Merry Crisis - WIP (Updated: 10/06/22)

burninglights · December 23, 2021, 5:20pm

Head back home for Christmas. cue: immediate disaster

Will you survive dinner with the extended family? Or will you lose your cool when your aunt asks you, for the fifth time that evening, if you’re still single, and whether you’re ever going to get a ‘real’ job?

Will the week at home truly be a good ‘change of scenery’ for you, after your recent break-up? Will you find new love, or perhaps rekindle an old flame?

Most of all, at the dawn of a new year, will your relationship with your family make it - and will you emerge with all your brain cells intact?

Play as female, male, or non-binary - straight, or queer.
Spend the holidays with your family, and perhaps even find solace in their company.
Meet your neighbour’s new (edgy) tenant, who your mother despises, because they keep smoking in the common lobby and leaving trails of… mud(?) along the corridor.
Attend a high school reunion, and run-into your first-love, who’s doing ridiculously, absurdly, well - at least on the outside.
Ignore your boss’s calls… or not.
Bail out early and head back to New York for New Year’s Eve, or watch the fireworks with family or… a new flame.

Set in Singapore - explore the city, experience (and customise - to a certain extent) your family’s unique Christmas / New Year’s traditions, reminisce over old memories, and make new ones.

First chapter: 19k words total, ~10k words per playthrough.
Future updates: 6-7 total chapters planned, roughly corresponding to each of the days MC will spend at home.

Although the game will be a largely light-hearted slice-of-life game about the holidays, I do want to tackle some slightly more serious issues throughout the story, e.g. the delicate, sometimes fraught balance of individuality / freedom vs. one’s responsibility to family. Also, I guess I am home for the holidays, and I wanted to write something about where I’m from.

Demo
Check out the game’s Devt blog and say hi on my author’s Tumblr
Check out my main WIP- College Tennis: Origin Story.

Author's note

The idea came to me almost fully formed, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. Also, the WIP is basically my life. It might be the most ridiculous thing ever, or it might be fun for some folks. Who knows?

Either way, it’s meant to be a fun, compact project, inspired by @poison_mara’s winter solstice jam, and @Daleko’s seriously amazing feat (re: A Long Weekend), and wanted to take a bit of a break from my “serious” WIP (College Tennis: Origin Story) over the holidays.

Themes

Relationships between children/parents when the former moves out/away (and moves halfway across the globe)
Dating outside one’s “expected” circles (i.e. from one’s nationality, race etc.), or possibly being queer, especially in a slightly more conservative society
What it means to “take care” of one’s parents (especially in Asian societies - or perhaps just my own)
Immigration and what it means to ‘belong’

ROs

Nat
Your ex, and flatmate. Your parents never approved of them, but you suppose it doesn’t matter anymore. Despite the breakup, you still live with them in a tiny shoebox apartment. New York rent, man. What can you say?

Qiu
Your first-love. The one you tried to do long-distance with, for the first year of college. It didn’t work out, and you hadn’t kept in touch. Now, they’re ridiculously successful. But, according to your intel, still… single.

Shay
Your neighbour’s new tenant. Your parents also, do not approve. Will you work your magic and manage to persuade them to stop smoking in the common lobby and… more?

Zyrios · December 23, 2021, 5:33pm

Ah good, a story about the stress of having to deal with family and friends being assholes on the holidays, now it feels like Christmas!

I kid, I kid. My own family situation is… uh, bad, IRL (Got kicked out of the house and disowned at eighteen, woohoo), so this story intrigues me purely on the level of escapism, which is a hell of a thing to say about something people probably experience yearly, themselves.

burninglights · December 23, 2021, 5:39pm

Hahaha, we get each other! What’s a festive season without a bit of… friendly (???) ass-holery, eh? That said, my own experience with my family has always been… both really amazing and really… kinda sketch (I guess on the grounds of being queer in a still-largely conservative society), so I wanted to capture that paradoxical “so good-and-also-kinda-bad-sometimes-but-still-family??” vibe.

And man, I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope you’re doing good. Take care, and sending you some love. <3

yb_minhee · December 23, 2021, 5:45pm

oh my god. my worst nightmare has become a wip, oh no! but seriously though, that’s such a nice idea. i already love it without even trying it out. lets just hope i survive this when i cant even survive the real deal! being an introvert makes it even worse

burninglights · December 23, 2021, 5:56pm

HAHA omg, that’s true, well - wrote this 'cause I couldn’t sleep, so I guess I’m passing on the curse to other people. All the best with your own holiday ordeals

Zyrios · December 23, 2021, 6:04pm

Oh, what happened to me is years in the past, my roommate and I do alright for ourselves.

Anyhow, I’ma stop talking about it now before I start dragging moods down XD

llim · December 23, 2021, 6:10pm

I really like this! The concept is not something I particularly relate to, but the writing is very posished and I love the characters so far.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to read beyond a certain point because it sent me back to the beginning of the chapter, for some reason?
I was running to my gate, at which point I decided to check my stats (because it occurred to me that my choice to be athletic might play a role in my success in reaching the gate, and I was curious if there was a stat for that…). Unfortunately, when I clicked “next” from the stat screen, it took me back to the beginning of the story. Not sure what happened (or did I reach the end without realizing it?)

One other minor thing:
I chose female pronouns, but the second choice here has male pronouns

burninglights · December 23, 2021, 6:19pm

@llim ah! Thanks so much for the comment!

Hmm, I think this could be me updating the chapter to fix something, sorry! Let me know if you get the error again, though I’ve also just updated again to fix the pronoun-mistake that you pointed out (in which case folks might’ve been bumped back to the front again.) Apologies!

Oops- I hit enter too quickly.
@Zyrios I’m so glad to hear that you’re doing good either way, I’m always here for a chat if anything.

frifli · December 23, 2021, 6:28pm

Ooh a Christmas inspired IF (my favorite) The premise is so interesting and fun sounding.

yb_minhee · December 23, 2021, 6:49pm

just finished it and that was so good! its nice and just a very relaxing (maybe not so much if you finally meet your family) start. just a suggestion though, if you’d be able to add flirt/romance indicators to choices that would raise someones romance cause i was not intending to romance nat and i was surprised to see that the romance was going up for them, unless of course, that was the point. i was kinda going for qui cause idk man, qui sounds like the typical rich anime dudes and i live for those. they do sound like they would end up like a dick so crossing my fingers they arent the mean cold type cause as much as i want that, it’s very draining to constantly give affection and just watch them not react at all or just throw an insult to your face. its like fuckin flirting with a rock. its even especially hard when you choose to be the shy about it. i can take it if they’re cold but mean too? might have to go for shay instead. (bad boy type?) nat still a precious beanie tho

anyways that’s enough of me blabbering (kinda?) about my slightly hated kinds of ros and on with the typos!

choosing for nat to have they/them pronouns kinda messes up the grammar

the paragraph is on the same line with the date

missing word

same problem with the pronouns ruining the grammar

nat had they/them pronouns on my playthrough

burninglights · December 23, 2021, 7:01pm

Thanks for the comment, and I loved the blabbering (definitely not blabbering, though haha). And haha relaxing is good! It’s the holidays, after all, so I’m going for 80% light-hearted

Ah, good shout. I will consider adding some romance indicators and review the options that’ll give the romance stat a boost, although it’s also based on the premise that there’s history between you and Nat. After being with someone for so long (plus having a pretty amiable breakup), some ‘friendly’-ish options might be throwbacks to fond memories etc.

But either way, regardless of the romance bar, you will always have the call as to who you’re actually interested in going for The relationship bar also indicates how Nat sees you, after all!

As for Qiu, hahah, well, they’re named after autumn (秋), so… I’d say: somewhat chilly with some warmth tucked away somewhere Won’t give any spoilers, though. Nat’s definitely a precious beanie, though you won’t be seeing much of them until you return.

Nat’s pronouns and grammar- AH! Thanks for pointing that out! I will fix this when I get up tomorrow morning.

FabricSeat · December 23, 2021, 7:17pm

Not the kind of thing I’d usually read, but it puts a smile on my face to see something set in Singapore.

I just saw the “Why are guys two years older” and I’m smiling even more widely now. Although, I will point out that some males are allowed to not serve National Service for a variety of reasons (which itself could be an interesting minor plot point if you allowed for that, as such reasons often have at least a little stigma attached).

lexie1k · December 23, 2021, 8:25pm

As a queer Singaporean looking to eventually move to another country, this is just a little bit tooo real. Hahaha, fun read though, can’t wait for more!

geldar · December 23, 2021, 10:23pm

I must have somehow taken a path that doesn’t currently involve any of the characters besides Nat? I’ve played through the entire demo and have not even met Shay, Qiu, or Joony, but apparently other players have.

Also, it was not difficult to notice that we have absolutely no idea what Nat looks like besides skin color.

Kaelyn · December 23, 2021, 10:33pm

I liked the story a lot, even or maybe because it shows the differences between my own family and the one the MC has.

Found two Pages with gender swapping of Nat in the page ( Nat was male in my playthrough)

FabricSeat · December 23, 2021, 10:57pm

I don’t think those characters are in the demo yet, people are just talking about the information on them found in the first post.

Not sure if this is an actual issue, @burninglights (since maybe you are still working on it and planning to open it up later), but looking at the code I think the whole “Flight” chapter is currently being skipped because the prologue is still coded to go straight to last_scene.txt.

fool · December 23, 2021, 11:27pm

I don’t usually like slice of life stories, but this was lovely, and though we haven’t encountered many of the characters yet, Nat seems grounded and like a real person. And as someone who is not Singaporean, it’s always nice to have a small slice of a culture I’m not entirely familiar with. Can’t wait for the next installment:)

roselilymarigold · December 23, 2021, 11:55pm

Is this written for the game jam @poison_mara set up???

burninglights · December 24, 2021, 1:04am

@FabricSeat and @lexie1k HAHA ooh, have I found fellow Singaporeans?! so happy y’all liked it!

@lexie1k Hahha, yeah man. It’s… tough being a queer Singaporean. I’ve always felt like there isn’t really a place for us outside the private home ("everything’s A-OK as long as you don’t “flaunt your sexuality in public”), and that’s ironic because by home, I think the state means, your parents’ home (so tough to get a place of one’s own if you’re not a well-to-do queer person thanks to housing policies.) But thanks for reading!

@FabricSeat good point on not serving NS! I shall consider that, and possibly add that in as a nugget / bonus later on (have someone comment on it at the dinner perhaps). But I’ll shelve possible extra flavour till I get further along I think!

@geldar Yep, as FabricSeat mentioned, the other characters are Singaporean and will appear once you land! Also - noted and will try to slice more descriptors in for Nat, I was sorta blazing my way through and focusing on their inner worlds / interactions / histories for now. Thanks for the comment!

@kaelyn Awesome, I’m so glad that it was a good read even though the context and backstory is something quite different from what you’re used to! As for Nat’s pronouns, got it! Thanks all for pointing them out, I’ll be scrubbing through and fixing them by the next update.

@fool Haha, yay!! This comment was so nice to read, and yeah, I’ve always loved choice games/interactive fiction because it gives a glimpse into a different life, and am glad you’re enjoying your little foray into this particular world (and that you like Nat hehe).

@roselilymarigold Haha yes!! I saw @poison_mara’s winter solstice game jam and thought it’d be really cool to write something short for the holidays - though I haven’t yet posted it there because it doesn’t exactly fit the theme (children’s stories!). @poison_mara - Let me know if I should!

geldar · December 24, 2021, 1:24am

BTW, I notice there’s an achievement for arriving on time. Is it possible to not get that achievement, by somehow failing to arrive?