A Certain Potential (WIP) (Mini Update 01/03/2017)

Yup. Fixed those POV problems. I found some tense problems, but not all of them. I’m in the process of writing in the forgotten man. XD That was my bad. And that last sentence was a typo. Thanks for the help~

Also planning on pushing a mini-update soon that fixes the problems you guys found.

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I’m always ready for some supernatural powers and shady organizations. I’ve been wanting to post something for days but I kept posponing it, but not anymore.
So, there are some things that bugged me. What’s up with the predetermined hair, stature and color eyes? We usually can choose that. Oh, and the reactions the MC has to the “magic battle” are, also, predetermined: we freak out. But what if the MC believes in it?
On the good side, the story, as short as it might be, is quite good. It has an anime vibe that I just love. The characters interactions were great! And I’m so psyched about having a twin sister! I have one in real life so it really helps to inmerse myself in your world, you know? I also have a younger sister so you kinda missed there :smile_cat: Jokes aside, both the sibling genders are locked?

P.S: I think there might be a bug? When choosing how to react to Elizabeth’s healing I can only get the shy option. Anything else gives a blank space. Also, there wasn’t enough sarcasm :scream_cat:

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I pick Allen from your list of choices and then later get repeatedly referred to as unknown, hmm…maybe that should be my mc’s alias? :thinking:

Maybe it’s because we need to look similar to the siblings, although some coding could fix that too, so if choose for my mc to be tall and Asian the siblings will be too.

Agreed on both counts, though my mc will probably pick the angry option as he doesn’t like to get kissed by strange girls for no reason at all, fortunately at least it wasn’t on the mouth.

Lastly considering our mc’s apparent living situation that supernatural organisation had better pay a good wage (really, substantially better than that diner, considering the much greater risks and level of commitment involved), as my mc certainly cannot afford to risk his neck or take time off from the school he needs to succeed later in life, or the job he apparently needs to keep a roof over his and family’s heads right now in order to be(come) some sort of “hero”.

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@Baam
Okay, I should really consider that choice. Never thought of it, actually.
I believe that those two should be gender locked. It’s more true to the story that I first thought of.
And sarcasm?

@idonotlikeusernames
I believe that you’re referred to as unknown because of a nickname variable that I haven’t properly used yet. Sorry!

And for both of you, the reaction I haven’t written yet. There’s an author’s note saying that I haven’t done it yet, but I’ll get to it soon.
Player customization has been on my mind since someone already mentioned it. Just trying to figure out whether or not I can or not without completely messing up the story.

I hope the organization meets your daily needs. :wink:

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I do too, way my mc sees it if these people want him to devote any quality time to their “training” they really ought to make it worth his while. Furthermore between school, taking care of his family and working that job at the diner what scant free time he has he uses for acting, which judging by the prologue he must be quite good at. So since he obviously doesn’t want to give up school and his future prospects and would hate to have to give up his only hobby the only way they can get into his schedule would be if they made his need to hold down that diner job disappear. If they just expect him to begin cutting some classes and give up his only extracurricular/hobby they will get a very resistant and uncooperative mc.

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Yeah that’s kinda what I was thinking. Or let us describe the sister and then use that description for when the MC looks in the mirror.

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It’s almost time for another mini update. Maybe later in the week or next week, if I have enough time.
This update should include the non-binary option and appearance customization. I’ve also edited the startup choice for chapter 2, but I may replace that with just a soft save-load system. Though, I’m not updating the chapter 2 file.

Some things I still need to do is fix some conversations, fix all the stat stuff, and then I can move onto chapter 2.

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Boop.
Mini-update is out.

Also, someone should tell me if booping like this is allowed, cause it feels kinda spam-y.

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Alright, now we are talking with the customisation. What about those eyes though? Something related to the plot? Still, I’m very happy you added some options. And the reactions to Elizabeth. Well done.

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Booping is allowed, but bumping isn’t.
I don’t know why you have to use the term booping, tho.

Hello, I found an error, and I wanted to let you know. Where it says: “Where are going? …” It should be Where are you going?

“Where are going? You’ve yet to receive punishment.” The witch looks down on the two of you from a roof."

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@Baam Yes, they will be related to the plot at some point. And yes, the reactions are finally there. XD

@Seven7h Thanks! Just fixed it, but fixes won’t be up until the next mini update. Hope everything else was okay.

@Szaal Okay, thanks. And booping is just something I do.

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I think it’s fine if you’re actually updating the WIP.

Slight warning. The game will soon be heavily based on stats, starting chapter 2/3.

This slightly worries me. Quite a few “stat-heavy” games quickly devolve into “choose the option for your highest stat”, which is pretty bad as it doesn’t really involve actual choices (beyond the first). Also, it can end up meaning that more balanced characters can’t actually succeed at any checks, because even their highest stat is too low, and we become a boring failure hero (or just die). I’m fine with stats opening up bonus paths and scenes; just make sure that the default story doesn’t require high stats.

Note: going onto the “Relationship” screen early on gives the following error message:

choicescript_stats line 90: Non-existent variable ‘aria_trust’


You remember that because of the hobby, they made a nickname for you.

Would it make sense then to link the possible nicknames to the hobby? I mean, you could call Koa “Ko”, but that doesn’t have anything to do with his hobby…

It shows the time: 6:55.

And school starts at 8? And they’re walking? That seems a bit of a long walk…

You fell to the ground.

Should this be in the present tense? (i.e. “You fall to the ground”?)

You know what happens if we forget to lock the door.

What happens? I mean, if it’s the possibility of burglary, surely “what might happen” would be better. The way it’s written makes it sound like this is something that always happens when they forget to lock up. (I mean, I get that the MC doesn’t remember, so it might be that, but it still feels like an awkward way of saying it.)

Erick glances at you and pretend-cries. You see him shake a little. He bursts into laughter.

Erick hasn’t been named yet in the story. How do I know his name?

Good luck with the game. :grin:

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Okay. I’m relatively sure I worded that wrong. Or not. I dunno. There will always be a way to finish the game, or that’s how we want it. The stats are more like what you said, for bonus paths. They mostly just give access to more things to do. And we’ll keep in mind the stat checks for later on.

The relationship screen was an error because I was stupid and didn’t update the choicescript_stats.txt
It’s fixed now.

The nickname and time thing is true enough. I’ll likely move the nickname part elsewhere. And I’ll make the time span shorter.

I had it as “You fell to the ground” because it was referring to the impact that happened already.

Yes, the locked door thing is a common occurrence and happens almost every time. If it sounds weird, I’ll try rewording it.

And ack. I knew I had to fix it still. XD
Erick’s always causing a problem.

Thanks for the luck! :smile:

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I think you can try “You know what has happened to our neighbor that forgot to lock their door”
Or “You don’t want to let stranger to enter our house, right?”
Or just simply “Lock that vqking door, Koa!”

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Just got me thinking. Will the siblings be more involved in the story? Or are they going to become background characters after the first chapter? Or, if not the younger brother, maybe the twin, at least.
You just don’t see main characters having plot-involved siblings often, ya know? Speaking as someone who has a sister.

And, to resolve the “fall”/“fell” thing, it’s better to pre-decide a set tense to use. Usually in second person, it’s present tense. Then use that tense for (nearly)everything that’s happening at the moment except for dialogues.


@ParrotWatcher’s stat concerns:

It’ll be good if “stat-balanced” characters have bonuses as well. Also, not every stat-check has to be “lower than this/ higher than this”, there could be 3 or maybe 4 different outcomes, dependent on one stat.

Echoing our buddy here: Who walks one hour to school???

Btw, the country of Elsware? :laughing:

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I’m still wondering what the deal is with this locked door. Is it something magical? I assume not, given that the MC seems to remember enough of the real world to know that magic is thought to not be real.

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@UmbraLamia
Yeah, both will be important in the story. They won’t just fade into the background.
And I’ll change that “fall”/“fell” thing then to keep it consistent. It’ll be “fall” now.
And yes, I am changing the times. XD I only realized that time gap after you guys pointed it out.
And another yes! The country of Elsware!

@ParrotWatcher
No, it’s not magical. XD
It’ll come up again in chapter two, don’t worry.

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I really like the scene where your twin walks in on you - I’d love to see more interactions like that in the beginning to introduce your storyverse in more depth.

Not that my sisters would ever barge in like that… no never.

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Boop.
Another mini update concerning the dialogue with your best friend. There’s also a few other minor things, like details and whatnot.

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