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

It was pretty clear. I just forgot about the harness being for concealment purposes. Thanks for clearing it up. I’m going to do the demo again and see what else I can find out.

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Thank you! Sometimes it’s difficult for me to know if something I write conveys to others what I want it to convey. I appreciate the outside help and feedback.

Found a couple slight spelling errors. When you ask the doctor ‘why you can’t leave?’ He says, “You’ll never have a place. You are a freak to him. But here you are perfect.” Shouldn’t be them instead of him? When asking Kel and Ashton ‘why they came here?’ Kel explanis what’s going on… “Listen…some kids have wandered all the way up to the sixth floor”. (Should be explains.) Also, when I tell Carmelle I’m atrracted to her as a woman she refers to me as a man the rest of the conversation. I’m really liking it so far it’s very creepy and has a bit of a hopeless feel to it. Which I can dig can’t wait till there is more to read :grinning:

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Wow, this game was… wow. I truly enjoyed every minute of playing this (I even created this account just to be able to say this to you!) and I think you are extremely talented writer. Original, perfectly thought-out characters, intriguing plot, excellently captured grim atmosphere and a lot of choices to pick from! This game caught my heart and I simply couldn’t pass the opportunity to express how much excited I feel about this project. I discovered Blood for Poppies just the day before yesterday but it’s already my favourite game on Choice of Games (if not favourite game ever) and I honestly think you’re creating something very special here.

First of, the depressive atmosphere is very skilfully used (as I said above) and radiates from the text. The building alone is pretty gloomy, but when you know something so… wrong like Doctor lives there, it’s terrifying. It’s so unnerving, I always hope life there isn’t so horrible as it seems. I can’t help but still have this merciful happy idea in my head of four young freaks living ‘alone together’ (from the text I understood that Doctor isn’t usually around, but correct me, if I’m wrong!), messing around in empty halls most of the time and accepting each other for what they are without prejudice (even Carmelle has emotions, no matter how weak and damaged they are). When PC meets twins in the beginning and hears about kids smoking pot downstairs, all three of them almost seem like ordinary grounded teens who argue about sneaking out to the party. I always like to imagine they actually have real fun sometimes and get to goof around a little instead of never-ending suffering. All in all, the atmosphere in the game is scary and weird, but you can feel some kind of… I don’t know, safety? No, that’s not it. It’s more like comforting friendship (with twins, anyway) that was able to grow in this hell, it’s like what PC can say at one point – they are family. And even as you go through all that dreadful stuff Doctor throws in your way, you still know you have… well… somebody (assuming you, as an author, won’t write some cruel plot twist, because in that case I’ll probably go cry to my pillow).

Characters in the story are amazing. And I mean it. When I try to write stories, creating characters is the most difficult thing for me, so I was stunned when I saw your writing – your characters are original and seem so natural, you write with such ease… I have no idea how you do it. One would think that in this type of story you would be tempted to create clichéd uninteresting personalities but you’ve easily avoided it and even when you are forced to write some trope, like mad obsessive scientist who lives with his horrifying genetic experiments you take it to whole new and distinctive direction. I also really like the fact that other characters have different sexual orientations (hetero, homo and bi). It feels much more realistic when you can romance only certain people while being certain gender. Also, characters keep surprising you ALL THE TIME, which is great! And that dream sequence… I love it so much. I like how it’s completely different with every freak and reader (well, maybe only me) doesn’t know if it’s just a dream and PC subconsciously knows other freaks disturbingly well, or if PC actually connected to one of them. Also, I wonder if Kel really ate a raw bird once (I always imagine it was still alive for some horrible reason). It totally sounds like something he would do, yet at the same time it’s so unlike him – I love how you managed to capture this torturing duality in his character in very pleasant, believable way. Readers don’t KNOW about it, they FEEL it. Your characters have depth, real personality and it’s very easy to fall in love with them.

Plot is original and fascinating. Even though we are just in the beginning (at least I hope so!), there were already many unexpected twists and it blows my mind. Well done!

I’m so, sooo sorry for this long comment, but I just HAD to tell you how amazing I think this game is. Wish you best luck in the future!

P.S. Can I ask you something? In the end, Doctor can (depending on your choices) say something interesting about twins. We know basically from the start that Carmelle is normal, twenty-five years old human and is considered freak only because she has damaged brain, so I obviously didn’t think she has anything to do with Poppy. Yet, during first gameplays I assumed she is mere exception and everyone but her is made from Poppy’s genetic material. But then Doctor says that thing about twins and… wait, so Kel and Ashton aren’t really clones? And if they aren’t, does that mean they have (if I don’t find a way to lengthen my life) like twenty times longer life-span than PC? Because if that’s true, then wow, sucks to be me! Also, if I am wrong and they ARE in fact clones and I romance one of them, does that mean I’m dating myself (or theoretically my brother)? Because that would be really… ugh…

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I’m not that bad… dang.

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Of course you aren’t, sir! You are one great, phenomenal man and everybody knows it!
Please don’t sell my eyeballs on black market… it was the other ones, not me, I swear!

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Glad you were able to finish the revamp. Sorry I wasn’t more help I hope you at least found the Unnatural code useful.

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@Kardney

I’m thrilled to read your compliments. Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts and although you signed up to comment on this game, I hope you stick around. There are a lot of great games and cool people in this community.

First, I’ll answer your questions about Kel, Ashton and Doctor. These answers are nothing new and can be found in the currently playable version of the game, but the information is scattered. There are two versions of the scene with the machine ‘Poppy.’ One involves Doctor more and requires a loyalty score of five or more. The other involves Alyce more and requires a loyalty score below 5.

The version that involves Doctor contains information, but this information is filtered since Doctor is the one telling it. The other version contains more unbiased information as the MC is able to search Doctor’s bookcase and his cabinet to find first-hand accounts.

You can stop reading here if you’d rather play it for yourself, but otherwise I’ll tell you what you can find. In his journal Doctor mentions that Poppy adopted the twins. Later Doctor grafted their demonic traits onto them. They aren’t actually genetic monstrosities. So, yes, their lifespans are normal. There are ways for the MC to cheat their fate that come up in later chapters.

Now, here are some of my own thoughts on Doctor. This is also info already in the game, albeit scattered. Doctor is a very average scientist at best. He had a modicum amount of respect with his colleagues, but he isn’t naturally brilliant. Poppy was actually more brilliant than he, but she didn’t have the same opportunities as Doctor. She created the cloning machine initially. Doctor controlled Poppy, and then controls Kel, Ashton and the others. He grafts the freakish features onto the twins and the MC and also messes Carmelle’s mind up so that they’re stuck in the apartment with him. He created an environment he can completely control, one completely dependent on him, one that reinforces his ego. Essentially, Doctor is an insecure person, and his insecurity has made him delusional. He isn’t brought down by his genius. His folly is his lack of it, and his inability to accept this.

@Doctor

But, of course, you’re the good Doctor.

@Nocturnal_Stillness
Thank you and no problem. I understand! It’s hard enough to live your own life and do your own work, much less take on someone else’s. And, unfortunately, this turned out to be a task only I could really complete myself. Some of the organization is so messy that even I, the author, had trouble parsing it and trying to figure out my original intentions, much less someone else.

But you’ve been a great supporter, which means a lot to me.

You are very welcome! This game is awesome and it deserves to be complimented.

Thanks a lot for clearing everything up for me! I was a bit confused but now I finally understand. Doctor was always creepy, but now that I know why he is the way he is, it’s unsettling in whole new way. Speaking of Doctor, this is kinda off topic, but there are really cool and beautiful illustrations of all main freaks in the game (I heard it was done by Pale_Strider?), yet there are no pictures of Doctor or Alyce. Will we ever see ‘canon‘ versions of them?

Oh, and two more things! First one: I‘ve played the game a couple more times and I’ve found this weird thing:

When you enter the Doctor’s room in the end (just before you meet Poppy), you are given three options: ‘Go to bookshelf‘, ‘Go to the leaning cabinet of documents‘ and ‘Go towards the large object covered by a sheet‘.
If you go to the bookshelf, you can read Doctor’s log, read the old book, or read nothing.
If you go to the cabinet, you are given four choices: read article, look through picture album, look in manilla folder, or stop looking through the cabinet. Now, the weird thing is that when I pick one of these options, for example I wanna read the article, the game tells me what does it say but then automatically re-routes me back to bookshelf menu (even if I go to cabinet first).
So, basically, what happens is: I click on ‚read article‘ and I’ll get this text (or some other variation of it, depending on what I chose to do while searching cabinet)…

‘The old newspaper reads:
“Missing Person! Grace ‘Poppy’ Summers disappeared three years ago from
today. She was a parttime nurse at the Summerset Hospital. Grace was of average
height with red hair, blue eyes and pale skin. Any information on her
wherebouts should be reported to the Summerset Police Station.”

You see several books of interest, including Doctor’s log book and a well-worn book with dog-eared pages. Which do you read?‘

…and suddenly there are bookshelf choices underneath (‘read Doctor’s log‘, ‘read Book‘, ‘read nothing‘)
If I then choose ‘read nothing‘ and go back to original choices, the option to go to cabinet dissapears. As a result, I can see only one thing from the cabinet (article, album, or folder) during gameplay and not more.
Is this intentional? (And does anything I wrote above make sense? I tried but it’s struggle to explain this easily)

Second: I’m not sure if the game really keeps track of my loyalty to Doctor, because I can’t see it in the stats. When I go to stats screen, there is always a sign, that reads: ‘text loyalty to Doctor‘ but there is no number. I tried numerous times, but I always get the same ending and can make any choices I like no matter how loyal (or not loyal) I was during the game. Is it only me? Or is it supposed to be like that?

(Gosh, please, forgive me for spamming like that! I have no control over it.)

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@Kardney

This is the opposite of spam! This is useful! Thank you! It looks like you found some bugs. Should be easy to fix these.

The game should be keeping track of loyalty, but I’ll look into it to make sure there’s nothing silly stupid going on with it.

I wish I could get more art, but the original artist is no longer on these forums. I’m not dripping in funds to commission more artwork either. I’d love to, but le sigh

Gee, I’m glad it’s not too annoying!

Thank you! I hate to complicate your work, it’s just I noticed these wierd things and I thought I should let you know. I don’t know if it’s really a bug, could be just something wrong with me, no idea. Anyway, I really appreciate you’ll check it out!

I totally understand. It goes without saying your private life should be priority. I can imagine how tough it must to keep this project going and I’m glad you invest your time in it! It means a lot for everyone, who enjoy this game. Thank you!

No, no. Never apologize for reporting bugs and mistakes! :smile: You (and everyone else) really do me a service by pointing these things out. It’s better for them to be caught and fixed while in the alpha stage than for them to stay in the game and never be fixed. This game is pretty complicated believe it or not, so it’s unfortunately pretty easy for me to miss a lot of errors during testing.

I’ll eventually find the funds and the right artist for some new art. I’d love to get a picture of Doctor done, and I’d even love to get some art for the endings. But, of course, right now that’s a lower priority than finishing the game within my lifetime haha.

When I think of Doctor I think of doctor beardface from scrubs (I dunno why)

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I approve of this image. I haven’t seen the show in forever, but yeah that guy has the “look.”

Ok, so it’s been a whole month since I posted in here. I only want to assure everyone that progress on the fourth chapter of BfP is going swimmingly. I unexpectedly added a new character, but I think people will really appreciate the plot twists coming up. A lot of what was set up earlier in the game starts to pay off in this chapter.

IDK when the new chapter will be out for people to play. I’ve got the first part of it written, and most of it planned out. I reckon story-wise I’m a little more than half-way through with the plot.

Thanks for sticking with me everyone. I started grad school this August and things got pretty hectic really quickly.

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Happy to hear, I eagerly await any and all updates.

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Huzzah! New chapter! Thanks for sticking with the story.

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I love this game so much and I am so happy it’s continuing. I love the dark vibe of this game, yet the characters still have to live day to day here.

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First, thank you everyone for being so kind. It is utterly gratifying to see people enjoying my little creation.

@Victoriya
Yes, I suppose I went for a sort of “lived-in” creepiness for the story if that makes sense. The story isn’t about unfathomable, metaphysical and incomprehensible horror (although there are some really gothic “fantasy” elements). It’s really about very grounded things. Essentially Doctor is just a mediocre scientist with a God complex to make up for his crushing insecurity and inability to be “great” in the world outside of his creation. The horror is brought on by flawed people hurting each other, and the more tender elements are of flawed people trying to make the best of a bad situation.

I know I’ve been in places like that in my life (I’ve had people do very bad and very good things that have dramatically impacted my life), which is why I hold the personal belief that the true light and the true darkness in the world is in the people we’re stuck with on this planet. I’m sure other people have different perspectives on this, but this belief really influences the stories I create.

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I figured I’d pop in here to say that I’m absolutely still working on this. I hope to have chapter 4, which is the next chapter, released by the end of next week. I’ve been buried in school work, but winter break is coming up, and so hopefully I’ll have more time.

I’m also finding that the structure of Poppies makes my progress slow. Chapter 4 isn’t particularly long, but it it is sprawling. There are many branching paths and scenes that change depending on past events, and these don’t make for fast writing. However, I really feel like the final product will be improved by this.

As I look around at other choice games and the general trend of media, I notice that they tend to be getting more inclusive as far as expressions of gender and sexuality go. This is wonderful, and something I’m considering for Poppies. However, I’m not going to mess with anything like that until I’ve completed the game. I’m afraid to distract myself too much before I even have a complete product. Once I am finished, however, there are a number of features I’m considering adding. For one, there isn’t much support for friendship in the game, and there are really only three romances implemented (Carmelle, Kel, and Ashton). Alyce was always intended as a romance, but in reality I probably won’t implement it until I’m finished.

Anyway, thank you everyone for the patience and support! Besides school (which is murdering me), this game is my priority. Here’s to hoping that my next post contains a link to chapter 4!

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