Guess the third time really is the charm.
Has it worked? X
I wasn’t part of the forums when this made its debut, so I get to enjoy it for the first time now! To be honest I wasn’t sure if I actually would like it, because although the whole ‘trapped in a video game’ genre interests me, the execution usually drives me off (Sword Art Online was a garbage pit of wasted potential, I enjoyed some of .hack// but later installments brought shame to the series, and then I bailed on Log Horizon because my danger senses started tingling with the assassin girl…). But yes, it’s got a charming, quirky narrative, and it feels like there’s a good balance with all the references, not relying on them as the sole source of humour, so it’s not a lesser experience if you don’t recognise every single one.
As for other genres that might be interesting, one thing I’ve noticed lately is that a lot of people seem to like the Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley type of games, where you’re just chilling around, making your house nice, catching fish or milking cows or whatever. Just imagine, the characters have barely scraped though an epic battle in the previous setting, and now they’re dumped into a sleepy little village and ordered by the booming sky voice to grow a rose bush and give a bouquet to the mayor. …I mean, realistically it wouldn’t make for a good chapter, but that one mental image makes me laugh.
Also, I dearly hope to be accosted in later chapters by an innocent young lady with magical healing powers, a pendant that marks her as the last of an ancient tribe, and a heart full of deep, irrational love towards whoever she deems to be the Main Hero. And I hope to make her life very difficult, in vengeance for all the awful JRPG romance subplots I suffered through in my younger years.
…Not that I have much right to mock, since my first choice of RO was Len, regardless of how much the narrative cheerfully points out the unoriginality in this. I am a simple creature, and if a game offers vampires I say ‘yes please’.
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this is actually a very funny idea lol… I wish that it wasn’t the case that basically all of the ‘in-game’ section of this game is almost done bc that’s very cute. I started working on this 4 years ago, so I’d not played anything like that at the time, but I’ve enjoyed stardew valley since!
Despite writing one of them, I really hate most of the trapped-in-a-video-game genres of work, probably because they take the video game tropes a little bit too seriously, and often waste opportunities to actually talk about video game culture. I’ve tried to plan to make this an interesting science fiction work, but the entire in-game section (about 80% of the game) is mostly shitposts because hell… I feel that if real gamers were trapped in a video game, they wouldn’t behave otherwise. Look at the way people are only ever memeing world crises. This game is partially a comedy because I think people would respond to this situation with comedy.
Thank u v much for your positive response <3
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So… I took a cheeky peek at the coding for the game. You weren’t lying about the ‘spaghetti’ thing. But, I noticed a few things that weren’t properly coded;
Asterius’ romance relationship tag and relationship tag are in lowercase a few times, and when the option is chosen the gains aren’t applied since the coding seems to only register the uppercase tag. Same with Len. Or there’s one too many r’s, so the correct lines aren’t said.
One example being when you outted Len as a vampire at dinner, then ask if he’s alright the next morning when you find him with the undead. It says there should be an special line of dialogue if your lenrrr value is “>0” (which mine definitely was, as it was at 54%). Instead, I received the generic brand of Len misery.
Another would be when Len decides he wants to be the charmer, rather than the charmed and offers you a faster way down into the pit, scooping you up and stealing away into the darkness. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to read it as a thing he does. It looks like a fun interaction. Ok, I’m close to just rambling about how many of Len’s romantic scenes we miss out on because of extra r’s. So, I’ll stop now.
Sorry for peeking.
I got annoyed at myself for losing a lot of my ROTP and resorted to cheating a little. ^^;; And now that I know it was inevitable, I almost wish I hadn’t, so I could remain ignorant to the Len romance I’d be missing out on. Should’ve seduced Aster…
I still remember what the fanart I drew looked like, even without it actually with me. This whole Pandemic has my university campus closing down and switching to online, so I’ve got some ish to work through before I’ll be free. But, I’ll get to work on creating fanart of the Ultimate Tophat as soon as I can!
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God, that is such a mood. I love the concept of isekai, but you’re totally right, they usually end up falling flat because of the execution. I think the only one I currently like is Overlord, and that’s because the fact that the protagonist is trapped-in-a-video-game isn’t as important as the characters and story. At least in regards to anime. This game is pretty awesome in that it’s more of a satirical take on the genre, so I’m really glad you gave @Baudelaire_Welch a chance.
Speaking of, right?! Like hiffle most gamers would take the situation of being trapped-in-a-video-game seriously! I feel like I’d mostly react like Asterius, minus the godly abilities they display when communicating with people and physical feats of awesome; right down to the insistence that I’m the deuteragonist (although, that would be more out of desire to not have all the responsibilities of the protagonist).
If not that, I’d be acting like I got trapped in a dating-sim because ‘no consequences in a video game’, right?
On another note…
Whoooooooooooooooooo boy! These endings are gonna sting for a gal like me. I do need to try and escape less into interactive fiction, though. As fun as this is, the final product might just be the Wake-Up Slap I need.
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ahh so I think this is correct
Basically
R = normal relationship
RR = romantic relationship
RRR = romantic relationship lock-in confirmed
So the lenrrr value is either 0 or 1, Lenrrr>0 is basically are you in the relationship with Len or not
The relationship with Len gets locked in chapter 2 but the relationship with Asterius in chapter 4, so the ARRR stuff doesn’t appear here
I really don’t want people to look at the code lol it’s disgraceful
I have a feeling I have screenshots of the fanart from all that time ago and will dig it out if possible <3 thank u so much for remembering and supporting the game throughout all this time
Aaaaaah. Derp at me, honestly. Damn. It’s not like this is the final time I’ll play it. I should’ve just gone for it. I love me my cliche characters now and again~
lol. It’s an absolute fuster-cluck, I agree. I’m so glad browsers have the Find on Page feature, or I’d have been doomed.
I’m uncertain as to whether or not I posted it… maybe I did? Regardless, it’ll be getting re-drawn. I’ve gotten a little better at art since then. xD
Of course! I love Asterius, at the absolute minimum. Em and Lydia seem quite charming, and you already know my opinion on the character-written-by-a-14-year-old-on-Tumblr. But, above all else… the Ultimate Top Hat; we share a bond that transcends human understanding. 
Yeah, I kinda see that.
Particularly the ‘Once Upon a Dream’ stat. Its description seems to imply that a character with that stat much higher than others would choose to remain in a simulation and instead require rescue from their beloved RO; favouring fantasy over reality.
I also saw a hidden one tagged FB that affects if you can Wake-Up Slap Asterius effectively. Though, it connects to the more… brusque and aggressive options that I never choose. Which kinda sucks, because some outcomes that rely on FB looked REAL fun~
It could just be personal perception. Or mine was clouded by how much you seem to dislike your own coding. 
But, they just seemed a little… neater? Maybe? I dunno. I liked all the references you had as scene names. Although, heavensgrief doesn’t hit the same way with the Just One Yesterday lyrics replaced by the meme. Although, the meme suits Len’s whole thing a lot more.
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I’m not entirely sure what to do with the personality stats tbh… I initially planned to have them impact which ending you got, but figured it’s a bit annoying if personality stats that are a little based around random answers determine it. Instead, I think the relationships with the characters are more important. Since I’ve come back to dwmu I’ve used the stats a lot less and basically only cared about more significant plot choices… so I don’t know if people feel this undermines the game a lot
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omf how do most people write theirs? Do they not just keep it all on one massive 60k document? Idk you look at my dissertation notes and it’s just 70,000 words of articles from 1760-now in no discernible order and that’s still worked out ok
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I’m not sure if you’ll be notified of my edit, responding to your replies, so I’m just replying then deleting this once I feel like you’ve seen them. x3c
Yep. Not sure what was wrong before.
the top hat was completely unexpected but i think it was somehow perfectly fitting for the game. i think this is the first video game based demo i’ve ever seen and i’m absolutely in love with your writing. 
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It’s always so sweet to hear people say they like the writing style <3 again I wrote this when I was 16, and am 21 now, so I’m kinda amazed people are still enjoying it
The top hat used to be a fedora in the first version but I realised fedoras make you an asshole even if they have more of a gamer connotation… Hence it had to be changed to the ultimate top hat
*also thank you for joining and making your first comment here xx *
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lil update!
Chapter 5 on the Asterius route is nearly done, currently at about 30k. Have been doing a lot of work on it very regularly since I started being inside, so I guess there’s a silver lining to this.
There is an ending that branches directly off of the Asterius chapter, rather than branching from the ending chapter, so soon it will be possible to play the game all the way through, at least making limited decisions 
Oh and I’ve had an absolute blast writing the Classical Thunderdome section. Some of the greatest silliness I’ve produced so far
Once the game is playable to an end, if not most of the detailed endings, I will probably bring it forward to a second round of beta testers so stay tuned
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OH, SHOOT, DWMU IS BACK! I’m so EXCITED 
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OK so DWMU is creeping to be longer than anticipated. Thankfully I’m steaming ahead with it under quarantine, but the Asterius route chapter is creeping up to around 50k right now and seems it might not be done until around 70k, but everything is all good. Having a good time. Apologising in advance for having a massive tangent and coming up with loads of lore for a classical music themed monster truck rally
(Also decided I really do want to set the Len chapter in a future dystopia that’s darker than the Asterius one so that I can make jokes about Togainu no Chi)… Very excited for everyone to play this and I hope everyone is staying sane!
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I don’t think you should ever have to apologise for that. More people should be coming up with lore for classical music themed monster truck rallies.
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Definitely an interesting story!I love the funny choices available in this game:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
…Great work:+1:
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Hello everyone!
I’ve finished my university exams, and now as I apply to masters programmes (and fail to hear any information about any summer work because of the corona disruption), I’m working very extensively on DWMU now, as my main work for the day.
I’m having such a great time being in the position where I can do this! Looking forward to being able to share it with you all soon! It means the world to me that it seems practically possible for me to finish this gargantuan work all these years later which I thought would never be complete!
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