Pride and Prejudice (work in progress)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Hello everyone! Diana and I have made a demo for a game based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice! The demo covers about 25% of the game, and we’re hoping for some feedback before we commit ourselves to writing out the entire thing!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/216691320/web_pp/mygame/index.html

Thanks!

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I’m already interested, simply because I went to choose playing as a guy and was told to imagine I had a sex change. I got a good laugh out of that. I would recommend letting us name the character though.

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While I’m sure it wasn’t intended as such, I actually found the whole “If that bothers you, just pretend you got a sex change operation, then carry on like normal” offensive.

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I can see your point, and this wasn’t what I meant by my comment, but it didn’t bother me because my first thought was, ‘I can play as a transgender? That’s new. Cool.’ That doesn’t pop up in most games.

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Well you can’t play as a transgender character. It’s a cheap joke with being transgender as the punch-line, instead of just stating that you can’t play a male character. Or taking the choice of broadsides and choice of romance route of just flipping genders and letting you play as Elijah Bennet with all of his brothers.

It’s also problematic in regards reducing what it means to be transgender right down to the idea of “sex change operation.” Contrary to what popular culture believes, there’s not actually a single sex change operation and not all transgender people want to undergo surgery. Even if there was, would that have been available at the time when Pride and Prejudice is set? There’s some other issues too. I’m hoping it was just an unintentional bad joke.

I suggest that the game either takes the route that Guinevere and Cassandra have and just allow for a female playthrough. Or go the way of the official games and allow for a gender swap. I’d also suggest not forcing the protagonist to be straight. But that might be a bit much to ask for here.

Incidentally, Choice of Games has always been pretty good at allowing for non-binary gender options. It was one of the things that drew me to Choice of the Dragon.

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Great points. Some matters for the developer to consider.

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Some thoughts:

  • I agree with FairyGodmother, that joke is a bit hurtful, for the reasons that recent Sarah Silverman sex change joke was hurtful.
  • I hope this game will deviate from the book, like maybe you have an option to fall in love with Wickham and redeem him? Or not, and get your heart broken, if you play your cards in a certain way. Or maybe include an option in Charlotte? Or Caroline Bingley, Mr. Bingley, etc? That could be very fun.
  • If you’re not interested in doing that, then maybe you could also consider having the story from the point of view of Kitty or Mary? I just really hope this will deviate.

Also, is this story set in the modern era? Because I thought it was in the 1800s, then Charlotte said “What is this, 1813?” You should make that more clear.

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I began the demo thinking it wouldn’t be my cup of tea since this isn’t a genre I am a particular fan of but by the end I was sad that it was over. Also I was very impressed by your writing skills and can’t wait for a update.

@RedRoses

This story is in the 1800s but I assume it is a bit later in the century and woman are a bit more respected than in 1813.

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I’m really interested to see how this is going to go! It looks great so far :slight_smile:

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Unfortunately this isn’t quite what I was expecting. Do you plan to write to make the game… you know, more like a series of choices? As it is now, I can’t help but feel like I’m being railroaded into following the story almost exactly, for the explicit reason that I’m not interested in Bingley.

For example, I didn’t want to listen at the door to the parents arguing. I don’t care. But apparently, the main character DOES care, so my choices are overridden.

There’s a lot of potential here, but I’m disappointed. In all honesty, right now it’s a bit like reading Pride and Prejudice lite rather than a choiceofgames inspired retelling of Pride and Prejudice.

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Oh! I found another Jane Austen based game.

Matches and Matrimony: http://www.matchesandmatrimony.com/
Regency Love http://teaforthreestudios.com/regency-love/

I think the second’s just inspired by the setting, not sure though. There seems like there’s a couple of other works in progress about too, but they might just be vaporware. (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/30564009/ever-jane-the-virtual-world-of-jane-austen for instance has a 2016 release date).

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I lovee it can’t wait for more! I’m a BIG fan of Pride and Prejudice and Lizzy is one of my favorite female protagonists. Though i hope we can make things differnt from the book too, like chosing who we romance and maybe eventually marry. Having different paths that deviate from the books plot will add a lot of replayability(hope i spelled it right :slight_smile: ) i’m keeping an eye on this wip, don’t dissapoint me! :wink:

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I agree with most of the other comments here! I love the idea, the writing is great, and the way the characters are written is entertaining and compelling, but I do wish there was more choices and stats to make for different endings and pathways.

I felt like the things I did didn’t really matter.

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Okay, we can remove the joke! (It’s just a placeholder until we get the male pathway written).

Deviating from the book is exactly the plan. We have made outlines for all the various bachelors. With Wickham, he will try to take you out of the country. With Bingley, there will be a confrontation with his sisters. With Mr. Collins, when Lizzy accepts his proposal, the game automatically switches to Charlotte being the main character.

Diana apologizes for the 1813 joke and any confusion it caused.

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Thanks for the feedback! We’ll look into that. Forcing Bingley on the players not only makes for a bad game, but it’s also inaccurate to the book.

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Do you have any suggestions for how we could incorporate stats into the game? We’re open to ideas.

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Maybe you could show your affection with the people around you? And that would determine how people would react to you and some of your other choices? Just an idea, but I really like the game and would love to read more of it!

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I’m liking the game, but I think you may have a factual error in Chapter 4. Where there’s written that women can’t inherit property…I don’t think it’s technically correct. The Bennets couldn’t inherit because the property was entailed to pass on to the male line. Entail is a specific part of succession law (a form of estate planning if you will). I’m not 100% sure but I think you should check it out

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I actually think having Bingley there as a potential option makes for an interesting choice. It makes it seem more like an unexplored choice in the story, rather than this game being just a strict adaptation of the book. That’s just my opinion, but of course you are free to do whatever you’d like :slight_smile:

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I think good stats could be something like
“Introversion vs Extroversion”, where you can choose to make Lizzy shy and withdrawn ala Mary, or outspoken and flirty like Lydia
or
“Tradition vs Modern”, where you can decide just how much Lizzy follows the rules of society and such.