Professor of Magical Studies (was: Advanced Studies in Pattern Magic) - In Copyediting!

Well, that would be clever of me to do. Thanks for the suggestion!

@Manaxaggd, for the life of me I can’t reproduce that error. I’ve tried making it happen by hand, by adjusting the code, and by letting Randomtest chew on the game some 10,000 times. I’m stumped. If anyone else sees a similar error, please let me know.

Yep!

3 Likes

small typo: “I’d like to know what she means by that.” → my hayden was male (ch4)
“not to convince her of anything” → here too and one other place in a choice between them that i forgot

“Darcy about it, but he shruggeds” → shrugged

3 Likes

I had such a fun time playing this! The premise reminds me a lot of Choice of the Deathless and the Craft Sequence in general, with the beautiful union of incomprehensible reality-warping magic and being a white collar professional. The lighter tone really works with the juxtaposition of mundane academia and regular risk of brain damage. I don’t really know how to organize this so here’s just some scattershot impressions:

Summary

Pattern magic is very cool, I like how twisty it is and the descriptions of the materials people put patterns on really help bring the idea to life. I focused on Reasoning and Rhetoric in my playthrough and passing skill checks makes me feel smart and cool.

Darcy’s such a little jerkface and I love them so much for it. Enemies to lovers is a favourite dynamic of mine, and lovers to enemies to lovers is even better. Moments where Dr. MC catches them off guard by being nice to them fill me with glee. Gabriel is a sweetie, must protecc. Kayla’s sense of humour is so dry, I legit had a math teacher like this. Taylor strikes me as a Silicon Valley founder type, the kind of character I like to dislike. Manisha and Hayley stand out less to me, but that’s mostly down to personal preference. I’m interested in finding out more about them but I’m playing favourites already, haha.

I very much get the sense of being a beleaguered employee with far too many competing priorities, it’s a Big Mood. How is poor Dr. MC gonna solve gentrification, organize a symposium, do peer review, and sort out their personal life? The thought of juggling all the tasks they keep heaping on them stresses me out a little but in a good way, I like the way this game provokes that feeling!

Really looking forward to seeing where this story goes.

9 Likes

The story’s really good so far with the level of detailing of the backgrounds and all even though the background exposition seemed to be a little drag (maybe it’s just me?). Liked the different characters especially ma boi Gabriel. Don’t know why Darcy is a RO because personally I felt she was too toxic. Anyways looking forward for the next update.
Btw, could you add for save file options for the next update?

2 Likes

I personally feel the level of detail is fine and not a drag, I also like the dynamics between Darcy and the main character in that it could really go either way. I never pick RO for choice of games though so can’t comment on that.

1 Like

The characters are very much fleshed out and have their own personalities especially the ROs. The dramas that ROs like Darcy brings makes the whole atmosphere more realistic and interesting. Great WiP.

6 Likes

Thanks for the feedback, folks! It’s really helpful.

To make sure I understand, you’d like four save slots available?

3 Likes

Do you have a blog for this game :slight_smile: ?

Sorry didn’t see that typo :sweat_smile: . Meant ‘more’ save files, but yea, four would be great. :+1:

1 Like

No blog, sorry. Just this thread.

Will do, thanks!

9 Likes

Replayed from the beginning with the new update - very enjoyable @Sargent

A little bit of feedback: During the beginning section, when the timeline is jumping between the past memories and present it felt unclear sometimes - I lost track of whether it was memory or present day. Having it a bit clearer to the reader would help this.

5 Likes

I’ve added Chapter 5! You get a chance to hang out with friends, give a final exam (which is challenging when magic lets you get glimpses into the future), and find out how you’re doing tenure-wise.

Oh, and a long-awaited NPC finally arrives. I’m so excited for you to meet them, and get to know them better in the next chapter.

60 Likes

Just found out about this WIP and I’m loving it, keep up the good work!

I had this crash in chapter 4 aswell, but it didn’t happen anymore after I reloaded a previous save.
Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Also, a small mistake in chapter 1 (I checked the code because the text seemed off):

You and ${manish} became friends
*if (rel_manish > 50)
despite the rocky start.
*else thanks to that @{scene_2_e class|assessment}.

The variables are inverted: the “rocky start” makes sense if the relationship is low, not high.

1 Like

I really like the setting: interesting magic world building, office politics at its best (and worst), and characters whose history affect their present. Daisy is a character I love to hate: proof of good writing.

Unsure whether it’s me, but I feel at disadvantage when I don’t prioritize political insight in the game. I also would like options to change my mind when choosing magic specialty at the beginning. The stat building is too challenging at times for specialization.

2 Likes

Umm, maybe try out other methods rather than picking the options highlighted with politick? My MC remain far distance with political as he is no interest in that, but he still did very good at other fields.

3 Likes

Taking the meeting with Taylor for example, my character doesn’t do well with options supposed to showcase their library research skill. Meanwhile, my political minded character has a much easier time with the meeting. At that point it’s already too late to reconsider my character build/strategy.

Oh that meeting…I had the same confuse, and then took a peek at the code, and…all I can remember is that, that is not a research check.

This proves my point that certain skills are more useful than others, and I have no way knowing beforehand without looking at codes.

1 Like

I haven’t finished reading the WIP yet, but the story got me hooked so far. Also, it’s really cool that the PC has synesthesia because I do too =D It’s rare to see people with synesthesia on any media and this makes me so happy

4 Likes

Don’t let me misguide you… though most of the times I did fine without peeking the code, and the occasional where I did peek is rare. To me those skills are quite equal, but that you need to depend on your different skills during different occasions.

those are my status at some point hope may help