include it. Some games should have “what can the PC be” defined as broadly as possible, others benefit from the fact the setting they’re set in would sharply limit those of certain backgrounds.

I object to TheSnakeandTheKnight treating the italicized choice existing at all in any game with contempt - if its not for your game to allow choices here, don’t, but there are ways to handle it that are hostile and bullying, and then there’s just noting “Given that your peers would have noticed if you were a woman by now, being a woman in disguise might not be a viable option.” and genderlocking the game (if you want to do that, that is).

I don’t know what other posters think on gender sensitivity, but I want to see all things being treated by the author with some basic “people are people, being different (from whatever the standard is) does not make you a bad or less able person”.

If people in the story feel that way, well, that’s how people felt then, but saying that being a woman increases your chances of falling victim to demonic corruption or something would be a very disturbing - and uninteresting - decision to make when writing how the game world actually works, not just how people in it think it works.

But if its a viable option to play an Inquisitor who is a complete jerk, well, viable does not mean approved of. I think a good author is up to writing choices like that as a way to play without making it “The author has these sentiments him(?)self.” - almost none of the games on this site require being “good” or “nice” to succeed, at least that I’ve tried. Some encourage it, but you can be a very successful and rich captain in Choice of Broadsides even if you are a jerk every time you can get away with it, unless you’re also playing an idiot.

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I didn’t mean it was a bad thing to do, if a writer wants that to be an option, then so be it. The problem I have is when writers are essentially bullied to add those options to appease that small group of people or be labeled as ‘in-sensitive’ or the such. If the author cares or not about your feelings that’s up to him, he is in no way obligated to appease your emotional whims,

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and then there’s just noting “Given that your peers would have noticed
if you were a woman by now, being a woman in disguise might not be a
viable option.” and genderlocking the game (if you want to do that, that
is).

That would actually be a very elegent way of dealing with that issue! I still don’t know to what extent I want to include both sexes, but for now I’ve settled for a cop-out where you can say you’re a woman but for all intents and purposes of the game, the narrater’s voice and choices will still assume you’re a man. I’m not opposed to allowing the choice to be a woman in a game in general (I had another CoG WIP about a cyberpunk setting where the option was there), but I simply can’t write this game with a female character in mind as it just wouldn’t fit the time at all. (And since it’s action-adventure it shouldn’t really matter that much).

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Snake/Knight: you’ve just suggested that labelling someone insensitive is a form of bullying.

Meanwhile, in your last two posts, you’ve referred to people who prefer to avoid gender titles as stupid, and been very quick to wield snide, contemptuous language like “over-sensitive little hearts” and “appease your emotional whims.”

Might be worth considering whether you’re being a bit of a bully by your own standards. That’'s certainly how you’re coming across to this moderator. There’s a very broad middle ground between appeasing people you disagree with and straight-up insulting them; and I’d suggest you find it.

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@Pilgrim

I’d go with something like how Sabres writes it and not even have “disguised as a man” as an option, then, because inevitably “Wouldn’t someone notice?” will come up even for those who want that option (speaking as someone who doesn’t care in this case), and you don’t want to address that from how you’ve described the story.

But this can be told with disguised women too - it just raises questions that might not be worth the trouble, regardless of sensitivity issues. Action-adventure should be about action and adventure, not whether anyone realizes you can’t pee standing up.

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@TheSnakeandTheKnight
@Havenstone
@Elfwine

Okay that’s enough. This thread is for discussing my game, for feedback and critique and for nice compliments that boost my ego (:P). This is NOT a debate forum thread. I don’t want people derailing this thread into a discussion about this “sensitivity” thing.

Feel free to continue the discussion over private messages if you want!

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It’s your thread. We’ll make sure any feedback/critique/ego boosts from here on out stay focused on your game. (:

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I thought all this discussion was about the game.

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@Shoelip, there were a few posts without any specific reference to the game, mainly by me and Snake/Knight.

@Pilgrim, there are long stretches without choices, in the “cut-scenes” but also in your intro before the “paperwork”. Can you think of any way to introduce variety into those scenes so there can be an element of player choice and increased replayability?

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I had similar critiques on my previous WIP’s where some people disliked long stretches without choices. Other’s however didn’t seem to mind. I personally don’t really like being faced with choices right off the bat, as it makes me nervous about making the wrong choice without knowing the implications. That’s why in the set-up I want to drop more of a narrative and explain some of the game concepts, before facing people with too many choices.

The game doesn’t actually start until Chapter 2 is the idea.

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Might be good to have some choices that don’t have a big impact, but which do allow for exploring subtle elements that would otherwise not come up then.

“So what do you think of Henry VIII’s treatment of Katherine of Aragon?” (probably a few years late for that, but . . .) would have almost no crunchy impact, but it would give a chance for character defining.

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Played the demo, was impressed and will definitely follow this. :ok_hand: :v: :v:

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In retrospection, I bought a couple of other CoG games, and I think I see what you mean. It’s probably better to add more choices right off the bat as it seems to be a hallmark of the genre.

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I’ve added some new choices in the beginning scenes. I think I’m also going to rewrite the stats increase messages to the style used by Choice of Robots (++Skill; —Wealth). It’s a clear and intuitive way to do it I think.

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The stats don’t increase still but I do like the Sin and Virtue.
I also think there should be an explanation of the orders.
“I propose a bargain. I will leave this rather meager prospect in peace. All I ask is that you allow a piece of me into “you” soul and in return I will teach you Demonese.”

“Never. This vile spirit must be vanquished to “Hel”.”

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Thanks for the spellcheck!

I will implement actual stat increases once I figure out how to emulate Choice of Robots’ system. I need to read up on ChoiceScript to figure out how to do it…

I think I’m going to tie the Order choice to what kind of horse you get. But I need to do some research on 16th century horses first.

I’ve got some new ideas and I’m probably going to implement some pretty cool overhauls for the startup chapter ^^

Here’s what I want to do next:

  • Implement stat changes for the seven dominions.
  • Overhaul the background choice in the startup chapter to be more influential.
  • Add descriptions for the Religious/Military/Unaffiliated Orders.
  • Overhaul the equipment section; replace main/side weapon with a different combination.
  • Add steeds as a choice in the startup; later on turn it into a reward.
  • Adapt the exposition text for the seven dominions.
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‘The Japanese anime Helsing’ Ha! I knew it! Then again I thought Choice of Vampires was inspired by Hellsing as well. It’s nice to see there are other people who both enjoy anime and CYOA games. Your story is promising so far. it really has this classic feeling of mysterious/impending doom to it and I like that. Though I hope there will be more story and less history in the future, trying to explain all of the history at once makes it a bit hard to get through.
I like your sense of humor, especially the Hail Satan option and ‘It’s complicated’ when playing a woman disguised as a man.
Also I love the fact that you intemplated multiple countries and names from those countries. I’m from the Netherlands and it is fun to read about my own country for once (most of the CoG are situated in the US).
I liked the option to make a deal with a demon (I accepted, I want to be able to speak Demonese, lol).
I’m looking forward to the game already.

P.s. At the end of the game the tutorial text is still there. You might want to remove it as it is not part of your story.

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So are demons always gonna be evil like in most stuff or can they be good?