Crème de la Crème Discussion and Romance Guide (Spoilers Within)

Of course, no pressure felt :slight_smile: Future stuff is a ways in the future anyway, so I’ll see how things look when the time comes for future projects!

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If I were to help you brainstorm your idea, I’d begin by suggesting making the story a prequel instead of a sequel. Creme de la Creme is set in the late 20’s, so you can actually go back a generation with the characters and explore their parents involvement with one and the others during the Great War years.

Since your development of the parents are vague at best at this point, you can easily structure them to lead to the Creme de la Creme setting at the end. The variables already included with the MC parents present clear alternative paths and you’ve set yourself up for success already.

Writing about war does not mean glorifying it. An example, which you can draw upon is: “This War of Mine.”

Here is their descriptor:

While, unusual in gaming, this approach is seen elsewhere both in stories (Anne Frank) and movies (Schindler’s List) and done with great impact.

The personal accounts of civilians caught in war during the Great Conflict is another source of material to draw upon for your non-gloryifying telling of war.

I will never forget the story I was told of a great grandmother’s struggle to find food during this time. Often she and her mother would visit the front and take the dead horses that were used by the allies for supply that expired or were killed in battle.

Even if you wanted to write about actual battle and such there are non-glorifying inspirations to look to, such as Red Badge of Courage.

It might have some depressing aspects but I’m sure you have the writing talent to turn the experience into a positive and even at times impactful experience such as done with “This War of Mine.”

Anyways, if you ever want to free-associate or bounce things off another, PM me and we’ll set it up.

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That’s very kind, thank you for the offer :relaxed: I’ve enjoyed reading a lot of memoirs about the First World War particularly, as well as a lot of war poetry and some historical fiction. And This War of Mine is definitely on my list of games to play - I’ve heard a lot of good things about it!

I think my main concern about such a project would be that the way I’d want do it, it wouldn’t be very much fun to play. Compelling and interesting, hopefully, but not very empowering for the protagonist and potentially a bit too grim. Whereas for a long project, especially a CoG one where PCs tend to have more agency (though there are exceptions of course), I’m more inclined towards a more society-focused theme with occasional dark bits. But it’s very interesting to consider different options!

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I believe you can achieve your goals without falling into the traps you are worried about. There are a couple of Hosted Games I would point you to for examples and inspiration.

The first is: “Divided We Fall.” This is a story about the Spanish Civil War and in my opinion, it does not glorify war but it is a very engaging and compelling game … and some, such as I, consider it “fun.”

The second is: “Somme Trench” a Choice Script game dealing with … WW1. Again, I do not think this game glorifies war but it is more focused on the soldier’s experience than either Divide We Fall or you seem to want to.

There is a huge fan base here, developed by @Cataphrak in his Dragoon series of HG works that enjoy a challenging, non-power fantasy type of war game. Paul’s MC goes through many trials and tribulations … even a “Dishonored” path that focused on the societal theme of Imperialism and its impact on a non-imperial power. If you haven’t explored this series, this might be another Choice Script game to explore.

I know this is way off-topic but I do not want you to strangle this infant idea of its life before you can see it mature and grow into a possible game that would enrich and benefit us all.

If I did not believe in you as an author and your ability as a writer, I would have dropped this already :two_hearts:

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I would also say that the war in the Infinity series is still satisfying for the player because we at least are an officer and able to make changes on the tactical, if not the strategic level. So the player/reader and their character are still “rewarded” for their actions, without it necessarily glorifying war or making the mc all-powerful (very far from it, in fact).

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Weekly update: December, Week 4

Week’s Wordcount: 7189 words
Total Wordcount: 198K words

I was all ready to post something apologetic about not having managed to work much over the holidays, and then calculated my weekly wordcount and…well, you see the numbers. I entirely underestimated how much I did, in a good way.

What I’ve been doing:

-Writing Chapter 7: Completed the early scenes of the chapter, as well as four major branches. I’m about to draw the branches together to make two, which is what will happen next week. I’m super pleased with my progress, not least because I wasn’t expecting to get so much done over the holidays, and right now it’s looking like Chapter 7 will be finished in good time.

As of this post, the teaser poll is still open so if you haven’t voted yet, please do! As an amusing side-effect, because I set it to show results upon voting I can’t actually see who is/are leading, which adds another level of suspense to the whole thing!

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@HannahPS I found myself immediately enjoying the premise as well as the collection of attributes. I’m not sure why, but I decided to simultaneously focus flair and poise. I was enjoying the character and the challenges he was offered.

I do think Blaise is a bit overdone. I’d rather he just be a strong-willed kid who hates that you are there rather than be such a little shit. He’s not the worst antagonist I’ve seen, and if he doesn’t come back then I suppose it doesn’t matter much, but he did wound my interest a bit, though not enough for me to stop playing. The little scene with the choice of beds was refreshing.

At the moment, I would definitely buy this game upon release.

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Thank you very much for the comments! I’m glad you enjoyed it despite not being so into Blaise, and hope you enjoy any later updates and the future release :slight_smile:

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I used to want to punch blaise
But i read that short story bout them
Now i may actually like them
Not too much mind u
Just a bit

:fox_face:

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Punching Blaise is not a good idea, perhaps that’s the precise purpose for Blaise to trick us into a violent conduct so that we will be expel :slight_smile:

So no matter what Blaise did… take a deep breath and cheers :-):grin:

Oh, in my playthrough Blaise got expelled.. I like the feel of this game- it somewhat reminds me of like an Anne of Green Gables mixed with Downton Abbey. Sometimes I enjoy playing the genuinely sweet, caring character, like in such settings. : )

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Same thing happened to me. I was pleasantly surprised by it, too, since I had low intrigue.

It’s that impeccable moral upbringing. :wink:

Doesnt blaise get expelled regardless?

:fox_face:

Good question. I don’t know. I have a bad habit about not doing many playthroughs- but I’m curious about that now, too.

I don’t know. I only played through once, and assumed it was due to my cunning and wise decision-making. THANKS FOR DESTROYING THAT.

Nah, that does make sense, though.

Blaise will get expelled regardless. Despite their (admittedly) stupid plan, they are unable to control their emotions and still express they wish to see us not continue our education when confronted by the headmaster. Not even your intervention to have them serve a lenient punishment changes the headmaster’s mind.

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Suspect that choice was put in to help facilitate future interactions.

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I mean true. But I doubt their pride will ever get them to admit “Thanks for sticking up to me, even though I still want you expel.” in that same sentence.

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Right on the money. There’s a variable that records how sympathetic you are to Blaise (and how much they like you) which affects interactions/choice responses in the future :slight_smile:

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