Blood For Poppies (Public Beta Test Now Live! Game Complete! 10/9/20)

NEW UPDATE 11/21/20
LINK:
https://dashingdon.com/play/LaceTheDisgrace/blood-for-poppies/mygame/index.php?cb=93782

Man, it feels good to be at this point. I can almost see a finish line for this game. I fully expect to have this complete and ready to submit to Hosted Games by the end of this year, perhaps earlier. Before I do such a thing, however, I want to aggressively punch the bugs out of this thing. At this point, the game is pretty technically sound. Most of my playthroughs don’t end in a burning heap of errors. I’m most concerned about continuity errors in the story/text that quicktext and randtest don’t catch; only human playtesters can really catch them.

If anyone has the time and inclination to become a dedicated playtester, send me a PM! I’d be very appreciative of any help and, of course, I’d credit your playtesting work. I really want to polish this game enough for publication. And who knows, you might influence the game for the better. I’ve added some of the best features of the game in response to playtesting feedback.

Changelog for 11/21/20 Update

*This update adds around +5000 words or so. The word count is now around 184,000.

  • It was before possible for an MC to sustain several romances at once, which is fine but isn’t properly accounted for in the story. Now if the MC asks Kel or Ashton to start a romantic relationship while they’re with someone else, they will respond appropriately. These interactions are kinda cute. Fun little stuff. Y’know, a distraction from the crushing existential despair.

  • I expanded the chats in Chapter 5. No more one line responses that were pretty much filler/placeholders (because I was tired)! Around 3,000 words of content added here, maybe more. As always, you won’t see all of this in one playthrough since the chats change depending on the MC’s relationship with each character.

  • Fixed an error in Chapter 5. If the MC chooses to “chat with Carmelle”, her chats weren’t properly cycling. Now her chats will cycle properly, allowing the MC to see all of her possible conversations.

  • Fixed a continuity error involved in the path in which the MC becomes Doctor’s heir and resumes Doctor’s work in Chapter 6. This continuity error also affects the path in Chapter 6 where the MC and Poppy work together on mad science. Even if the MC previously destroyed the machine, the text acted as if the MC had not destroyed it. This is fixed. The narrative now recognizes that the MC previously destroyed the machine. Before the MC (or the MC and Poppy) may resume conducting mad science, they must first rebuild the machine. Further, the MC may now enlist Kel’s help in this task…if he’s alive. Substantial content has been added here.

  • Alyce will no longer appear on the stat screen before the MC meets her in Chapter 3.

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Good news everyone!

As of this week, I submitted BfP to Hosted Games. I spent the past few months polishing, refining, and bug-testing BfP, and I finally consider it ready for release.

The rest of the process is out of my hands. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I hope this game sees release as a Hosted Game. Thanks for the continued support throughout the years!

The final word count is around 190,000.

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Congratulations!

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thats awesome! congratulations and good luck!

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Good luck!

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WoW… Congratulations @LacetheDisgrace

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@Jackpot1776 @LiliArch @Empress_Nightmare

Happy dance Yes, thank you! It’s about time I finished it. I’m ready to move onto the next fiasco.

@Nocturnal_Stillness
The other day I realized you were the first person to comment on this thread (made me nostalgic). Thanks for the continued support. You’re a great game-maker and writer. I really look up to your work.

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Lol this is a wondrously creepy and nightmarious
Oi @LacetheDisgrace are there gonna be any changes between this WiP and the final release?!?
And have a lovely day with Valentine(s)

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@Empress_Nightmare
Hm, good question. Presently, I have no plans to substantially change the game. However, the game will go through content review as far as part of the HG publishing process, so I don’t know what changes will be (potentially) asked of me (if any). That’s some time away, though. CoG staff are busy people.

Happy Valentine’s day to all! Ho ho ho.

Lol mine’s an amazing :yum::smirk_cat::kissing_cat: fun day with my Valentines :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :kissing_heart: :heart_eyes_cat:

Valentine’s Day Santa?!? :joy_cat::smile_cat::roll_eyes:
like Love Santa?

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Valentine’s Day Santa might be my next game project. You never know. I did say I wanted to do something more fun. You know, tell a few jokes. :upside_down_face:

Haha, but really, the best way to spend Valentine’s day is with fictional people, so that’s why everyone should play BfP for this holiday. There’s romance (and sadness!)

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Lol my spouses are enough to deal everyday
:joy_cat::smile_cat::smirk_cat: can’t deal with fictional characters too…
But I do like Blood for Poppies though…

I like that sadness and that mild creepiness in this more than romance…

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So are you. Never think otherwise. :slight_smile:

I’m just sad that pale_strider is no longer on the forums. His character artwork for poppies was awesome.

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Congrats @LacetheDisgrace – your demo was one of the first I read, way back when.

You are a wonderful writer, whose work has provoked a lot of thought.

:champagne:

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@Empress_Nightmare
Good point. There was a time when I would only play a game if it contained romance; it was my main concern. I wouldn’t play games if there was no romance in it, which was pretty limiting. Nowadays, I’ve grown to care less about it. It’s not my main preoccupation. I just wanna play a good story, romance or not. I’m not sure why I stopped caring about romance so much, but I know a lot of readers are still that way.

@Nocturnal_Stillness
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I think his art has a lot to do with why people play the game. At least, it has a lot to do with why people give it a chance. It’s striking art and sets the tone well. I remember the art he did for Unnatural as well. Man, his art was really well-suited for interactive fiction, and I can’t tell you why exactly. I will forever lament his departure, but I imagine he’s being very talented somewhere else.

@Eiwynn
I hear that a lot from people–that it’s the first demo they played. I got into CoG at a pretty pivotal time when it was picking up steam. It’s cool to see it going strong years later. And thank goodness, too, because I took my time getting this game out.

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?

@Lowern

It’s the achievement system. Fixed. Thanks for letting me know.

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image

Escaping that place while I’m dying and seeing the professor right before I die.

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Heh, yes! I’m morbidly excited someone got that end scene; I was wondering if anyone would. The scene should only trigger if somehow Doctor is not dead by the end of the game. Doctor dies in most playthroughs.

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This poped up: “two line 2310: bad label cardeadachieve”
at chapter 2 when Elena is trying to kill Carmella and I decided to watch as she continues
Is it a bug?