Doolally (WIP. Chapter 2 18/09/21)

Doolally is a fantasy/horror in which you, upon moving back to your home town, find yourself inexplicably haunted by a grumpy spirit/faery/demon (you’re not sure, they won’t tell you), and that’s not the only problem. Strange things start happening in the sleepy town of Taliesan and it’s up to you to figure out what exactly is going on, (or ignore it and attempt to continue with your normal life). At the same time, your housemates are struggling with their own problems and your new, invisible ‘friend’ seems intent on driving you mad. Can you solve Taliesan’s troubles, and can you do so whilst keeping your sanity?

This is my first interactive story, the demo stands at 85,000 words. Note that this story is written in British English, and is also set in a (fictitious) town in England, so expect tea, scones and ‘extra’ u’s in words. It’s probably going to be a series. Below is some more info on the ROs and stats, please let me know what you think! (And good luck to anyone who decides to look at the code, it’s a bit of a mess).

ROs

Summary

Emilia (f)
Leander’s younger, overprotective half-sister, though she looks and acts older. You knew each other as children, and she’s just as brash and overbearing as she ever was. Despite this outgoing nature she seems at a loss when it comes to overly social situations, and if asked she’ll tell you that she’s never had the time for friends, or much of anything else. Emilia has strawberry blonde hair, lots of freckles and pale green eyes, she has a tendency to forget personal boundaries and can be rather oblivious.

Leander (m)
Emilia’s older half-brother, though he looks and acts younger. You knew each other as children, and he’s come a long way from the shy, reclusive boy who always hid behind his sister. Leander is cheery and friendly, he enjoys childish teasing but can easily become flustered and has a strong dislike of conflict. Leander has deep red hair, lots of freckles and dark green eyes. In contrast to Emilia he enjoys social experiences, he is difficult to offend and is keenly observant.
A poly option with Gabe and Leander is available.

Gabriel/Gabrielle (Gabe) (m/f, as chosen by you)
Gabe is your new, mysterious housemate who refuses to answer questions, no matter how innocuous they may be. They’re a shameless flirt who knows they look good, with their curled black hair, smoky eyes and darkly tanned skin, and they won’t hesitate to drop all the innuendos (both subtle and not so subtle). Gabe can also be petty and confrontational, though their bark is often worse than their bite.
A poly option with Gabe and Leander is available.

Imri (m/f/nb, as chosen by you)
Imri is your invisible ‘friend’ who seems to take great pleasure in messing with you, and you suspect that they’re trying to drive you mad. Imri enjoys being purposefully difficult and will take every opportunity to ridicule, tease or generally put you down, they are capable of great cruelty and can be vicious and destructive, however, given their limited understanding of humans, it’s difficult to tell how much of this might simply be due to differing world views. If befriended, you may see an entirely different side to this otherworldy being.
Imri has curly white hair, a white tufted tail and snowy skin, their eyes are red, they have noticeable fangs, pointed ears and ram horns, for maximum spooking when floating after you.

Notes:
The romance system does not require certain choices or a certain relationship percentage. Instead there is an ‘issues’ system. If the MC does or says something that upsets a character or that they don’t agree with, they might take issue with that. Minor issues can be resolved through talking, doing something for the character or just through time passing, major issues (which will be ‘deal breaker’ type things for characters) will take more effort to resolve, if major issues aren’t resolved you won’t be able to romance that character.

Stats

Summary

Impulsive/Cautious: As implied, this measures how impulsive or cautious your character is. An impulsive MC will struggle with ignoring Imri, and is more likely to react to things that they do, whilst a cautious MC may hesitate to act in a dangerous situation.

Bold/Timid: How outgoing you are. Bold MC’s are more likely to speak up and take charge, timid MC’s tend to hang back and let someone else take the lead.

Friendly/Hostile: A measure of your friendliness, essentially. A friendly MC is generally more agreeable and thoughtful, whilst a hostile MC’s behaviour ranges from sarcastic and rude to antisocial and cruel. Not all characters will react negatively to a hostile MC.

Bravery/Fear: These are measured separately rather than on a sliding scale. Bravery is a measure of how outwardly courageous you are, and will be used in stat checks that require bravery. Note that certain circumstances (such as high relationships with characters) may allow you to overcome a low bravery stat. Fear is a measure of how inwardly brave, or scared, you are. This will only really be used for flavour.

Combat/Perception/Stealth: These do what they say on the tin, for those trying to maintain a low madness, it will be essential to raise at least one of these stats.

Madness: Your belief in, and control over, magic. It will gradually increase during the story though certain actions will raise it more whilst others will lower it. Higher madness will allow you to see more of the magical world and allow you to manipulate this world to a greater degree, however, high madness also increases Imri’s ability to interact with the world, and this stat is called ‘madness’ for a reason.

Note that failed checks will, usually, still raise the stat.

Warnings (may contain spoilers)

Summary

Depending on route taken, the following warnings may apply: sexual content (non-explicit), swearing, violence, alcohol use, mentions of drug use, mentions of historical abuse, mentions of prostitution, depictions of psychosis and psychiatric wards (for the MC). Let me know if you think anything else needs to be added.

Changelog

Summary

18/09/21- First half of chapter 2 uploaded
25/06/21- Chapter 1 uploaded
17/02/21- New demo uploaded
1/1/21- ‘Angels’ route added
21/12/20- Fixed continuity error, extra choices added to the end of chapter 1
20/12/20- Added missed labels into the coding
19/12/20- Topic created, first chapter and part of second uploaded

Demo: https://dashingdon.com/go/7844

Tumblr: https://minnaloushe.tumblr.com/

And thank you to my good friend at: Login • Instagram for creating my black cat avatar, and who’ll eventually do the cover art for Doolally when I’ve figured out what I want.

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I love your writing style - it oozes ease and humour. I found this WIP super charming and I’m IN. I can totally see myself coming back to this again and again.

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Love your writing style and this is a very intriguing start! The build up is very promising. Can’t wait to see more but for now I can’t get past the morning scene.

‘Chapter 2: Line 407 Badlabel marketroute’

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@fresh Thank you! This is my first time showing my writing to people who aren’t friends and family, so I was nervous about posting. I really appreciate your kind comment :smile:

@TheEyes Thank you as well for your comment, and letting me know about the error, I’d forgotten to create the label for the market route. Unfortunately that’s as far as I’ve written for the markets currently, it’s also going to be the last of the three current routes I write, sorry!

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Very nice :slight_smile: Engaging and created an effective sense of mystery, eagerly awaiting more!

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@bertilak Thank you! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it :smile:

@AMER1CANN1NJA09 I forget to create the labels since I haven’t started those routes yet, unfortunately that’s as far as it currently goes. Thanks for letting me know though, I’ll update it soon with the labels so it’ll at least to direct to the ‘play again’ option rather than an error

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This is really good! I want to know more about Gabe and i can’t wait to meet Imri :slight_smile:

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I certainly enjoyed the demo ~

but here’s something …

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That’s because it’s currently where the demo ends.

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Hi there! I really love this game so far so I’ll just report some bugs I’ve found!:slight_smile:

When you try to go to the market, it bugs and says: error_bad label marketroute
Same with trying to talk to Gabe about the Angel card, going to the Angel Club and trying to go to the market after checking out the card! The Jesse Choice in there works fine tho😁

But otherwise I’ve really enjoyed it so far and I’m incredibly thankful that you include a poly route, cause I’m simping for Gabe and Lea so when I read that I was like: :point_right:t2::point_left:t2: Dear author you just made my day!!:heart::heart: I also like your style of writing and I hope you’ll get a lot of love and support for this WIP

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found error: chapter2 line 407: bad label marketroute

chapter2 line 431: bad label marketroute2

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Great game! Love the variety of characters and the plot :slight_smile:

Can’t wait for more :stuck_out_tongue:

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Thank you everyone for the replies! I’ve updated the labels on the demo so it should just send you to the ‘play again’ option rather than an error

@Zanny Yay! I’m glad you like the poly :grin: It’s my first time writing one so I’m happy to hear what’s currently there is working, and thank you for your lovely comment, really made me smile

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Can’t wait for the rest! I like it so far ^^

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Love it so far! Excited to see what else is to come!

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Looks fun! I like the characters so far and I’m intrigued on what’s going on.

Looking forward to more!

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I got Leander to sit on my lap and for some reason it states that I’m on his knee in the next paragraph

Edit: btw I enjoyed the demo so far which I didnt add before and that am really down for that throuple with Leander and Gabe; Leander is so adorable and Gabe is uhh… spicy ;))

Also if flirting with Gabe makes me a prostitute then so be it

Edit 2: ngl when the fingers or whatever choked my MC’s throat honestly with how thirsty and flirty they are, they’d probably think it was pretty kinky ;))) jk… unless

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the choking scene i-

i suspect imri is involved, and if it’s the case, i am so romancing them.
for scientific purposes of course. haha. :flushed:

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Thank you for pointing that out! Should be fixed now. ‘Spicy’ is certainly one way to describe Gabe :grin: I’m glad you’re enjoying them and Leander, interactions between those two are pretty fun to write!

And I can’t believe I didn’t think to include a thirsty option there. Well, no worries, I’ve added one now, thirst away

@umchileanywaysso Not going to confirm or deny on Imri, buuuut, the relationship bar might answer that, depending on your choice

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