Divided We Fall- A Spanish Civil War WIP

@djma46 I kind of ran out of steam writing purple reign when my uni work got heavy and although I’ve put it to one side for now, I intend to return to it at some point. The idea for this project came to me in the meantime and got me excited and inspired to write again

@John Thanks!

@poison_mara I appreciate that not being a Spaniard puts me at an immediate disadvantage and I know it might feel wrong for a foreigner to pass judgement. However, I’m not writing from a position of ignorance or scant knowledge; I have studied the conflict at degree level and written essays about it too, not trying to show off or anything. I hope to write my dissertation on the subject.

The introduction is really just meant to give the general reader who has no knowledge of the conflict a very brief view of the complex years of the 2nd republic. I tried to be as impartial as possible in this section but also left out a lot of detail because most readers will be lost if I start bringing in lots of names they have never heard of. I could write a whole novel about the 2nd republic but need to explain it in a few hundred words if the story is to work.
I am aware that CEDA was basically supressed and incorporated into the Falange in 1937, aware that in the same year the PCE (communists) suppressed their political rivals brutally and aware that Franco was a late comer to the conspiracy that was primarily led by Sanjurjo and Mola (both of whom died conveniently in 1936 and '37). I am aware that republican leaders like Azana and especially Largo Caballero thought that a military coup would present the perfect opportunity to crush the rightist elements once and for all.
But many of these events have not yet occurred when the story starts and also are just too in depth and complex for the general reader who knows nothing of Spanish politics.

There are many, many personal stories and tragedies but I cannot possibly hope to reflect the experiences of all Spaniards. What I am trying to do is paint a picture of 4 individuals on both sides of the divide. It is very difficult to strike the right balance between facts, drama and choices and I won’t always get it right. What I hope to do is give people who have no knowledge of the conflict a rough sketch of the events and emotions of the time. As somebody once said, the past is a different country, they do thing differently there. I can’t hope to explain or portray things exactly as they were, living 80 years later. But I would like to give it a go.

Just a thought on the third person perspective: it actually made me somewhat less attached to the characters and willing to try out more options. It’s really interesting. I’m looking forward to future developments.

demo doesn’t work for me. But it sounds very interesting.

also it says Purple Reign instead of Divided We Fall

Not sure why, try opening it on firefox perhaps?

@CaledonianMafia1987 when I open the link it also says Purple Reign, but only for a moment, then it switches to Divided We Fall.

weird, it works now, was interesting, ive read a few books on the Spanish civil war and have always found it interesting, this was pretty good, look forward to more content.

Chapter 2 done! (at last) I’ve been away on holiday which explains the lack of progress. Fortunately, I have basically sketched out the rest of the story and I’ll be able to work on it full time for the next month so I’m hoping to make serious progress.

Two questions for everyone, as well as the obvious tips, improvements etc,
a) would it benefit from pictures? There are a number of public domain photos I could put in there, would that add anything do you think?
b) how long approx. does it take to play through what is here so far?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93073517/Divided/web/mygame/index.html

I think a few pictures will be tasteful, but don’t overdo it.

Added a few images, including map, which I think will be helpful.

Cool beans.

Can I support stalinist nkvd backed forces?

When we get to the May Days, there will be such an opportunity, when the assault guards are brought in to put down the anarchists and Trotskyists.

First half of Chapter 3 done and up there. Gamebook as a whole approaching 40,000 words, not sure how many on an single play-through.

Anyway, we check back in with our characters 4 months after the events of the first 2 chapters. For both Maria and Alba, the war is proving to be a different experience to what they were expecting and emotions run high.

Second half of the chapter featuring Morales and De La Rosa is written, just needs to be coded, should be up tomorrow.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93073517/Divided/web/mygame/index.html

Love this concept and game, plus for adding some knowledge for me on the country that colonize (and possibly enslaved) my country :slight_smile:

The head trophy pictures is not in good taste, some might find it offensive ( not me though)

I love this. Please dont let this die because i swear its one of the most imteresting WIP i saw here. This and the american civil war one are my babies. I love the fact that we play different characters and can shape their personalities. Remind me of heavy rain wich is one of my favorite games. The setting is epic too.

Thank you, comments like that really motivate me to work! As I mentioned above I think, I can pretty much devote all of my time to this for the next few weeks. I’ve got it all planned out and I’m determined to finish it. I hope to have it done in a month from now but that might be a tad ambitious!

You can never be too ambitious. The only thing keeping you back is yourself. If you need a beta tester, advice or just talk, im here. Im ready to do a lot to help my favorite projects.

I have to agree with @cyanide both Divided we Fall and the Civil War are some of the most interesting games i saw here, not only that, but they also give you choices to change your character along the story, @AlexClifford1994 don’t let this die. EVER, this is just a really awesome game (just be careful around the pictures, don’t show at least /too much/ gore) If you ever need any advice, talk to me aswell, i may be new here, but every bit helps right? If you need anything at all, contact me, i’ll also be willing to beta test the game, i’ll read through it again and again and again if necessary