@King2 I’m back with the reply about stats! Tell me if this answers your question
Stats
Strength is related to melee fighting mostly, it helps the player if they want to master the scythe (but they will also need a bit of magic for complete mastery) Intelligence is used as an umbrella for historical, political, and mostly theoretical knowledge. Magic is useful for becoming a spellcaster later on, but the player has to maintain a good relation with nature (not being scared of the forest, respecting nature etc.) Leadership grows every time the player is reliable, follows their duty as a council member, protects the people, and being responsible in general.
Humour is just a nuance for the player’s personality.
The rest are more about your view about the world. If you see the best in others or you’re more of a pragmatic, if you want to keep status quo or if you’re thinking of new ways to solve different problems, if you’re kind or not, if you’re a people’s person or more private.
Science and arts are a must only if the player doesn’t want to rely on magic or strength.
Currently, [spoiler]there are three important scenes for the player’s future path. Choosing the family (each family comes with a different stats growth), choosing the one to see before departing (Marsail gives the player something that will be useful only if the player keeps the “humane” and “idealist” stats high; Tamhas gives the player something that works only if the players keeps the “instinct” stat high; Arailt gives something that works only with “intelligence” and “methodical” high), and choosing how to spend the time before sleep in the woods (training will make the player a scythe user or a spellcaster, while painting and tinckering will make them an artist and inventor, respectively).
The reason being that someone can be averse to the idea of marriage, but not necessarily to romance/relationships. Option 2 on the screenshot here is good as is because we do need an option to cover an aro perspective, but it doesn’t quite match the vibe I’m talking about for at least one of the new options I’m proposing.
For another one, or two options; the feel of the moment in the scene itself is intentionally abrupt. Giving players a chance to choose something that reflects a natural hesitance to the idea Aunt Mauve presented would flow really well here.
None of the options currently available present a natural reluctance that isn’t completely against the idea of marriage.
That’s my 2 cents critique of this particular scene. I look forward to seeing the rest of the land beyond the forest!
Thanks a lot! Could you also tell me in which direction those option could go? Like what you felt you nedeed there (aprox. of course) for it to be a choice you would made?
I did below the image, but spelled out more directly, I guess I’d want a choice that says - “I would rather not, although I’m not against the idea of having a romantic relationship.”
Another choice that reads something along the lines of - “I’m not sure I’m ready for marriage yet.” Either related to misgivings about just jumping into a marriage with a possible stranger a year from the letters’ warning, or because MC isn’t confident they could maintain a healthy relationship with someone if they got to choose their partner from somewhere other than their aunt’s list.
The conflict itself is pretty early, so allowing a player to express a bit of doubt at first should be reasonable as long as there’s time to build up their MC’s confidence after.
I think I figured it out. In the startup sheet for your game’s code you have the *sm_init positioned right after the chapter one image, and a page break. It should probably be before those things. If that’s not the problem, then I dunno what it could be, because it is otherwise correct as far as I can tell.
So a couple things I wanna gush about. Mild spoilers, so I’m blurring for the sake of other readers.
Previously, an error prevented me from tinkering with an invention in the forest’s camp clearing it kindly made for my MC, and Theo. I am happy to report that the delight of reading the part where the forest became a “busy body, mood-setter, match maker” was well worth it. Shala lala lala my oh my, look like that boy too shy! Ain’t gonna kiss MC! …my apologies for that.
Sweets is adorable! I’m glad I grabbed her bowl before something happened.
Not sure I want to encourage impressionable children to get into the habit of feeding grapes to bunnies. They can have up to two, or three safely, but the sugar in grapes is apparently too much for their health if not kept to a rare ‘once in a while’ type thing. I only looked that up after seeing the choice during the breakfast scene with the Kilcolt family to be sure because I know other animals, like dogs in particular, can’t have them because they contain a poisonous substance to them.
Haha:)), yes, that was also one of my problems during that scene. I was writing that in the middle of the night and, I admit, I didn’t have the patience to look it up (if it was a safe thing for the bunnies). But the thought crossed my mind, that’s why Thea/Theo intervenes, asking if they even eat them. I didn’t know it can harm them, so I’ll think about some other type of animal. If you have any ideas, let me know!
In what sense? Do you feel like the pacing is too slow in revealing the world or sth like that? This could help me adjust the pacing in writing. Or do you feel the need of something like a separate page in stats for the lore?
Animals that eat grapes: deer typically eat grapes, bears (probs dont use this one), raccoons (eh), some birds, etc. (this is just off of my head, there may be more, but you should do research first!)
