Heroes on Hold (WIP) Updated 5/1

Hey everyone! I just got greenlit for a CoG game titled Heroes on Hold and I was so excited to share it with you all that I made a forum post here! I don’t have a demo available yet (it just got approved yesterday!) but I’d love to offer you the premise and some of the characters that you’ll be meeting in the game, along with a quick, spoiler-free summary of their personalities:

Premise

All your life, you’ve hidden your powers because of the stigma behind using them due to the Awful Event thirty years ago. Then one day, everything changes—you’re attacked by an assailant, you find yourself in dealings with the law enforcement, and you’re eventually leading a team of other powered individuals into saving the world. It’s not quite what you expected. You learn of the existence of Pallor, a nefarious syndicate led by the perfectionist Ivory, who plans to bring about another doomsday by stripping away emotions from everyone in the world. It’s your job to stop that from happening.

I’m a huge fan of superhero fantasies and daydream often about having my own powers and what they would be—I read the Heroes Rise series avidly a few years back when they came out and they (along with classic Marvel heroes) were a huge source of inspiration for Heroes on Hold. I wanted to twist the standard plot a bit though, and make the PC’s main goal, aside from defeating the Big Bad, redeeming how heroes are viewed by a society that’s turned against them.

Our Heroes
No spoilers here! I wanted to offer you all a glimpse into the team that you’ll be working with throughout the entirety of the story without revealing too much into their personalities or personal lives. As a queer POC, I worked hard to make sure this team was diverse and offered many options with whom people who belong to marginalized groups could identify.

Taylor Garcia [sample codename: Aftershock] – the sample PC. Her power is earth and crystallization based.

Lilac An [codename: Chill] – a calculating and self-appointed vigilante who doles out justice as she sees fit. Her power is ice.

Aaron Styles [codename: Styles] – a strong, kind-hearted hero wannabe who seeks to help others. His power is time manipulation.

Carmen Moore [codename: Queen] – a scatterbrained but well-meaning woman with a heart of gold. Her power is magic.

Electra – a reclusive, nonbinary, techno-power expert. Their power is techkinesis.

Ilya Grievas [codename: Chiron] – a confident and seasoned healer with a knack for getting into trouble. His power is energy.

Agni Varma [codename: Egret] – a professional, transgender dancer with an eye for success. Her power is fire.

(Some of) The Villains
You and the rest of the Heroes on Hold will be fighting the evil syndicate Pallor throughout the course of the game. There are several more villains than the two I’ve summarized here, but I wanted to keep some of them secret (for at least a while, anyway). There are no spoilers in this section either!

Ivory – the beauty- and perfection-obsessed leader of Pallor. Her power is light.

Evelyn [codename: Venus] – a flirtatious and deeply intelligent young woman. Her power is charm.

You’ll also meet other characters during your time on the Heroes on Hold, including officers of and workers in law enforcement and others that are important to your team members. There will also be side stories that you can complete to learn about your team.

Update History

  • (3/10) Forum topic created.
  • (4/30) Chapter 1 draft completed.

Thanks for checking this out!
I’ll be around the forums here if you have any questions! It might take a while before the demo comes up, especially since I’m slowly learning how to use ChoiceScript, but I wanted to create this post because I wanted to share my excitement with you all and just couldn’t contain it. I’d love to hear your reactions, so please let me know!


(5/1) Update
You can play a draft of the first chapter using this link. Please let me know what you all think!

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Can’t wait.

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The name caught my attention, and the description got me interested. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!

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A lot of female characters! That’s new! So what do you want to achieve with this story? Do you want your readers to feel adrenaline for the fights, cry their hearts out because of (maybe) some tragic characters backstory, suspense? Anyway, I love super hero stories as well so I’m excited about this WIP!

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As with all new projects, I am happy to see you participate here in the community. Thank you @parawrites.

Superhero fantasies are always a popular genre.

Will your storyverse be based on our reality, on another alt-reality, or a completely unique developed world?

How customizable will the MC be?

I guess I am interested in possible power sets more than other cosmetic features – Your range of covered sets seems far-reaching, so I am curious if you will allow overlap, for example, if I would like an electrical and ice combo, if that would be o.k. even though both seem to be powers covered by team members.

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I’m a little curious about Queen’s ability. In a world with fire, ice, and technokinesis what exactly does the power of “magic” entail?

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Guess it’d be like the M/Patriarch in ‘The Hero Unmasked’ and consist of reality-warping and generally things a little beyond plain telekinesis etc.

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Thanks for your interest! Hopefully I can manage to achieve everything you’ve listed here—the main focus of the game is the use of your powers to fight the baddies and win, but I’m a huge, huge sucker for character and character building. I’ve planned out the backstories for each one so you can learn more about them in character-focused side plots and what makes them tick (including, of course, tragic backgrounds!)

@Eiwynn Thank you for the warm welcome! This particular storyverse takes place in the near-ish future in an alternate world very much like ours, but this special one has seen powers exist for centuries. Due to some unfortunate events, however, people with powers are ostracized, and it’s up to the PC to change that.

For your second question: the PC will always have earth / crystallization-based powers but can “unlock” different subsets of these abilities through certain points in the story thanks to Electra, your team’s techno-power expert. Because of this, you should be able to have different abilities based on whether you prefer offensive or defensive-styled fighting. Sadly it’s not quite what you imagined, but I hope it will be engaging nonetheless!

@BoisterousBumblebee Hey, thanks for your interest! I’ve avoided going too in detail with each character’s abilities but I’d love to offer a glimpse into what Queen is capable of:

[QUEEN] MAGIC – An avid fan of everything kitsch and cutesy, Queen makes sure that her magic is as aesthetically pleasing as she can make it. She uses infinite lengths of pink ribbon as extensions of her limbs, granting her not only mobility, but shackling options for her enemies and razor-sharp weapons when she needs to fight.

Hope this answers your question!

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So, it’s more Fabrikinesis (manipulating fabric) than telekinesis etc? (Sorry, I researched a 60+ abilities catalogue for my own game… that kinda thing sticks with one for eternity)

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No worries! That sounds pretty accurate, though Carmen does get some new abilities thanks to Electra throughout the story!

Can’t wait! Will the PC have the option of multiple powers, or will it just be one?

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Just to make sure, is the PC locked as female?

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@Logan_T Thanks for your support! The PC will always have earth / crystallization-based powers but you can customize them depending on your playstyle.

@Windrider99 Thanks for asking—the PC is gender variable, so you can play as male, female, or nonbinary!

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Can you be evil and side with the villains or do you have to be the good guy?

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I love superhero stories as well and this seems unique in the sense that the heroes are not only fighting the villians but also fighting for their place in a world that doesn’t accept them. Also the MC power seems cool so that’s a plus.

I can’t wait for the demo, good luck :grin::+1:

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Thank you for your interest! You’re locked into being a hero in this story; being a villain would be a very different (and interesting) one!

@AmerHST Thank you for the kind words! I hope I can get a demo out soon after working through more of this.

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(5/1) Update: Chapter 1 completed!

Hey everyone! Yesterday I just finished up a draft of Chapter 1 for Heroes on Hold, titled “An Icy Introduction,” and submitted it in for review! I’m so excited for you all to meet these characters—they’ve spent a lot of time being marinated and rewritten in my head and on paper, and hopefully one day soon they’ll find a place in your hearts as well.

My favorite parts of these interactive novels is getting to know these characters and their motivations behind what they do, so you’ll really learn more about them as the plot progresses (along with lots and lots of romance for those who are interested because I’m a sucker for that). You won’t get to meet every character in this chapter, but they’ll come up soon. :wink:

For now, you’ll be able to play the draft of the draft of this opening chapter through this link: Heroes on Hold (Chapter 1).

Over the next few weeks, I’d also like to share with you all some mock-ups of the main characters (and some new tidbits of information) that I created using this Picrew editor and PowerPoint. The first one here is Lilac An (codename: Chill), your main rival and one of the strongest members of your team:

I’d love to hear any feedback / constructive criticism you have! I’m looking forward to showing you more of this world in the near future. :slight_smile:

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I really enjoyed the demo! But off your first post I’m wondering if we can romance the villains because I always love to romance villains :crazy_face::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I think the plot is good too and the characters on the team all seemed unique.
Anyway I really liked what you have and I am super excited to read more of your story!

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Cool idea and demo​:blush: I’m already looking forward to meeting and getting to know those characters.:heart:

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All I can do is agree with you guys. The book is surely intereting with diverse stuff to focus on. Lot of characters, fighting techniques and different skills.
I’m really looking forward to meeting the last member of our team, curious to see who it will be and with what powers.
I was just invested in one thing which is: When you will decide to fight only/mostly with your powers will you get stronger, develop them further and learn new stuff with it? Dunno if it is measured by powership stat, if not that I would welcome this stat.
Anyway thank you so much and keep doing what you do.

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