I published the first chapter.
Link to forum page: Magpie Court
Demo link: https://dashingdon.com/play/fool/magpie-court/mygame/
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The idea is intriguing. One thing Iād say to try and avoid is making any actual professional law enforcement/investigators intentionally incompetent so the player and their group is solving every problem.
Itād feel more real and less shallow if thereās variety. Some might be less competent, some might be competent, some might be competent but out of their depth (seeing as you do mention supernatural and conspiracy elements), etc.
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@HoldTh3L1ne I fully agree with that.
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Hi everyone!
Iāve been working on this story for a while now and Iāve avoided posting about it here because Iām nervous no one will be interested. It means a lot to me; the characters have been living in my head rent-free for ages and itās been such a joy bringing them to life. Iāve come to realize that the story can only benefit from feedback at this point, so I would greatly appreciate anything you have to say about it.
Title (tentative): Worlds Only Reached by Light
Genre: low-fantasy, soft sci-fi, post-apocalyptic
Synopsis: In a world where magic developed alongside technology, a series of cascading apocalyptic disasters nearly wiped out all of humanity. The few survivors managed to band together, battling the onslaught of strange and violent creatures who emerged from the fissures between your reality and another. Magic-wielders were instrumental in establishing order amidst such chaos, and eventually small settlements were built. Over time, those settlements developed into bustling, autonomous city-states.
It has been 200 years since those fateful days, and you are an initiate studying in one of the oldest and most-respected city-states. Will you focus on your magical abilities, become a soldier, or dedicate your life to civil service?
One day, you stumble upon an ancient relic from the past: a portal to another world. In the old days, these portals were used frequently, serving as gateways to cultural exchange, commerce, political dealings, even war. It had been thought they were all destroyed in the Great Catastrophes. Your government is interested in revitalizing these old connections with your sister-world.
You are sent on a mission alone to explore the secrets on the other side of the portal, but what is the government not telling you? Unlock the hidden mysteries of your peopleās troubled past, engage with foreign cultures, navigate political intrigue, and battle interdimensional monsters.
MC: play as male, female, or non-binary; with options to be gay, straight, bi, or ace.
Yes, there are romantic options. Only two so far, with the possibility of expanding to four. I want to make sure the characters are fully-fleshed and interesting.
Notes: Iāve tried to be very conscious of avoiding the āChosen Oneā trope, because I know weāre all so tired of it. However, I had to come up with reasons youāre the only one sent on the mission, and why they chose you. Hopefully Iāve managed to dance on the line between āyouāre special but not that specialā effectively.
Anyway, please let me know what you think, for better or for worse. Your feedback is much appreciated:)
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These types of post-apocalyptic fantasy games are my favourites and they seem to be rare. Ash of Gods, Banner Saga, Age of Decadence. They are great.
It seems like an interesting premise. I wonder what kind of justification you used to undercut the āchosen oneā stereotype, like you mentioned.
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Darkest days. The country is in shambles. Over 100 billion in debt, the worst recession since the depression, a global pandemic, and oh yeah, the president is dead. You, the Vice President, are now thrust into the big seat with the task of fixing, scratch that, surviving your country over the next four years. Mobsters on you doorstep? Oil barons looking to buy protection? Aliens in the attic? Oh, and thatās just your first day.
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Not really a game idea, but just saw that Rice University made use of dead spiders, and the term ānecroboticāā¦yeah, combining necro (dead) and robotic.
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Oh. Iāv been wanting to read a story in post apocalyptic set up for some time. When I think about some inspiration for the story I wanted to read, I think about the Fallout series (that I think itās not exactly what your game is aiming for). We will have time to play in this catastrophic future or the game will focus on the past? Before everything goes to shit?}Either way, Iām interested 
Omg this reminded of something. In my country we have a technician school that, among other, offer a robotics course. Some person put on the internet a photo of a mechanic chicken and said that they learned to make this chicken in that school lol people somehow believed it! the school even posted on twitter the photo and said that was fake 
Iām going to leave the chicken robot here because is kinda ew lol
Summary
And this is actually very cool:
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Thanks for the reply! The game takes place entirely in the post-apocalyptic present. You can learn more about the past if you choose to focus on history in your studies.
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hello! Iāve been a lurker longer than I created this account, and Iāve been curious enough to learn a bit of choicescript. Wrote little tidbits here and there a few times until I felt Iāve got the hangs of at least the basics, soā¦ here I am. Thing is, Iāve got two ideas running around my brain currently. And I know myself, so i need to focus on only one ā but I canāt choose which one i like the most. Yeah, thatās me.
Ok, first one: Iām a music aficionado. Iām also very much into band biographies and the jenkis novel based off fleetwood mac is one of my modern favorites, so Iāve been wanting to write something like that. if itās the one I decide to do, itāll probably focus heavily on charactersā relationships, and probably way more drama than just music making, to be honest. Iām also just a beginner drummer and know jack shit of other instruments, so choosing which instrument you play besides as a āhobbyā isnāt probably gonna be a choice. probably gonna be quicker to write up a demo, too: Iāve got the most important characters already all good to go.
Second one: actually a novel I was starting to building up, but that I feel would be nice as a game. TL;DR: stardew valley meets midnight mass. You move on to take care of a relativeās abandoned little farm on a small island and everyone seems a tightknit community, but something, sometimes, seems off. Whatās exactly wrong here? Everyone is always smiling. Even the local drunk is overly nice. The sun seems to set a few minutes earlier than usual. The only dinner in town is open 24/7 despite being run by just an old, lonely granny. The island doesnāt have wolves, so why do you sometimes hear howls coming from the woods bordering the farmstead?
This one will take a while to write up, too. Iām way too much of a perfeccionist when it comes to mysteries.
what do yāall think?
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Iām a sucker for the detective/mystery genre, by which I mean you get to do investigations and draw conclusions (as a comparison, I donāt consider Wayhaven to be a detective game, even though you play a literal detective, because the investigations are on rails; the Evertree Inn Saga, on the other hand, is a series I consider to be a detective game).
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Hi wandagore,
I really like both of your ideas! I agree that itās better to focus on one project at a time, and my vote goes to the second idea: the Stardew Valley/Midnight Mass hybrid. Hereās my reasoning:
The band biography sounds unique and fresh, and I would personally be very interested in reading it. However, youāve indicated that youāre only familiar with one instrument, which means youāll need to do research. As a fellow first-time IF writer, let me tell you, this stuff gets complicated, quickly. I often have to stop writing narrative so I can go do research about choicescript, and if I had to do a bunch of content-related research on top of that, I might just ragequit. Also, what genre would this be? If youāre looking to create something totally new, it might be better to put it on the back burner and wait until youāre more experienced writing IF.
In regards to your second idea, if youāre going for the detective/mystery genre like JBento said, youāve got precedent games to refer to; Evertree Inn Saga is excellent imo. You can go code-diving and learn all kinds of stuff from that series. I love a good mystery, and there arenāt enough of them here.
I hope this was helpful, and I wish you luck in writing your story!
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I love the story premise youāve come up with. The setting of a post-apocalyptic magic world interest me and sounds like it would be great to experience.
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Two suggestions for games that might interest people (they would certainly interest me):
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An adaptation of any well-known and well-loved work in the Public Domain (especially Public Domain childrenās literature). Two possibilities which come immediately to mind unbidden are Alice In Wonderland and Peter Pan; and Iām sure there must be plenty of others.
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I very much wish it were possible to obtain proper licensing to permit someone to write a CoG game set in Narnia. Itāll never happen ā alas! ā but one can dreamā¦
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You can definitely create your own Narnia-like game. There are plenty of games and WIPs in the forum. Being transported to a fantasy world is popular enough to have its own genre in anime after all.
I think they mean a game SET in Narnia, which is IP stuff.
Of course, which seems unlikely to happen. Creating his own Narnia-like game seems like the best course of action. Itās not like young teenagers crossing magical wardrobes into a fantasy realm is copyrighted, unless your mentor is a talking lion named Aslan.
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But can I make it a snow leopard called Nalsa?
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I suppose thatās definitely pushing the limits of copyright. Maybe if it was a talking bear. Now that I think about it, Aslan is Jesus, so I donāt think C. S. Lewis can object to an āinspirationā. He canāt really object at anything since you know, heās dead, but you get it.
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Just wait twelve yearsā¦
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