Hexfinder WiP - Play Chapters 1-10 (Now with chapter save checkpoints!)

FWIW a choice to be an actual crypto-Catholic, not just a sympathizer, would be neat. Perhaps something similar to the choice of what you did during the more active phases of the war. (Could also lead to some real meme endings like a Parliament that reaffirms the spiritual authority of Rome lmao).

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Wow I loved the demo and can’t wait for the release. Nothing more engaging than a good mystery. What’s amazing here is the traitor changes with each play through! Lots of replay value

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A question about how the endings will work out (Since I haven’t played your other book yet) how would something like changing the Hexfinder order would go? Would it depend on a choice right there and now, choices you made across the game, or just on your personality stats and if it’s personality stats how would it work if they are in conflict with each other say high zealous and Generous? Just asking about mechanics here not story

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I’ll take changing/reforming the Hexfinders as the example, as that’s a good one to use :slight_smile:

In that case, the player being offered the Hexfinder General role would come down to the ‘state of the country’ at the end. It’s possible that Oxford is somewhat destroyed and the queen might be dead. Of course the latter might still be okay for your prospects if you’re friendly enough with, or actively working for, parliament. But basically if you have averted calamity/assisted the ruling regime and are regarded well (so high prestige, decent stats with the necessary faction), you could be offered that promotion!

You’ll be able to turn that down of course, if you wish.

But if you accept, in the epilogue I’ll try to work out what kind of Hexfinder Order you could/would be able to start to shape. That would include a choice or two to let the player guide things. Personality stats will come into play here, but so too will the restrictions of the job and what the queen/parliament want out of the organization.

Players of Plague Doctor will know I don’t exactly go for ‘happy’ endings, but there are some that are ‘less bad’ and offer a bit of hope! I’d want to give players a sense of accomplishing something, whatever their preference for the organization might be - while recognizing that an individual, even if nominally in charge, would find it very difficult to change such a system.

That’s the intent, at least!

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Wow, I really liked this setting and your prose. Loved harnessing the power of my bad luck, what a fun skill to include! I look forward to seeing how this ends.

I did run into a bug after deciding the fate of Cromwell’s head. I chose to give it to Dorty, but the text reacted as if I had decided to keep it myself, up until I met with Hopequins, who said Dorty gave him the head.

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Thanks :slight_smile:

Regarding the bug, that’s one I’ll need to track down!

Was it happening all the time? (You gave the head away, but the text always suggested you still had it). Or was it just wrong once or twice but sometimes correct in referring to what you did?

If it’s the latter, I don’t suppose you remember roughly where those errors were in terms of what the player is doing at the time (no problem if not, but it all helps in the bug search).

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It seemed to almost always say I still had the head. Spooking the horses, hiding my bag from people, telling Milton I hid it from the order, getting the scene where it falls in the hay and speaks, and kicking it under the bed in front of Nico. I loaded a save and took screenshots, but there’s like 20, so it’s probably easier if I just post the instances where it was correct (I still have the rest if you want them, though).

Summary


^correctly flagging I don’t have the head for the 2nd choice


^correctly stating Dorty delivered the head

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Brilliant, thank you! That should make hunting the problem more straightforward.

Almost seems like I’ve forgotten to set a flag somewhere - though if that’s the case it’s a little odd that Hopequins gets it right later on. I’ll look into this and (hopefully) have it fixed next time I update the version here.

“Give the head to Dorty,” is quite a specific path with its own special flag (distinct from a more generic ‘the Order have the head now’) so I’ve probably lost track of that somewhere along the line.

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I realise this was waaay back in June, but while looking into the above bug I noticed this one was still lurking on my list.

You don’t happen to remember whether the queen accepted the naming (rather than brushing you off), by any chance? If Charlotte didn’t believe you, then the naming won’t ‘take’ - so then you could name somebody to another party later.

If the queen DID think you were on to something, then, yeah, a flag should have been set and you shouldn’t have been allowed to use that choice. Unless I messed up the coding (that one is brackets hell).

Absolutely no problem if you don’t remember now, it’s kind of a long shot :smiley:

Regarding the more recent bug and possession (or not) of Cromwell’s head. Wherever that item winds up with Dorty, I’ve now set the flag cromwell_retrieved to false.

I was using that one as a shorthand for ‘player has [that item]’ all the way through Chapter 10, so that will have been causing issues in those circumstances. I’m fairly confident this won’t break other things…

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Yes she did believe my mc and if I remember right back then I thought the problem was one of the brackets though I wasn’t sure

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That was fast :smiley:

Okay, thanks. That could indeed be wonky coding then, hmm.

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I don’t understand why I can’t surrender the artifacts. Is it because I resist the Satia’s whisper or because I withheld information about the artifacts? Or is it because I allowed those two hexcrafters in Ipsden to expel the apparition? Additionally, in the scene where they’re trying to expel the Bondivica, is it possible that the power of the dagger will remain if I summon Nico?