Going West

I love this game so far .

I can spend hours on this sort of game buying and upgrading equipment and transport but two small questions can we expect to find/acquire accomplices and later on will we be able to personalise our look,size,name ect

@paul There will be a number of possible traveling companions one can join up with along the way, though this is probably something that will show up a good bit later in the game.

Adding more options for names is one thing I’m including in the update this week. The options of what to do before setting out should also give some other opportunities for creating a unique character.

I hope this does not come sexist but if going for more historical adventure, It bit of deal breaker when woman is she is veteran, poltician or least starting politician. Even thought was rare there few female preachers. Fur trade I could swallow it general enough.

This interest little atricle on woman that where involvement in furry trade if would like to give it read.
http://www.northwestjournal.ca/XIII2.htm

PS your writing awesome.

@Rogar This was a conscious decision on my part. I am aware that gender issues are taken seriously in this community, so let me briefly address my game’s philosophy on it.

The game does strive for historical accuracy in most regards. The places visited are real places in America, and the historical anecdotes given are largely accurate (such as the story about Martin Van Buren’s visit to Plainfield). However, in the interests of making the game enjoyable to as wide an audience as possible, I have disregarded historical accuracy on the issue of gender. You can play a male or female of any background. All romantic prospects will be available to both genders. In fact, as it currently stands, there is no point in the game where it makes any difference whatsoever whether you are playing a man or a woman other than the list of names you are given to choose from. I have no plans on changing that.

I hope this doesn’t come across as whitewashing history, but I want to make a game which is inclusive while staying largely historically accurate.

I understand where coming for larger group of player, but some it put taste in mouth, like if had female genreal during civil. Again if I had your awesome writing ability did game like this take for ever become woman would her share trial to deals with is different from man. One awesome thing is about froniter it where woman larger amount of diverty to overcome. So Being give gender nertualty in era did not have it and during time period when being challange, you do loss little bit of flare.

@Rogar, just play as a man. Then any issues you have with female generals, etc. will never come up.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Stories usually revolve around exceptional people or people in exceptional circumsances. No reason to exclude just because it wasn’t common.

Also, yay for bisexual romantic prospects! Happy Geisha is happy.

In my opinion it does come across as white washing history, but then that’s par for the course with fiction. The main problem with this kind of thing is, where do you draw the line? So women aren’t discriminated against as they were historically and no one takes a second look at a homosexual couple. So what about Black people? Chinese people? Irish people? History is full of prejudice. And in a way, ignoring that is a massive insult to everyone who suffered through it to make the world just a little bit less hateful today. If you say that Women are equal but blacks still aren’t, what are you saying there? Because someone is going to think you’re saying something, and then you might as well make it historically accurate because you’ve just lost your main reason for doing otherwise.

Personally I’d far more enjoy playing a female character in this game were it actually realistic. It’s just serve to make my character that much more badass. Otherwise I’m just playing a man called “Sue”.

If you can’t be realistic then it’s far better in my opinion to do what ScarletGeisha has in Samurai and just have a totally fictional world with distinct similarities to reality. Then you can work out how the differences will work within the gameworld and it will feel a lot more consistent overall.

Before anyone starts getting angry, we’ve had this conversation before, and, if you remember, it didn’t turn out well.

If you have something pertinent to say about the game, go ahead. Do not, however, start another back and forth on what you think is the right way for someone to handle their game. If you think that we (as a community) should talk about this more, we can start a thread for it, otherwise we don’t need this argument resurfaced.

Given how discussions about the issue of gender in these games have gone in the past, I think I’m safe in saying there’s probably no approach to the issue that is going to make everyone happy. If you like, feel free to think of the game as taking place in a fictional universe identical to America in 1849 except for the issue of sexual equality. Not everything else is a hundred percent accurate, after all. Prices, for instance. While I’ve tried to keep them close to what things would actually cost in 1849, I have to sacrifice realism for gameplay balance in some instances.

Ultimately, I’m hoping to create a game that provides fun immersion in another era, but is also accessible and fun for everyone who wants to play. I want everyone to be able to play a character ‘like themselves’, if that’s what they want to do. I know not everyone feels that this is the best approach, and I certainly respect those who take different approaches with their work, but this is the one I feel most comfortable with personally.

And I support you for your decision.

You’re ignoring my question though. Where do you draw the line? Is it fun for everyone to have to play a white guy because Chinese people are “chinks”, and black people are subhuman? What about the slaughter and/or displacement of Native Americans?

Actually, I am also interested in the issue of race.

The old west isn’t really great for the rest of us.

Created a new thread. Please move this discussion to there.

I don’t want to give away too much of what I have planned, but I do intend to address the issues facing both Native Americans and African Americans during this period of history during the game. I hope that the manner in which it is presented is tactful while still being thought-provoking. As for Chinese Americans, the major Chinese immigration into the United States was in its infancy in 1849, and most of that was concentrated along the California coastline, so that likely won’t come up in a significant way. While I welcome criticism in all aspects of the game, including how sensitive issues like these are handled, I ask people to reserve judgment until I actually post the relevant portions of the game.

I enjoyed your demo which gave a feel for the game you are creating. The writing is great, and I enjoyed the multitude of “classes” for replayability.

One suggestion is to cut a bit of exposition in the beginning chapters. For example, you go into analysis of horse vs. covered wagon for transportation. To make this more immersive, consider changing the scene so the play learns the info by speaking with people around town or some other means to play through the experience. Maybe two salesmen are yelling at the player’s character, one selling horses, one selling covered wagons.

Or just don’t explain any of it, and let people play it out. When they make a bad decision, explain why it was a wrong choice, which will encourage them to replay the game.

That’s my $0.02.

Overall, I think it’s a promising choice game. I was impressed with the demo and am looking forward to updates.

Very good game, beginning is OK.
Sitenote: didnt the pioneers travel in groups, if so could you think of adding other pioneers you could meet on the road?

P.S. - how long till next uptade? =P

once again I want to say how much I love this concept

and I am also wondering when the next update will happen [-O<

I found a crash bug.

  1. Choose criminal as a background
  2. Select any gender
  3. Select any name
  4. Select any transportation method
  5. Select any rations choice
  6. Choose to rough it and move fast
  7. Choose to fish and forage
  8. Choose to take a closer look at what you found
    At this point, the game will crash with two alerts. One says “{}” and the other says “Sorry, an error occurred. Click OK to email error data to support.”