Interest Check Thread

[idonotlikeusernames]

@Eiwynn

With that said, there will be resistance encountered.

What irked me with Samurai is that it got more restrictive as the series went along and the first book had apparently given me, and not just me, the wrong impression of where the series might be headed.

Oh and that the author chose to discount gay men and to a slightly lesser extent lesbians specifically as part of his marketing strategy to cater to the straight male and female gazes.
That’s valid because Hosted Games is a different label with different conditions and more freedom than the CoG label, but again if I had caught on earlier I wouldn’t have bothered.

But since the author here is entirely up front about it, I wish them the best of fortune in their endeavours but unless it’s a gay m/m locked one I am simply not gonna be in the target audience.

[KINGspoisons]

I would like to make my first game for this site after playing these games for a bit over a year now. I want to make a horror or psychological game like ‘Creatures Such as We’, but more in depth about things.

I want to explore the depth of humanity and what it means to be human, but i don’t know where to start. If anybody would like to help me out, i’d gladly appreciate it! Thank you!

[Dorsia]

I’d say the first part in making a story engaging is the quality of the writing itself. The reader has to be immersed in the story, or in other words let themselves be deceived by the story. Everyone knows fiction is fiction but good writing makes it so that we care about the characters, care about the message of the story.

Second, a big part in making stories engaging is choices. I mean it’s in the name, choice of games. The biggest reason to write these gamebooks or interactive stories or whatever the appropiate name is, is the ability to make choices which keeps the story fresh, complexer, engaging. Make choices worthwhile. Make it so that people’s choices actually matter. Combine with characters or settings that are well written and you have an engaging story IMO.
I’m not an author so you’d probably have more specific tips from them on the forum

[sennadosia]

As a fellow Native American, I’d be super interested to read this!

Besides the different clans, what else do you have planned?

[Cecilia_Rosewood]

Color me very interested. It’s one of those areas of history I’d love to get to know/experience more about, but since it’s not even the same continent going over to take a look isn’t really an option. In what kind of ways could the player character grow in power in the clan of their choosing? I imagine there’s multiple ways to get there.

[riverleafing]

I don’t know if it might inspire you, but I really enjoyed Guardian Maia as a unique interactive novel (though easy to die, you may reincarnate) by how it integrated Maori spirits and vocabulary.
Also, I recall a beautifully depicted indie video/puzzle game, with Alaskan native storytelling, called Never Alone (https://youtu.be/83eVQYlKHes). Both involve female leads. Might inspire some fantasy and adventure ideas?

If you haven’t already, I recommend outlining with something like a “beat sheet” (can Google image for examples) to help organize ideas once you’ve got some!

[klassikov]

So I have been writing ideas for my first interactive fiction game, and I thought I might share it in this thread to see if anybody is interested. I came up with two stories: The Hailsmith and Mother’s Song.

The Hailsmith

In The Hailsmith, you take on the role of Maverick, who has recently moved into a rainy subdivision. In their area, it was reported that the rain has persisted for nearly a year now, and no signs of sunny weather were evident. One day, Maverick walks around the subdivision to obtain drumstick leaves, only to be stunned by a loud bang. He goes to where the bang originated, leading him to discover a hideaway tent, which contained numerous valuables such as pictures of a family, wood carvings of a family, and a box full of unsent letters. A man then arrives and pushes Maverick out of the tent with a gust of wind. Escaping a curious Maverick amidst a strong rain, the man is reduced to nothing but lifeless water. To cut it short, you are sucked into a realm no one can escape/leave without the assistance of the Hailsmith. Throughout your journey, you discover the Hailsmith’s identity, interact with the victims of the Hailsmith, and unravel the realm’s origin.

Mother's Song

Mother’s Song is much vaguer in terms of plot compared to The Hailsmith, but anyway, it’s about an orphan named Vye who grows up in Safhirgos, a haven for children whose parents were unable to support them with their needs. Vye and his two friends, Pola and Hil, escape the haven to find Vye’s mother, who has left Vye with objects of protection and guidance such as the Animagnion, a stone that manipulates the elements of its environment to form a towering, eagle-like animal. But what Vye doesn’t know is that his mother has been present in all his life, like a pluck of a harp encapsulated by the hands of space. I guess this will contain more RPG elements than The Hailsmith, but I’m really unsure what lies ahead of this second game (heck, even the first game).

Please vote which idea interested you the most.

• The Hailsmith
• Mother’s Song

Please tell me your thoughts on my ideas. Any piece of constructive criticism will do. If you have any questions on lore of an idea, please reply.

[klassikov]

Thank you all so much for voting! I’ll be closing the poll in a while. I have been writing the prologue of Mother’s Song ever since it took the lead in the poll. I’ll be releasing a demo that will contain the prologue and the first two chapters:

1. Mira’s Cradle (prologue)
2. Safhirgos Letters
3. Magroo, Magroo, Where are You?

I’ll reply to this thread once it’s ready. Thanks!

[riverleafing]

Hi! I’ve drafted an outline for this IF novel I’ve had in mind for a bit. Any interest for it?

Half-Orcs of Elysia
Synopsis
You play an intrepid young-adult Half-Orc. Escaping your hometown in attempt to find place in a world that seemingly detests your kind, you stumble across Elysia–a hidden matriarchal Half-Orc community of mostly women and orphan children–where eventually you must evaluate what you know of yourself and others in society. As a battle ensues, you must sort out your truths, overcome challenges (with or without allies), and decide just where and how you will continue to live in the future.

• High-fantasy, medieval-like setting
• Choose to be from a Noble, Merchant, Laborer, or Destitute family (plusses & minuses in each)
• Meet Half-Orcs & Humans, and befriend and/or become lovers (romantically or sexually)
• Expand your life skillsets
• Navigate various psychological/emotional challenges
• Enter a battle between Humans and Orcs
• Choose to be male, female, or non-binary; attracted to males, females, any gender, or just as friends

MC will be Half-Orc, but shall select to appear a bit more Orc or a bit more Human, and so treated differently by some in different societies

ROs

Summary

Astrid (f)/Aster (m) - Half-Orc, The Muscular, Stoic Healer, monogamous, demisexual pan
Saleena (f)/Salinus (m) - Half-Orc, The Reckless, Human-hating Chef, open to poly, bisexual
Raine (f) - Half-Orc, The Community Leader Artist; polyamorous, pansexual
Doros (m) - Human, The Masculine, Single-Father Artisian; traditionally monogamous, “straight” but might be open to be otherwise

[Kaylo342]

Definitely sounds interesting

[Nuu]

I don’t know if it’s possible,but I had this idea come to me while I was watching this youtube video. What if playing into a multiverse theme that you make a book and every playthrough not only have it be different by choice/personality,but have characters react to how you were in the previous playthrough. Like if you were more of a good person the last playthrough and decide to be more dickish that effects how they respond/open to romance towards that time. Not really fully fleshed out,but I’d be down to read a story like that or just a good multiverse story in the regular format idk.

[Aerin]

Hi all!

It’s been a bit since I’ve been on the forums, but I’ve returned with an idea that’s been stewing for a long while. Still working on the plethora of details, but let me know what you think, and hoping to get this started soon!

*high fantasy, somewhat inspired by various rpgs
.

Thousands of years ago, magic was erased from the world.

The Cataclysm, an event lost to time, is now considered by many as simply a tall tale, scribbled in flaking parchments and mentioned over late night campfires. After all, there’s no proof that magic ever really existed, and the common people deign to place their faith in the divine Ancients, rather than the wondrous arcane.

But a precious few never stopped chasing the power heralded by tales embellished in magic, and so the Radiant (ruler) of Xeneris has finally laid hands on the artifact believed to have caused the Cataclysm.

In a race for power, you and three other royal agents from the rival country of Fialra are sent to take the artifact by any means necessary. But there’s more to this than meets the eye. What is the artifact, really? What are your royal benefactors not telling you? And can a disastrous, centuries old event be reversed?

features (so far)

• play as m/f/nb

  • customize appearance and character background

• 3 (4?5?) ROs; the three other agents, of course, though given the current nature of the story, not sure what [more] I want to do

• travel around Xeneris in search of a missing spy and the coveted magical artifact

• multiple ‘factions’ to support; you may be an agent of Fialra, but who says your loyalties can’t change?

  • determine who will wield ancient magic by staying true to the Fialran crown, double crossing your homeland in favor of Xeneris, joining the mysterious arcane group, Augur’s Dawn, or ultimately serving your own interests

    • a subplot on the internal workings of Augur’s Dawn, should you choose to support it, infiltrate it, or destroy it

• quest for knowledge

  • shed light on this whole race for magic by learning what truly caused the Cataclysm; find out why the artifact is such an…unconventional object (can’t say bc spoilers!); recover the lost arcane knowledge accumulated by the late Lady Lyren; understand the true ramifications behind reversing the Cataclysm

• (hopefully well fleshed-out) character subplots; the three other royal agents have their own subplots that you can pursue (romance optional), relating to how they came to be in this profession and their personal goals and moralities

• ***fun, optional, variant ‘quests’ that will enrich your journey around Xeneris and also provide a bit of detail into my world of Nirea?

  • these are meant to be little sideline quests- think of them as the miscellaneous quests that a player can do beside the main ‘campaign’ story. The problem with these is that I feel that they should connect to the main story somehow, if the reader decides to pursue them. either give a reward, or some significant stat boost? I’m not sure. Obviously, not doing them should also have some sort of consequence, as well.

• and probably (too) much more!

Thanks for reading!

[Jaybirdy]

Well, in the midst of the likely flaming ruin that is my attempt at a novel, I’ve been persistently annoyed by an idea that has survived several attempts to “sleep on it,” so I may as well toss it out there.

While my main project is still Diaspora (which I’m writing with a friend), I currently have the time and attention for a side project, and fortunately the idea that will not leave me alone is good for the CoG format. It’ll also hopefully give me a chance to practice writing things I don’t usually focus on, like romance and such.

It’s called Fields of Asphodel.

Here is the basic idea: the player is cast in the role of Persephone, about to become consort of the Underworld, not entirely by choice.

Of course, I say “in the role of” because, the character need not be Persephone as such. Gender choice in games is a thing I care about, so the deity of spring could be female, male, or nonbinary.

And despite the slightly-awkward premise, Hades isn’t the only potential romance here. He’s a fundamentally decent dude who has no interest in forcing his company (or anything else) on anyone, and so there will be space to diverge from that part of the classical story if so desired. At the moment, the plan is for a total of six possible romanceable characters: two male, two female, and two nonbinary (in particular, a demiguy and an agender person). They are very much fixed characters, and all of them are romanceable by MCs of any gender.

The central premise here is that the MC, a half-human deity and child of Demeter, is taken to the underworld as a result of, more or less, the whim of Zeus, who has exerted pressure and extreme jerkitude on Hades to go along with what is essentially a grudge he has with Demeter. Hades’s reasons for agreeing to this will play a part in the story, which opens with the MC’s move to his eponymous land of the dead.

But it’s a transfer that comes with some unexpected perks for an otherwise-minor seasonal deity: Hades isn’t a small name, after all, and suddenly being co-ruler of his realm brings with it more opportunities than the MC otherwise would have had to literally shape the world. Deific politics is complicated, and the gods’ ways of doing things are rather set, but nothing’s totally immune to shakeup, and a half-human touch might just turn everything upside down.

Basic feature things I’m thinking:

Features!

• Gender choice: obviously a big one. M/f/nb; separate pronoun choices for, e.g. nonbinary folks who use he/him or she/her, as well as the option to input neopronouns if those are the right ones. Planning to also code in the option to change in the case of genderfluid folks, if I can figure that out.

• An, I think, reasonably detailed personality and skill system. Four main skills, four or five opposed pair personality things. My goal with this one really isn’t to punish anyone for losing checks, though—I’d much prefer the choices to be about how things go rather than if they go at all.

• Significant variation that is as much in the MC’s effect on the people around them as on the world directly—though I’m hoping there will be plenty of both. I think some of the themes I’ll be dealing with here are things like punishment and mercy, as well as humanity and to what if any extent beings with deific powers would be justified in interfering with them, as they so often do in the source myths. This is part of the reason the MC is half-human.

• More focus on romance than anything I usually write. I feel a weird need to justify myself on this when I really shouldn’t, but suffice to say I think I could use more practice at it and a side project seems like a good place to experiment. So there it is. I’m going to try to code a couple of poly options, even, and there’s a full six ROs, which is more than in my main project. Two of them are nonbinary, because that feels important to me. Also Alekto is binary trans, because that’s also important.

• The List:

  • Hades (M)
  • Hermes(M)
  • Charon (NB)
  • Pyriphelegethon “Pyri” (NB)
  • Alekto (F)
  • Hekate (F)

• My goal with this lot is to make them all… human. Well, as human as possible, considering they’re gods. But the running theme with them is that the Underworld’s the place for the misfits, and so they’re going to be weird and messy and imperfect and hopefully also lovable if I do my job right.

• Appearance customization. I think it would be cool if the player could specify a reasonable number of things about the MC, and none of it was attached to gender. I’m thinking things like height, build, apparel, and the general cast of one’s facial features in addition to the usual hair, eye, skin color stuff. I think I also might just want to flat out give the player the option to be like “yeah no, my character is super plain looking” or whatever. Still working out if this is all too much to ask—as in, too many fiddly choices.

Anyway, I’ve descended into ramble territory now, so I’ll stop and actually check for interest, as it were. My thanks if you sat through the ineloquent read here.

Cheers, y’all.

[TheMorrigan]

Welp, I may as well face up to the fact that yet again another idea is consuming me.

You play as three people in the great domed city of Curiosity, part of the Eternal Martian Empire. Niccolo-Turquoise, bred since birth to become ruler of the city, if only he can win favor over his rival, Niccolo-Indigo. Seven, the self-styled leader of the revolution against the false meritocracy and bloodline control of the ruling regime, as she starts to bond with a little girl, and maybe doubt her commitment. And Stella-Red, and engineer who gets caught up in the conflict, as the rebels try to recruit her, and she tries to avoid coming under suspicion of acting outside her role in life, by being in love with a woman.

I know it would be really weird and un-COG, but I honestly am really excited by it, if only because the three viewpoints are really different, and there are a lot of idea I want to explore, for instance, the easiest way for Niccolo to rise to power is for Seven to do poorly, and the revolution to struggle. But I know it’s a weird setting, and not something that will be easy to pull off.

[S_O_V_R_A_T_O]

I changed the story haha I mixed the Vanguard, and Behind the camera. This is my story goal this end of June, and I already begin the prologue, and almost finished chapter 1.

My idea of The Vanguard in original is still in the story, but with the twist of modern romance and modern fantasy in my Behind The Camera.

@S_O_V_R_A_T_O

This is just a brief/ summarized/ synopsis of the story: I don’t put full details/further info so, it becomes more interesting and will wait to be uncover by you, the readers.

The Crown of Sylveria:

You are the most attractable artist in 2026, well reputable and famous artist in the world. As you start to feel lonely, and sad about having no family, close friends and especially love ones in your side besides to your grumpy manager, Hanna. A bad issue link to your well famed name as Ashley pointed out in your LIVE INTERVIEW! It is depressing, but everything has changed.

One day, as you day dreaming, you meet the mysterious speaking skeleton, and offers you to get yourself and him bonded together. Will you accept or not? Suddenly, you wake up in your dreams as your manager calls you out to get in your private room before your interview with Ashley in Ashley Morning Talk Show. Few moments of later, a man/woman enter in the room with a small box, and he/she gives it to you without saying nothing before leaving you alone. As you open it, you saw a line and you read it out loud. You don’t know who was that person, so you open the door and before you can speak, a strange place falls in your view, a forest, and summer! I know that the winter just began, but there was a sudden change in the weather. Is this global warming or-Where am I?

You will fight with the powerful creatures that meant to be in your side: The Silver dragon, White Lion, and the Sea Serpent. You win or be defeated against the darkness. You can also have a romance with certain characters.

This is the part 1 of your journey to unify the broken empires of Calgiuar Realm.
In a few seconds back there, you’re just a famous artist, and now, you’re just nothing, but a stranger to this world.

As you sleep, closes your eyes, or falls unconsciously on Sylveria, you will switches back to Earth and same as goes in earth, you will switch back to Sylveria.

Are you ready to balance yourself into these different worlds? Are you ready to win the Artist of the Year? and/or to be a Legend of this Era?

Find out!

Features

• 6 possible romances (but in total of 12 ROs: 6 lovers in Sylveria world, 6 lovers in Earth). They have different personalities in these two worlds. They are your protectors and the one will help to regain the control in Sylveria.
  • The Last Imperial General (Sylveria) = Well-known Director (Earth)
  • The Lost Prince/Princess (Sylveria) = Gangster Leader (Earth)
  • The Infamous Pirate Captain (Sylveria) = New York City Sheriff (Earth)
  • The Wizard of Ale (Sylveria) = Famous Magician (Earth)
  • The Northern Sage (Sylveria) = New York City Mayor (Earth)
  • The Wealthy Merchant ‘Dragon’ (Sylveria) = Intel Tower CEO (Earth)
• You can be magical as you like and stronger person as you like too. Might & Magic
• You can avoid killing by using friendly magic or blunt weapons.
• You can explore the world of Sylveria and the New York City.
• You can win Artist of the Year and/or the Legend Heir of Sylveria.
• You can defeat the other kingdoms or uphold diplomacy to unify the lands.
• You can be an enemy or friend of different monsters and other races.

Hope you like it.

[aweepingdalek]

Hey, you might have seen me before with Legends of the Nunnehi but I was given some feedback which informed me that it wasn’t entirely appropriate for me to write, so I’ve since given up on that project and turned to something else.

For a few months I’ve been thinking about a few ideas for a new game. They’re similar ideas that could be merged together, I’m not really sure yet. Very rough ideas incoming.

Anyways here’s idea #1: Dreamwalkers: A story about dreamworlds. Worlds that truly exist in your dreams with people who really exist alongside souls that may or may not be a figment of your imagination. You are able to change some things the stronger you become at dream walking. This world can only be visited at night during a deep sleep, but eventually you may be able to access it any time once you’ve been there enough to easily visualize it. One day the worlds might even start to blend together…

The other idea is more recent and ironically, it came to me after a dream I had last night. I’ve always been kind of a weird mystic so I believe in past lives/reincarnation and the idea that there’s a shred of truth in every dream you have. I often have weirdly vivid dreams so maybe it’s just a way of trying to rationalize it, but sometimes they really speak to me and I get the feeling that there’s something more to them.

#2: Neverlost So what if there was a story where you were able to relive your own past life by time traveling through your dreams? Rekindle your love with an old flame, attempt to prevent your own death, or simply try to wake up and return to your present family? Which time do you truly belong in?

These aren’t entirely fleshed out yet because I wanted to know how people feel about the rough ideas before I get too invested in it. Please let me know what you think!

[will]

From what I can tell, both of those ideas are painted in broad strokes. A world of infinite possibility sounds great on paper, but there are two huge issues right off the bat:

Firstly, in practice it is not possible to capture the sense of dreamwalking in this format. The way you’ve described it, dreamwalking is a creative exercise, where the dreamer is the determiner of what happens and what the landscape looks like. In traditional narratives, we accept what the main character dreams, as it’s not meant to be a representation of our own dreams. For a choice game, however, they are meant to represent your dreams. The best you can do is approximate creative expression with a tonne (and I mean a tonne) of different creative options, but it’s twenty times as much work as even your most pessimistic estimation and will never truly capture the raw creative energy of lucid dreaming. Stick with me here — I’m going somewhere with this.

Secondly, why not just make a cool world outright, rather than add a layer of abstraction to it? Why not just have the dream world be its own setting independent from dreams? More specifically: why have you chosen dreams in particular?

In answering that question, i.e. by digging really deep into why this concept appeals to you, you’ll have your story. For example, maybe you really like the escapism of it. In that case, the contrast between the main character’s life and the dream world will become very important. This has been done A LOT (I’d even say one of the most common themes in fiction in recorded history) so you’ll have to do something to differentiate this aspect of the story. Alternatively, you could go the Lovecraftian route, where someone delves deeper and deeper into their dreams like a pioneer on the shores of the New World, only to discover something dark and horrible awaiting them. Or, you could explore the relationship between free-flowing creative thought and real-world creative work, where the primary challenge of the game is effectively representing your dreams to other people to act as inspiration for their art. Could be a really fun small game about trying to remember and describe abstract dreamscapes. Could be a really fun slice of life kind of thing.

Anyway this is the kind of stuff you gotta be thinking about: what appeals to me about my concept, and how do I make it work in consideration of the medium I’m telling my story in?

Same basic stuff applies for number two as well.

[choicehacker]

I love the time travel / dream exploration idea. You can build a bunch of interesting paradoxes. Keep us posted on Neverlost!

[CorvusWitchcraft]

Personally, I’m partial to Neverlost. As will points out, the concept for Dreamwalkers is intriguing, but also pretty vague. I’m not really sure where you’re going with it, thematically or otherwise, just based on the description. Neverlost seems to have a more distinct identity and purpose. Also, I love the idea of exploring regrets and changing your past through dreams, and the dilemma of getting swept up in those fantasies vs. returning to a more definite present life.

[Carthe]

Is anyone interested in being dictator?