Let's Talk about Sequels in Cog and HG

It’s honestly not an issue. As everyone has noted, the easiest solution to this is when you save a walkthrough of one game and carries it over to the next game. Granted, not all games allows you to do it for every walkthrough, for example, the formerly named Choice of Romance sequel only continued if you imported an MC who was romancing the monarch or in Psy High 2, where two of the endings actually allowed you to imported your MC.

As @E_RedMark noted, the sequel may actually be considered a standalone and just set in the same universe, Choice of Deathless’s sequel, Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven and Heroes Rise: Hero Project are examples. Alternatively, you may use the same MC from a previous game but a new cast of characters may appear in the sequel (I might be wrong here, but I believe Superlative’s sequel is an example of that).

Even so, not all COG and HG actually give multiple endings in their first game if they are planning an series ahead of time and they will ensure it’s somewhat linear (Community College Hero, Zombie Exodus, Way Walker, Wayhaven, etc…) which in this case, while the ending remains roughly the same, it’s key events, relationships and stats that may influence it and hence are the ones more observed. As others are noted, assuming you don’t import, authors allow you to either replay your MC to pick what event, relationship or stats you won’t or alternatively, you select a premade character in their sequels.

And it has to be noted, all games, COG and HG, are continuing play tested by us, whether they are in alpha or beta stage, to make sure all these factors work properly and in accordance with the MC we choose to have and if not, we note them to the authors and they will fixed them accordingly before they are released to the public.

4 Likes

One way to do it could be like this. In the beginning…

When I last met $character, we were…

  • rivals for the throne
  • working together to save the republic
  • not on speaking terms, due to his support for the monarchy and mine for the republic

Based on the results of this, variables can be set to create the appropriate relationship parameters for each character. This has the added benefit of letting you redefine the relationship if things didn’t turn out the way you wanted in the first book.

2 Likes

Unfortunately there isn’t going to be a Drag Star sequel—I think you misread or the author may have posted something overly hopeful himself. Sorry!

4 Likes

That’s just the theory of relativity at work. All good stories end too soon :slight_smile: it’s a great compliment to anyone for anyone to say their book is too short. This means they will definitely get the sequel lol :slight_smile:

Evan made a comment about romances in the sequel iirc, which could be what they’re referencing

1 Like

Sure. It’s unfortunate, but a sequel isn’t going to happen.

2 Likes

So it’s true? Versus: Elite Trials is going to have a sequel? :cry:

I honestly hope that’s not true. The series itself is just… ugh. I don’t have the proper words to describe it, only that I hated it.

8 Likes

It will have a sequel, and not just that, but the author plans to follow the notion of creating his own ‘cinematic universe’ in which all his works are connected.
Oh, also he will apparently hold the beta on his patreon and you can only join betatesting if you pay, I think, at least 10 bucks or 20
(There. I edited it. Bloody hell)

5 Likes

This is in violation of the COG terms of use. Someone should probably report that.

Exactly no where on his Patreon does Zach sell access to content that COG is publishing. @MeltingPenguins I know you don’t care for his work but you need to check yourself before posting comments like this.

11 Likes


When asked before if this means beta testing he said Yes, and that he doesn’t want to work with the people on the forum.

9 Likes

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’ll talk with it when it’s not a holiday weekend.

6 Likes

The Star Wars games … unlike the movies, the Star Wars games should have (in my opinion) been stand-alone titles.

(sorry for the long delay to the response – I did not see the alert that I normally do.)

Anyone who talks about Zachary in this thread will be suspended.

Return to the topic at hand or just don’t post.

4 Likes

I’ve always wanted a sequel to the non-royal endings of part one of choice of intrigue. Particularly I always felt it would be interesting to play a stand alone offshoot of the elopement with don/dona Mendosa, where your described to fight with distinction in a war with a neighboring nation of teleporter mages, before returning home wealthy.

Hmm. It seems I miss remember the text. It states you have several year of unspecified hardship before Mendosa achieves success.

4 Likes

The big problem with unplanned sequels in CoGs is that many CoGs have multiple endings that can completely change the game setting or your character’s position in variable, incompatible ways, and you have to either cut off or merge these big, thick story branches. For example, Kevin Gold’s games (Robots, Alexandria, Magics) can’t possibly have sequels - you’ve got several options for completely reshaping the face of the world in each of them. Meanwhile, Choice of Romance had to invalidate the Mendosa path for Choice of Intrigues, because it would be completely different from living with the monarch - though a Mendosa DLC might be interesting. (I’d also like a Torres/Estate path, but that’s me.) Psy High: High Summer solved this problem by moving away from the high school setting and cutting off a few paths that amount to failure modes, while Grand Academy II tried to continue from every ending but the starting point has drawn some complaints for shoehorning.

Games planned as a series from the get-go avoid this problem, because the author knows to put in some rails for each ending until the grand finale, at which point they can open up the choices and let the player reshape the world.

10 Likes

Video games choose a canon ending all the time. Many IF stories choose a canon ending to new books all the time.

A proof Is Psy high, there are certain endings doesn’t carry over. It is how sequels work. And Should not stop people from trying as the author has to have the creative freedom to be loyal to their vision, of course, most ending included in a sequel the better. But that a sequel doesn’t include more content for a determined path doesn’t affect the game quality and merits.

6 Likes