Okay, so I’ve been working on this for a few weeks now (well, technically quite a while longer than that but that’s a different matter entirely) and I’m finally fed up enough with it to post a demo and some basic info if everyone would like that. I also have a few questions to ask.
Synopsis
You’ve killed the Queens, banished their son, and betrayed all those who thought they could trust you. And for what, power? Safety? Parental issues? Maybe. But now you have a kingdom and very few allies to draw from, and to make matters worse a strange figure is appearing in your dreams foretelling of something that is coming. Oh well, at least you have an aspiring necromancer, a sadistic warlord, and a naive apprentice at your disposal. And when the time comes, perhaps past actions will be the least of your worries.
The demo is currently around 123k words.
I’ve always been interested in playing the villain, especially in a fantasy setting, I’ve just never been able to make my mind up about whether or not I’d like said villain to be redeemed. So now I can kill two birds with one stone haha!
Anyway, here is some information I will willingly give about the game, and hints at some I’d prefer to keep close to my chest.
Features
- You will be able to play as male, female, or non-binary, with the option to be trans.
- You can be gay, straight, bi, ace, or even aro, however, this will not lock you out of romances if you don’t want it to.
- Play as a human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, or half-orc, but this does not give you more or less experience in any skill. It will, however, affect how some characters in the world perceive you.
- You will be able to use an arrange of skills, unlocking more as the story progresses (because spoiler-related reasons).
- You start out as mostly hated by the general world around you, with only three allies who aren’t necessarily steadfastly loyal to you.
- There will be four ‘main’ routes depending on the faction you eventually choose to ally with. Yes, you can strike out on your own. However, these routes won’t be constrained by strict rules. You can determine your willingness to cooperate with each faction and either earn or loose the trust of it as you go.
- That being said, you won’t necessarily make enemies of the factions you don’t choose to ally with. I’m not a monster.
- There may or may not be meddlesome gods in the mix.
And now what I know some of you are waiting for (don’t deny it)
Romance
Yes, there is romance! I hate tacked on romances in video games (I’m looking at you mass effect Andromeda) and so my approach will probably be more on the slow burn side of things. As I am more partial to characters with set sexual orientations, most will be bisexual or pansexual (I am making a distinction here) but there will be a few who are purely same-sex romances. And not just ones that show up close to the end and have no real importance.
This does not mean that romance is a key focus in the story, they are merely an extra for those that want to see it.
Now for some of the options!
Spotter: Your kind young apprentice who seems to believe you’re well-meaning. You don’t know where in their head they got that idea, but you suppose it will have to do. After all, they seem to be the only well-meaning ally you have. And that kind of innocence is easy to exploit.
Herron: A grumpy young mage who doubles as your part-time healer. He doesn’t seem to have any reasons to be working for you past an obsession to proving necromancy is possible, though he hasn’t proven very successful yet. Oh well, so long as he keeps patching you up, you’ll feed whatever fantasy he desires. For now.
Severa: A foreign warlord from one of the neighbouring kingdoms. Severa is a foul-mouthed warrior who speaks when and how she wants, and can probably toss the majority of your enemies on their asses any day. She is competitive to a fault and takes pride in her work as your self-appointed ‘interrogator.’ She’s made it quite clear that as soon as she feels the tides turning for you, she’d happily slit your throat while you sleep.
There are more, trust me there are more, however, these are the only three who I can release without giving away some spoilers. I’ve elected to announce the rest as they appear.
Demo: https://dashingdon.com/go/3125
I now have a tumblr for the game!: https://regrets-of-the-traitor-game.tumblr.com/
This is primarily to keep everything in order and kept neat. It will be where worldbuilding and potentially spoiler territory is trodden into, as it gives me a place to actually put everything and I figured, hey, why not?
Any feedback is appreciated and welcome! Have a good day!
Update Log
25/05/2020
- Half (or more? I can’t say for sure how long the next part will be) of chapter four is out. Most of that half is finished but there’s a certain scene still missing
- Changed the stats screen around and added info on said stats.
- Various typos and grammar issues fixed
- Some scenes/choices changed, but only to a minor degree.
10/02/2020
- Added information to the glossary – primarily about the gods and some other little bits
- The text for choosing to be a transitioned trans person has changed – I wasn’t happy with it the first time and I finally got around to it.
- General typo fixes, etc
- MC will now get to define their sexual and romantic orientation – this does not explicitly lock anyone out of any romances, it will just stop characters MC isn’t interested in from flirting with them unprompted.
- Once you have a name and gender chosen, the stats screen will have changed a little
- Forgot to mention that chapter three is complete, for those who are actually keeping up these updates
28/08/2019
Finally another update and with that we finally finish chapter two. Next will be an Intermission but that’s for another time.
- Chapter 2 is now complete, bringing the total word count to 68K.
- You will now get to interrogate Arke and bring either Severa, Spotter, or Herron along with you. (Or go alone)
I plan to fix grammar in the future but for now that isn’t my main focus. I will also flesh out some aspects of the interrogation scene for later.
27/05/2019
- Some typos and code has been added but it’s not enough to really make mention.
- A glossary has been added, however, there isn’t anything there at the moment so it isn’t fully implemented yet.
- You can read through half of chapter two; Flirt a little bit, feel bad about yourself, make a group of enchanters angry, the choice is up to you.
28/01/2019
- Chapter one is complete for the most part save some editing and additions I still want to do. You can play through the entire chapter and there won’t be anything you’ll particularly miss if I do add anything.
12/11/2018
- There is now a save function in the game!
21/09/18
What’s new?
- Taken out the fake choice in the dream sequence.
- Made some small changes to the dialogue in the dream sequence.
- Added character customisation scene.
What’s next? - The next scene, where you meet some new characters, though the order will change depending on a choice you make.
- Fixing up any typos I or you find, and fixing any clunky dialogue or writing done on my part.
- Still rewriting the prologue. Help.
08/09/18
What is new:
- I have fixed up some typos and formatting. So all the [i/]'s that show up when choosing the floating being should work properly and not show up.
*I have added sparse amounts of information throughout the prologue, but none of that is overly important. - I have added the choice to skip to the first choice in the prologue.
- There is a bit more to the story, but some branches haven’t been fixed yet.
*I have taken out the Introvert/Extrovert stats. In the context of the story, I didn’t think it made sense.
What I am Working on: - Rewriting the prologue. As Drago303 has pointed out, it isn’t very engaging it its current iteration and I realised it would be faster to rewrite it now that wait to finish the first chapter.
- That being said, when I am tired of rewrites, I am slowly working on the chapter 1 so everything is going along as planned.