Mind elaborating on that one for me?
In this case, I am looking to make a full cohesive project and I do not have the resources to hire additional people. I’m fully content with this taking 10 years to fulfill the vision and scope that’s planned for it, while also planning for the future. Yes, it is a wait for others, but I’m comfortable with building it and continuing to communicate as I have been. 
Will I mean if we the players don’t have the basics for making a campfire or anything in general what are you planning to happen then
Ah!
So firekits are built for emergency post-fight healing should it be needed to deploy a camp. You are able to deploy with a special option where a firekit would normally be used to camp in the environment surrounding you, but this comes with the risk of two things occurring:
However, you will still have your pocket-realm base that can be accessed at many points throughout the game.
I’m working through the item repositories and ensuring I plan things out for different scenarios.
Hello!
I wanted to address the above quote a bit and also break down something I placed in the Writer’s Support thread for February.
Ultimately, I do not have the resources to bring on a team of people to do this. As is well known, IF titles on their own do not make much money in most cases to begin with when they sell. I’m not in this for the money. I’m in this to build something meaningful long-term, and I am very aware that the scope of A Realm Divided is huge. Let alone for any one person to tackle.
Now, let’s talk a bit about the benefits of the medium and why that makes this kind of scope managable:
Now, to address a line from the below quote:
A thread for The Frontier was never started, and ultimately while much work has been placed on The Frontier, the project is on a shelf but built in a way that I can easily unshelve it.
To make it clear as of today: Estheria: A Realm Divided is my only title that I am developing as of today. It is my priority, my main and only focus, and it is getting 100% of my resources as seen by the vast slew of updates I make to this thread.
Now, some feel I post too much, let’s talk about that and why I am going to continue posting as frequently as I do.
I honestly only post for three reasons:
I understand when people are worried about if a scope is expanding or not and if it means this will be ignored, scope-creeped to hell, ect. Estheria is already scope-creeped to hell and I am completely fine with it because I have no deadline and am aware it is scope-creeped to hell.
If this project takes me ten years to built a hundred hour text-based RPG? Cool. I’m down, let’s roll.
Along that way, I am going to meticulously post and document so people can see how the game grew over time, the iterative process, and where the brain is. While I am simultaneously not asking for suggestions on new features.
If people want some small additions/edits to things, sure. However I’m looking for feedback on my vision and not to endlessly pad it with things that it doesn’t need.
I do hope that some of my posts motivate others and/or get you excited for the future, especially as I begin delving into more of the code posts. Those are going to be a doozy, because we’re going down the rabbit hole of building my first intelligence code (I now rephrase the term AI in anyway possible because… well… got my head bit off on Reddit once when I used the word AI but meant something different, and I would prefer to emphasize that I am building an intelligence system and not using AI software), and that’s going to be a learning process. Especially within a language like ChoiceScript.
Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic remainder of your week, I’ve got more cooking on the economy side of things that’ll hopefully be ready to be talked about/shown off a bit Friday once I have it all ironed out.
Take care, Heroes.
I’m personally excited for your posts and I’m eagerly looking forward to what you come up with game-wise. It sounds positively epic!
Heroes!
We’ve got a lot cooking in Update One: A Dark Omen, amongst those is the introduction of our first Profession to the game, which happens to be Blacksmithing. With every Profession that exists throughout Estheria, the modern societies of the realm have formed Guilds that operate and train others, maintain and generate contracts, provide materials, track an individuals Guild Ranking (more on that below), and provide upgrade and specialization paths.
Crafting and Gathering Professions are not just mere passtimes, you will experience full-fledged gameplay loops should you wish to do so and enjoy yourself as you delve deeper into the Realm and make your living as part of the life-simulation loop that I’m presenting. The first of these Guilds that you’ll find happens to be the…
First encountered in the town of Stones Hollow, you’ll be subject to blacksmithing training, and have the ability to progress up to a Silver (3) ranking within the Guild.
Now, let’s touch a bit on what rankings are for blacksmithing:
Each blacksmith is assigned their own Forge Ranking within the Guild as a way to track progress and provide a steady sense of progression as they hone their craft.
Your ranking directly impacts the following:
And lastly…
As your journey through the realm continues, you’ll be able to improve your blacksmithing rank through XP development in the skill, which is obtained by:
When you have achieved the requisite experience to advance to the next Rank for your profession, you will be offered a Certification of Promotion Contract, which is special and hand-tailored to focus on your capabilities within the gameplay loop.
Successful completion of this contract will allow you to advance ranking by achieving the next Hammer Badge, (Bronze Hammer, Silver Hammer, ect), which attests to your Rank.
As you can see, Professions will be intricate and built to provide sustainable and fun gameplay loops.
Now, that said, some people dislike extensive grind.
If you master a recipe, you may create a high quality (yet not perfect quality) variant of the recipe instantly, bypassing gameplay mechanics.
With Contracts, you are allowed to quick-attempt contracts, and ultimately how well you have done on a specific contract set in the past, your ranking, your equipment, and any skill points specifically allocated to quick-attempt skill bonuses will be utilized to determine how well you complete (or fail) a contract while completely bypassing any gameplay.
This allows those who put in the work to speed things up if they don’t want to keep on the gameplay-loop grind while providing sustainable balance.
Overall, this is just a small peak of how rich professions and content will come to life within Estheria: A Realm Divided. I have already heavily-developed the introductory sequence for the Guild of the Forge, and look forward to a blacksmithing playtest ahead of full release for Update One.
I have a question I don’t know if it has been asked but are we lucked into one Profession only or we can level up any profession because to be honest I want to play as a Jack of all trade
Hey!
Great question. You are not locked into one Profession. You can play as any and all Professions and level them independently, allowing you to be a true omni-crafter/gatherer that can enjoy every gameplay loop.
Great to hear thanks for answering
Trying to get back into this.
February 5th, 2026
Back from a 3 day break! Got a touch sick, but we’re churning on.
Goals for February 9th, 2026:
Heroes!
As development continues, I wanted to run a poll on how I’m handling narrative.
Estheria: A Realm Divided is considered a mature/adult title. As a result, crude language can be semi-common. While I don’t implement swearing for vulgarity’s sake, I like to keep things on the up and up when it comes to humor.
An example might be a sentence such as, “Newbie’s got balls, I’ll give you that.”
Others might be hearing swears in a shitty situation when a character expresses frustration, or ribbing comments such as ‘can’t be arsed’, ect.
Is this something that bothers you? Or will this instead make the world feel more ‘real’ and lived in?
Running this one as a yes or no kind of situation, as it helps gauge things better.
Edit: To give a better example, some text (spoiler alert, though minor)
His grin widens, though it’s seasoned with a sharp, knowing edge. Leaning back, he lets out a gruff laugh as his arms cross over his chest.
“Make a living, eh? That’s a dangerous ambition in a place usually trying to kill ya,” he says, chuckling. He tilts his head toward a vacant anvil tucked into a corner, its surface unusually clean compared to the oily workstations around it. “Well, luck’s on your side, such as it is. A trial spot opened up just last month. Runt we had in here before couldn’t quite time his breathing with the exhaust. Poor sod’s lungs turned to glass before he could even finish his first dagger. Shame, really, kid had a decent swing.”
Your eyebrows shoot up. “Glass lungs. Lovely,” you repeat, eyeing the ashen air with a sudden, sharp distrust. “Suppose I’ll just try and hold my breath. Wouldn’t want to drop dead on the floor and make a mess of your shop.”
Kaelen just snorts, amused by the sarcasm. “Pay can be good if you bust your arse, but it comes at a price. Keeps the weak from clogging up production.” He picks up a pair of heavy tongs, turning them over in his hand like he’s weighing your worth. “We don’t just hand out hammers to anyone with a pulse. Everyone here flies under the banner of the Guild of the Forge. Most walking in for a job have a sealed recommendation, but I like to test for skill on occasion.”
His voice drops an octave as he steps into your space, the smell of burnt hair and sweat clinging to him. “So, tell me true before you waste my time. You ever held a hammer for more than a minute, or are you hoping that lady luck does all the heavy lifting for ya?”
I definitely think that some crude language makes sense for the story and setting. But I also think it’s possible to go overboard. So I say go for it, but use some discretion when deciding when to throw in a swear word.
Of course! I don’t want it every couple of words, but in general we’re looking at a roughshod universe where people do their best to survive, wars happen, and you’ll experience many towns/villages that struggle to get by. In those locations, I’d expect swearing to be more prevalent compared to say the upper regions of the Maldian capital city of Iris where everyone is wealthy, cultured, and ‘civilized’ for lack of a better word.
As I continue to work on development and specifically the writing, I’m making strategic choices for where to ‘cut’ so to speak. While the personality type system will still be in place in a pseudo-backend iteration, I’m choosing to create three personality paths.
Gentle, Sarcastic, and Serious.
Choices in dialogue that you make will ultimately add points to each of these three categories. The dominant category is what will be triggered in conversations for how other characters may interact with you.
I’ve settled on this tri-path because I want to ensure that I can hone my resources into producing good writing instead of trying tto hammer out 10-20 variations for different scenes which would be far more scope than I want and that’s saying something given how scope-creeped to hell we are.
I wanted to take a moment and ask how you feel about this change in approach via poll, as well as how you felt about the writing in the example I provided in the previous post. I will repost that example below in a dropdown - and it’s specifically tied to an answer the player chooses from the ‘sarcastic’ path.
His grin widens, though it’s seasoned with a sharp, knowing edge. Leaning back, he lets out a gruff laugh as his arms cross over his chest.
“Make a living, eh? That’s a dangerous ambition in a place usually trying to kill ya,” he says, chuckling. He tilts his head toward a vacant anvil tucked into a corner, its surface unusually clean compared to the oily workstations around it. “Well, luck’s on your side, such as it is. A trial spot opened up just last month. Runt we had in here before couldn’t quite time his breathing with the exhaust. Poor sod’s lungs turned to glass before he could even finish his first dagger. Shame, really, kid had a decent swing.”
Your eyebrows shoot up. “Glass lungs. Lovely,” you repeat, eyeing the ashen air with a sudden, sharp distrust. “Suppose I’ll just try and hold my breath. Wouldn’t want to drop dead on the floor and make a mess of your shop.”
Kaelen just snorts, amused by the sarcasm. “Pay can be good if you bust your arse, but it comes at a price. Keeps the weak from clogging up production.” He picks up a pair of heavy tongs, turning them over in his hand like he’s weighing your worth. “We don’t just hand out hammers to anyone with a pulse. Everyone here flies under the banner of the Guild of the Forge. Most walking in for a job have a sealed recommendation, but I like to test for skill on occasion.”
His voice drops an octave as he steps into your space, the smell of burnt hair and sweat clinging to him. “So, tell me true before you waste my time. You ever held a hammer for more than a minute, or are you hoping that lady luck does all the heavy lifting for ya?”
Poll 2, on the change in style to focus on the three paths (gentle, sarcastic, and serious).
I think it’s a good plan in general. Three is a good number for this. A 4th wouldn’t hurt, but that’s only if a 4th option came to mind. I wouldn’t insist upon it.
Though I’d be curious to see the differences between gentle, sarcastic, and serious. In my mind, gentle is not mutually exclusive to sarcasm and seriousness.
I may expand it. Going to copy-paste something from the writer’s support thread that I just put:
To add to this:
The reason why I want to focus down on the personality trait side of dialogue and options/viewpoints is because it’s not the only thing that’s going to have an impact:
So as you can see, I already have a ton that’s going to need to be written anyways, so I want to cut where I can to keep things moving.
Just came across this. Very interesting project, seems like a lot to take on. Are you having both classes and professions? Crude language is fine by me, sometimes people are just like that (have met more than once people that don’t hold back). Personality paths are an intresting idea. I absolutely loved Fallout 4s sarcastic options. Different dialogs depending on your choice will make it more replayable. Choosing which personality traits to go down is definitely a challenge. My mind is saying sarcastic/serious/aloof/caring. Sarcastic makes criticizing jokes all the time, serious is way to intense about everything, aloof is uncaring about everything, and caring is deeply invested in other’s welfare. These are all extremes but extremes are entertaining. That’s just my 2 cents. Personality traits are a delicate seasoning. It can add flavor but it can also spoil the broth.
I think the forum gonna explode on the day that this demo got officially released to public
I can’t even imagine the scope of this project, must be damn hard to link various modules and make them work together as one gamebook
good luck mate, you’re doing great 
Hello! Trust me, it is a lot to take on, but the benefit is that I’ve got the time to do it.
A Realm Divided will involve a total of 6 classes on full launch, alongside a smattering of gathering and crafting professions ranging from simple ones such as mining and blacksmithing, to more advanced professions involving artificing and monster hunting. These are built utilizing unique gameplay loops per class that are housed within a series of files both for the gameplay itself and for subroutine files.
Wasn’t planning to share this, but in general to follow this matter, you’ll find a variety of conversational paths (such as the three here) that are built to add points to one of the personality typings.
I’ll run one last poll on the writing quality, similar to the first one. One of my… struggles is first encounters with environments, and I want to know how you feel about this one. This begins and kicks off when you enter the Guild of the Forge in Stones Hollow for the first time.
Last post of the night.
We’ve got a lot cooking in the town of Stones Hollow. Excuse the test text, I haven’t written the base arrival for the Market Center.
This is an RPG, and my goal here is to put the role-playing directly into it by allowing that form of life simulation. Expect many differing shops, haggling mechanics, writs for procedurally generated contracts and the like, and more.
The travel system is already wonderfully operating. While this imagery is just the top piece, the game shifts place to place within the town with relative ease, and when I engage my own self-testing, I trigger it through a simple choice-selection of which quadrant you want to land in. This tests the code below and it lands me in the right place beautifully.
Edit: As shown in the above code, the game is fully aware of which direction you enter Stones Hollow from. This will work for all towns to provide an immersive experience. You will enter from a direction and land in the appropriate quadrant/area.
