Fantasy Foods Ltd. (WIP) - Updated 25 April

[Taylor_Enean]

Oh goodie, positively splendid idea! Fantasy Food is all about different, I would venture, so I quite like this approach. Let us say the secretary is busy with some saucy secretarial secrets.

[Fiogan]

And, a proper update! Two new scenes, to the tune of about 30,000 words.

Questions, if you’re so inclined:

1. Which background do you feel most inclined to thus far: baking, engineering, secretarial, or management?
2. I’m strongly considering changing the title, but my mind only seems to be giving me synonyms (The Enchanted Bakery) or sarcasm (My Work in a Magical Puddings Factory, or, A Vaguely Edwardian Tale of Biscuits and BLEVEs.) Opinions? Suggestions?

Cast for the two scenes:

• Gwyredd Ywenfridd, the green fairy.
• Sacha Grignon, one of the engineers from the opening sequence.
• Dusty Pwyll, an inventor.
• Miranda Vallès, another inventor.
• Cameos by Revenn Ley (the dragon chap from the bakery) and an entirely new character.
• And a special someone, waiting for the seeds of kindness to bloom in the garden!

I had such fun writing these sections. I hope you enjoy!

And, more news! If you fancy a deeper look into creating Edwardian steampunkery (or if you just like old illustrations, or game dev notes), I’ve a Tumblr account. Or if you prefer the abridged versions, you can look me up on Facebook. Thanks for reading!

[Shockbolt]

After I returned to the office from dealing with the automaton it seemed to think I had left before finishing dealing with the situation.

Is the dialogue you used to be able to have before the interview gone for good or is it being moved to the second half of the interview? I always liked slightly pestering the director about who was making the Cello music.

What age do you have to be to have skill in magic or is it based on a combination of stats and age?

Also is double-triple dinosaur cherry a new flavor option? Can we please pick more than one? Can I have peach-apricot-lavender-cherry-pistachio?

I laughed so hard at the door jam pun that I couldn’t breathe. I love it so much! Every time I see you update I get really excited because I love love love your writing!

In answer to your questions

Baking!

I would normally pick engineering but last time I did that I ran into the fact that I no 0 about engineering in real life and that meant I had literally no idea how to even start to approach the scene after you enter.

I do however know a lot about baking!

I like the title as is honestly. (:

[RedRoses]

This fun little story returns! I am so relieved. It’s a genuine blast, and I love it. It has a heart not very many stories have.

[Fiogan]

@Shockbolt Thank you for reading, and especially for your feedback! I’m so pleased you enjoy Flitted.

Re: The game ignoring your automatonic diplomacy; thank you for catching that! I thought this sequence might not work quite properly. I’m still somewhere rather slopey on the choicescript learning curve, and I muddled a few pieces.

I’ve checked through it, and I MAY have fixed it. (I also added another few thousand words to make that sequence transition better whilst I was debugging! And slipped in a few extra quips, too. Oh, and Voltaire!)

Please do let me know if the error persists. If it does, any chance you could let me know specifically what you chose? Did you run into Ywenfridd? Or was it Mr. Mawr who thought you’d left Grignon in the dust? That’ll help me sort out where I broke the universe. Thanks awfully!

Dialogue and cello players: I just locked the dialogue sequence with all the questions for now, so the flow of the story isn’t so disjointed. Once I finish this section, I’ll add a few more questions to that scene and put it back into the sequence - and finish the scene where the director asks you questions, too.

Waretwining: 51! Or older. It’s all age, since humans generally take decades to learn even the most simple ware skills. If you pick too many other skills, too, it’ll take away enough points on your age-counter to lock the option even when you’re older. It is VERY unusual for humans in this world (I need to name the world, dear me) to survive any sort of attempt at learning wareing [sic].

Ice cream: No, double triple-dipped dinosaur cherry was there before! It’s actually a homage to this song, which I enthusiastically recommend! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to Steam Powered Giraffe on loop (and Vagabond Opera, The Cog is Dead, and the New Orleans Steamcog Orchestra) whilst working on Fantasy Foods! Probably hundreds of times. It’s hard to find cheerful steampunk music, but these I’ve found quite chipper and also generally excellent. And the harmonies, oh my.

I suppose I could let you pick more than one flavour! Although I think lavender might be a bit pungent in that particular combination. Anyway, I’ll add the option to pick a bunch of flavours for the next update. I can think of some amusing things to do with it, too.

Door jams: I am so delighted! And I love your comments. Thanks for encouraging me to keep plugging away. 125,000 words and counting, huzzah.

Baking/Engineering: You know, you can falsify your resume. Your character can play an engineer without ever having picked up a spanner for an entire life-span. You can just muddle your way through the choices. That is, if you fancied! And I’m sure the others will cover for you . . . at least for a while. Besides, I have a strict no-deaths policy for Flitted, so you’ll at least be safe from boiler explosions, furious salamanders, and the like!

I’m glad you’re enjoying the baking route though! I hope it will feel very realistic once we finally get to actually baking tarts and treacle puddings and all the rest.

@RedRoses Thank you very much! I’m so pleased you think so. It encourages me to go write another 100,000 words of fussy dialogue, pudding recipes, and complicated pixie clients!

[TruMaknae]

This WIP is so cute! I can’t get over the little comments and the narration. It’s just so adorable, so quirky, so lighthearted; like nothing really bad can go wrong. You’ve done a great job in setting the mood! Also, I can’t get over how Flitted manages to fit in things I’m into: the Edwardian era (the fashion, at least; Edwardian gowns are so pretty) and the Welsh language (which I’m currently learning)!

For some reason, Flitted reminds me of a Miyazaki movie. I keep picturing it in his kind of animation style, and my MC looks just like Sophie Hatter. Speaking of which, I really love the diverse options for the MC’s background! Gosh, this game is so fun.

[matt_smith]

What the Jerry fuck did I just play? Why do I want to play more of it?

[Grey]

Before anything else, I just want to say that Monsieur Grignon is utterly wonderful. And so is Miss Vallès.

As for your questions:

1. I like all the backgrounds, but my favorites are definitely baking and engineering. It’s fun to read about all the whimsical confections. The same is true for the machines. A dash of steampunk is always a good thing. But then, getting to interact with the customers is delightful, so…
   Will the background chosen have a great impact on who we run into? Just curious.

2. I quite like the title. It’s what got me to click. However, the alternative ideas are cool, too. Whatever you choose will be great.

Also, some little things:

In the storage room scene - which was I thought was really cute, even though getting there makes me feel guilty - Gwyredd introduces himself twice. Once, right after you dry off, then again, as he departs.

Not sure if intentional or not, but, in the garden, saying that there are no seeds evokes the same response from the inventor as when you say that you’re not seeds.

Also, I’ve found a few unfinished sentences? For example, when choosing lemon as your favorite ice cream flavor.

And, that’s all I’ve got. I thoroughly enjoyed the update. …Did any of that make sense? Hope so.

[Fiogan]

All right! This was a rather larger update than I’d expected quite so soon, which is a good thing! So here we go:

Additions:

• @Shockbolt’s multiple-flavour ice cream suggestion has been implemented. Choose up to six flavours! Listen to the narrator protest your persistence and make pertinent quips!
• 10,000+ words of new content, including a great deal of new dialogue with Mr. Mawr (spread across play-throughs though), and a few adjustments to certain parts of Talos’s engineer’s dialogue.
• I actually remembered to update my alpha-dev notes this time. Huzzah.

@TruMaknae Thank you! I’m so pleased you’re enjoying Flitted. Brilliant that you’re learning Welsh; a phob lwc! And yes, Edwardian fashion is fun. I’ve had a blast working with my illustrator and designing the characters and their ensembles.

@matt_smith I don’t know! But I’m glad! I had a good laugh when I saw your comment; I forget Flitted is a little bizarre since I spend so much time working on it.

@Grey I’m glad the update didn’t disappoint! Re: backgrounds - I’ve been thinking that I’ll have to make sure to include some really splendid content with the assistant director and general assistant positions. I have a few ideas - travel? exclusive characters? - and of course the director gets much more of a say on what the company as a whole will do. Other MCs can make suggestions, but it’s much more likely that they’ll be overridden, depending.

Yes, the position chosen will affect your interaction with the others. You’ll work primarily with others in your own department when in the factory. It’s outings that’ll feature a more broad representation from the various sections.

Or - oh, did you mean the actual backgrounds? Like, in the character creation section? Yes, they will! In fact, at this point it’s possible to meet nearly everyone who will eventually show up in the story, although several of them only have tiny cameos for the time being.

I’ll keep the title as it is, I think, since I’ve heard two yeas here and nary a nay so far. The Enchanted Bakery still has a certain ring to it . . . but Fantasy Foods is certainly the most obvious, sensible choice.

Thanks for pointing out the errors with Ywenfridd! I think I sorted them all. Lots of loopy coding and a missed command on my part.

Seeds: I had no idea that would ever get noticed, heh. It was demi-intentional? I realised it didn’t quite work and was sorting it, but when I saw your comment I went ahead and added a entirely new section for that option.

A few partial sentences? Oops. Thank you for pointing out the lemon one! I took care of that, and I noticed two others that were missing a word (again, coding). I hope I’ve caught all the current ones.

Yes, perfect sense! Thanks so much for the very helpful feedback, and for enjoying Flitted!

Now I’m going to work on wrapping up this 8,300 line sub-scene and finishing the stay-in-the-office option. (I think that’ll be with the dragon chap, though I haven’t quite made up my mind!)

[Taylor_Enean]

Pardon me, do you plan to implement bibs for this game?

You see, I am afraid I might be drooling a bit here now.

Gosh darn it, you do make one lovely game here, positively love playing it already - what will it not be once finished? I do tell you one thing it will be; mine, bought and paid for!

[Grey]

Travel? I like that idea very much. I was hoping we’d get a chance to run around the rest of the Flitted world, even just a little. And a director having a bigger say would make sense. So far, the different branches seem well balanced. And, since the people you work with varies with each, then that’s all the more reason to play through them all.

I did mean the factory position, although I had wondered about the others, too. I’m looking forward to their cameos. It’s nice that the background characters don’t disappear as soon as character creation’s over. Thank you for answering!

Thinking over the title, I can see the appeal of The Enchanted Bakery. At a glance, it covers more aspects of the story. On the other hand, Fantasy Foods is alliterative, and I get to shorten it to Flitted. Which is a fun word. I like both.

[spoiler]Ywenfridd still repeats himself if you overreact to his offer to help, feel embarrassed about it, and then nod when he’s about to leave. Any other combination I tried ran smoothly.

Choosing a university background with a preference for fine arts leads to an incomplete sentence about a play. After some quick reads, that’s the only one I spotted.[/spoiler]

I appreciate the added choices and dialogue. And the new ice cream options had me smiling. Once again, fantastic update.

[RedRoses]

“We had an automaton in the flower bed, sir; Mr. Grignon and sorted it all out.” I try not to look too proud of myself.

You’re missing an I, love! We may need to get you an i-patch.

[Fiogan]

Thanks, everyone! I just ran an update that should fix all the issues mentioned above. (Remember to refresh the browser cache by all means, if you’re checking!)

@Taylor_Enean I’m so pleased you like it! (And the narrator DOES make one drooling remark, thus far - maybe the narrator should offer a bib too. Hmm . . . )

@Grey Thank you very, very much for finding that last error with Ywenfridd and pointing it out. It took about an hour to make sure I’d finally tracked it down, and in the end it was because one line of code was two lines off, so to speak. I think it’s finally fixed, though!

I really appreciate you outlining the choices that led up to the error. Between that and @CJW’s CSIDE, I was finally able to find the exact source of the problem. Otherwise I would have been in a mess. Bothersome fairy and his absentminded repetitiveness.

I fixed the open sentence too; thank you. (I can always tell which parts I’ve written at home, and which I’ve written at the local café, in exactly this way. Goodness.)

The Enchanted Bakery has the further advantage of putting me in mind of [this song] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbskoBOHyc8), which my mind then renders:

Some enchanted bak’ry,
You may see a fairy,
Top a cake with cherry
Within the baker’s room.

And somehow you know
She’ll use cinnamon,
With touches of almonds, chopped fine then stirred in.

Some enchanted bak’ry,
Elves are pulling taffy,
Lemon-flavoured taffy,
Stuck to a silver spoon . . .

I could go on, but I’ll spare you all. Sadly I can’t put that in the story, because it’d be anachronistic (the melody, I mean - soft ‘taffy’ was first pulled in the late 1800s, although Flitted would have to import it from the Ddyniony equivalent of the U.S. East Coast . . .).

Travel: Oh yes. I already have definite plans for letting the assistant director or general clerk visit Bayydd. A few of the outside events also might be set in Agored or Elfcoreff, too, very possibly, and be thus accessible to all four positions. Those countries aren’t quite so distant as Bayydd. (We’ll see Sir Horace again then, I’m thinking, too.)

@RedRoses Arrr. (Fixed! Thank you very much! This is quite funny, as I was just joking about Flitted having a ‘bring a pirate to work day’.)

[Grey]

Lovely song! And it really matches the mood of the story, especially with your lyrics. I can imagine it playing in the background during a more relaxed moment. If it had existed then, that is.

Bayydd sounds like an exciting place to visit. Agored, too! I like the names you’ve chosen. Out of curiosity, do you plan on having anyone accompany us on our travels? In any case, it sounds like it’s going to be interesting.

As for Sir Horace, I like him. He’s fun. Will we be seeing him regardless of whether we worked for him before?

Checked the game, and everything’s working splendidly! Well, I mean, for the most part… Something I found:

[spoiler]In the singing telegram scene, the only time you’ll get the gingery man is if you’re an assistant director, yes?

Well, right before the telegram is opened, an engineer who chooses “Oh yes, let’s.” will have him appear on the next page, in place of Lady Gwelw:

The gingery fellow is frowning at the piece of paper, stroking his moustache nervously. Mr. Mawr catches his eye and shakes his head slightly. “Hmf,” he mutters under his breath.

And an assistant director choosing the same will get Lady Gwelw, in that spot:

The older woman with the feathery hat folds her arms across her chest. She gives the little piece of paper a stern look, one that might also serve when managing unruly grandchildren.

It seems as if the paragraphs switched places? It only happens with that one choice, and the rest of the scene runs smoothly.

Bakers and general assistants selecting that option don’t get the gingery man, but they do get an unfinished paragraph in the same spot.[/spoiler]

And lastly, Lady Gwelw seems to have an unfinished sentence, directly after the choice, “Bourgeoisie rubbish!” I agree, emphatically.

Okay, I’m done here, I promise.

[Fiogan]

Thank you! One of my day jobs is piano, and that song is just fun all around to hammer out, loads of exaggerated rolled chords and the lot. I’m glad you liked the silly poetry.

Oh yes, the MC will most certainly be accompanied on international trips of any sort. This is due to Mr. Mawr’s temperament, the amount and sort of business likely to happen, and the MC’s own tendency to have lively days. Besides, character action is fun - although now that you ask, maybe I should insert a ‘ditch your partner’ option.

Not a hundred percent sure about Sir Horace yet! I’m glad you enjoyed him. All those botanical puns took a bit of research, as did the cryptids (all of which are based on existing legends).

Thank you so, so much for reporting those bugs! Really, I would never catch them all myself. Your help with my code-critters is really invaluable. Debugging for the good of all, huzzah. I’ve sorted them now, I think - wrong profession, a typo, and an overlooked dangling sentence.

Yes, you are quite right; Ginger is the acting assistant director if you are hired on for the position (in which scenario Lady Gwelw does not work for Flitted.)

Ginger’s lexicon entry, if you like - and a very small plot clue - will be this:

[spoiler] Gwilym ap Iefangoch (GWEEL-em ap AE-van-goech): A human male of middle height and build. The first thing most people notice, upon meeting him, is his gingery, light red hair. Though very soft-spoken, Mr. ap Iefangoch, or Vanni to his friends, takes a firm hand with the staff at Fantasy Foods.

He’s more likely to manage existing high-profile customers, or discover new ones, than Flitted’s director. Being the calm, thoughtful sort, he can handle almost any situation with his characteristic equanimity. He and Cceur Mawr have been close friends for some years.[/spoiler]

And Ginger only appears for the same reason that only engineers get to meet Miss Pwyll instead of Miss Vallès during the automaton scene - if your MC is the engineer, then Miss Pwyll never worked for Flitted at all. I’m interested to see how people react to the fact that the same character can have two very different roles in the story, depending on the MC’s own role. Well, I hope.

Dull-ish technical babble below, if anyone is interested:
I’m glad the names fit, and I hope they’re not too unpronounceable for those mostly unfamiliar with Welsh. They’re mostly made by doing a bunch of research into the origins of our world’s names for the countries or regions, and then translating them into Welsh as best possible. (Sometimes it’s quite funny, like when England comes out as Elfcoreff even though it’s the least elf-like country possible at this point . . .) Bayydd is a slight exception, since I combined a few countries’ worth of linguistic rules what with the vast difference in languages.

[Charles_Parkes]

Hello @Fiogan. You seem to have received quite a bit of very justified praise already.

But I just wanted to say how beautiful the story is so far.

I’ve fallen into the engineer line so easily that coming to Flitted feels a bit like coming home. I can’t help but feel that’s the mark of a star choicescript story. So you can probably guess that I’m very much looking forward to more.

[Eiwynn]

@Fiogan - Just a note to say: I’m taking a couple days off but I’ll be doing a session for feedback for you when I get back.

I know I’ll have flavorful fun so saving the flavor for later … see how I made a Wonka-like alliteration?

oh… one thing I’d like to say now: I’m envious of your music writing ability… after 4 hours of trying to write myself a simple ballad I gave up. lol. So ummm I suck at that and admire your ability.

[RyseAbove]

I love the update I always smile while reading this, it’s just such a happy and quirky story

I was also wondering if Miss Vallés will be an RO or not she seems like a very interesting character.

[Grey]

Abandoning our travel buddy in a possibly unfamiliar country? Can’t imagine that going wrong. And, character action is great, I agree. One of my favorite things about this story is how diverse the cast is. They’re all so likable, too. I’d feel bad ditching any of them.

Are you planning on having any antagonistic characters? You’ve mentioned before, I think, rivalry between companies, which is why I ask.

I have to say, all of the research you’ve put into this is impressive. I love reading through and finding details I hadn’t caught before. And I now know the names of several mythological creatures that I had never previously heard of.

I had been wondering what would happen to the characters who would otherwise have the MC’s job. I like that you plan on giving them another part. It’s cool to see them filling out different roles.

Ah, Welsh. It always looked so random to me. I’d be completely mangling some of the names without the help of the pronunciations. But I’ve looked up the Welsh alphabet, and it helps knowing which letters make what sounds.

And, I’m very happy I helped, rather than annoyed, haha. I’ll try to keep doing so.

[Fiogan]

Another update! About 12,000 additional words, once again, and some major and minor changes. The alpha notes ahead are full of spoilers if you’ve not read the previous update from the 9th!

Additions:

• Added a way for the MC to solve the daffodil conundrum without aid from Grignon or the other engineer - or with selected help from Miss Vallès or Miss Pwyll only.
• Added another plot line, which affects the backstory and outcome of the daffodil scene.
• Altered Miss Pwyll’s character significantly (I’d had some complains that she didn’t seem very authentic, or that she somehow didn’t make sense, so here’s to hoping this version is better!).
• Altered Talos’s speech patterns to better match earlier speaking automata who were the pattern behind his vocal design. If it doesn’t work, I have one other idea that I could try. I’m not so sure about both the telegram and the automaton using dashes in speech - although they’re both mechanically rendered, so perhaps it’s all right?
• Threw in a little botany and Welsh natural history. I like gardens. Maybe in my next game the MC can be a garden gnome.
• Added a small scene in the foyer.
• Added (I hope) a compelling reason to leave the garden scene and find the drying-off scene with Ywenfridd.
• I felt like some of the option lists were a bit overwhelming. I tailored them somewhat to the MC’s stats. Please let me know if you feel like any choices are missing reasonable options for your character, though!

@nightcap I’m so glad you’re enjoying the engineer’s route thus far! If you ever have any suggestions to keep the engineering sections authentic, I’d love to hear them.

@Zolataya Thanks for the kind words! I look forward to your feedback. And if you ever need a ballad, I’d be happy to try my hand. I enjoy doodling around with rhythm and metre, although results definitely vary. And I hid a scrap of rewritten folk song in this update, though it might be hard to find! It’s signposted with a cucumber.

@RyseAbove Thank you! I’m so glad my silly Edwardian fantasy makes you smile. I wasn’t planning on making Miss Vallès an RO, as she’s not staff. Miss Pwyll will most likely be, though! (Unless I completely fail to write convincing romance paths, which is a possibility. We shall see.) My reasoning was that you’ll spend most of your time interacting with staff, so it makes most sense to focus on those relationships.

I’m also willing to reconsider if people are particularly interested in Miss Vallès. I could possibly give her some more scenes later in the story.

@Grey Thank you so much for all your feedback! You’re brilliant and it’s been tremendously helpful. Also, I like how you think about foreign travel. Now I have a lovely picture in my head of the MC sailing away in a hot air balloon, and Grignon stranded on the ground somewhere in alternate-Persia, pulling the world’s worst forlorn expression - puppy eyes and all . . .

Yes! In fact . . . depending on how you’ve played, you may have already met one always-antagonist, and a few other people can certainly become antagonists depending on how you play. I hope to mirror a real company, where there’s some balance between different agendas, personalities, and goals. Not to mention outside pressures.

I was going to mention some antagonists specifically, but then it occurred to me that even people who don’t like spoilers . . . well, it would be mean to put the temptation right there, one click away. So I suppose, instead, anyone who is really curious is welcome to PM me!

Thanks! I’m so glad you appreciate the research, haha. Sometimes I feel like my title should be Fiogan: Repository of Useless Facts. For instance, did you know the electric toaster was invented in 1893, (sadly) several years prior to the automatic bread slicer?

Yes, Pedr Widden, Dusty Pwyll, Lady Gwelw, and Gelys Tew will all have minor roles if they’re not working for Fantasy Foods, although duration and impact vary rather widely.

I’m incredibly delighted that Flitted has inspired you to look up the Welsh language! That’s brilliant. And yes, you are very helpful, and not in the least bit annoying.