Bridge Ices Before Road - WIP Prologue complete update 10/29/24

Hi! I’m Gem. I’m a longtime lurker finally trying my hand at programming. I used to write mostly (exclusively) fanfiction. This is my first time making a thread so hopefully all goes well. Thank you in advanced for checking out my post. <3
The demo is really, really short right now! I’ll be updating it pretty consistently until I have something meaty, like a full prologue and the beginning (at least!) of chapter 1. Feel free to check out the weirdly-arranged placeholders haha.

DEMO: https://dashingdon.com/play/grramma/bridge-ices-before-road/mygame/
TUMBLR: @bridgeicesbeforeroadif on Tumblr

~Summary~

Was there anything that could get between you and a gold medal?

Well, yes. A lot of things. There’s your family, including your annoying younger sibling. Moving back home with them will be tough, but it allows you to focus on your gains. There are competitions to win, and you have to stay in peak condition all the while. You also have your mother breathing down your neck to make sure nothing jeopardizes your chances at success. Your father is more hands-off. He almost always has half of his mind on work, even when he’s at home.

Your coach will guide you through the ups and downs of skating, as they’ve never let you down before. They remind you of your father a bit, never able to fully turn off part of their brain that thinks about work. You hope they remember to relax, and let you do the same.

Your childhood friend-turned-rival is always one step ahead of you these days. They beat you out as part of the top couple in the pairs free skate last year, and since then you haven’t been able to top their performances. You used to be friends, but now there was a fire in their eyes when they looked at you. Will you be able to mend this friendship?

Even worse, you run into an old bully of yours (that you might secretly have had a crush on since forever ago) who has just been appointed the captain of the local hockey team. He plays at your local rink now, and that means you’ll be seeing each other more than you’d like.

You find a friend in a fellow skater who becomes something of a pen-pal to you. They reach out over social media, and there’s an instant connection. They’re a total sweetheart, and you can’t wait to meet them at the first event.

Finding your place again in your old hometown might sound tough, but nothing is tougher than being an Olympic athlete. You have to juggle training along with all that, but you try not to let it get you down. After all, skating is your passion!

Don’t let the creepy figure outside your bedroom at night get you down. If you ignore it, it will be fine. It was just your imagination… right? Draw the curtains, drink some warm milk, and put on some music to drown out the haunting song whistled into the gaps in your windows. Tonight, you escape into your dreams knowing all the exits are locked up tight and there’s no way in. It’s all in your head.

But remember, escaping isn’t always an option.

~Features~

  • Customize your MC! Name, sexuality, appearance, hair, eyes, clothing, and more!
  • Find friendship or romance in the least likely places! Each route has its own ups and downs with tailored story-telling.
  • Get stalked by a really big fan. No, I mean like a REALLY big fan. They know things about you that no one else does! Will you get away? Or will you be unable to stop their villainous plot?
  • Win (or lose) against the best skaters in the country– and the world!
Romance Options

Dallas Doverman

male/6’0/20yo

  • The hockey team captain. He bullied you in elementary and middle school. You can select whether or not you had a crush on him. They certainly had one on you, and that’s why they picked on you so much, not that you knew. Nowadays, instead of helping his dad around at the skate rental and pulling your pigtails, he plays ice hockey with the big boys. He was the youngest on the team, but sttill made captain in such a short time.
  • Dallas is tall and broad. His straight black hair is longer on top and rests above his ears, trimmed short on the sides. He’s grown a lot and lost that old baby fat that clung to his cheeks. A dark beard forms on his face, but doesn’t fully block out his skin.

Vincenzo/Valentina Ciolfi

selectable m or f/5’8 or 5’5/18yo

  • They were once your friend. Then, you went to Boxcroft and they didn’t. It was a shock to everyone, V included. They swore to get better and become your superior someday. You hadn’t expected it to affect your relationship, but it did. You drifted apart, their hostility ever-growing and there was nothing you could do about it.
  • With dewy, caramel skin and shoulder-length golden brown and almost blonde locs kept in a low ponytail, V just screams “over it.” They did not care enough to do anything to their hair or pick out a nice outfit. They do that for competitions, and that’s enough.

Argo/Allegra Papandreou

Selectable m or f/5’10 or 5’6/28yo

  • Your coach. They were just like you, hailed as a prodigy until they graduated school, then they stopped being a rising star and became a plateauing one. You followed their career almost religiously, and always wondered what changed. They only started coaching for you. Before that, they worked in accounting, the business for which they got their degree. You couldn’t believe that was what happened to the Starchild of Skating in the 2010’s. They saw real talent in you at a young age and changed career paths. You hope you weren’t a mistake.
  • Dark brown hair falls in waves over Argo’s ears. Anita wears hers long, down to her waist. They are leanly muscled, but toned all over. Even after years of being out of the game, they had not let their body grow flabby or let it fall out of use. They look as ripped as they did in their teens when they stole the show at Nationals when they were your age.

Bernhard Wagner

male/6’5/20yo

  • Someone that will eventually face you at the Olympics, you think. He’s friendlier than a competitor has any right to be and reached out to you in your private messages on Blipsta. He always speaks in a really cute way, with all kinds of emojis. He complimented your technique and you got to talking. He made it so easy to open up to him.
  • You don’t know what Bernhard looks like, not really. He did tell you that he’s tall and has blonde hair, but you kind of expected that. You guess you just have to wait to meet him.
Update Log

10/26/24- Added suggested names list. Added hair length, hair color, and eye color choices. Added stats page.
10/29/24- (Kind of) Meet A and Bernhard for the first time! Through text. And fall asleep!

55 Likes

You said it is “currently” genderlocked female. I would want it to stay that way. Not every story needs to have gender choice. But of course at the end it is your decision.

It is a lot of placeholder stuff yet. I would recommend writing the prologue and first whole chapter. This was too short for me to really say anything more than that I like the premise of the story.

I wish you good luck on your writing carrier!

20 Likes

Found a bug :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Woah. I certainly wasn’t expecting a WIP thread so soon after you posted that interest check.

It’s still pretty short, so there’s little useful feedback I can give for now.

Actually, regarding first and last names, could you come up with a list of default options? I’m generally pretty lazy to type stuff. :sweat_smile:

3 Likes

Is this genderlocked or not?

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Thank you! I finally fixed this bug! it was giving me trouble hehe <3

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My bad, I need to edit that. ^^; It is gender locked female. That slipped by me! Sorry about the confusion!

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Sure thing! It’s set close to modern day USA so there’s likely not to be anything heart-stopping, but I can try! Thanks for checking it out anyway, I’m glad that I have at least something small to show for it. I’ve just fixed a few errors and updated the files for you guys on that. I haven’t figured out fully how to hide my placeholders but that’s my next step so I can keep a little bit of mystery for the readers, then I’ll get to work on some name suggestions. Thanks so much for replying! It’s good to see you again! <3

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Shame, I wanted to play my Yuri on Ice dreams as a male figure skater, oh well. Good luck on the IF (I don’t play female gender lock). Also I got this error when I clicked?

6 Likes

Sorry! This error should be fixed now. Thank you so much for giving it a chance anyway! <3

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I like what I read, hopefully we can have some time with our sibling as well to push the ‘friendship’ higher :laughing: so there will be a better understanding with each other :blush: I’m looking forward to more and I will bookmark it :grinning:

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Found these bugs:

Summary


When I choose to have the gender of the ROs mixed

When trying to set both of them to female

2 Likes

Verifying was mentioned. Yep, same issue and unable to continue.

2 Likes

I like the idea, I’m interested in seeing more.

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Nooo, I’d like it to change, I’ve been waiting for an ice skating story but I only play as male :disappointed:

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Thanks so much! I got those bugs out of there. Please let me know if ya’ll encounter any more! <3

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And I only female. I fully get you! :sweat_smile:

4 Likes

Yep! I wanna see a lot more and I only play female.

Love the concept idea.

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I love the idea, it’ll be nice to see more from this :slight_smile: I love figure skating, I love IF, what could be better than a combination of the two :smile:. I even gave a passing thought ages ago to writing something similar myself so I’m glad that someone else is actually doing it lmao!!

2 Likes

hehe that’s why I started writing it. I wanted to read it! I hope when there’s more out that you can enjoy the read! <3

1 Like