All the Way (WIP, 1990s, Supernatural Horror/Thriller)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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https://dashingdon.com/play/starchild/all-the-way/mygame/

Hi all - so I decided to go ahead and present my new game which I made during nano wri month this year. It’s currently a little over 6 chapters long and I’d estimate it is somewhere between a third to a half done. Can never be sure, but I may try to sneak in a further update in maybe a few months if it seems that there is an interest.

The goal of my writing project was to challenge myself with a writing focus different from my usual projects, so this year I decided to make my nano wri month project in the style of the 80s/90s young adult thriller / horror writer Christopher Pike. It was a touch of nostalgia as I used to read these when I was somewhere between 9 - 13 years old as my sister would lend these to me when we were on vacation and I’d run out of star trek books to read…I initially was very excited for the project, thought the problem in how to go about it was very present. However, I very quickly came to the conclusion that the best way to do this was to do it as a tie into one of my other WIPs, so that’s what I did. I’ll write more about that further in, but I did want to state that this WIP might potentially be a standalone game or/and a tie into that other larger project.

In this game which I’ve entitled All the Way you play as a young woman living in a time and place a little like the early 90’s in California that is about to have some serious run ins with the supernatural. Her life and that of her friends are quickly disrupted by beings that seem to have a bit of a vendetta for her - but what has she ever done to these creatures and why are they targeting her and her friends?

-Genre - teen supernatural horror / thriller with some dark fantasy and mythology elements
-Setting - Alternate Reality setting similar to California, America during the early 1990s
-Who do you get to play - a customizable female protagonist
-Rating - I’d probably rate this game somewhere around a PG-13 that flirts with an R rating. (Despite some of the provacative lead ins to this game, there is no actual adult content that I am aware of, though there is a lot of non-PC content as for this game it is literally the 90s and that is the setting.)

That’s a very vague synopsis of the game . . . as it’s a tie in there is a lot more to it, but I don’t want to rain spoilers on you all to quickly. I will issue a warning that though there is no adult content, this is probably the least PC game I have made so far; won’t be for everyone. I do not recommend this game for our younger players or for those that may be sensitive or disturbed by some of the non-PC or violent content. Also, though it is vaguely set in a place like California in the early 90s, it is more or less in an alternate reality . . . as such, I’m not focusing to much on getting the exact lingo or cultural minutia right . . . it’s a 90s game in a more general way.

For those that still want to give it a try, here is the link: https://dashingdon.com/play/starchild/all-the-way/mygame/

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Now then, for those that are still here and don’t mind some spoilers, read on:

So, as mentioned earlier, this game could either be a standalone game or a tie in to another of my games spoiler namely Lives of the Star Child spoilers which is sadly still in eternal haitus but I think this modular method of adding to that game may hopefully start giving it some progress when I am able. My hope, as I’ve seen other creators use portions of one game they made in another, is that All the Way might be completed as a standalone game and then when LotSC is finally being worked on again I can incorporate it into the game, which I think will work pretty good. For those of you not familiar, LotSC is a reincarnation game where you start as a God that dies and is reborn in a never ending series of mortal lives . . . for this, the prot from this current game would be just one more life. Anyway, in my hubris, which powers most of my writing incidently, I think it sounds like a swell plan . . . However, for those of you who did play it, what do you think?

  • This game could be used both as a stand alone game and as part of a larger game
  • This game should only be used inside of the larger game and not as a stand alone
  • This game should only be a stand alone
  • This game should be hidden away in the dark
0 voters

For those that are interested, if I did do the option where it is incorporated into LotSC it would take place fairly late in the game but not in the very end and the end state of the All the Way portion would flow well into the next section which will likely be an Age of Superheroes sort of deal where if the protagonist survives they will be a leg up . . . potentially, depending on how everything plays out. While I’ve got more writing to do on this project, I see several bad endings and several good endings, all of which would modify it further.

**END SPOILERS END SPOILERS END SPOILERS END SPOILERS **

An additional matter that I’ve been debating on is chapter quotes. Now, CP’s wriitng had no chapter quotes, so thus far I didn’t bother with any, however, I kind of thought it might be fun to have some music lyrics to set the mood for the chapter, and, if it doesn’t violate some rule of hosted game, maybe have a link to a U-Tube video or something for the music video for the song . . . problems for this sort of thing is that one man’s good song is another person’s trash song, so what I see as a cool setting of the mood might come off more as annoying or otherwise distracting. Additional problems is the timing - how far out should I range for appropriate quotable songs? Should I just keep it to early 90s songs and call it a day? I don’t know … anyway . . .
Should I include song lyrics as chapter quotes?

  • No - keep it as is. There is no need for chapter quotes
  • Yes - go ahead and add in song lyrics as chapter quotes to set the mood for the chapter
  • Yes - go ahead and add in song lyrics as chapter quotes and also add in links to videos of these songs
  • Add chapter quotes but do not do it as song lyrics
0 voters

In any event, hope you like the game. How quickly I return to it will probably depend on how much interest or lack of interest it seems to gather. Regardless, my focus for the next few months will be my main WIP Sense & Sorcery though I very well might try to sneak in an update for this game or perhaps *Dice & Dungeon Masters * at some point. Thank you for your time in cosidering reading my game.

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I love this game! It’s giving me Fear Street 1994 vibes!

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Is there some reason everyone’s so insistent that I have a thing for football boy? It’s really getting on my last nerve as a player and makes me not want to continue.

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In somewhat related question,

Is the MC locked into being het?

Apart from Melody’s introduction, and nothing seemed to come of it, it seems rather insistant the MC shacks up with a guy, mostly football boy.

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Thank you; I feel very honored for the comparison and really appreciate the positive feedback.

Thank you for letting me know; that’s totally understandable . . . to be honest, usually when there is a romance option that is more or less forced in the games I play, I do everything I can to break it off with that character as soon as possible, so I do get it. Now, a couple things can be said; yes, in the early sections of the game there are some scenes with Victor that are unavoidable and beyond what is currently written there will be a couple more that will also be unavoidable, but in the end any true romance or even casual hook up with him is up to you the player; i.e. if you have enough choices that push you and Victor apart that option will eventually be no longer available in future chapters. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I should state that the romances and flings (the later of which are all of camera) are all secondary to the main plot of the game, which is dealing with the supernatural and trying to survive and not change in ways you don’t want too . . . so while there may be options to have a romance with this character or that character or a fling off camera, there will only be so much focus given to these … granted, some of the synopsis and lead ins probably may need to be tweaked a little if this seems surprising to to many players. Thanks again for the review.

So, spring boarding off of the earlier question and answer, the question of who and what genders are romanceable . . .While the game is only so deeply written thus far, I think I’m leaning towards there never be an explicit question and assignment of the prots sexuality, so that who they choose to romance and have their experiences with can be defined in game. While that’s the case, I’d imagine the prot can choose to romance either (once the game is further along):

  • No one (ACE and/or non-romantic)
  • One or more of the boys (Chaz, Daren, Lester, Lick, or Victor)
    AND / OR
  • One or more of the girls (Heather, Helen, Melody, Monica, or Shelly)

Though, once more, some of these relationships will probably be a bit abbreviated and abrupt up to a point as I’m aiming to cap this game somewhere between 100,000 to 150,000 words and they are once more secondary hopefully to the supernatural dangers inherent to the prot’s existence and sanity.

Thank you to everyone that’s tried All the Way and a double thanks to those that have given feedback or voted on the polls.

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Loved it, can’t wait to play more.

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Thank you! I am so happy to hear that. Most likely I’ll try to sneak in an update sometime in the first quarter of ‘25.

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cant wait so see more of daren and lick, also do you have a tumblr or something where you post updates or stuff for your stories?

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Ha, sadly no tumblr as of yet, but maybe someday. Thank you for your interest. Thanks for giving my game a go!

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Has anyone else a problem with loading a save

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I checked my saved games right now and they seem to still be loading correctly. Sometimes there might be something going on with the Dashingdon website or the save game plug in in the background . . . if the problem persists I’d be interested in which section of the game the problem was occurring in, but I’m optimistic that it will probably resolve on its own.

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I found the answer. Save just took long time to load

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This one is pretty good I usually don’t play the horror category but I’ll definitely be following along

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Just played this and i’m really liking it! Love the setting and the vibes. The characters are great too. I kept getting a foreboding feeling in nearly every page lol also, lots of foreshadowing going on.

My theory for now is that the main characters must be reincarnations of Mythrinians, and that Shelly and MC are the Divine Twins. I might be way off lol but that’s what it feels like to me.

Anyway this was super interesting and i’m definitely following it to see where it goes :smile:

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I can neither confirm nor deny any aspect of the plot, but you may well be onto something….Thanks again to those that tried my game! I’m glad that it seems to be having, in general, a good reception so far…as it’s a bit edgy and non-PC I was worried how that was going to go but happy it’s finding a good audience. I look forward to writing more hopefully in a month or two.

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I decided to close the two start polls for now as I’d run them long enough and felt that I probably got about as many responses as I was going too.

For our first question, as to whether this game should be released as a standalone, part of another larger game, as a standalone AND as part of a larger game, and lastly if the game was even viable, the answer came in as 76% voting that it could both be a standalone game and as part of a larger game. Pretty desisive and matching what I’d hoped for and designed this game for, so as long as this doesn’t violate any rules from hosted games, I’ll proceed with that in mind when I continue on with this game.

Our second poll involving chapter quotes was more problamatic, with pretty close votes, i.e. 45% to go ahead and add song lyrics as chapter quotes at the start of each chapter, and 37% voting to not do it…I’m not sure, but I might add them but make them optional so that players could decide to have them or not have them at the start of the game or/and via the stats menu. Of course, none will be added until I begin work on this game again.

As mentioned in prior responses, will be a bit before there’s more progress on All the Way, but seeing as it actually had a pretty positive reception, I definitely want to continue on with it. For this month, my main game Sense & Sorcery shall get all the attention, but I’m thinking sometime in the first quarter I’ll try to sneak in another couple chapters for All the Way and probably a small update for Dice & Dungeon Masters as well as there were some bugs that I kind of want resolved for that game and I left it feeling like I hadn’t done enough progress.

Thanks again to all that voted and have tried my game.

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