Congratulations on the release! An immediate buy for me, and I’m incredibly excited for playing through the full story just as soon as I’ve replayed the rest of the series to get the starting world state just so!
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Thank you so much, that’s really lovely to hear! I hope you have fun playing!
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Barely played around 3 chapters and I’ve already had sex with someone. Peak interactive fiction if I do say so myself.
On a more serious note, congrats on your release, I definitely see the growth between the 4 stories, good luck on your future works.
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I’ve completed my first playthrough! I had a blast! I like the more sort of, thoughtful and introspective way that the MC examines themself and the breadth of roleplaying options felt really good. I was also really invested in Catarina and making sure she was having a good time and getting along with Fiore (haha not that I’m maybe gonna be her stepmom or anything–). I had a blast doing a slowburn type of romance too! I’m not usually very good at that cause I end up falling for the RO too fast, but there were some amazing options for having poor Amil be tongue tied and paralysed over saying the wrong thing! I was playing her as someone who kind of holds her emotions at a distance as a defence mechanism while putting everyone else first, so yeah, it fit really well. This is of course super healthy of Amil and not at all something that needs unpacking. (lowkey I was like 
when Amil’s health was wavering for a good two or three chapters because she was pushing herself so hard, but I think the break chapter came just in time)
I set up a world state with a Max/Delacroix/Creme!MC trio so I wasn’t surprised with that cameo; I already knew you could meet Max and Patrice so that was just something I was excited for and it was nice seeing my old PC all grown up and happy. What I wasn’t expecting was a cameo from RA!MC! Former Princess Marielle indeed! That was a cool moment. I’ve been jotting down a couple details on each of my MCs as I’ve replayed through the series so I feel super connected to them all.
I really enjoyed the disaster recovery and clandestine military sections late on. The stakes felt nice and high. I thought things might escalate even further but apparently I’d lowkey developed a good rapport with Korzha without realising. Being detached, professional, and polite for the win, I guess?
I did bump into a couple of bugs.
Summary
I’ve reported one through the website (creme!MC being introduced seems to get cut off somehow; possibly their physical description is omitted, but I’m not sure? When Max and Patrice are introduced the narrative describes what they look like, whereas when creme!MC is introduced there’s just a sudden break and then the dialogue resumes without a tag), but I think part of one of the epilogue states got crosswired too? I ended up taking the job at Ozera school.
Now, you have hours together now without needing to be accounted for. You can talk and play cards long into the night, catch up with others at the school and town, take walks and explore the grounds and beyond when you feel like it, and linger over your meals. You and Denario—and at other times you and Savarel—can lie together in bed—and do more than that—enjoying each other and thinking of nothing else.
Now, Amil was friends with Denario and Savarel, but not that kind of friends!
On the whole, I had a brilliant time with Honor Bound. I really enjoy the world of this series and I’m already planning my next playthrough tonight. Wait out for me, Matia!
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@Joao_Victor There’s definitely room for PCs who move fast in this game 
I’m really glad you’re enjoying it and I hope you carry on having fun!
@Izzily Thank you so much, I’m really pleased that the game allowed for you to play the MC that way! It was definitely a big part of my goal when I was writing to let players mould the MC’s personality and to make it feel cohesive. And so glad you enjoyed the cameos, and the later-game shenanigans!
Sorry about the bugs you hit! I’m just about to send the typo correction, and the incorrect Denario/Savarel romance checkin section should be fixed soon as well. Luckily that error, though jarring, shouldn’t affect anything after it - the rest of the game shouldn’t act like you’re in that romance!
I’m really glad that you enjoyed it and hope you have fun replaying and trying other paths through it!
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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.
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Somewhere on the forum, someone asked me about who’s who on the cover but I can’t find where they posted! So I’ll put it here, and hopefully they’ll see it.
- Catarina
- Simone
- Matia
- Raffi
- Savarel
- MC
- Korzha
- Fiore
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Oooh, my current desktop wallpaper! 
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