Tale of Two Cranes (Out March 7)

Fulfill your epic destiny in mythic ancient China! Lead armies, wield magic, and put an emperor on the throne - or become the emperor yourself!

Tale of Two Cranes is a 750,000-word interactive epic historical fantasy novel by @SharpOne and @TwoSharp. It’s entirely text based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

The mighty Qin dynasty has fallen. As the land breaks into warring states, everyone must choose their side in the growing civil war.

Within this epic turmoil, you have been chosen to fulfill a grand but mysterious destiny. You are a Yǒngshì warrior, bonded with a heavenly spirit that grants you magical powers, and trained since childhood in the arts of battle. Your spirit is greater than any Yǒngshì has ever been: you are the mortal link to the Red-Crowned Crane, a mystical patron unique among all of the heavens…or so you thought. As war rises around you, you discover that there is a rival: Chan Ming, bonded to the Other Crane, is the only person who could ever match your power - or he might even exceed it.

Your mystical power can sway the course of the war and determine who will be the next emperor. Whose faction will you choose: Liu Bang, a charismatic lord beloved by the people; or Xiang Yu, a veteran of war respected by the military? Can you navigate the politics of the Imperial court, or will you gather your power in seclusion at your country estate? When China’s enemies encroach from the northern steppes, can you negotiate with them to call a truce - or even win them over as allies? Will you prove your loyalty to the new Emperor, or will you betray your allies at every turn? Uncover conspiracies of spies, trace the source of rebellions and mutinies, blackmail an Empress, marry into the Imperial family to become the power behind the throne - or even become the Emperor yourself!

And through it all, cross paths and swords with your rival, the Other Crane. Will you defeat him in an epic battle for the ages, or will you join him and create the most powerful mystical partnership the realm has ever known?

  • Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bi or asexual.

  • Find romance amongst your six closest allies or opt for an arranged marriage.

  • Choose from four magical classes: mystic, militant, sage or strategist.

  • Unravel the mystery of your mystical link to the Crane and discover the truth behind your unique connection to a fellow warrior.

  • Fight epic battles across a landscape inspired by the Warring States period of ancient China.

  • Build your personal power, customizing your estate to create a place specializing in military training, agriculture, spiritual enlightenment, scholarship, commerce, and more!

  • Master the Imperial court to propel yourself into the administration, nobility, or even to become ruler of all China!

Your destiny calls, and a new dynasty awaits!

We LOVE feedback, good or bad, as long as it stays constructive and thoughtful. Typos, bug reports, suggestions or questions, all are appreciated!

This game was submitted for the COG contest and won second place! :smile: It is set to release 3/7/24 under the Hosted Games label.

If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to myself or @TwoSharp.

308 Likes

Sounds good so far I’m going to give it a go

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Looking forward to seeing more of this!

I’m definitely likng what I’m seeing so far. It seems to have good replayability too. And I’m really enjoying this whole “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” vibe.

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Chapter 3 when your master shows up there’s a gender mismatch:

My heart clenches slightly signaling her partial lie, but even without my ability I know that she isn’t here out of the kindness in his heart.

Grammarly just now pointed out that signalling is incorrectly spelt and that ability wants a comma after it too.

Will edit if I spot anything else.

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@Harley_Robin_Evans, @lokidemon007, @Talyrion, and @LordOfLA thanks for checking out the demo! @SharpOne and I look forward to any additional feedback. :grin:

@LordOfLA Thanks for reporting those errors! We addressed the gender issue and comma, but signaling is spelled correctly for the US (I think two L’s are correct for UK spelling?)

Ah, not sure if there’s a difference for US/UK English there - I do have Grammarly set to UK English though.

Edit: Forgot to copy paste but at the function for Lord Xiang Yu in chapter three there was a sentence with “you’re army” instead of “your army”

Also another gender mismatch

Of course, he has no idea that my Master has already pledged his support to Lord Xiang Yu.

This debate has circled into pointlessness. Everyone who speaks out knows exactly which side their on and the rest are waiting to see what everyone shall do." Master says.

Should be they’re or they are.

A later choice:

He’s trusting me with such responsibility? I’m ready and willing to prove myself.

Gender mismatch.

Thanks for catching those, @LordOfLA. I’ve fixed those mistakes and updated the link.

Heh, I was hoping to keep all my reports to one edited post.

During the ride chatting with the alchemist:

“Afraid so. I was sickly as a child so my father ordered that I remain inside at all times least I bring shame to the family. It’s why my skin is as pale as the moon despite being from a working class family. My lack of ability to work was why I was sent to the Alchemy Guild.”

Should be “lest”. Grammarly suggests working class should be “working-class”.

“Oh, most defiantly.” I add while thinking that Lin Ninghong is aware of how her conflicting views will be seen by those loyal to Lord Xiang Yu.

Should be definitely.

At the very least this tells me that she’s somewhat willing to hide her beliefs for her own safety, granted that doesn’t mean she’s a threat.

Did you mean “not a threat” there?

“It’s been regulated to myth if I recall correctly… Heaven comes to you in the form of something rare, correct? What was it?” Xiang Yu asks.

Wants to be “relagated” I think.

While he effects me senses, my abilities still work. So far, he’s telling the truth.

Should be “my”.

No word has reached us yet of his progress nor have I received any messages from Master. I sent out a messenger myself, not only to update him on my progress in this rebellion,

Gender mismatch.

He might not voice his findings but his face is most expressive and give away what’s on his mind

Should probably be “giving away”.

risk insulting them and needing to deal with the political fallout from offending a king, even if they’re disposed kings

Shouild be deposed.

Morale is high, despite the pompous attitudes of the disposed kings

Also here.

I checked this twice and I was wondering if this is a bug that when you pick the option to attack the keep further (in scaling wall with Chan segment), you somehow return to the base waiting for order? Or is this meant to be o.o

@LordOfLA Thanks again and I’ve fixed most of those. A few seem to be UK and US spelling differences.

@Eggpop I found the error. There was an if statement that wasn’t triggering correctly; I fixed it and the link is updated.

No worries, just making a note of the errors that stick out at me.

Sometimes it amazes me at the fickleness of human emotion, especially since my appeal ability isn’t the strongest out there

Should this be “out here”?

He is surprisingly strong for a worthless Yǒngshì. Heaven has given him a chance to gain everything he could have ever dream of."

As is you probably want “dreamed” there, or you could remove “have”.

in the same village as some rebels, but it could been coincidental.

You have a missing word “could have been”.

Ok, ran out of demo. Looking forward to this being published in one way or another :smiley:

This may sound silly but I came to this wondering if it was a story about construction. Which is to say, I was thinking of a load-hauling crane, not the animal. Dunno if it’s enough to make you wonder about the title but it’s feedback, right?

5 Likes

I loved the demo and overall idea. Thanks for your hard work! Good luck!!!:wink:

Just read the word ancient chinese, i felt the need to comment. I didnt need to try the demo to know i’d be great. Thank you for being born and write this!!! :heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

An interesting game though what happened to All: replica series game

Can I just say that I LOVE how this game is set in China? It’s a fascinating country, and some of my favorite books are set in China.

I love the class options, by the way! It’s so distinct; it’s not your typical warrior, mage, and rogue (or any other equivalent). I can’t wait to play more. :slight_smile:

@Spire Is it weird that neither @SharpOne nor myself realized our readers could see “crane” and think of construction equipment? Yes? :sweat_smile: Well, hopefully if/when we get some cover art it won’t be as misleading.

@Eli_Knight and @Hoonie523433 Thanks for checking out the demo! Please let either @SharpOne or I know if you have any questions or feedback! :grin:

@Reaper_General Well, you see, @SharpOne is a bit out of practice when it comes to uploading a new game… (she may have accidently overlapped this one and replica’s files on dashingdon, it’s fixed now, but she must have forgotten to put the link back to public.) As to that game’s progress she and I agreed to put Tale of Two Cranes as our priority since replica and FPWD are far too ambitious to be completed in time for the contest.

@TruMaknae Glad you like it so far! @SharpOne and I wanted to have the game in a historical setting and China has such a rich and well-documented past that we were excited to use it. We’ve really enjoyed taking some of these historical figures and putting our own spin on them.

3 Likes

This WIP is one of my favorites on the site, and I can’t wait for it to be a full game.

My first reaction to historical based games is to try and break history, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to bring any characters to support Xiang Yu (assuming our support of him would indeed change history) haha.

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I think (!) my association first went to ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and construction cranes are probably more likely to crop up in a modern day city than the birds. :stuck_out_tongue:

That said, I enjoy classic Wuxia a good bit (Legends of the Condor Heroes and Demigods and Semi-Devils specifically), never mind the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. So this is good stuff in my eyes. If there’s anything I felt missing from my playthrough (as a strategist aligned with Cao Cao… er, you know who I mean) it’s the secret technique trope. But maybe that’s in the warrior branch.

Edit: One more thing! Zhang Er. Isn’t ‘Er’ a diminutive?