Oh a doctor who fan you are my new best friend.
also i hope in this game if we get any companions on the late stages of the game they arent as annoying as the ones in doctor who
Companions/ party members are always hard to do well, because a lot of the time they sort of get used a moral compass. Youâll have good party member and evil party member and theyâll argue like the angel and demon on your shoulders. No matter what decision you make at least one companion will lecture you about how youâre an idiot and you did it all wrong. It can get really annoying at times. A good companion should enhance the game and act as a friend rather than serving as a backseat driver constantly second guessing you. Iâm not saying characters shouldnât have opinions about your actions, but it can get depressing if you constantly disappoint them. I donât know, maybe Iâm weird like that, but in a lot of games Iâll steer clear of certain decisions I know my companions will disagree with because I donât want annoy them. Itâs either that or Iâll only fill my party with characters who match my alignment.
Iâll probably be doing the same here, itâs why I prefer the stay in Vanguard academy path because people there arenât as likely to be edgy/ veer towards criminal activities and then abuse me for being a goody-two shoes.
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Well I was going to romance Clark, after all he seems like an honest, kind guy and I suppose his physical opposition to my MC helped tooâŚ
But then Anthony quite literally barged his way into MCâs life, fumbling over his-not so carefully selected-words, and honestly I canât see him leaving anytime soon.
So of course then I just had to stay at Vanguard (I mean, not that I would have left anywayâŚ)
If youâre going to add more aura options, may I suggest a charming-type option, which makes people like you, even if itâs irrational. To stop people with this aura from having an unfair advantage, other characters could resist it once they realize whatâs happening, and then they would consider the MC untrustworthy and manipulative (whether this is true or not, would be up to the player). Or any sort of subtle aura, really. The current options seem to be very open, wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve ones, which doesnât really suit my character (the in-game one). 
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just hoping their are no puzzles to be solved XD like magikiras
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Just noticed a few mistakes:
After a bit of looking and making notes of which spaces look the least likely to collapse and kill you overnight, you decide the trainnig room will suit your needs, at least for now.
Should be training.
You close up the case, but on the way out, you notice a sound different sound underneath one of your footsteps.
That sound is unnecessary, but I think the whole sentence is kinda weird.
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I have 3(Okay! More than that!) questions:
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If our character is not combat-specced could we get to chance to end human conflicts without fighting. Like the MC has charisma or something that can let us talk our way out or trick them somehow? And if our character IS combat-specced can we spare another personâs life?
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Are the 4 choices for auras final or will there be more?
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I know the Survivor - City section isnât done yet,but Iâm curious about something pertaining to it. We can make our MC a local hero if we choose right? So, can we get an option of what weâre called? If that isnât realistic,maybe make so that the MC,if they donât advertise themselves overhear people talking and maybe have a list of names depending on the class of the MC.
Maybe these questions have already been answered so Iâm not sure.
Totally agree, puzzles are the bane of my existence. Problem solving requires sensible logic, my mind is all over the place. If I get stuck at a puzzle it drives me mad. I remember that famous riddle/puzzle about the man who was in a car crash and the doctor says âI cannot operate on that man, he is my son.â His father died in the crash, who is the doctor? The answer was fairly obvious in hindsight but I said the doctor was a priest. Because the âmy son.â I felt like such a clown afterwards.
Whelp. Didnât expect to be doing another one of these so soon, but here we are.
I always knew (and I think somewhere in our minds we all knew) that the sections taking place after the âLeave Academy/Stay at Academyâ decision (that is, the Student, Adventurer, and Veteran sections) were going to be a lot longer than the previous ones.
I donât think I anticipated how much longer, though. So, rather than make you all wait until I finish whatâs likely going to be a massive section, Iâve decided to put out a new update whenever thereâs a solid chunk of code/writing ready for viewing. (Expect to see the number of the second decimal get updated a few times before we get to v 0.5)
That said, I will be sticking to the plan regarding paths, and all new code/text chunks will be for Student-Vanguard until that section is done. Thatâs all for now on the update front. Iâve got replies to and code to write up!
Wow this thread has started moving fast. Gotta learn to keep up.
'Fraid not. I had an initial plan for a path like that, but in the end I scrapped it. Couldnât make it work for the story. [quote=âSleepyowl, post:163, topic:18049â]
Which is funny because one of the classes is a doctor in this game.
[/quote]
Whatâs even funnier is that that class name is a direct reference to The Doctor.
While I could totally add a âcharming/charismaticâ aura, it wouldnât actively compel anyone. Thatâs not really how auras work. Theyâre like⌠you ever just get a vibe off of someone? Itâs like that, only a lot stronger. Kind of like a 6th sense.
If people were gummie bears, an aura would be a personâs âflavorâ. People can like or dislike that flavor if they so choose, and it can be a broadly appealing flavor, but ultimately how each individual feels about that flavor is up to them. (But for real, yellow gummie bears are the best.)
I suppose I could design a more subtle aura. That said, wearing your heart on your sleeve is basically what aura is. But THAT said, there is a technique used by a number of Vanguard which actively conceals oneâs aura. Most people who employ this technique do so to facilitate stealth (since otherwise anyone would know when a Vanguard is sneaking around), but some do it to keep their emotions/inner selves more private.
I assume by âhuman conflictsâ you mean fights that arenât with monsters. The answer is⌠sometimes. Or most of the time. Hopefully. I want that to be possible. I just have to remember to be a decent IF writer.
I always have to remind myself to provide non-combat options, but sometime I forget. And on top of that, over the years Iâve accidentally hardwired my brain into a âviolence is the answer!â mentality when writing stories (certainly it isnât the answer in real life. But fictionâŚ).
That said, there is a mentor lined up who actively avoids violence as a solution to problems, and just creating her has got me looking at encounters/challenges in a new light. I canât promise thatâll translate into a better non-violent playthrough, but Iâm hoping it will.[quote=âInfiniteDreamer, post:172, topic:18049â]
And if our character IS combat-specced can we spare another personâs life?
[/quote]
That I can guarantee will come up. Just donât expect me to make it as simple as:
You won the fight! What do you do with your defeated foe?
*choice
#Execute them.
#Arrest them and escort them to jail.
#Give them a stern talking to, remind them that I love them,
and send them on their merry way.
Remember kids, the most noble path is rarely the easiest![quote=âInfiniteDreamer, post:172, topic:18049â]
2) Are the 4 choices for auras final or will there be more?
[/quote]
I plan to add more, just as soon as I can come up with another one that is distinct and doesnât also steal the thunder of any other characterâs auras.[quote=âInfiniteDreamer, post:172, topic:18049â]
I know the Survivor - City section isnât done yet,but Iâm curious about something pertaining to it. We can make our MC a local hero if we choose right? So, can we get an option of what weâre called? If that isnât realistic,maybe make so that the MC,if they donât advertise themselves overhear people talking and maybe have a list of names depending on the class of the MC.
[/quote]
Becoming a local hero is absolutely a potential outcome of the Survivor-City chapter. Getting a custom, snappy alternate ego name from the citizens of Nowhere, C.D.W, however, wonât be. Thatâs a bit too âsuperheroâ for this universe.
âŚokay yes, the whole set up is already pretty superhero, but itâs not that superhero.[quote=âThe_Chosen_Plump, post:170, topic:18049, full:trueâ]
just hoping their are no puzzles to be solved XD like magikiras
[/quote]
Putting puzzles in the game would require me to not be shit at making and solving puzzles. So you have nothing to fear.
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That was actually a direct reference to The Doctor? Thatâs legendary, for once in my life my wild imagination linking totally unrelated things was right! Youâve created a dangerous weapon, Iâll be seeing things everywhere now. And good news on the puzzles, I think all of those of us who are logically challenged can rest easy now. I swear, if I see numbers anyway my brain just gives up, itâs like a mental block. I want to be bashing my head against the keyboard over difficult decisions, not maths problems.
My character will use it for both. 
Will we be able to do this regardless of which mentor we choose, or will it be exclusive to one of them?
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maybe for an aura you could make one that makes every word the MC speaks carry more weight to it for example
if the MC tried to get someone to spill their beans it would be much easier or if the MC tries to calm someone down it is very effective
either that or an aura that makes anybody around him/her to feel terrified
just suggestions
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I love the different aura types! and I also like the fact that you can become an assassin as well since some games donât give that options since we all have to play the âgood guyâ so yeah, great game.
I would like for there to be a save system. Either in the demo or the final game. Itâs sort of a pain to click out of the browser by accident and then all your progress from a game is gone. Iâm not sure why a lot of WIPS donât have this,maybe itâs hard to code into the game? Someone correct me if Iâm wrong on this.
Also,this is just my opinion but I think that you should try to make Tanyaâs group more sympathetic at the start. Right now, as it stands weâre given no reasons as to why the MC should go with these random people who broke into the academy and could be threats for all they know.Why go with them when you can get training,safety,and other things where you are? It feels uneven between the two choices. ( Unless your MC is rebellious)When you combine that with the fact that Tanya was apart of the train incident,it makes Tanyaâs whole group come off as shady.
In universe,itâs hard to justify why a more lawful MC would potentially change their minds and go with them. (If what Iâm trying to say makes any sense!) To me it feels off. Perhaps you could have the MC first meet the street gang somewhere else. Maybe youâre given an option to go outside the academy and bump into them somehow,then_ _
you can chose. Maybe Iâm nitpicking, maybe not.
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Iâm not sure if making them more sympathic really would balance the choice out. After all in that case we would need to make the academy more attractive for MCâs that donât want to become Vanguards. Why should they stay at the academy, training for a job they donât even want?
For them going with Tanyaâs group is much more attractive as in the worst case being forced to stay at the academy, because the alternative would be to just go away and be on their own. ThoughâŚwhy is that no option? Literally just saying âScrew all of you, I will try it on my ownâ. But Iâm not sure if that would be a viable with the plot and the planned cast of characters. Maybe in that case both groups will continue to try recruiting MC? That way MC also could get a better view on both groups and can decide by themself who is the more sympathic option.
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Well the academy has two unique attractions that are only tangentially related to becoming a Vanguard, at least for my mc. They are bomb-boy (Anthony, my favourite npc thus far) and flyboy (Clark). The academy accommodations with us essentially being a full-scholarship student that means free food, education, accommodation and clothing (though it would be nice if we could pick up/purchase some more personal gear later on). The big drawbacks of the academy are all those rules, possibly getting an annoying roommate (or do we get a single room once we enroll for real?) who isnât bomb-boy or flyboy and the dreaded âmentorâ.
The drawbacks of the Streets are that the only really cute guy in Tayanaâs crew (Marty) only seems to be romantically interested in girls and that it will be a rough life in general. So I say that if you donât play a gay, male character, like me, the proâs and conâs of the two choices already more or less balance each other out.
I know that we can optionally turn bomb-boy later on in the streets chapter, but that still puts off getting to really know him for possibly a couple of years and the fact that it is optional may indicate it is going to require skill-checks/persuasion that not all characters will be successful at. 
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Okay, I can understand that argumentation 
, but @InfiniteDreamer sounded like they talked about it from a roleplay perspective not from a meta perspective like âwhere are the ROs I likeâ.
And when talking about that I also wonder how âmake them more sympathicalâ would even work? Thatâs a pretty subjective opinion after all. For some the way they act is âshadyâ, others may interpret it as âmysteriousâ or even âintriguingâ. Thatâs it why players get a choice.
And why I wonder what to do if neither the Academy nor the other group seems that appealing for MC? The easy way is that they stay at the Academy, but what if they really donât want to do anything with the Vanguards anymore, now that their family is dead? And that also donât trust Tanya and her people?
Cute boys and free food, gear and education, at the cost of being treated like a child and living under stifling rules and the thumb of a âmentorâ are arguments that can both be interpreted as âmetaâ and in-character considerations.
However it could perhaps be made clearer in either the train or the academy encounters with her that Tayana really is after the box and our familyâs killers too and that, unlike the Vanguard, she is willing to treat the mc more like a capable individual in their own right and less like a child/student to be âmentoredâ.
So in summary adding in a couple of moments where Ford obviously treats the mc like a child, albeit a promising prodigy, may have the desired effect of making Tayana and her crew seem more palatable to those on the fence, without significantly altering the behaviour of either Tayana and her crew on one side or the Vanguard on the other.
Well the mc, however capable, isnât a fully grown adult yet, so Iâd say they still take their chances with Tayana and her crew on the streets in that case, unless the author is willing to write a third branch where the mc goes through the formal orphan/refugee resettlement system the authorities have in place.
Only that this also would happen on the cost of the sympathy for the Academy. And it also wouldnât change the argument that they seem âshadyââŚAn interpretation that is again very subjective. After all they still fight on the same side against the fire guy, so I would wonder more about them acting on their own instead of their moral stance.
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