Dog Days: The Battle for Huế (WIP) [27k Words | Act 1 Playable 6/27/25]

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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I’ve begun work on a new game, Dog Days. In it, you play a US Marine Corps Infantry Squad Leader in the days leading up to, during, and right after the infamous Battle of Hue in early 1968. Can you bring the men of 1st Squad back home in one piece, or will you lose yourself first?

This is a very Band of Brothers esque game, with minimal player stats and heavy emphasis on the relationships between you and the men under you. Success and failure is dependent on the choices you’ve made throughout and how you play to the strengths and weaknesses of the men in your squad. Every small decision can have large consequences. There’s a huge emphasis on the interpersonal relations within the squad. The end goal isn’t how many fights you can win per say, but how many men you bring back in one piece.

Currently it’s sitting at a cozy 27k words for Act 1. I don’t plan on this being as much of a behemoth as my other WIP (A Nation Divided: A Civil War Officer’s Journey), but I’m aiming for a target ~200k words by the end of the epilogue. Currently have 3 acts planned out and outlined, with Act 2 taking up Chapters 5-15, and Act 3 going from Chapter 15-20 with a final epilogue at the end. Updates will be as they come, hopefully at a decent pace, but I’m actively trying to avoid the mess I got myself into previously (by writing way too fast for myself to keep up with).

It is gender-locked to male. My reasoning for this is pretty aligned with why I made the same choice for my other WIP - It’s a game rooted deeply in historical authenticity.

To play the demo, go here: CoGDemos

Looking for any and all feedback. This started as a passion project while working on A Nation Divided and quietly blossomed into something I’m quite happy about, and excited to work on over the last two months or so. An important note, I’m an amateur writer, so be gentle haha

Enjoy!

Summary

January 1968. You are a new Sergeant, fresh in-country, assigned to lead First Squad, a unit of Marines still reeling from the recent death of their leader in the Phu Loc sector, south of Huế. The war, for the moment, is a thing of tense patrols, monotonous guard duty, and the oppressive quiet of a countryside that holds its breath.

All the while, the enemy is gathering. The Tet Offensive will soon erupt, and the ancient city of Huế will become a slaughterhouse. Soon, you will get your orders. Soon, you will cross the river. Soon, you will step into the fire.

The Squad
  • 1st Lt. Jim Kelly: Your weary but professional Platoon Commander.
  • Cpl. “Frenchy” DuBois: Salty, experienced fire team leader, on his second tour.
  • Cpl. “Pop” Samuels: The “heart” of the squad, a fatherly figure.
  • Cpl. Lew Talbot: The “brain,” a quiet tactician and chess player.
  • Cpl. Jackson “Roach” Delgado: Assistant SL, adrenaline-junkie grenadier and tunnel rat.
  • LCpl. Luis “Cruz” Rivera: Swaggering, competitive card sharp.
  • Pvt. Kit Ramirez: Cruz’s friend and rival.
  • Pvt. Jonesy: A quiet, shy, but deadly marksman.
  • Pvt. Crowe: A nervous radio operator.
  • Pvt. Kim: A new, by-the-book Korean-American Marine.
  • HN “Doc” Nguyen: The squad’s corpsman.
  • Pvt. Isaiah Washington: A calm, religious man with a powerful singing voice.
  • Pvt. Erik Hanson: A large, strong, shy farm kid.
  • Pvt. O’Shea: The squad’s resident poet and existentialist.
Changelog
  • 06/27/25: Initial Posting. Act 1 mostly complete. ~27k words.
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Military WIPs are pretty rare nowadays.

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Just got started and it’s really impressive. I’m new to CS authoring and am learning tons from your work. Keep it up. :+1::white_check_mark:

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Praise you. Please stay healthy

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Hey John, glad you’re back!

This is a very strong start to your new project. The writing really draws you in, building tension where it needs to, setting a serious tone, and conveying the heavy, unforgiving reality of war. It makes it clear this isn’t just a walk in the park. There’s a real weight to everything that’s happening.

The soldiers feel like real people, each with their own distinct and contrasting personalities. Corporal Pop has definitely become my personal favorite. I’ve developed a strong desire to do whatever I can to bring my people home alive.

It’s a bit of a shame there’s no stat system like in “Nation Divided” (I’ll never get tired of saying how good this work is), and the complete absence of saves does make things more intense—but I get the sense that’s exactly how it was meant to be.

Thank you for all the work you’ve put into this. I’m really looking forward to seeing the continuation of both of your projects.

Have a good day and stay healthy.

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Great start to another intriguing wips of yours. I was just wondering while reading, will dark aspects of the “unnwinnable war” be touched upon? eg. Napalm, Agent Orange, Drug use, fragging, Search and Destroy Missions, “Black Americans sent to war” etc

Im really fascinated in all types of history, so Im excited for more either way!

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I feel like depending on the age, the MC should be experienced, and they should all ready have some experience if their a sergeant, but for all I know the MC could be apart of the reserve before getting sent to active duty

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I wonder if the MC can get killed by his men if we mess up horribly and piss off our squad.

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Reminds me of DuBois from disco elysium lol

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I may or may not have been inspired :sob:

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Who knows? Crazier things have happened :wink:

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Definitely plan on covering all aspects of that part of the war. In particular, when stuff starts going down, you’ll be seeing much more of it. The first act is relatively calm, but things will definitely pick up as that veil is uncovered.

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This is interesting - I was initially planning on having the background of the MC be largely head canon for the player, with the only certainty being that this is their first deployment to Vietnam. However, I’m not married to that idea!

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I could see someone desert from their post and run off into the jungle due to disagreeing with our approach

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If there is romance in this story, can one of options be like a Vietnamese woman we meet on the way? Think it would be a cool way in showing how the mc can sympathise to their cause(get a view of the war from the alienated Vietnamese populace)

On top of that, a romance option from back home in US could be an innovative way of displaying the US alienation too. Especially considering returning soldiers were labelled “baby killers” when they got back from 'Nam.

“Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”

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I’ve a question, do you plan on making it so that the performance of the soldiers at your command on the battlefield will be affected by your relationship with them? Meaning that a bad relationship with one of your corporals resulting in a weaker performance?

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The relationship with your guys will definitely impact the success odds of actions in the future. If you’re asking a guy who doesn’t trust you, to do something crazy, the odds it works out is significantly lower. If you also haven’t been using all your teams effectively and you try to use a team for something out of their ballpark, the odds that works out is also low. But again - the battlefield is crazy, and Hue in particular was nuts.

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I went into this without reading your summary or other information, btw. I’m also not a war buff (though I did study some war-related medical history back in undergrad). I also tend to avoid gender-locked male stories. Sharing this just so that you’ve context to put my review in.

First off: I love your first paragraph. From the vomit of heat, you’ve got me hooked. I can feel the heat and haze.

I have noticed that you tend to use the “It wasn’t X, it was Y” a lot. (Once --almost twice-- in the first paragraph, once in the third, and twice in the fourth). (The almost, btw, is the “Not like garbage rot. Something older.” The construction is different, but the idea of “Not X. Y.” is similar). [ETA from a later point: This construction keeps coming up btw].

Kelly’s voice is very distinct.

I really love how you keep packing in sensory detail, such as the straps digging into the MC’s shoulders.

On a side note, I was surprised when I was able to choose the MC’s age. I’d got to the Stats page previously and saw it said 22. I know I waited an age before doing much with my stats page, so if you’re holding off, fine. But, if you’ve not got anything planned, maybe add including some *if statements to hide the age and description until after the placer sets them?

Unless, of course, the MC really is 22 and this was an unsignaled chance to lie?

I super appreciate how each member of the squad has their own personality and quirks, but it is a lot of names at once.

I really like the bit of fluff you give for each physical detail choice. That’s a nice touch.

I am noticing some descriptions or bits get repeated. Isaiah and humming a gospel tune. Roach’s grin as a slash (of white).

This is your squad. A collection of boys and old men, poets and killers, believers and cynics. And you have to lead them into the dark.

That’s a lovely line.

How do you know what each man is carrying? It doesn’t seem like the MC’s really chatted with all of them…

Chapter Two

As someone who isn’t steeped in this kind of story, having a glossary in the stats screen would be very helpful.

This is feeling very much like a simulation of being a sergeant, and it is well done for that, but the slow pace and lack of overall plot or interpersonal stories is losing my interest. (Then again, I’m probably not your ideal reader).

Chapter Three

The date says January 27. I was born on a January 27th. I’ve got to read this.

Add “gentle giant” and “giant” in general to the repetition list.

I know they’re a lot to write, but I would love more choices.

If you’re meaning to make some text italicized, by the way, it isn’t * xx * but [i] xx [/i].

Oh, it just hit me. One of the MC surname options is “Jones” and you’ve got a man named “Jonesy.”

Final Thoughts
Very descriptive with great characterization. The only issue I really had with the writing was the repetition of specific phrases and constructions.

I commented on the slow pace already, but I just had the thought that perhaps having more agency within each chapter would help me not mind the slow pace so much.

Thanks for sharing!

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Thank you! Love the feedback, I definitely try to push the characterization of some of the guys a bit hard and as a result, repeat myself a few times early on (gotta clean it up). I’ll revisit and see if I can adjust the pacing in a few areas aswell, adding agency would definitely work to fix that.

Thank you!

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Welcome back, and good luck with both of your projects.

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