I put a version of these acknowledgements in the game, but I wanted to put some more details here to highlight the amazing work that a lot of people did to get Honor Bound where it is. It wouldn’t be anywhere near so polished without them:
My editor Abigail C. Trevor pushes my games into shape from concept to release, from big-picture feedback to meticulous edits.
Abby has a particular knack for teasing out the potential of an idea and pushing it further. At the very early stages, the PC was assigned to Ozera because of an injury but not because of any particular other issues, and Elene’s Prospect was not the PC’s hometown (and therefore there was no prior connection with Denario) - Abby’s input helped shape the PC’s goals and motives from the start.
Abby’s first game, Heroes of Myth, is about a con-artist called to really fix a magical crisis. Her latest, Stars Arisen, is a fantasy doorstopper about being the child of an immortal deposed tyrant queen who wants you to seize back control of the city-state. Highly recommended!
Kris Lorischild copyedited this 595K word monster. This would be a massive undertaking even without my tangles of code to deal with and Kris truly polished Honor Bound to make it shine.
Kris was narrative co-lead/localisation producer on Cozy Grove, created You Are Jeff Bezos and more, used to be Senior Curator for Critical Distance, and has copyedited 20 CoG games. Check out their itch page here!
Adrien Valdes aka @defenestratin did the cover art. Adrien’s illustrated three of my games now and knocks it out of the park beautifully every time. He’s also illustrated many other CoG and all of the Heart’s Choice games. See more of Adrien’s work here!
I don’t know all the names of the continuity readers, and although I’ve tried to thank the playtesters directly, I may have missed some—but from finding bugs, to noticing typos or awkward sentences, to letting me know where I was falling short of my goals, their work was invaluable.
Jason Stevan Hill, Mary Duffy, and Dan Fabulich from the Choice of Games team worked wonderfully on this release.
Special shoutout to Rebecca Slitt’s editorial review of the full draft which guided me in expanding and enriching a ton of moments that needed it. These days Rebecca is mostly an editor and runs the Heart’s Choice label (and many of my favourite games were edited by her), but she also created Psy High, a brilliant teen-psychic CoG game!
Many of you here will already know that shortly after the game was released, my friend and fellow writer Eiwynn passed away. You can find out more about her here. Eiwynn was a tireless pillar of the ChoiceScript interactive fiction community, helping writers and players old and new. Ever since I started writing with ChoiceScript, she gave me support and encouragement, and she did the same for many, many more.
Thank you for everything, Eiwynn. Your warmth and kindness will be sorely missed by me and countless others in the community.
Finally: my wife Fay Ikin is my first reader even at the concept stages and helps me arrange my ideas as well as helping me untangle when I’m struggling (in writing and in life!).
Teran is loosely based on her TTRPG campaign from many years ago. I’m very grateful that she let me steal her setting.
Fay isn’t on here regularly, but she makes games as well. She’s best known for her intense gladiator-pit romance game Heart of Battle in which you can fight and/or romance your fellow gladiators, a magic medic, or a fabulously wealthy patron. It’s a brilliant game, and I would say that even if I wasn’t married to her, She also made Asteroid Run: No Questions Asked, a gorgeous and very underrated scifi thriller that’s perfect for fans of Firefly and The Expanse.
I’m still reeling from the news of the death of someone who’s been such an integral part of the community for so long (and a wonderful part of my life for years). But I’m really grateful to everyone who’s been playing Honor Bound and letting me know that you’ve been enjoying it, and to everyone who contributed to make the game what it is.