Estheria: A Realm Divided (WIP) - Demo Reboot in Progress!

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Step Forth, Hero.


Estheria: A Realm Divided is an interactive medieval high-fantasy narrative RPG currently in development.

Experience a realm on the brink of war as one of five unique races. Choose your class, strike up romances, wield unique magicks while honing the aether, and invest in building your own community as you set forth on your adventures.

In a world where each choice leads to an equal consequence, unravel more than a decade of built-upon lore as you venture into Estheria. Experience political intrigue as youā€™re introduced to the Eleven Kingdoms of Harmony, across the three continents of the realm.

Gather your party as you befriend (or foe) a unique and quirky cast of characters. Develop your reputation for fame or infamy as you travel over, under, and through diverse lands.

Choose your fate. Fight, journey, survive, perish; the choice is yours.

The Demo will relaunch with Update 1: A Dark Omen (In-Development!)

Warning

Inquire Within!

Estheria: A Realm Divided is considered a mature title. As such, the following can be expected

  • Heavy vulgarity and adult language is included.
  • Steamy Romance & Sexual Content may occur.
  • Extensive depictions of fantasy violence, including death, blood, torture, and gore.
  • Depictions of fantasy racism.
  • Depictions of kidnapping and non-consensual situations (these are not of a sexual nature.)
  • Depictions of fantasy misogyny in certain situations.

Current Status

Currently:

Update 1: A Dark Omen is in development, with an expected 2-3 month development cycle.

Plot Synopsis

Step Forth.

Harmony finds itself at the brink of oblivion.

For three centuries, a fragile peace has held between two monstrous kingdoms. As a royalā€™s disappearance ripples throughout the realm, cries of war begin to echo loud. The Crown, a bastion of iron-clad law and ancestral steel, has leveled a final ultimatum against The Arcane, weavers of the landā€™s lifeblood. What began as a diplomatic fracture has devolved into a march toward total annihilation.

As legions mass on the borders and parties are drawn into a conflict set to crack Estheria in two, a terrifying truth remains veiled. Ancient, dark forces pull the strings of pride and paranoia to ensure blood shall be spilt.

In the final moments of an opening skirmish, a desperate, forbidden ritual was whispered in the shadows. Intended to save a soul of pure intentions, the spell tore through the fabric of reality itself, sending their essence deep within a void of fractured memories and timeless history.

Now, branded by a searing celestial mark and haunted by the echoes of a dark prophecy, this survivor must return to the threads of life to discover three other wayward souls destined to cross their path. Each holds a role to play in a prophecy long thought lost, all to usher forth the next chapter.

Yet, death always collects his fare.

To save the soul of one hero, a grave cost was paid, giving birth to a corruption unparalleled. As each of the four rise to stem the tide of ancient evil, a realization begins to dawn: the very magicks that empower them are the rot that threatens to consume the realm from within.

The war is only our beginning, for we stand a realm divided.

Feature List

Step Forth.
  • Customize your character, using a robust creation system.
  • Play as a male, female, or non-binary character with romantic/sexual preference as straight, gay, or pansexual.
  • Experience a multifaceted, dynamic storyline told through five sprawling acts
  • Pick from one of five races, each treated differently with unique dialogue and outcomes in a realm fraught with racism.
  • Choose one of three classes for critical combat situations, each with their own playstyles.
  • Level up your character, and allocate key stat points to strengthen your progression.
  • Experience bombastic romances, told through an intimate cast.
  • Gather your party, joining forces with unruly, quirky, and devilishly weird characters as you journey the realm.
  • Build a community. Make key investments, develop structures, and grow your skills across a series of dynamic systems.
  • Experience a world where choice and consequence collide. Every choice, regardless how small, impacts the world in major and minor ways.

A Section on Characters will be coming in the following months.

Links

Patreon

My Patreon can be accessed at Zach Kerr | Currently building Estheria: A Realm Divided | Patreon

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December 2023's Writer Support Thread
December 2023's Writer Support Thread
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This sounds like something Iā€™ve been waiting for!!!

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Iā€™m glad to hear it!

Many, many updates will be coming in the following months. Beginning with the first update for the implementation of the Shadow Elves starting path!

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I like the idea just also saves would be nice when you get more progress I would add saves the next update or whenever you can

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Hello!

So, the save system on Moody.ink (from what I can tell) requires you to have created an account. I did notice when signed out during testing super quick that the save option doesnā€™t appear. It appeared the moment I signed back in!

If this ends up being a point of contention in the community, I will look at a potential reversion to DashingDon, as long as the outdated CS there doesnā€™t prevent game functions. :slight_smile:

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@Zaxwlyde my bad I forgot the last I played on there was a long time ago

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Donā€™t hide the link! My suggestion is replace the above with the markdown below.

<big>[Play Demo](https://moody.ink/play/zaxwlyde/estheria-a-realm-dividedā€”public-branch/mygame/)</big>

It would look like this:

Play Demo

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I appreciate you so much! I was trying for more than twenty minutes to figure out how to do that! :joy:

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Very good cant wait for more chapters.

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Looks kinda poggers!:grin: Hope for the best, donā€™t forget to take ā€˜you timeā€™ okay.? Mental health is important.!:+1:

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Really interesting! I have a few suggestions:

For the name selection, Iā€™d recommend separating the choice of first name and last name.

This may be too many variables, but I think hair length and texture should be separate from hairstyle. You never know when you might want to mention the length of the characters hair, but then you canā€™t. It also opens up the possibility for the characters hair to not be in its usual style, if the character just washed their hair or something

For the skin tones, I would suggest adding ā€œfairā€ or ā€œrosy.ā€ Itā€™s darker than porcelain, but pinker than beige (and yes, this is a selfish suggestion :joy:).

For the backgrounds, is ā€œmerchantā€ the more charismatic/diplomatic job? I assume so, but I thought Iā€™d ask.

I think thatā€™s allā€¦ I thought it was interesting! Keep up the good work. Iā€™m crossing my fingers that Elves arenā€™t too far down the production order! Theyā€™re always my favorite

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Glad a demo is out for this now

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Looks interesting so far! I actually adore character creation, so this is right up my alley.

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@Zaxwlyde tried to check stat page, got this:

Screenshot 2023-03-08 082701

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Hello!

Itā€™s quite late where Iā€™m from, so my reply may be a tad more brief than normal. In the morning, Iā€™ll add a disclaimer that the Stats System is not yet implemented proper. Itā€™s one of the first planned updates in the coming week or so.

Its implementation will be quite iterative in nature. As such, the first iteration may be a bit more unkempt!

Have a great evening. :slight_smile:

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Lovely character creation you have so far (although, to be honest, I am waiting for the human origin XD). I like how you weave narration with customisation. Keep it up!

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Iā€™ve been waiting for this!

Good luck in all future updates, because this character creator is way better than it realistically has any business being. And if the character creator is this damn good, then the rest of the game can be good. I look forward to future updates! :slight_smile:

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@Zaxwlyde ā€“ Congrats on the reveal.

May your milestones be paved with gold and your map fly by without a hiccup!

The one small suggestion I have at this point is to implement a placeholder stat-page. There are two reasons to do this.

First, if a reader does hit the stat button (on purpose or not) it will crash the game, as you know. A placeholder would prevent this from happening.

Second, it tells your readers (both the informed, and the uninformed) that it is a future feature and not ignored, forgotten or inept implementation.

One thing you may not be aware of, is that there are hundreds of readers that read demos without visiting here or the various social media resources you have set up.

They are sometimes inspired by what they read to join the discussion, but most of the time, they are a silent audience. With a ā€œbrokenā€ stat screen, it may lose you future costumers.

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Thanks for the feedback as always, Eiwynn.

Iā€™ve released a small update amending the Stats screen just now. Upon testing, the crash has cleared and placeholder text is in place foretelling of the upcoming update.

Appreciate your kind words!

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Hey, Anna!

Thank you so much for the suggestions and feedback. I plan on making some changes today. These include:

  • Name Selection separation for polish.
  • Stats page placeholder inclusion (just went live!)
  • Addition of a proper diplomat background. I originally had one prior to the gutting of the first backgrounds iteration, and forgot to include it. That said, Merchant definitely has its perks. The game is split into 5 core Stats. One of these is Wisdom, which carries its own benefit. By selecting Merchant, youā€™ll actually increase your starting Wisdom stat.
  • Other general cleanup elements on a quick pass through. (Primarily text polish, dialogue/grammar, etc.)

Iā€™d also love to point out that anyone whom wishes can join the official community Discord. Iā€™ve setup a quite detailed bot there that allows for amazing logging and communication via feedback, bug reporting, and more to come. Not necessary, of course, but surely adored!

If youā€™d like to join, the link is here! Estheria: A Realm Divided

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