Orphic Love (WIP) – Chapter 6 now LIVE plus SAVE option – Play Chapters 1-6!

Just to make you aware, Dashingdon hosting will be closing soon so I would recommend moving this to cogdemos or uploading a compiled html file:

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Thanks for the heads up!

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Hi everyone!

Quick update to let you know the demo is temporarily unavailable while I find an alternative to DashingDon! My priorities at the moment are finishing Chapter 7 and doing an edit that incorporates some of your amazing feedback. Once that’s out of the way, I’ll work on getting the demo up and running again, and it will likely include Chapter 6 (Theron fans, that one’s for you :wink:)

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Hi everyone!

Finally got the demo up and running again! This time it has a SAVE option and Chapter 6 has been uploaded too. As with Chapter 5, it contains explicit descriptions of sex (and the option to skip them, of course).

There have also been some major worldbuilding edits, and new romance scenes with every love interest.

I’ve said this in the main post but just wanted to reiterate how grateful I am for everyone’s feedback! Thanks again for taking the time to play and let me know what you think. Hopefully you enjoy this version as much as I’ve enjoyed getting it to you :heart:

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Hi, I really loved your interactive fic and am very excited about ch 7! Thank you so much! All the best!

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So pleased you loved it! Hopefully it won’t be too long before Ch 7 is up and it’s worth the wait :wink:

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@LidiaMolinaWhyte could u pls explain what the ‘yourself’ stat is about? Or maybe have u considered a stat explanations page?

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Just played through the demo for the first time and wanted to express how much fun it was! Mostly followed Theron’s route with a pretty dutiful, very demure character and enjoyed the “but we shoooooouldn’t!” but then they did tension. I was surprised by how explicit the next scene was, but, like…. In a good way :smiling_face:

I feel like this game has a lot of good, morally gray options that aren’t usually provided in romance. I’ve only played the once, but the choices felt very reactive!! Sometimes the failure scene was interesting enough I didn’t reload a quick save. Speaking of, if I kissed more than one character, am I going to get in trouble?? Hahaha.

I’m surprised there isn’t more engagement on the forum. Kind of feels like a hidden gem.

Thank you so much for all of your hard work! :heart:

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Hi there! The Yourself stat is regarding the Messengers’ Council. So you can make moves to either support Hermes (current leader), Iris (possible leader) or Yourself (possible leader). Hopefully that helps! I’ll look into adding text headers to each stat and/or post an explanation as soon as I’m done drafting Chapter 9 :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thanks for the lovely feedback, much appreciated while I’m in the drafting trenches :heart:

So glad the choices are working for you. I tried to make the failures be narrative driven as well, so even if you’re penalised in the stats department, they don’t necessarily lead to a “bad” outcome if that makes sense?

And no, kiss (and hopefully be surprised in a good way :wink: ) away. You should still be able to have your happy ending with your chosen love interest without being penalised. Happy romancing!

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Hi, is it possible to get pregnant? Cause I believe I saw a scene where MC drinks something that I think prevents them from falling pregnant.

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Hi, good question! At the moment, I don’t plan for pregnancy to be an option. You’re right about the tea scene, though. One of my pet peeves in romance is the lack of contraception, and if there’s one commonality between Ancient Greek myths it’s how fertile deities are, so that’s my way of addressing that. There are a couple of options where the PC can discuss/decide whether having a family is something she might want in the future, however. Hopefully that makes sense!

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Hi! Still playing through this but wanted to let you know that when choosing the argument option with Morpheus on the banks of the Lethe, the part with Theron appears as well after the scene as if I’d selected that option.

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Great spot – thanks for flagging! Have fixed and updated that file so it should take you back to the courtyard, but shout if you have any issues :slightly_smiling_face:

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Side note - you have excellent taste in video game soundtracks. I often play Hades for the music alone. I don’t even normally enjoy rogue-lite / rogue-like games, but love Hades.

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I love this game already, you had me at Greek mythology. Questions though

  1. What are your shirt term goals for the game?
  2. Was this an original idea ( what I mean by this is did you have an early idea before you decide on this one specifically)
  3. What other types of games do you hope to work on in the future, would you be sticking to Greek mythology or expanding and trying out other stuff?
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How have I only just discovered this demo?!

You get to be Melinoe! Is it a coincidence that Hade II recently came out, or is it something that inspired you? I love those games, and I have always loved Greek mythology!

High level feedback-

The characters feel authentic, the ROs all feel balanced in how they are all compelling in their own way. The choices make me feel ownership over the MC and how they feel. Overall I find the game very enjoyable and engaging.

Two suggestions. Please feel free to dismiss both.

  1. I found it not as easy to navigate choices compared to other games. Some authors are not subtle in their writing about signposting to the player how they can build a certain stat or create a certain outcome, by picking this exact choice. With your game, it feels hard to distinguish what choice will give me the best build or result. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It means your game feels like reading a book, and is very immersive in that world. IF doesn’t have to be about success and achieving the best min-max stats. I just mean it’ll be harder for players who prefer to “game”, rather than “read” an IF. Signposting means that you risk breaking immersion for the player. It’s up to you. You could really obvious, like some games do , if wish to add something like “Leadership + 5” when a choice increases a stat, or “tests Leadership” when a choice tests a certain stat. Or some writers are a bit more subtle about it, and hinted at it in the text itself so its still within the context. For example, personally I think @Cataphrak is very good at doing this. I’d recommend reading SOI.

  2. I think its worth considering, based on the time input it would take, whether you want to add gender choice for MC. To add to your potential future audience, thus income, you could make the MC have gender choice, then the game is both F>M + M>M. It’d be relatively only a but more writing + coding, but secure yourself a potentially bigger reward for your input. Maybe, players may wish to pick their gender more if they are playing a romance game like a Heart’s Choice one?

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Thanks for taking the time to play and for providing feedback – so glad you enjoyed the game!

To answer your questions:

  1. Not sure if this is what you meant, but right now my short-term goals are to get the game finished! I’m almost done drafting and there are some edits in the pipeline, but drafting is my number one priority at the moment.

  2. I pitched to Hearts’ Choice back in spring 2023 and this was one of a selection of ideas I submitted as part of the process. Definitely my favourite, though, which must’ve shown in the pitch. I think I linked the Orphic Hymn to Melinoe above, which was the main inspiration behind it, but here it is just in case (it’s halfway down the list).

  3. Great question! I’m not opposed to the idea of expanding, perhaps even dropping one of these characters into another pantheon, and definitely up for trying out other stuff, but I haven’t had the chance to think about it properly yet.

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Glad you discovered it!

It’s a coincidence! I started working on this in 2023, though I had played plenty of Hades by then so it’s certainly among the reimaginings that inspired me. Have always loved Greek Mythology as well, and at the time I believe I had just finished Madeline Miller’s Circe and was reading Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey so I was definitely on one :joy:

As for your suggestions, thank you for taking the time to share them! Will definitely check out @Cataphrak’s work and look into making the signposting clearer (funnily enough, I tried to be very intentional about that, but perhaps my approach is still too prose-y). Re gender, appreciate the feedback! Now that I’m more familiar with how ChoiceScript works, and more comfortable writing erotica, it’s definitely something I would offer in a future game.

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Awe, thank you so much :heart: Hades is an amazing game. One of the best :grinning_face:

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