Merry Crisis (WIP) - Updated: 3 Apr '24 [220k words]

@geldar Ah, oh man great question! :slight_smile: I realised the coding was giving people too easy of a time catching the plane. Iā€™ve just updated that, and there should be slightly more of a chance of missing it now (and getting that achievement and hidden scene ā€œOne more night in NYā€).

Well, now the game doesnā€™t start with an error:

startup line 92: Invalid *achievement. Hidden achievements must set their pre-earned description to ā€˜hiddenā€™.

HAHA OK! Fixed now! :slight_smile:

Just read the demo and I can totally relate to theā€¦ BEING QUEER (in Asian countries) part. Love the story-telling, looking forward for your updates!

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I can get to that scene now, but I get a different error now after getting the replacement ticket:

0_prologue line 1068: the achievement name miss_flight was not declared as an *achievement in startup

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@asuliu HAHA so glad that the story resonated with you, and thanks for the kind comment! :slight_smile:

@geldar Wow, sorry this was such a journey haha, and thanks for sticking with me throughout the edit process. I think Iā€™ve solved it once and for all (fingers crossed).

Everything seems to be working now!

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Iā€™ll begin this post by complimenting the very cheesy title, ā€œmerry crisisā€. I absolutely adore it.

Anyhow, this W.I.P is starting to (in a strange way) remind me of The Long Weekend. The detailed story-telling I really love. Though, some details and important identification occurs, such as (for me) it took me a solid minute to realize I was asian; same with understanding that nat was black. I feel like maybe that point should be brought out a little sooner.

I really do appreciate the story stance as it is, the late flight introducing the exā€™s characteristics, to start developing our personality and our height, preferred gender attraction, our dedication to work, etc. For a one night binge, this was marvelously created (ik there was editing but my point stands) more than some authors do in a week.

Perhaps Christmas Eve Iā€™ll point out questions and screenshot errors, no promises.

Until next post, continue creating this masterpiece.

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The ā€œageā€ choice was actually more of a gender choice that also happens to tell you how old the character is. You donā€™t actually get to choose your age. Obviously there could be other ways to do it, but knowing your characterā€™s age is valuable info.

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Iā€™d have to harshly disagree with your opinion. I donā€™t find the age as a critically readers-choice situation; just set a general age for all genders and such.

Iā€™m confused by the line, ā€œyou donā€™t actually get to pick your ageā€. When I did my walkthrough, I got to pick between a 28-26 year old male. Though, I havenā€™t picked the question option?

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The options are 28 M, 26 F, 28 NB, or 26 NB.

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I recommend you start your own Hobby thread with your demo there for max exposure for your project. Except you consider that this short game will be a future hosted.You can tell to a moderatorn to change your thread category

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Hate to admit when Iā€™m incorrect but it seems I am. Well played

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@FoolishReader Thanks very much for your comment! Hahaha first off, glad ya got a kick out of the title :joy: Also honored that you think itā€™s a lil like A Long Weekend, I was going for a similar aim/objective: something compact that delves a little deeper into a personā€™s inner psyche, thoughts, and place in the world. And yes, Iā€™d absolutely love to answer any questions you may have / hear more from you :slight_smile:

I take your point that it does take a while for the race/physical descriptions of characters to be introduced. That was kind of the intention, but I absolutely agree that when it does get introduced, I could make it slightly more explicit.

Yup, as @geldar rightly pointed out, age and race are things that are fixed, as part of the storyā€™s arc. Youā€™re getting older, and the pressure to have things figured out, to be successful, to start a family - at least for many Singaporean chinese - grows stronger.

Age was introduced alongside a gender choice, while race was introduced when MC is told what their Chinese name is. Iā€™ll think about what I can do to make these elements more clear, when they come up. :slight_smile:

Similarly, I thought Natā€™s race became particularly salient in relation to the implications of how the relationship is viewed by others (in particular, MCā€™s parents).

Elaboration on characteristics and introducing 'em slowly

I wanted to slowly unravel various facets of MCā€™s identity (same for the main characters, like Nat), almost like passing out little nuggets (I guess thatā€™s also how I like to read my novels?), incrementally giving a richer, fuller sense of who they are as people in relation to the world around them.

With the first chapter, you slowly step into MCā€™s shoes, learning more about their race, relationships, and - like you mentioned - other attributes like physical appearance, gender attraction, dedication to work etc.

But as I said, Iā€™ll review this eventually, esp. when I come back round to edit more ruthlessly.

@Poison_mara Ah yes I think Iā€™d like to finish it and in the footsteps of what was done for A Long Weekend, Iā€™d love for it to be a future Hosted game if possible!

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Normally projects for jams arenā€™t in hosted section. But if you are determined to make it a hosted that is great!
Wish you the best luck

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One feature Iā€™d like to see implemented - if you see fit, of course - is the option to be referred to by American characters with your English name and Singaporean characters with your Chinese name.

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Thatā€™s a cool idea!

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Iā€™d personally find it a bit weird to have such a clear distinction on national lines - many (or even most) Chinese Singaporeans with English names use them even in Singapore, though of course there may be certain people who call them by their Chinese name anyway, like select older relatives or other people they speak to mainly in Chinese. A situation like that is probably more believable for those who didnā€™t have an English name to begin with but adopted one because the Americans couldnā€™t get their tongues or brains around the Chinese one.

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Hi! Nice demo, Iā€™m definitely interested.

I chose to be the mid fielder and my character is female, but the MCā€™s parents refered to her as him here.

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discovered this by chance on the front page of dashingdon, and i was so pleasantly floored when it was first made clear the mc is singaporean. iā€™ve got some pretty complicated feelings about singapore being where iā€™ve spent most of my life, but not where i think i belong, so this story hit incredibly close to home (ha) in a way nothing has before. thank you for making this <3

would you consider adding more options to the gender/age choice for being a woman who had to serve NS or a man who didnā€™t? i know there are trans people here with experiences like that.

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