Might or Magic 0.1.1 - 7/6/26 Intro update

Hosted Games Works In Progress
,
1

Hey guys, Aethernano here.

This is one of my first works. (that I want to release anyway)

I’m still learning the ropes and I’m greener than cannabis with writing. So please have mercy on this poor author xD

(and I’m not an english native speaker so, expect the occasional grammar or spelling mistake, I’ll do my best to minimize them)

Please feel free to leave some feedback, compliments, complaints.

Let me know what you like, dislike. What can be improved?

Anyways, I’ll try to keep this project as SFW as possible but there is some swearing here and there.

Some bloodshed as well, not too gory though.

Mentioning cannibalism but it will be fade out to black. And it will be only 1 instance.

It’s part of a bad ending, if you don’t want to see it, don’t be (too much of) an asshole to npc’s =P

Comments on the stats: Besides the generic rpg stats like str, agi, int and char. There is magic, but only if you meet the conditions. There is also alignment; Good/Evil and Lawful/Chaotic.

Lawful/Chaotic in this IF is mostly about following rules and laws or breaking them. Going to the extreme either way will have some consequences down the line. If you don’t like trouble, be neutral.

Good/Evil is self explanatory, no? Welp, I’m planning in the future a special route for players who will go to the extreme. Maybe a special class like lich or something… Still thinking about it.

Relationship stats… eh… later… maybe. I’m not sure if I can pull off writing romance. Statscreen itself shouldn’t be too much of a problem though.

Synopsis

200 Years ago, the continent was ruled by the Prismatic Empire. They ruled with an iron fist. They enforced strict laws, punished crime without impunity but at least there was law and order. Until one day the empire fell apart and civil war broke out.

After decades of war, the continent was divided into 7 states:
The Crimson Kingdom, the Marigold Commonwealth, the Ochre Stratocracy, the Viridian Theocracy, the Azure Kingdom, the Cerulean Magocracy and the Byzantium Bureaucracy. Maintaining a fragile balance.

You are born in Amberstrand, a small backwater village on the edge of the Crimson Kingdom. Close to the border with the Marigold Commonwealth.

From there you will start from humble beginnings. The peace you experienced in your early years was just the calm before the storm.

And right before the storm will make landfall, you must hold fast to your wits lest you get washed away by the currents of fate.

How will you navigate these treacherous whims of fate that seems like the machinations of a mad god?

Changelog

0.1
Initial release

0.1.1
changed the synopsis.
Added intro to strongarm family.
Added intro to vermillion family.
added customization for eldersister
added customization for a special something something
added some choices here and there. Some lead to variations, others are just there for aesthetics.

restructured the coding, makes it easier for me to find things in this ever growing mess called code.

created a new ‘end of content’ point. Just before the apprenticeship.

========================================================================

To play the (initial) demo, go here: Might or Magic 0.1-Alpha (2,3K words, all files incl. code)

To play the new demo, go here: Might or Magic 0.1.1 - 7/6/26 Intro update

========================================================================

AI Disclosure:

No — This project does not contain the output of Generative AI
Yes — This project contains the output of Generative AI

Edit: I removed the ai generated cover. That was literally the only thing created by ai. I’m pretty bad at visual design and stuff, that’s why I grabbed a free ai tool.
Well… too bad, no eyecandy. I only get errors when I try to place the image in the startup.

18 Likes
2

We’ll watch (read) this game with interest in the future. For now, it’ll need depths in the story. It doesn’t have to be the best, but make it as elaborate as you can. You may start with a prologue telling us what does your world looks like? What is the setting? Describe how does the MC’s feels about their surrounding? What do they feel at the moment? Something like that. All in all, the story may have a potential as you develop it further. Keep it up

3 Likes
3

I hope the game will have good storytelling while balancing the stats.

4 Likes
4

Looks interesting. I’d recommend including a blurb about the game in your first post. What’s the plot, genre, romance or no romance, etc. Am I fighting a war, solving a mystery, going to school, etc.

4 Likes
5

Might or Magic?

Can I ask, is this a spoof on Might and Magic, the video game series? Or just a really similar name to it?

3 Likes
6

You’re starting off with a bunch of character creation options where the main character lives in a humble farmstead on Tattooine nameless village. Very obviously meant to be a Luke Skywalker / Hero’s Journey type of humble beginnings storyline.

However you’re really lacking in specificity. It’s a collection of archetypes rather than a story. Try this:

  • Name the village and tell us about it.
  • Name the bully and tell us about him.
  • Give the main character a family and tell us about them. You even highlight traits of the main character’s family but then never reference them.
  • Show the main character’s everyday life and what their ordinary world looks like. What’s the status quo for the main character? What do they expect out of their life? What do they actually do every day?
  • Introduce a call to adventure: what pulls the main character into the story?
12 Likes
7

The Armstrong family???

Author PLEASE make us be able to do this in the future :folded_hands:

3 Likes
8

You’re absolutely right, This story isn’t elaborate at all. That’s because instead like my first work (that chose not to release) was focussed purely on story, with little to no coding at all. I mean, the only coding it had was page_break and *finish lol :stuck_out_tongue:

I decided to do the opposite with this work, paying little attention to the writing. Also this is literally my 2nd work, and today is the 3rd day I know choicescript and writing. Since I never wrote anything other than comments, letters or emails lmao

This is the bare bones where I want to work from. Hopefully I can make it fun for you guys.

And yeah, the title is a play on the title heroes of might and magic, I love those games! =D

PS: Thank you guys so much for the feedback, I can work with this =D

6 Likes
9

We’re looking forward to future updates and revisions (if any) :>

2 Likes
10

I have done a little rewriting. (not yet uploaded)

I changed the intro and synopsis a bit. Gave the bully a name lol. Created options to name the elder sister of the mc, including a diy text box.

I removed some classes. I guess I was a bit too ambitious with all those classes. Besides some classes didn’t really make sense story-wise so I decided to cut the classes down to 5. Basically one for each stat.

For example; the assassin, the bard, the paladin are removed and I changed the name of poltician class to merchant. Tweaked the stat gain a bit as well.

I do want to create some “special” classes later on that you need to “quest” for. But that’s for future me to worry about.

I don’t know if any of you played the exile route but that route is kinda a meme. Meant to kill the mc mostly. Though I will provide one lifepath in the near future where I can make it so that the MC strikes out on his own or something, towards another kingdom.

After I have measured the min-max of the stats the mc can have at the moment of the stat-check, I’ll write the life path and rewrite the dead ends.

I tried to come up with some dialog between mc and sister but… thinking out decent dialogs without it getting boring is pretty difficult. At least for me. I’ll do my best regardless.

About the reason for adventure; I already had something in mind last night but I was writing and coding for 12+ hours straight. Didn’t have the energy to continue. I’ll prolly pick up later today or tomorrow. I’m not feeling too energetic atm =P

That’s about it I think? And again, thank you guys for reading and commenting. Fresh set of eyes is exactly what I needed =)

edit: You know what’s nice? When you switch text editor mid-project and your entire code goes bonkers. I literally had to replace every space with tabs in the entire code. Apparently a tab in atom is a space in notepad++. I’m not gonna switch editors again! xD

7 Likes
11

Today was a productive day.

I have worked on the introduction of the Armstrong family. A little training scene with the father, could be better though. Then some cute family moments or… drama depends on how you react. I tried my best to write believeable scenes and a bit of variation here and there but my writing, I feel it lacks something. When the update hits, please help me out? =)

I had fun writing this though and I’m especially excited to write about the next family; the Vermillion family. Already have some plans in mind for the first couple scenes and let’s not forget about lore.

I already have some ideas for the history of the continent or at least history of the empire. What ideology of the empire had, what kind of government they ran. How they saw and treated mages. How they saw and treated religious groups. Some ideas about laws but mostly about magic laws. I haven’t had the time to think of every law though. Not that I’m gonna, I’ll prolly write about the most important ones related to the story and maybe some later on in the story.

Let’s hope tomorrow will be just as productive, I’m gonna take a little breather =P

edit: wordcount is now 4839 with code. So pretty much double of the demo link and I’m not finished yet lol

8 Likes
12

Your enthusiasm is commendable, dear author. We’re looking forward to it in the next future update. But, don’t push yourself too hard and keep on your own pace. There’s no rush as your readers, like me, will wait until everything’s ready on your end.

3 Likes
13

Yeah, I have the tendency to push myself too hard or biting more than I can chew =P

I took a day off yesterday to recharge for a bit and this morning I have made a couple scenes for the Vermillion family intro.

But now I realize that writing 3 paths (with each 2 branchings) will be quite difficult, so I’m thinking about shelving the charisma path for later when I have more material to write around with or cutting it out of the story and that the story will only feature 2 playable families instead of 3 (which also means the charisma class will disappear but charisma will stay as a stat).

I’m also thinking about to merge the warrior and archer class and scholar/mage. And that those 2 “branches” are more interconnected than actual routes or paths. For example in some IF’s you have brutality/finesse, kinda like that but without the opposing stat bar.

1 Like
14

If I’m allowed to suggest, isn’t it a bit incompatible to merge warrior and archer classes? Well, narrative-wise since they’re actually completely different when it comes to battle style if we based on MMOs. Many popular novels and stories involving classes and magic lean their logic on these games. I would say, Warrior would be left as it is with strength and endurance as their core stats. Archers or should I say rangers has perception and finesse stats and Mage has Magic/intelligence and Will stats. I’d say Warrior and Mage are compatible to merge since in many games, we have so called Warmage. Though this is just a mere suggestion so I pray it won’t bother you much

1 Like
15

True but in the sense of might or magic; archery and melee combat are considered might. Story wise I could get away with it since I made the Armstrong family talented in both melee and archery. And with the vermillion intro, you’ll get a little bit of magic education anyway. That’s why I thought of merging the classes and choose to branch out somewhere else.

And with the warmage, it’s indeed an interesting idea. Maybe later on in the story I’ll create it as a more advanced class or something. Coincidentally I already had a scene written for the mage path to earn a small amount of str and agi as a “punishment” if you choose to do the punishment without magic.

Maybe if I make more instances where the mage can earn strength and agi that when the time comes for a more advanced class or something, that the mage can take the warmage class.

But merging the warrior and mage class from the start? Nope, it won’t fit storywise or I’ll have to rewrite the family intro’s again :stuck_out_tongue:

A little spoiler about magic training vs physical

One of the reasons why I can’t let the warrior and mage merge from the start is because of how the mage and warrior characters train. The warrior/archer train mostly through physical training and cardio while the mage character meditates (like a cultivator but instead of qi it’s mana).

To be able to create a warmage class, I need to do some thinking to incorporate some physical training into the mage plot or maybe some magic shenanigans to cultivate the body through mana, plus some enchanted stuff geared towards str/agi? I’ll think about it…

But in the event that I’ll create the warmage class, it will be later on in the story for sure. At the very least, the mc needs to have access to a big city or something, more people = more opportunities and access to knowledge.

1 Like
16

That’ll be a fair point. I haven’t thought of that since most of the time I’d use the MMO logic. But if we use the logic of an actual physical fighter, a warrior and archer would have the same training type. Anyhow, just don’t push too hard and take you time building the world of Might and Magic. We’ll be waiting for a major update soon! Thank you for your hardwork…

1 Like
17

Changes with 0.1.1

changed the synopsis.
Added intro to strongarm family.
Added intro to vermillion family.
added customization for eldersister
added customization for a special something something
added some choices here and there. Some lead to variations, others are just there for aesthetics.

restructured the coding, makes it easier for me to find things in this ever growing mess called code.

created a new ‘end of content’ point. Just before the apprenticeship.

===============================

I know that the amount of content isn’t much and there are a couple missing scene’s that I forgot about it. I’ll come back to that in future update.

4 Likes
18

Thank you for your hardwork :folded_hands:

3 Likes
19

Before anyone asks what exactly a Balor is… (I mentioned it in the story, but didn’t elaborate)

A Balor is a humanoid magical creature in tune with mana. It is very smart and can cast powerful spells but… the balor’s energy reservoirs are it’s weakness. It can’t fight for long with it’s mana and it’s physical defense is average.

It has atrophied wings, meaning it can’t fly but it can attack with it using the spikes that grow out of the bones.

The balor has 7 eyes, sharp teeth like a shark, claws, talons and a tail. Spikes grow out of the wings, spine and tail.

And the eyes are the most important “resource” for enchanting since every eye is an amplifier for an element.

The 4 basic elements of Water, Earth, Fire and Air.

The 2 supreme elements of Light and Dark

And lastly the eye of spirit or soul. (And this last eye is the one that was used in the story)

How the balor uses magic: With it’s eyes, it splits the ambient mana into it’s components, store a little bit of it within the eyes and when they weave spells, they use up what’s stored within the eyes. Making the eyes a perfect resource for enchanting because of all the magical currents it has endured.

If the balor runs out of mana mid-battle, it switches to melee combat. Using the spikes on it’s wings and tail. Or using its claws and talons. But because energy capacity is an issue for the balor, the amount of stamina is also lacking.

The balor is capable of using ambient mana to appraise threats around it. If it’s up against someone or something it can’t defeat, it will flee. If it can fight off the threat, it will use all of it’s power in a very short time frame as a shock tactic. If it chose to flee and is backed into a corner, it can decide to go down with a ‘bang’ by sacrificing it’s eyes. To overload them with mana and then “boom”.

3 Likes
20

I haven’t played the game yet. But I when reading this I was wondering, shouldn’t stuff like this be in glossary or something section of stat page. If you have implemented it or planning to implement it, good.

Just wanted to share my thoughts.

1 Like