How to Train Your Familiar (WIP)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Hello!

I’ve dabbled a bit here and there with CS, but this is essentially the first real project I’m taking on.

The game itself is based on a story I’ve slowly been writing for the past 6-7 months.

Summary:
You’re a nineteen-year-old university student who leads a pretty average life. You get more than you bargained for when you’re attacked by a creature of unknown origin and have to be saved by a sprightly, red-headed girl who claims to be both a witch and your new mentor. With this newly acquired information, you must learn to control your abilities before time runs out. Who knows what could be lurking out there?

Additional Information:

  • There are ROs available (roughly 6 at present) but they are not necessary to play the game. I’ve included an option to disable romances entirely.

  • This game includes it’s own lore and terminology that will be explained as it appears in the story, and an index of words will be included in the stats as they appear. Throughout the game the MC will come across various dimensions, species, and artifacts that may or may not benefit them along their journey.

  • The game takes place both in the MC’s homeworld and in other various dimensions. It alternates between the two throughout the story.

  • The prologue is kind of like my ‘rough draft’ at this point. I plan on rewriting a good chunk of it for the next update. (Include more options, make smoother transitions, etc.)

Here is a link to the demo:
https://dashingdon.com/go/1137

Any feedback or questions are appreciated!

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Demo seems great so far – I’ve been wanting a magic game that focuses on the MC’s familiar for a while now, so I instantly clicked when I saw the title and I wasn’t dissapointed.

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Wow! Pretty good so far. If we get a weapon hopefully we’ll get a variety of them. With familiars in the story… maybe we can get unusual ones? Something with scales perhaps? :stuck_out_tongue:

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Thank you so much! I’m afraid you don’t actually meet your familiar until chapter one, but I intend to explore the dynamic between them and the MC extensively. Your relationship with your familiar will definitely matter when it comes to playing the game.

Thanks! You will get to choose a weapon, but your initial selection will be limited and basic. You will eventually get to upgrade your weapon as your magic ability increases. If you wanted a rapier like Elizabeth, your MC would probably start out with something like a small blade.

As for choosing your familiar, I’m still undecided as to what exactly I’ll include for options, but I definitely want them to be unconventional and unusual. So it’s more than likely something with scales will end up on that list!

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I really like the premise of this, and I think I’m going to enjoy reading it, but just wanted to quickly pop out to point out a bug I found. If you choose the realistic option on the scales, realism does not actually go up on the stats screen. So I went back and did the creative option and that worked fine, bringing it up by two. Also, just a comment, I’m not sure about Strength/Dexterity being an opposed stat, I don’t particularly see them as mutually exclusive. Sorry that’s not very helpful, I’ll try to think up something I like better maybe. Anyway thanks for putting this up!

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Oh, thanks for pointing that out! I’ll look into that as soon as possible.

I see your point, I think Stealth would’ve been a more appropriate opposing trait. I’m glad you brought this to my attention, otherwise I likely never would’ve thought about it!

Oh, no, it was very helpful! This is exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for! :sweat_smile: I’m the only person writing and proofreading the game, so I rely a lot on feedback like this to point out anything I may have missed.

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I played through twice and took some notes:

  • The “Kind/cruel, creative/realistic, honest/sly” stats were under “skills” when usually that’s a personality sort of thing

  • I didn’t hold my breath for the scale, got the message “Your realism increases”, but it didn’t actually increase.

  • I like the character creation phase being you filling out medical forms, it works well.

  • “eyes are large in comparison to the rest of it’s face” → “eyes are large in comparison to the rest of its face”

  • “also the issue that it’s skin” → “also the issue that its skin”

  • The cat is asking me if I’m all right. The text indicates I’m unhurt, but my only choices are to say “no”
    or “Yes (Lie)”. (If this is because of my precarious mental state, it should probably mention that)

  • Also the cat then says it’s a relief to hear that I’m not all right. Jerk. :slight_smile:

  • I have a series of questions I can ask, but the answers were (to me) kinda unsatisfying. They ranged
    from “later” to “I don’t know”. I’d say either expand on the answers, do the Q/A session later in
    the story when they can explain more, or do away with it entirely.

  • Also I’d like an option to skip it because I’m doing another playthrough and already know the answers :slight_smile:

  • On the second playthrough I chose to attack the doctor. A message indicated that strength
    increased, but it did not.

Hope this helps; it’s pretty interesting so far. I very much feel like I’m thrown in the deep end and need to learn about my newfound powers

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Oh and maybe changing some of the stats?
Stealth/Strength could be Dexterity/Strength
Creative/Realistic to Idealistic/Realistic
Honest/Sly to Honest/Charming

Just throwing some ideas around :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve fixed it to where it just says ‘Pesonality’. I plan on revising the stats screen entirely when I re-write the prologue.

Yeah, I believe I’ve found a workaround for the time being, but I plan to look further into this issue if it persists with any other stat besides realism.[quote=“atiaxi, post:7, topic:23334”]
“eyes are large in comparison to the rest of it’s face” -> “eyes are large in comparison to the rest of its face”
“also the issue that it’s skin” -> “also the issue that its skin”
[/quote]

I’ve fixed the issue in the two instances you pointed out. This seems to be something I continually fall for, so if you notice it anywhere else, feel free to call me out on it!

:sweat_smile: I can’t believe I got those mixed up and never even noticed! I’ve fixed it so that the cat is no longer a jerk.

:disappointed_relieved: Yeah, I plan to go back and revamp the prologue before I begin anything else. I’ll probably just cut them entirely and replace it with a more fitting scene in chapter one.[quote=“atiaxi, post:7, topic:23334”]
On the second playthrough I chose to attack the doctor. A message indicated that strengthincreased, but it did not.
[/quote]

Is this the only instance where your strength wasn’t increased when it was supposed to? I’ll have to check and see if this is a recurring problem.

I just changed Dexterity/Strength to Stealth/Strength becaue Dexterity didn’t seem like an appropriate word choice when in comparison to Strength. But then again, Stealth probably doesn’t seem right, either.

Perhaps Agility/Strength would work?

But I agree to the other two ideas! :sweat_smile: They make far more sense than whatever it is I had going on.

Okay, I’ve made some immediate changes such as grammar or word misplacement. As for the stats and the issue where it doesn’t seem to add to the stat it’s supposed to, I’ll have to look further into that.

I really appreciate the help!

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I ran into this after choosing not to hold my breath, female, attracted to women, and not doing anything.

479×739 46 KB

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Is this the only instance where your strength wasn’t increased when it was supposed to?

As far as I could tell, yes; then again, I only looked when the story told me that something had changed.

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Masculine/feminine pronouns are considered outdated and offensive. “She/her” and “He/him” pronouns are the politically correct terminology.

“S{name} is unfamiliar with magic, after all.”’ error.

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I’ve played through what was here so far and I like what I’ve seen so far. It has a sort of whimsical charm that makes me sad the demo is pretty short right now. :pensive:

The familiar creation process – at least what has been hinted to it so far – reminds me of an old WIP about a student at a modern day temple who learns to harness their inner aura to fight mischievous creatures, but I don’t remember what it’s called.

Here’s hoping that we are able to train our dra-- I mean familiar.

Be honest, that was one of the first things to pass through your mind. Doesn’t help that the “doctor’s” description reminds me of Toothless. :grin:

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Okay! Today’s the day I’m going to see what’s wrong with the stats and hopefully try to patch things up.

Thanks for pointing that out! I patched that up last night, so there should be no issue now.

I checked this morning and, sadly, it’s not. :sweat_smile: I guess I’ll have to take a gander at the stats today! [quote=“Laguz, post:12, topic:23334”]
Masculine/feminine pronouns are considered outdated and offensive. “She/her” and “He/him” pronouns are the politically correct terminology.
[/quote]

I hadn’t realized that was offensive, but I immediately went and changed it to She/Her and He/Him. I’m really sorry about that!

Really? :smile: I’m glad to know that it gives off that sort of vibe! I’m sorry for it being so short though… but then again, it’s just the prologue.

You’ll also get plenty of chances to train your familiar, scaly or not. :wink:

Honestly, it wasn’t! But when the idea of a dragon familiar was brought up last night I immediately took a liking to the possibility of a dragon. It is definitely something I’ll be looking further into!

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Seem interesting so far can’t wait for more

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It seems interesting. I like the idea of the story. It kinda looked like an anime for some reason. I do think it lacks choices though, to give the MC more personality, I mean. Like, sarcastic, honest, brooding, social, loner, etc. You should look into that, but overall, I’m looking forward for more :slight_smile:

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nice tryd the game it was interesting think i keep a eye on this game* presses the button at bottom of the page marking it as watching the topic*.

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When I saw an option to talk to the cat I was kind of expecting a “and what’s your name?” while feeling around for tags.

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Have to say that what i’ve read is pretty cool.

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How are our familiars going to be decided.

I dislike how strength and agility are opposing stats. I typically think opposed stats are best for personalities stats.

Why does defending ourselves increase darkness?

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