PYEHA: Exoplanets & Weird Majesties (WIP)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Hello there! So, first things first: this game has been on my mind since 2012, and it has gone through lots and I say lots of rewriting and reshaping since then, but I was never satisfied with it. There was always something not right with it. I thought it was my “messy” writing style bothering me again at first, but as soon as I came across COG I realized my story was probably best suited for being a gamebock and I finally managed to get back to writing it! (yay to heartwarming story?)

Anyways, creation aside: as you probably have already noticed by the title, I’ll try to make this game kind of light hearted, though still filled with story and adventure, a bit of action and some serious enough scenes.

The “summary”
(I’m going to call Kai ‘them’ for the sake of not interrupting the flow, but the character is not genderlocked):

You’ve been having vivid dreams about a person named Kai, who, according to these same dreams, seems to be locked away in a exoplanet named Astrum, and who is also trying to contact Earth to ask for help on some demon-killing journey they plan on going in.

You began to think you were becoming the next J.K. Rolling in terms of creativity (and madness), and that your creative writing teacher would be very proud at you until one day you arrive class and see them. Kai. Dressed in ragged clothes and looking as lost as they looked in your dreams.

And some backstory for you to understand it better
(slight spoiling, I guess? If you prefer to learn the story as you go, feel free to skip this part):

[spoiler]I don’t want to spoil it a lot, so let me just tell you that Astrum is (on game universe) a quite real, technologic-heavy futuristic exoplanet, whose people adored a goddess who was imprisoned in a tree. For so-far unknown reasons to Kai, one day, their main enemy nation organized an attack against the planet with the intention of targeting that goddess. They succeeded and consequently destroyed the entire planet and detached it in two. Que to one of those halves originating what we nowadays know as Earth.

(Is it now the time I tell you the story was first originated by a school project, where our teacher asked us to create a fictitious theory for the origin of Earth?)

Also, Pyeha is the name of that goddess, also referred as ‘Majesty’ during the game, so that’s why the name for the game.[/spoiler]

I’ve written a small bit for the game so far, but it’s still a rough draft, so I’ll need to modify it a bit before posting the first demo. Coding is kind of already in process, though.

I’ll need lots of feedback because this is my first game. Even though I do write a lot, my English is a bit rough and sometimes doesn’t flow well so I’ll need a bit of help on that. Also, plot holes, the game atmosphere, grammar, pacing, likability of characters and those kind of things. For now, though, I just want to know what you think of the idea and if you’re interested on it!

Also, some features:

  • You’ll be able to play as yourself, the MC, but also as Kai and other 4 characters. This will let you explore other perspectives, so I hope it’ll be as fun to you to play like this as it will be for me to write it. Bad side of this is probably less customization for the player regarding, as I can’t write. Are you fine with something like this, or do you prefer to be in control about your characters characteristics?
  • Romance! And I mean, carefully crafted romance. Definitely optional for who’s only in for the adventure, but for those who are a bit romantic at the heart I solemnly promise to make the romance relevant to the story, to not rush it (too much) and to make the RO have a life and their own agenda.
  • Bonus character stories hidden IN the story, to encourage the player to replay the game as much as needed to find them all.
  • Some more I’m not 100% sure of and will think about as I go.

Alas, sorry for any grammar or continuity mistake, its midnight here and I’m really sleepy lol. Also I couldn’t html if it depended on my life, sorry.

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You’ve obviously put a lot of thought and planning into the story and the world, but your summary doesn’t explain much of the game’s plot. It explains the beginning, you are having vivid dreams about another person and suddenly you meet that person face to face, but where does the story go from there? Is the story a mystery? An adventure? A romance? All three? :blush:

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im on board seems cool…as long as your willing to put up with my strange antics

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The multiple POV seems nice, the only concern I have is the interaction, suppose that the character that I created is a deadpan sarcastic smart ass extraordinaire, then the POV changes to the other character (Like Kai for instance), will my character behave as I have played it, or will it be ‘molded’ to fit the story?

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You had me at “exoplanet” :grin:
I’m especially intrigued by the sort of interstellar mythic combo you have going, and will be curious to see how it plays out.

As regards the multiple POVs: are you saying that the player would be able to switch viewpoints within a single playthrough? If so, would it be set points where it does so automatically, or just at the player’s choice? Or are you more saying that the player can play as a self-designed main character or as one of the predetermined ones?
I do think exploring multiple perspectives would be a quite interesting thing to explore. The main thing would be if the player-created main character is to interact with a different character while the player’s controlling the other one… then you’d have to be pretty careful about tracking what the main character’s like. Or perhaps it might be easier to restrict alternate character scenes to ones where the main character isn’t present. Then they’d be serving as a way to show what’s going on when the main character’s not around to see it.

Also…

Music to my ears!

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My problem with multiple perspectives is that it’s detrimental to my immersion. It can work in a book where the main goal is to tell a story and the protagonist is their own person, but the issue is that in interactive fiction YOU are the protagonist. It’s just jarring swapping between characters in most IF, considering that it’s written in second person. If you must do it, I’d recommend switching to third person for any scenes with an alternative perspective. At least that way we can be slightly divorced from the character.

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It looks interesting. I would have to echo the concerns of @Nightgazer and @TSSL about our character staying in character even when we’re not controlling them.

So, is the romance only with, say, Kai? Or will we be able to romance others as well?