Neat idea. I personally find interesting the thing about the other characters starting relationships.
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This is awesome… It’s a very interesting one.
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@AstinFamily this was a big concern of mine! I hope it’s appreciated the possibility of turning the autonomy off —I don’t want to push it on people who like to being more in control of the story. Thank you for your feedback 
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It’s interesting and has a good array of choices so far and I like that we can choose to have characters take the initiative in romance.
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Woaah…this is REALLY good!
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Good so for keep up the good work
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Hey, it’s an interesting story!
I feel a bit nervous about the fact it’s supposed to be realistic, considering I tend to prefer not so grounded in reality stories, but I’ll see as it goes - it’s a bit early to give a definitive opinion on that.
What I CAN say is that I really like the customization of warnings and nightmares, and the possibility of having the ROs take the initiative with MC. I love that so much that sometimes it makes me play a game I wouldn’t have played otherwise. It’s so much better to have that possibility when playing shy MCs (and even without a shy MC, as it adds an element of surprise if someone the player didn’t expect to actually fancies their MC).
Also, about the ROs… I’d like to ask for two things, if possible?
First one is simple enough, I guess? Could we have descriptions in the original post here on the forums so we know what we’re getting into? I guess most people would agree with me on that one.
The second one is pretty peculiar… But please, don’t take it as me wanting to be mean or anything? Arbreeder pictures make me extremely uneasy and literally disgust me. Realism of that kind (and even semi-realism sometimes) creates a very strong uncanny-valley kind of feeling in me, and well, artbreeder portraits basically ruin a character for me. I was unlucky enough to check Michael’s page and see the portrait, and well… I’m not happy about it at all… wouldn’t it be possible to toggle on or off the portraits? As it is, I’ll have a hard time using the FriendBook function at all. 
Again, I’m very sorry about that! I know it sounds weird as hell, especially from a person who doesn’t need any form of warnings or anything…
Speaking of which, I love you for that achievement: “Play Hard Or Don’t Play”
It got me by surprise when it popped haha! 
With that being said, I DO have a couple of complaints and bugs or errors to report, so well, let’s get started!
The warnings:
With the description alone, I was really not sure what did the warnings in “Before starting (2/4)” selection mean. Like, what kind of things it refers to or what does it do. I did check the code to find one of these warnings, so I get it now, but maybe it would be nice to put an example during that selection - not everyone knows how to check the code after all! Something like a very short little scene consisting of one or two lines, and how it would be approached with and without these warnings for example?
Gender selection:
The gender choice of all things seems a bit strange? I mean, the phrasing for the two cis options.
It forces the MC to have a certain behavior / way of thinking that may not be the one the player would like or envision at all. For example, I always have male MCs, but they’re usually pretty soft and gentle, and probably around half of them are short and delicate looking, sometimes even with a very androgynous look (and not bothered by the fact they look like that).
So basically, having the MC state he wants to look manly (if boy) or that she doesn’t need a lot of frill (if girl) is a bit weird? I mean, what if someone wants to play a girl who loves frills, right? Or a boy who likes things seen as more girly?
And well, really though… what does all of that have to do with the planner anyway, to begin with?
Bug with the MC's name:
There is a very strange bug with the name of the protagonist. I always choose names from the list, and so, in this case, I’d like my character to be called Dakota Locklear.
But when I select that, the stat screen refers to my MC as Locklear only, and in the narration, people call him Locklear too. I mean, even his mother!
At first I thought the first and last name were reversed, and so I used the input to put Locklear when the game asks for the first name, and Dakota when it asks for the last name, but then the stat screen refers to him as Locklear Dakota, and in narration people STILL call him Locklear.
So then I thought the error comes from the first name Dakota, but none of the other first names worked either.
And then I’ve tried to change the last name (well, I just spelled it Loclear), and suddenly it worked. So it seems the last name Locklear eats whatever first name the character may have.
I didn’t try with the other last names from the list though, because I was too fed up at that point 
When packing in the room:
When shit starts to go down, if selecting to pack, the follow up page says: “You jump up —you don’t need to be told twice.”
But in my case, MC had been told more than once, since I’ve selected two other options first. Shouldn’t that phrasing be reserved to people who actually click the packing option directly?
When talking with Rain for the first time:
I think there’s something a bit strange with the code?
If MC talks to him about his mother telling them they’ll have to leave, at the end of that questionning line, it says Rain answers with a “?” once the MC tells it has to be related to the man they saw on the street. It seems weird considering Rain knows about that, since the first thing MC did was to tell him (in my playthrough, I mean).
When checking the code, I see the answer is different if the MC didn’t tell him, but considering the other possibility is Rain reflecting on what MC told him, I would assume the two possible reactions are actually reversed. As in, the “?” should be there if Rain DOESN’T know about the man and Rain reflecting should be if he knows.
Once on the street:
Running away makes guts go up and wits go down, and not moving makes the opposite changes happen… Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Why would running make guts go up (at least in this case)?
Once in the shop:
There’s a message that comes from Rain, and in my case it says: “Dakota, dude, there’s hell out here.”
But it should be MC’s nickname instead of his first name, considering it was stated he and Rain never exchanged private info and were using nicknames.
Same a little bit later: “I know we’ve never talked about our lives in the “real world”, but… Dakota, honestly, I’m scared AF”
Also, with Rain:
At one point he says: “As long as you and your mother are okay with it”
Again, considering they don’t know much about each other, shouldn’t he say “As long as you and your family are okay with it” - or “your folks” or something generic like that.
Even if he DOES know MC had a mother, he wouldn’t assume the mother is the only relative anyway, right? So it would be weird for him to want HER specifically to be okay, and not the rest of the family.
If selecting to talk to Michael during the night:
During that segment:
“I think we should plan on our next moves,” you suggest to the other guy. “I agree,” comments him.
It should be “he comments”.
In the morning:
After one of the breaks on the first page, a line starts with: “your attention to Michael.”
I think something is obviously wrong with the sentence. Not only there’s not capital letter, but also well, it doesn’t make much sense as it is. I guess it would be “Your attention shifts to Michael” or “You turn your attention to Michael” or whatever.
And I think that’s it, I guess?
Well, that and the fact I also think enabling saves will be needed for testing such a game (or really, any game).
Still, I’d also like to ask about the ROs (though well, if you put info in the OP I guess answering me won’t be necessary anymore). How many do you have planned? And are all of them gender locked like Michael, or do some of them change gender depending on MC’s orientation in said playthrough. And well, also, are all of them avaible for all MC genders, and can they try and ask out a MC who doesn’t swing their way (if autonomy is on)?
Haha, sorry for all these questions!
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Could we have descriptions in the original post here on the forums so we know what we’re getting into? I guess most people would agree with me on that one.
I’ve thought about it, but I was a little afraid of writing too many spoilers! How much would you like to know about them?
Arbreeder pictures make me extremely uneasy and literally disgust me. Realism of that kind (and even semi-realism sometimes) creates a very strong uncanny-valley kind of feeling in me, and well, artbreeder portraits basically ruin a character for me. I was unlucky enough to check Michael’s page and see the portrait, and well… I’m not happy about it at all… wouldn’t it be possible to toggle on or off the portraits? As it is, I’ll have a hard time using the FriendBook function at all.
There’s absolutely no need to be sorry for that! It is I who’s sorry —I should have thought of it before. I will surely implement the setting to activate/deactivate it.
About the other questions...
With the description alone, I was really not sure what did the warnings in “Before starting (2/4)” selection mean. Like, what kind of things it refers to or what does it do. I did check the code to find one of these warnings, so I get it now, but maybe it would be nice to put an example during that selection - not everyone knows how to check the code after all! Something like a very short little scene consisting of one or two lines, and how it would be approached with and without these warnings for example?
I will add an option to all settings to allow the reader to see an example then!
The gender choice of all things seems a bit strange? I mean, the phrasing for the two cis options.
It forces the MC to have a certain behavior / way of thinking that may not be the one the player would like or envision at all. For example, I always have male MCs, but they’re usually pretty soft and gentle, and probably around half of them are short and delicate looking, sometimes even with a very androgynous look (and not bothered by the fact they look like that).
[…]
And well, really though… what does all of that have to do with the planner anyway, to begin with?
It has nothing to do with the planner itself, or with the character’s behavior. It’s just an excuse to choose the genre in a more “narrative” way, that’s why it’s a bit stereotyped. But you can absolutely play soft and gentle characters! ^-^
There is a very strange bug with the name of the protagonist. I always choose names from the list, and so, in this case, I’d like my character to be called Dakota Locklear.
But when I select that, the stat screen refers to my MC as Locklear only, and in the narration, people call him Locklear too. I mean, even his mother!
There was a bug just with the surname Locklear. Thank you for the tip!
When shit starts to go down, if selecting to pack, the follow up page says: “You jump up —you don’t need to be told twice.”
But in my case, MC had been told more than once, since I’ve selected two other options first. Shouldn’t that phrasing be reserved to people who actually click the packing option directly?
It’s not a bug, it’s my English that’s bugged 
You’re right, it sounds weird. I’ll try to rephrase it.
When talking with Rain for the first time:
I think there’s something a bit strange with the code?
If MC talks to him about his mother telling them they’ll have to leave, at the end of that questionning line, it says Rain answers with a “?” once the MC tells it has to be related to the man they saw on the street. It seems weird considering Rain knows about that, since the first thing MC did was to tell him (in my playthrough, I mean).
When checking the code, I see the answer is different if the MC didn’t tell him, but considering the other possibility is Rain reflecting on what MC told him, I would assume the two possible reactions are actually reversed.
They were, indeed, reversed. Thanks.
Running away makes guts go up and wits go down, and not moving makes the opposite changes happen… Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Why would running make guts go up (at least in this case)?
Guts up/down = MC is frozen in fear/MC actually has the guts to move. The “not moving” is not meant as “I hold the ground”, but literally as “I am so terrified that I cannot move a step” 
There’s a message that comes from Rain, and in my case it says: “Dakota, dude, there’s hell out here.”
But it should be MC’s nickname instead of his first name, considering it was stated he and Rain never exchanged private info and were using nicknames.
Same a little bit later: “I know we’ve never talked about our lives in the “real world”, but… Dakota, honestly, I’m scared AF”
Totally my mistake! Fixed it, thank you.
At one point he says: “As long as you and your mother are okay with it”
Again, considering they don’t know much about each other, shouldn’t he say “As long as you and your family are okay with it” - or “your folks” or something generic like that.
Even if he DOES know MC had a mother, he wouldn’t assume the mother is the only relative anyway, right? So it would be weird for him to want HER specifically to be okay, and not the rest of the family.
It’s based on “my mother instead”, but maybe I’ll rephrase it more generically, thanks.
If selecting to talk to Michael during the night:
During that segment:
“I think we should plan on our next moves,” you suggest to the other guy. “I agree,” comments him.
It should be “he comments”.
See? Bugged English 
Jokes aside, thank you!
After one of the breaks on the first page, a line starts with: “your attention to Michael.”
I think something is obviously wrong with the sentence. Not only there’s not capital letter, but also well, it doesn’t make much sense as it is. I guess it would be “Your attention shifts to Michael” or “You turn your attention to Michael” or whatever.
Did you choose to take the pills from your room? If so, there was a bug in the code. I just fixed it and now it should show the correct line.
Well, that and the fact I also think enabling saves will be needed for testing such a game (or really, any game).
Yep, that’s already planned! ^-^
Still, I’d also like to ask about the ROs (though well, if you put info in the OP I guess answering me won’t be necessary anymore). How many do you have planned? And are all of them gender locked like Michael, or do some of them change gender depending on MC’s orientation in said playthrough. And well, also, are all of them avaible for all MC genders, and can they try and ask out a MC who doesn’t swing their way (if autonomy is on)?
I guess those are the things you’d like to see in the OP —let me know if there are other questions about them though!
_
Thank you for your help! I’m glad you’re liking it
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Yeah, basically! No need to put a lot of spoilers! But it would be nice to have a list of ROs (minus the secret one/s since it would defeat the point of secret option/s). Something like:
- Name and/or nickname (like, for Rain, it would be better to put only the nickname)
- Gender, obviously including if they are gender-locked or depending on MC’s orientation
- Basic info (physical appeareance and very simple role, like, for Rain - “your online best friend”)
- Optional: avaible to which MC genders
And well, having a list answers the question about the amount of ROs in itself! 
I guess if you don’t want to include the part about orientation to the OP, then I’d like to know it in addition to the basic info you could put there? 
Thank you so much for that! I wouldn’t have asked for it if the smartphone wasn’t an important feature - I’d have just avoided that screen.
Yeah I understand it to a degree - it’s more the fact that the prompt is asking “why did you choose that kind of planner?”, and the answer is “because I’m a boy and it helps to appear manly”. So basically, it makes the MC actually say he wants to look manly, even though it shouldn’t have anything to do with that. That’s why I find a bit strange for the planner design to be the way gender is selected to begin with, but well, it seemed especially strange with the cis options. 
I guess I got unlucky then! But at least it allowed to spot that bug! 
Ah, I see - got really confused by that one.
Well yeah, I didn’t take aditional pills anywhere, but my MC has a condition that makes him need pills, so he took the ones next to his bed.
And your welcome!
This seems like an interesting start.
One thing I did note was that you can call the MC and their sibling by the same name. Like, sure, you have to intentionally do it, but it still seems weird to offer it as an option.
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Sometimes you’ll see the explanation “pheromones”
It’s not the case here.
Any pathogen that’s this active in a host and affecting the CNS enough to make them attack others will also invariably start killing their host in short order, both humans and animals infected with rabies will be paralyzed by damage to motor neurons for instance.
The epidemic has just begun, it hasn’t lasted for years, so I don’t understand your objection.
Rabies’ aggression is entirely a side effect of it damaging the brain.
Also, it’s not rabies here.
Any pathogen that would cause someone to attack others would invariably cause them to attack other infected like they do everyone else.
Honestly, I don’t know where you read that they don’t attack each other as well…?
.
The information obtainable from the demo is very little. Literally, we only know that they tremble, drool, are violent, and it comes from animals. I think your comment is very premature, but ok.
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Ha! You’re absolutely right, I’m going to edit it somehow. Thank you for pointing it out!
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Ah, that reminds me I actually have a question about the sibling too!
It’s a bit spoilery so I’ll blur it!
It made me very curious that we get to decide the sibling’s gender and name considering they die right after… So I’m wondering… just how much that comes into play?Will we get flashbacks of their life together or something? 
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@Trazen4
Considering this is is CYOA fueled by our own fantasy and what the author provides us with, we can, per se, enjoy the game along those lines?
I mean, sure, we can go into a lengthy discussion about human anatomy and physiology but considering this is a fantasy game, we can cut it a bit slack and go with the flow of the game, no?
As for “scientifically accurate” , I think as long as something majorly antagonistic doesn’t happen to our benchmark of “scientifically accurate” , we can condone it for the time being? Again, it’s a game so some leninecy can be expected.
That’s just my personal view, no offense intended! 
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Blurred answer for a blurred question! 
Yes, MC will talk/think about their sibling… But note that the death scene is after the choice of the route, not before! So they don’t necessarily die in all of three routes… 
About the demo itself --now everything should be like it was supposed to be, feel free to check it!
Also, I’ve updated the OP. Now you should see a FAQ section in it.
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Oh really? When is the route split, then? 
I was under the impression the father and sibling were dead when reaching the mom, who was fighting the “zombies”, and that the split was the decision that comes at that point, to either hesitate, stay or run. But then, how comes? Unless they are not dead yet?
I’ll check everything out then - though I’ll only replay a bit later since I’m working right now!
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I keep failing to understand how can you do some wild assumptions on something I didn’t even written yet. Where have you read about bites?
Also, I know how prions work, thank you very much. It is scientifically accurate and honestly your comments are baffling, since —as I already said— I haven’t even written anything yet about it, so the fact that you know what I haven’t even written yet is hilarious, to say the least.
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The route selection is a bit earlier, when you approach your mother for the first time! It has the two greyed options “not available in the demo” ^-^
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Aaah, my bad! I actually got confused about the chronology for a sec!
I thought that choice was after the MC saw what was happening in the living room! But yeah, it’s actually before they see…
Sorry about that! But thanks for reminding me!
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