Three months ago, you picked up boxing on a whim. Now you’re slipping out of work early to fight strangers in basements and ferry terminals. It wasn’t a plan. It just happened.
Last week, your match was under a ferry pier. Half the crowd smoked through the entire thing. One guy wore a face mask printed with a grinning cat mouth and bet on both fighters. You won a lukewarm Vita lemon tea and a single glutinous rice dumpling in a plastic bag.
Hong Kong’s underground fighting circuit isn’t what the forums promised. No rankings, no brackets, no officials. Just names whispered between gyms. Fighters who can do things that shouldn’t be possible. You’ve seen a man throw a fireball. Maybe. Hard to say. But people reacted like it was normal.
Each month brings a new opponent, a new lesson. There’s no final boss. Just warehouses, abandoned nightclubs, and a city that flickers at the edges, like it’s remembering a different version of itself.
You come for the fights. You stay for the people—the ones who ask questions you’re not ready to answer. You won’t save the world. But you’ll understand why people try.
Unlike most ChoiceScript games, this isn’t a story about saving the world or leading a rebellion. It’s a character-driven, slice-of-life narrative set in a stylized version of Hong Kong’s underground fight circuit.
Instead of high-stakes branching plots, the focus is on gradual personal growth, quiet emotional shifts, and the small details that define how someone moves through an unfamiliar world. The story is more about the PC’s evolving relationships and internal conflicts, less about external plot-driven events. Combat is important, but it’s not about domination or power fantasy. It’s about insight, adaptation, and connection.
Each opponent has their own rhythm, philosophy, and reasons for fighting. Each month gives you a chance to train, reflect, and engage with the people around you. Some are mentors, others are rivals, and a few might become something more. You’re not the Chosen One. But you are showing up, day after day, to see what you’re capable of.
Currently it’s about 20% complete, with 2 chapters available in the demo.
To play the demo, go here: https://dozendietcokesaday.github.io/Below-the-Skyline-compiled/Below_the_Skyline.html
Changelog:
Changelog
6 May 2025:
- Victoria “Pressure Point” Reynolds is GONE. Deleted forever. We will miss you always.
- Added Katie “Pressure Point” Reynolds’ fight.
- Rewrote the Eric character subplot.
- You can now save/load anywhere
- Added gender support for male, female, nonbinary
- Added choice to enter your own name
- Improved the prose for Chapter 1 and Eric’s fight
- Simplified the basic training options
27 April 2025: Completely rewrote the fights to be more interactive. I’ve replaced the demo with the latest one which is up to the first fight with Eric. Sorry for reducing the content - I wasn’t satisfied with the previous quality! The content will be gradually returning in an improved form.
11 April 2025: Kevin’s fight is now playable.
7 April 2025: Lily’s fight is now playable.
4 April 2025: added a new fight against Danny, and ends just before the fight against Lily
2 April 2025: initial version, with Eric and Victoria fights
Feedback requested:
Do the training choices feel like they’re revealing anything about the protagonist? Or do they just feel like stat math?- Do the opponents feel distinct—not just in ability, but in how they fight, what they value, how they interact with you?
- Does the rhythm between fights, character scenes, and training hold up? Or does it start to drag?
- Are there any moments where you stopped caring what happened next? What made you check out?
Development Notes:
Development Notes
- The main focus of the story is on the story and the characters - the fighting tournament is more of an overarching framework because it provides an easy source of dramatic tension.
- There are optional romance choices, but these will never give a gameplay advantage. The romance choices are non explicit because I don’t feel comfortable writing scenes with body parts pulsing and vibrating all over the place.
- The structure is a modified gauntlet: there’s a main spine of the fights, and each fight unlocks an optional branch. It’s similar to dating sims and Princess Maker-type games. Each fight anchors a chapter, and what you do before and after shapes what the fight means. Subplots and character arcs branch off from there. You’re not punished for losing fights, and you won’t miss major content for it.