I’m working on a new vampire project, and I want to know what the general audience would like.
If you were to play a multi-part vampire series, which progression would you find the most fun or satisfying?
I’ve been checking throughout the day, and “become a vampire” and “develop magic” have been swapping back and forth as the winner. I can at least narrow it down and say that staying an ordinary person does not seem to be a widely desired outcome.
What plays a role, at least for me, is that a human lifespan is limited in a way that vampire lifespans (and possibly magic user ones) aren’t. I don’t know how many parts that specific vampire series would have and what span of time it would cover, but being able to live as long as the vampires it is about seems like a good thing in any case.
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For the past few days, the magic option and the vampire option have gone back and forth for which is the winner. So I think it’s safe to say that people would prefer something supernatural happens with the MC. But it seems pretty split on specifics. I would give both as an option, but that’s way too complicated for a single story. I’ll probably end up choosing one or the other
That sounds like a great short-game idea to me!
Does any means possible include murder? 
It sounds like it might be fun, though.
murder is most certainly never off the table 
Like the great Anna before me, I am writing a vampire project but I am stuck between two concepts for the story. So you guys get to decide which you like more. I will post the summaries first, then a little insight into the concepts. (these aren’t the final summaries and are just rough drafts.)
Life has always been odd to you, not in a negative way, but rather it’s like you are an observer in your own life as it unfolds. You don’t know if it was because you were always surrounded mostly by humans, or if it was because you were destined for something greater as a Dhampir.
You are going to become stronger greater, something stronger as it was always laid out to you. A vampire just like your mother, but is that really what you want? or was it merely a path laid out for you brick by brick. Who knows, but you have been given the chance to decide for yourself by an outsider.
Will you forsake your heritage and your destiny to become a normal human, walk your own path as a dhampir or simply follow the road until the very end to become a vampire. Whatever choice you make, you will have two people to walk it with you.
The skeptically outsider, who doesn’t want you to become a monster. For he has seen many monsters in his lifetime. Or will you hold own to the living mayter, her entire existence has been dedicated to you, will you make the change for her?
You were born a vampire, and you are probably going to die a vampire if that day comes. It probably won’t, since you are Dracula, and if anything was basically unkillable, then it is you. You have always gotten what you wanted, never worked for anything, but always got everything.
So imagine your surprise when your childhood friend, who promised that she would marry you, suddenly announces her engagement to some random bum. You have to fix this, you have to reclaim her for yourself.
However, a couple of problems in your plan have sprouted up, firstly, you only have one night to reclaim her and get rid of the annoying bum, secondly, a Van Helsing is hot on your tail. Sure, you are basically unkillable, but you aren’t the first Dracula, nor will you be the last.
So crank that charm up and keep up your guard, you have one night to claim her back for yourself. Or maybe someone else will catch your eye, you do get what you want eventually afterall.
Only two Ros
Cult/town focus
More emphasis on the character themselves.
Fully customizable.
Retelling of dracula.
four ROs
Limited customization.
More open exploration around Los Angeles.
Shoot! Your option 2 just gave me an idea for a retelling of Dracula. 
(But rest easy, I have too many ideas already – including one with vampires – to even consider new ones.)
it’s a shame, but you can’t have too many ideas or it leads to problems.
I gotta see the weird Dracula comedy game. We’ve got enough brooding sexy vampires. I want to play as a ridiculous moron.
Time to replay Bloodlines again as a Malkavian! Albeit “moron” is not quite correct term for them. 
Aaaand this compels me to install Bloodlines again. Even though I don’t ever uninstall it anymore.
Hi everyone, I’m coming into the closing stages of writing this game I’ve been working on for over 4 years now on and off and just recently became aware of this forum (I had always just gone off the assumption that I should hold off on posting anything about it until is was ready for beta testing which I now realise was a bit stupid after seeing the extent of the amazing works in progress on the forum). But after reading through some of the posts on here I figured I would ask for advice on next steps.
The game is called Prodigal Grafted, and you play as the disgraced heir of a cybernetics megacorp in a partly drowned, near-future New York. Your father has had you publicly written off after a ‘breakdown’ he concocted and fitted you with a face-changing implant he can track and switch off. For reasons that aren’t clear yet, he’s sent you into a Brooklyn waterfront gang undercover to help destroy them. From there, you’ll have decide how to play the gang, and what your ultimate goals are in doing so. The systems revolve around the usual things like character stats, managing relationships and gear, but I’ve also implemented a lot to do with various cybernetic implants (called ‘grafts’ in this world) a player can choose to install which affect not only choices and routes, but also relationships and one particular ending.
It’s going to be a very long game by the time it’s completely finished. The drafted + coded txt file word count (according to prepostseo) is currently at around 750,000 words, and I expect the game to be over a million words by the time I’ve fully edited and coded the rest of the game (the prose of which is already drafted). I can’t give a super accurate estimate as to when I think it will be done as I’m a student graduating at the end of this year and depending on whether I can get a job straight out of university I might have loads of time or barely any time to work on the game from next year, but I would hope at the latest it won’t be more than a year until I think it’s ready for beta testing.
So, from here: should I make a new topic or hold off for now? If I attach a demo, how much of the game is it advisable to show?
I would really appreciate any advice.
The psych horror reminds me much of 1966 WIP meets The Sinking City 2. 
Hey, it’s not stupid. Writing 750000 words over 4 years show impressive discipline and work ethic. Not to mention you don’t have to stress over social media, the pressure to update, and navigating paid tiers should you use Patreon.
How about a compromise?
Alternatively:
Thanks for the reply!
350,000 is a lot more than I was expecting to release on the forum for a demo since that’s the length of some full games, but if that’s the way these things usually go I don’t mind. The game is split into 2 parts with an interlude, and part 1 is around 450,000 words so I guess I could just start with that.
First of all, congratulation! 750k is no joke!
By all means, create the thread and post your demo, if you feel comfortable. Personally I wouldn’t post it all at once, for two reasons. Some people might get overwhelmed by the word count and decide not to participate in the beta. Most people who read works in progress like the feeling they can contribute something. On the other hand, the people who ends up reading may do so all at once without giving proper feedback. If you release one chapter every month or every two months people will participate more. The end of a chapter is a natural break point for the reader to come back to the forum and give you feedback on that chapter and discuss with other readers. That’s invaluable.
For an initial release, I’d pick a break point after hooking the reader in. That should be somewhere in your first 2 or 3 chapters.
I will have to look into it, hopefully I like it.
Honestly, release what you feel comfortable with. I seen demos with less than 1k words in them, if you have edited like 100k words then thats a good amount to start drip feeding to give yourself some time and pace.
I’d do the first 4th or 5th (by chapter count, not word count), get feedback on it, and edit accordingly. Then update with the edits plus another chunk of the story. And keep going until you have all the feedback you want/need.
Note that forum feedback isn’t like an editor. It acts like beta readers, who will give feedback (constructive and otherwise) on the story, characters, and choices.
Also, Hosted has a rule about a full demo being available on the forum before publication. But I’m not sure what exactly qualifies, as we don’t exactly get full games for free. So I would check those rules.