One Thousand Blooms — (ON HIATUS)

Something I would suggest: Putting something in the game to make the reader understand that there is a trans/nb choice. Because most games like this don’t offer those options, a (trans) reader is more likely than not going to choose their actual gender rather than their assigned gender when playing. With that in mind, I feel as if including something clarifying that the first “boy” or “girl” option is/can be assigned gender would be helpful😄 Otherwise, I end up part way through a game and have to restart if I want my character to be trans😅

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Just a suggestion, might give a trigger warning for some of the more sensitive people that might want to shy away from such an issue.

I applaude you for taking on this challenge and I trust you will do this issue justice.

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You love finding a bug huh? hmmmm :joy:

@Eiwynn thanks for the vote of confidence :hugging: Haha, sometimes I wonder how old are you, 'cause you are so wise and good at giving advice :wink:

@poison_mara worst case scenario I tell them to piss off and make the game private; their loss ¯_(ツ)_/¯

@Elynee thank you! :blush:

@sammyboy I understand your point, but I have a small problem; how do I put “assigned gender” in a story without breaking the flow? Because this happens when two characters talk (the MC’s parents), and they have no way to know that their kid may be trans/nb (and the MC themselves either! It’s meant to be a slow process because in this game there’s little knowledge of what’s outside of the cisgender binary). Also, the story doesn’t have these terms (nor gay/straight/bisexual) so I have it a bit complicated :sweat_smile: In the very beginning, right after Aquilegia states the MC’s designated sex at birth, there’s a set of options that will let the player see that being something other than cis is possible, I guess I’ll have to make them a bit more obvious.

@Pace675 good idea, though how should I tag it? :confused: The player will only see said scenes if they actively look for them (as in, it won’t be a single choice of two leading to it; it won’t be a coincidence/accident), so I believe they already know what they are getting themselves into… It’s not like; BAM! Super violent/gory/rape-y scene ahead that no one asked for!

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Thank you for the compliment. Your passion is one of the things I admire in you … just listen to your instincts.

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I agree with Lyco You are a Wise witch in the forum. I am always agreeing with Lyco lol. It must be a cultural stuff or something similar. That or we are secret twins XD .

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Which is the evil twin? Maybe @Snowpanther can help you guys decide :wink: :hugging:

Ya, I’m the forum witch. lol :bride_with_veil:

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I AM THE POISONING EVIL. LYco is the cool one.

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Then break the flow once for that, if you can’t imagine a better way. An option for inclusion isn’t well implemented if the people that should be included can’t tell from the game text how an option and is consequences will play out.

That’s also something you should think about when someday publishing the game: We on the forum do know how you imagine it to play out for trans/nb MCs, people on the appstore do not.

I personally think in case of your game it’s not bad communicated that the game allows for a possebility to play a trans/nb character because the first “checkpoint” is the question directly following the daughter/son question, but you may still want to play safe here, because again it’s not well implemented if the people who you want to reach can’t tell what you are doing.

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What I am doing in my Game is directly put a NON TERNARY CHOICE in bbold capital letters. Then explain more than that nt there is a terd gender identity in my planet who is not in between is not related to anything here on earth. Flow is damned. But I put a cool scene in the codex explained it. Nobody woul care read it but is cool. Is about first morpho that born. Trying explain other kids that they have no hole or not club.

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Sorry if I’m butting in the convo :sweat_smile: but I remember reading that it’s not going to be a one-choice thing (which makes sense in this WIP). So maybe you can make future choices incresingly clearer/explicit as time passes,MC matures and has more knowleage beyond the binary gender system. It should’t break the flow too badly.

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The mentioned problem was more that by now it easy can happen that (binary) trans people chose their actual gender instead the one they got assigned at birth, meaning they would eventually have to restart the whole game because of that one uncertainty in the beginning when it isn’t clarified what they actually are choosing.

It’s not about the question how the following choices will be presented. That’s something we will see when it happens and what you are describing sounds much like what Lycoris is anyway aiming for.

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Yeah, I read that but I don’t see why that’s such a GINORMOUS and dramatic problem worth sacrificing the flow and realism of the entire story (and potentially ending in something that just doesn’t 100% convince the author). Maybe a little bit of a hassle if you do make a mistake, but no one is going to rate it zero stars, throw their phones at the wall and set the house on fire.
Btw if you bought the game you are bound to replay it anyways in order to get you coins worth. Or maybe I’m the only one. Dunno.
Plus the description in the app store always gives you info about the avaible genders and sexual orientations. And so do the free demos when you open the app.

Anyways, just my two cents there because I see Lycoris somehow struggling. As I said, sorry for butting in out of nowhere :sweat_smile:

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The only person calling it “ginormous” or “dramatic” is you.

Clarifying the point of the choice would be a one time thing, of which I doubt that it really would disturbe the flow that much.

Also if flow comes at the cost of not making the consequences of a choice for the game clear when it absolutely should do so, than I would argue that flow can be sacrificed for the better playability.

That all of course is under the assumption that there isn’t a way that will keep the flow while providing the needed information, what doesn’t have to be the case.

Yeah, if the description doesn’t get butchered by things like google stores miserable automatic translation.

And depending on how long the demo is/how invested the players are having the app store mentioning that possebility, but not making clear how the first choice was meant could lead to unjustified bad reviews. Things like that happen regularly, but in this case it’s easy avoidable.

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Oh God, no need for the agressive tone.
Alright then. If it’s such a huge issue then case closed. Lets look at the alternatives now.
Hmmm…With the current WIP I really can’t see a natural way to clarify it more (without Lycoris having to re-write the scene). So my vote goes to just putting a short A/N before the the son/daughter choice. I just saw something like that done in ZE Safe Haven (asdfghjk…can’t believe I finally have time to play!!) when you choose the pet and it tells you something like “choose breed on the next screen”.
So maybe something like “A/N: trans and NB options avaible later in the story” will be enough solution? Or least better that having characters know things they shouldn’t know at that point of the game.

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I think putting something like “Note: This can refer to assigned gender” in or before the choice (in italics or something) would be fine, TBH. And flow is good and all but having to restart because you didn’t have all the info about the choice you were making also breaks flow:/

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That’s right, but terms such as “designated sex at birth” are also kinda unfamiliar to the people who don’t know a lick of words related to the LGBT+ community except the worldwide known “gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans”. It happens that even with trans people, they may use “transexual” instead of “transgender” :sweat_smile:

Haha, maybe I’ll have to make a sacrifice or two in the beginning. But at least I want to try it first; if I see that there’s no way to fit it nicely I’ll put an author’s note and that’s it :relieved:

Oh, don’t worry! Everyone is welcomed to share their opinion :relaxed:

You’re right, I plan to make the whole process more than a single choice that may confuse the players; after all, self discovery is not instantaneous. As you said, a young MC will have little knowledge of what’s going on, why they feel like that (not as their dsab) because not only they don’t have the words for it, they are very young. As they grow up, the option will be much more obvious :smile:

I’ll have to look into it, but it looks like I’ll have to introduce Adonis Crowfoot much sooner than I thought. Having a character who lives on the borders (which is kind of like living under a rock) is veeeeery useful :wink:

EDIT: it looks like I’m going to rewrite the prologue the sooner I asume I have to, the less it will hurt later on. It will start with uncle dearest paying the MC and Datura one of his usual bi/triannually visit/stay. The MC has to go to the Doctor, but Datura and the staff are too busy and don’t have the time, so Adonis will do it. The thing is, Doctor Heder is not available and Adonis has to fill a lot of papers with terms he’s not familiar with (since he lives outside The Society). This way, as the medic in charge explains the stuff to him, the player will read it without it being too out of place :slight_smile:

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Now that you mention it, it does sound weird :joy:

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I’m not sure if this is a bug but since i’m not getting a play again option. I’m partial to say that its a bug.

I am getting this error:
https://gyazo.com/f6a6629cd5e28a12aeb5ba2833dd0a4b

I only got that error when i decided to be an underhanded poophead instead of a caring kid who wants to see why my parents are fighting. All my options were the same but this is what they were.

“You are just curious”
“It makes you uncomfortable,”
“Yours! That boy is only yours!”
“As if you were a thing”
“go back to your room.”
“Use one of your room chairs!”
"…Eranthis…”
“I’m five years old, miss. Almost six.”

Its weird cause when i wasn’t underhanded… I saw more…

@DisturbedOne yep, that’s a bug. If there’s a pop-up, it’s a bug :bug:

Thank you, but I’m not going to correct it this time; I’m in the middle of rewriting the whole thing for story reasons, but thanks :wink:

Edit: remember the romance snippets I talked about? They aren’t very romantic. Like, no :underage: stuff (sorry, not porn), but they will give you guys a good taste of what their route will be like, and some spoilers. It feels weird, to write a scene that not’s going to happen for a looooong time.

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