I was just watching the Let’s Play for Corpse Party. The entire first part of the game (forty minutes when voice-acted) is non-interactive, except for one bit where you can walk to a door. So I’d say that if a game is interesting enough and lets you know that you will have choices in the near future, a lengthy intro is not necessarily a dealbreaker.
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I seriously read that as “…except for one bit where you can walk into a door.” SMH.
Anyway, good to know. It’s definitely something I’m still concerned with, but I’ve decided to leave it be until I have the first section done and am ready for it to be tested and get some feedback.
I just learned that “murderee” is a word. Wow.
Todo for the first chapter:
-character interaction scenes with two different characters
-two other character interaction scenes that the player gets a choice between; considering another option to go alone (leaving the bar)
I think that’s it? This is mostly for my own sake so I know what needs to be done. Oh, and I’d also like to clean up the vampire info page in the stats screen a bit.
The biggest change so far is the implementation of custom character temperament (choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholic). So far this impacts dialogue exclusively (considering we’re not in the action stages yet). Other progress made is the transitional scene between talking to a character and getting things rolling to leave the bar. I also thought up a new major plot point that fits in well with everything else (and differs depending on the selected path).
The first two character interaction scenes I need to write will have a choice of dialogue. The second two will, as well, but it’s going to be a choice between two character interactions (or going alone). The availability of certain choices and dialogue options will be dependent on species.
What I’m planning is that there will be very noticeable differences between the human and vampire paths, but they’ll be similar enough until towards the end that I don’t need to write two completely different stories.
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Okay! Got about another 1,700 words done. Everything up to the first part of the first character interaction scene is finished. I put in a way to make each interaction between the two characters optional, as well. The first part that I’m referring to here is actually the introduction of a new character (a new decision on my part!).
I’ve also made the decision to include a secondary temperament, though I still need to decide where this will be introduced.
First chapter checklist:
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finish first character interaction scene
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second character interaction scene
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scene with two other characters (this won’t be as long as the other scenes)
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choice setup for getting a ride home from one character, the other, or neither
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additional part for vampire going home scene with first character (should be pretty short)
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additional part for vampire going home scene with second character (should be pretty short)
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additional part for vampire going home scene alone (should be pretty short)
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getting a ride home scene with first character
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getting a ride home scene with second character
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chapter ending scene
This update brings us to a current total of 10,827 words (excluding part of a scrapped scene that will appear later on).
Exciting news! I’ve uploaded to dashingdon (not publicly). I’m hoping to get more done on a day to day basis, but I think that should be more doable now that I finally toughed through the transition scene I was stuck on. I have a specific list of scenes to work on and I already know how I’d like to write them. I was also stuck on where to start the next chapter for a while and I’ve figured out a way to do so that serves as a starting point for learning about MC’s past (something I was concerned with).
Currently there are four female characters and five male characters. Each can be romanced, with the exception of two characters who can only be romanced by a character of the same gender.
In the most recent update I also cleaned up a bit (as always). So far the vast majority of what’s written is character interaction. That will change as the story progresses, though I’m aiming to still include a good amount of character interaction because that’s one of my favorite parts in these types of games😄
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Ugh. Windows is so annoying. I was planning on getting more done tonight than what I did (about half of what I still needed to finish that first character interaction), but Windows decided that this was the perfect time for a mandatory reset to update. I tried to change the time to later but it wouldn’t let me because I put it off for so long already. Considering I’ve been sitting here for the past five minutes and it’s only a quarter through its shutting down process for updating, it’s no wonder why I put it off😑
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Got about 700 words done tonight. I know it’s more than that because I cleaned up some areas after figuring out how to code them in a less complicated way. First character interaction scene on my checklist is finished!
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It took me way too long to figure out that certain questions weren’t showing up because I put the temp variable creation at the beginning of the scene that the questions went back to, meaning that immediately after setting the variable to true, it was set back to false. GDI.
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About 1,000 words tonight. I got a good portion of the second character scene done. I’m actually writing more for it than I planned to make up for not being able to learn more about the second character (because reasons). This is the first scene where stats get tested!
And some exciting news: I added achievements!
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Around 2,200 words today. The second character scene is finished! It has a lot of different possible paths.
Adding my list again here for my own sake.
-
scene with two other characters (this won’t be as long as the other scenes)
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choice setup for getting a ride home from one character, the other, or neither
-
additional part for vampire going home scene with first character (should be pretty short)
-
additional part for vampire going home scene with second character (should be pretty short)
-
additional part for vampire going home scene alone (should be pretty short)
-
getting a ride home scene with first character
-
getting a ride home scene with second character
-
chapter ending scene
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This is so completely off topic but I need to post it and I’d feel weird posting it anywhere else.
I was just thinking about opposed stats for no particular reason and for whatever reason my brain was just like.
What if someone made a game where the only stat was this:
*stat_chart
opposed_pair Gay
Really Gay
I’m thinking someone makes this pointless game and it’s just one page that loops and it asks “Are you gay?” and the only options are like “Yeah.” and “Hell Yeah.” And when yeah is selected it increases the gay stat and when hell yeah is selected it increases the really gay stat.
This is what I’m like at one AM holy shit.
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Just posting to say that this WiP definitely has my attention and I enjoy the fact your giving a lot of updates. Looking forward to an eventual demo (if you’ve got one planned)
Yep! I’m planning to release a demo once I finish the first chapter (the list I have set up). And commenting with updates constantly helps me stay on track and pushes me to finishing my goal. I’m an experienced writer, but this is my first game, so I’m excited. But it also gets frustrating because I’m still just learning how to code.
Truthfully, I’m planning on submitting this for the COG contest if I finish it by then😄
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I just realized that in all three groups of characters I’ve introduced, there’s a man and a woman who bicker with each other.
In one group, it’s because the woman is the kind of person who would start a bar fight for fun and the man is uptight and manner focused.
In another group, it’s because their relationship involves playful banter and that’s essentially how they communicate.
In the other group, it’s because the guy is sensitive and emotional and the girl is a lot like a teenager who smashes mailboxes to vent the frustrations of puberty.
How did I not notice this until now, though.
I mean, I’m definitely planning on all of them (or at least the first two groups–I’m not sure if the third will be more than side characters in this scene yet, but it’s possible) having wildly different relationships with each other. The first two do, more or less, do actually hate each other, the second two have more of a sibling relationship, and the last two…it’s complicated and I haven’t considered it enough yet because I don’t know if those characters will return later in the story or not.
But just. How. How did I not notice this until now.
I spent most of my allotted writing time polishing up everything (changing ellipses to the correct style for COG and such) as well as spelling/grammar checking tonight. I also got started on the next scene on the list. I’d say it’s probably about halfway done, and the next bit (choice setup for who to get a ride home from or going alone) should be quick to write.
I’m coming to the final stretch of the first chapter, so it shouldn’t be too much longer until I post the demo.
Current word count is 15,652.
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Sneak peak to show that this is 100% deadly serious story.
[spoiler]Your younger teammate nods slowly. “Right…” He turns to you. “So, who’s more likely to be the protagonist of a vampire romance novel?”
*choice
Vlad.
Jayce.
Me.
This is stupid.[/spoiler]
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Quick update since I’ve been so quiet: I was scheduled a lot more than I’m used to (9hr shifts😑) last week, but I’m hoping to get the ball rolling on this again starting tomorrow. I work quite a bit this week, too, but they’re morning shifts so it should still give me time to work on the game☺
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I’ve managed to finish the bit I was working on and set up the next branching choice (who to get a ride home with). That’s another 1,455 words for tonight.
So, now:
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scene getting a ride home from character one
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additional human and vampire parts for character one scene
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scene getting a ride home from character two
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additional human and vampire parts for character two scene
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scene getting home alone (with additional vampire scene)
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chapter ending scene
These scenes are largely going to consist of dialogue between MC and either character (excluding the third option, obviously). The first chapter is largely for establishing characters, character relationships, and setting.
Here’s a little preview of the profound conversations between characters:
“Alas…as much as we’d all love to spend the rest of the night discussing your status as a vampire aphrodisiac, I do need my beauty sleep. So what’s up?”
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