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).
Wow I loved the demo and canât wait for the release. Nothing more engaging than a good mystery. Whatâs amazing here is the traitor changes with each play through! Lots of replay value
A question about how the endings will work out (Since I havenât 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 itâs 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
Iâll take changing/reforming the Hexfinders as the example, as thatâs a good one to use
In that case, the player being offered the Hexfinder General role would come down to the âstate of the countryâ at the end. Itâs possible that Oxford is somewhat destroyed and the queen might be dead. Of course the latter might still be okay for your prospects if youâre 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!
Youâll be able to turn that down of course, if you wish.
But if you accept, in the epilogue Iâll 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 donât exactly go for âhappyâ endings, but there are some that are âless badâ and offer a bit of hope! Iâd 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.
Thatâs the intent, at least!
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 Cromwellâs 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.
Thanks
Regarding the bug, thatâs one Iâll 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 itâs the latter, I donât 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).
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 thereâs like 20, so itâs probably easier if I just post the instances where it was correct (I still have the rest if you want them, though).
Brilliant, thank you! That should make hunting the problem more straightforward.
Almost seems like Iâve forgotten to set a flag somewhere - though if thatâs the case itâs a little odd that Hopequins gets it right later on. Iâll look into this and (hopefully) have it fixed next time I update the version here.
âGive the head to Dorty,â is quite a specific path with its own special flag (distinct from a more generic âthe Order have the head nowâ) so Iâve probably lost track of that somewhere along the line.
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 donât happen to remember whether the queen accepted the naming (rather than brushing you off), by any chance? If Charlotte didnât believe you, then the naming wonât âtakeâ - 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 shouldnât have been allowed to use that choice. Unless I messed up the coding (that one is brackets hell).
Absolutely no problem if you donât remember now, itâs kind of a long shot
Regarding the more recent bug and possession (or not) of Cromwellâs head. Wherever that item winds up with Dorty, Iâve now set the flag cromwell_retrieved to false.
I was using that one as a shorthand for âplayer has [that item]â all the way through Chapter 10, so that will have been causing issues in those circumstances. Iâm fairly confident this wonât break other thingsâŚ
Yes she did believe my mc and if I remember right back then I thought the problem was one of the brackets though I wasnât sure
That was fast
Okay, thanks. That could indeed be wonky coding then, hmm.
I donât understand why I canât surrender the artifacts. Is it because I resist the Satiaâs 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 theyâre trying to expel the Bondivica, is it possible that the power of the dagger will remain if I summon Nico?
I dont know why there is just something really great about naming your character hexfinder and for it to be relevant plotwise and getting responses from other characters.
Merry Winter Solstice everybody! I donât like to let such things pass without at least checking inâŚ
This is not an update to the beta Iâm afraid (not done with wrestling Chapter 11 yet), but you may be assured that the work continues. 110k words appears to be the current count (give or take my copious notes to myself in the code).
Hope you all have a great/fine/tolerable festive period. The sunlight will return in due course