Nothing left (to burn) [WiP] — July 16 update!

I cried while reading this work…

Ok that it. I will KILL them for absolute vengeance. Oh wait even better. Can I burn the whole school? HOW dare they did to my poor baby ANDREW. I WILL KILL. :cry::cry::cry::cry:

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Yeah, I know that it would be okay-ish with you guys, but I’m still at that point where I’m trying to find/balance how explicit things are going to get. Sometimes it’s a fine line between just shock-value and tone, and I would like to avoid the former :thinking:

I also like that option more, but I don’t want to risk people making the wrong choice by accident/because I didn’t make it clear enough :scream: I think I’ll try first the subtle option first, and depending on what you guys say, leave it/change it as necessary :smile:

Yep, burning St. Mary’s High School is an option :wink:

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It’s like horror movies putting in jump scares and extremely gory scenes, it’s cheap and boring. Unless it adds more to the story or drives the plot forward, it’s gonna be unnecessary. I wouldn’t have a problem with it because I’m such a sucker for angst. But if it’s just there for the sake of being there, then I won’t enjoy it as much. That’s just my opinion on the matter.

In my experience I’ve never really chosen the wrong option when customization scenes appear? Because it’s very obvious in my opinion. For example, if there’s a line saying: “I look at my reflection…”

And then there’s a bunch of options including different colors of the MC’s eyes/hair/skin/lips/eyebrows/nails/whatever, I will assume it’s the customization part.

Even if you carefully plant it into the story that it’ll seem natural and part of the story the readers will still know it’s the customization part.

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So can we get away with manipulating everybody to follow our goals? Bc avenging my baby Drew and ruining lives is such a bop

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Ok, @Jeruspi but I deadass pictured Yukano (My MC) singing “Bring marshmallows, we’ll make s’mores. We can smile and cuddle while the fire roars!” to one of the ROs.
She’s not heartless, just incredibly unhinged after Drew. She confessed. They slept in the same bed, holding hands.
The Yukano in my head would genuinely consider her ‘accomplices’ her ‘friends’ as she would do everything in her power to appeal to their better natures; essentially brainwashing them. But, she’s also self-aware enough that she knows society at-large would disagree and label her a monster even as she tells her ‘friends’ she ‘loves them’.

…anyone else wanna talk about their OC’s? Because now I do.

Yukano Asahina/Mayer

Even with her dearest person departed from the realm of the living, Yukano’s a very Caring person.
She knows what it’s like to hurt. Just knowing that the people that hurt her and Drew are still out there, hurting others, gets her all Emotional.
But don’t think that makes her reckless. No, she’s a very Deliberate young woman.
The school is going to burn, and she’ll be holding the matches.
Her hair is long, and dark as pitch while her skin is a very pale shade; due to isolating herself in her home more often than not. Excluding her eyebags, that is.
She only maintains a healthy figure because of Eddie. Otherwise, she’d look a lot more frail as opposed to her natural, voluptuous appearance.
Her eyes are grey and only really seemed to glimmer with life when she was with Drew. They used to say her eyes seemed more silver than grey; she never told them it was because of them.
While Drew was still alive, she actually tried to take care of her appearance in subtle ways. Maintained a rigorous skincare regime (well, as rigorous as the household budget could allow) to keep her skin as unblemished as possible, just as merciless with her hair (washing it regularly, brushing and combing it daily) and always wearing a sweet scent that she’s forgotten the name of at this point; but those close to her have just learned to associate it with her. She didn’t realise until she confessed, but she wanted him to consider her attractive…
With Drew gone, and nothing but contempt for almost everyone else around her, the darker side she’d kept hypothetical until now begins to rear its ugly head.
What Yukano wants? She gets. She’s prone to manipulation, but her compassion makes it hard for her to justify the more forceful kind. Hers is much more insidious in that she seeks to form an empathetic bond with her victims; make them genuinely wish to assist her. She never attempted this before because she had Drew; they were all she needed.
She isn’t the good guy. She knows this. But neither are her targets. Yukano isn’t that oblivious. What she plans is wrong, and awful, and would likely break Drew’s heart. But, it’s all she has. If she doesn’t do this, this anger and pain will just fester and roil until she just… lets go. At least this way, she’s taking those f^ckers down with her. She wouldn’t dare blame Drew for this. Everything will be her fault. She already believes it is.

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Yeah, if you play your cards right, you can get away with everything, murder included :smiling_imp:

@xXOtakuKonekoXx thank you for sharing, Yukano sounds like a cinmamon roll (who can totally kill you) :heart_eyes_cat: :cake:


How have you been doing? :smile: I’ve been writing a lot on my end, I currently have 8k words of new content and I’m far from done! Not sure how big will be the next update, but I would first say that maybe around 15k, perhaps 20k.

Let’s see what I have planned:

  • The article rewritten by @SuperNova to be more accurate to news-style writing! You’ve helped me a lot, thank you! :smile:

  • There will be a good deal of angst, llike this bit here:

    Drew is leaning against the wall heavily, a deep cut on their eyebrow bleeding profusely over their face and eyes, staining their white hoodie. Their hands rest on the wall, as if looking for leverage, and they look so out of it you fear they’re going to blackout.

  • I’m halway done with the customization, with choices ranging from skin tone, eye color (and a little surprise there), hair color, length and style, along with the option to skip it all.

  • People we don’t know will make appear in a scene.

  • Part of Chapter 1 (ideally half of it, but you never know).

I hope you have a good day! Take care of yourselves and stay healthy!

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hey Lycoris would you say the MC is a yandere. keep up the great work :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

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I honestly thought I wouldn’t like this, but i was wrong I felt so much emotion when drew died .good job. The anger ,the sorrow you’ve captured it all , thank you for your hard work and l love this

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Thank you! :smile: Your MC can be a yandere if you want to play as such, it’s your playthrough! Althought canonically speaking, what’s going on with the MC’s psyche, how they act and perceive the story’s events, is due to a lot of factors that make it difficult to reduce it to only one archetype. And it’s not like they are always in love with Drew, some prefer to have them as friends!

Thank you for your kind words! I understand that the style and theme might not be to everyone’s taste, but I appreciate it greatly that you gave the demo a chance! :hugs:

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Omg I cant get over how well the MCs emotion is written and that it doesn’t feel like I get punished for picking reasonable feeling but impulsive choices shout out to Eddie for not being mad at me, but reporter dude deserved it. I love this game/story so much.

Edit: I played through it a second time. I love this even more.

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Aaaw, thank you! :blush: I really want to give plenty of options to the players and without making them feel like they’ve picked the “wrong” one, so if there’s a reaction you think that’s missing (like “my MC would do X when arguing with Etha Davis”), feel free to speak up! This game is very centered in the MC’s emotions and their relationships, so I’m putting a lot of emphasis on it :smile:

The relationship with Eddie is also very important overall, and I wanted to make her a very likable mother/aunt figure, so feedback about her is very helpful too, thanks! I’m happy to hear you love the game so much :grin:


Progress is going well! College is currently kicking a fuss with a lot of work to do, but I like what I’m seeing. I’m 10k words into a scene that’s not happy, but that I consider necessary, and that will make the flow of the story smoother, and the MC’s conclussion of who might have murdered Drew more logical. I also have another scene in the works for Chapter 1 linked to the Prologue, and that will be it for the changes, and I’ll continue with Chapter 2, where the revenge plans will start.

I have a question for trans players: in the next update it will be possible to explicitly state whether you’re cis or trans with an option, in a scene where one of the ex-bullies appears. Said bully will mock the player even though she doesn’t know the MC is near, and the option looks like this:

You don't want to hear what's going to spill from her mouth.
*choice
    #My name. The mockery. The taunting.
    #My deadname. Like poison on a sore wound.

The deadname won’t appear. The game won’t ask to you to write it down, nor the bully will get to say it. It’s only know that the MC has a deadname, and that’s the refence the player will have to know that their MC is trans. Even later in game, when the bullies recognice the MC, at most there will be a “oh, it’s you,” comment, no transphobia. Do you think it’s acceptable like this, or do you want to make any suggestions? Or should I look for another way to include a cis/trans choice? :thinking:

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i can’t speak for all trans people of course but this seems like a fine way to include it to me :]

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The only thing I see is it doesn’t allow for the possibility of a trans MC that doesn’t have a deadname or doesn’t feel negatively about their deadname. That’s not necessarily bad, but it is more defining than a direct “are you trans (y/n)” choice would be.

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It seems like a very reasonable way of introducing the subject, without any unnecessary potential of making the player uncomfortable. As a trans person myself, I wouldn’t mind that way if doing it. Obviously I can’t speak for all of us though.

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I’m personally happy about the fact that being trans will be referenced at all. Not many games offer the option and almost none have it be any different than the counterpart. All the more reason to adore this story.

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This story and script is great so far.
At least to me, i know how losing someone you care about and love cam be. This filled me with emotions.
Just hoping for future updates… Thats all keep up the good work you absolute god of an writer

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Hello, how are you guys doing? :smile:

Thank you for sharing your opinions, they have been very helpful! You’re right, @Lan, and I’ll look for a way to work around trans MCs who don’t have a deadname. It might be a bit tricky as sometimes the flow of the story doesn’t allow some things, but I’ll keep it mind!

About trans MCs not having negative feelings towards their deadname, that should be possible, and it wasn’t my intention to portray it as EVERY trans MC hating it, but more like how the bully taunts them? Maybe it wasn’t clear because I only showed you guys the choice, so I’ll ask again after the update is done, and see what you think :grin:

Regarding the future update; I decided to split the Prologue because it was getting monstruous and it was already in two parts (the first one with Officer Whitaker, and the rest of the story with Drew), so now the Prologue is a single scene, and Chapter one is… 25k words and still not finished. I’m starting to think that I’m unable to make 10k chapters… :see_no_evil:

Well, that means more content! Sometimes it’s hard to make a cut AND have the chapter finishing in a good point, so I won’t worry about it. Not sure how much of Chapter 3 there will be, but next time, the demo will be over 50k words, code not included! :star_struck:

Have a good day, and stay safe and healthy! :hugs:

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Random question, but I’m just curious, sorry to bug ya :sweat_smile:, does the choice you make at the beginning when MC and Drew are hanging out, about why MC left St Mary’s. Will that give you an overall different experience in flashbacks and when you return to St Mary’s?

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Don’t worry, I really like it when you guys share your thoughts and doubts, and you’ve made a really good question! :smile:

That option will define the MC’s past experience in St. Mary’s and the state of their mental well-being back then (trigger warning: talk of suicide and self-harm: one of the choices deals with a MC who used to hurt themselves and even might have tried to commit a suicide attempt, for example, whereas the others are extreme anger and resentment or emotional detachment), how some might remember them and some things in the present (certain choices, flavor text, etc.).

It will afect the game’s experience on the whole, yeah, but it won’t limit your future choices, if it makes sense? I personally recommend trying it with different MCs to see how much changes! :grin:


I made a Tumblr, currently it’s a bit bare but if you ever need to find me and can’t reach me in the forums, look for me there! Feel free to hit me up! :smile:

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Just played this demo a great idea you have going on here btw , i would really much like to see our mc going down this path to revenge until there is nothing left to burn. I am really looking forward to future updates. So much so i am tempted to kidnap you and make you write this quicker… but i am joking ofc…totally joking yeah!!

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