I have decided to close the polls for now as I think either the eventual outcome was clear or they had run for long enough. Thank you to all those who voted! Very briefly, in summation:
Which non-romanceable character would you most like more content for? Here the tied top-two were Mera and Stara, which is fair; they are both lively, interesting characters that I feel are fairly well designed but don’t have a ton of content yet. Glea, Alaris, and our farmer living at the edge of the family’s land were next up.
Should the Free Roam remain for chapter 7, the introduction to society chapter, or should it become time locked to advance to the next event after a certain number of turns? Here Free Roam clearly won out, which honestly makes it easier for me to program and grants more content per play, but seems less realistic to me. For those that like timed events, fear not, there will be some of those in other portions of the game, but unless I sense a strong desire for this section to be timed, I will not bother with that then.
What new focuses should I keep in mind when progress is resumed? Here filling in some of the incomplete sections was the clear winner, which makes sense, and is something I was leaning towards. It’ll just make the game more polished. Travel and clothing/fashion were the runner ups. For those that want other focuses, fear not, I intent to make the next update after break more broad in scope than the romance updates we just had, so hopefully the other matters can be touched upon at least a little, though getting it all done is obviously going to take time.
What area of the story most needs attention? Here romantic elements is still the winner, which is fair - multiple romantic paths were advanced, but the amount of actual real romantic activity was fairly minimal, with i think only two characters sharing kisses with the prot potentially, and the prot being able to kiss a third in a strange situation. Not that kissing is the whole deal, but yeah, a lot of the romance paths are still very early stage. Romance will continue to be a focus, though not the sole primary focus. Rest was a toss up - my personal prefernece is to add more cozy elements, though I think the best stories need plenty of tension, so drama fans may look forward to more such scenes as well, which I think is my natural tendency as a writer anyways. I still want more regency and historical content, and that will continue to be expanded. I was glad to see that it seems players feel I am succeeding at the action, fantasy, and sword & sorcery bits, which makes sense as all my life that has been my writing focus since I was very young.
How am I doing with making the story interactive, having multiple paths and good decision points? Overall, okay it seems. To be honest, there are a few sections that I felt were a little bit to rail roady, but I think these styles of games, especially with Choice Script, tend towards that unfortunately. That said, I intent to have several upcoming sandbox sections and will keep in mind to have more diverging situations that have a more clear difference than some of the minor differences experienced probably thus far - my ideal goal would be at least one major decision point per chapter, which when added up with all the minor decision points, hopefully will be satisfactory . . . close to that but probably not quiet there yet. Probably the most major decision points in the game so far spoilers are if Glea goes missing or not, if the prot sides with Ravana during the introduction ceremony or against her, if the prot is enraptured or not in chapter 8, and if the prot saves Mr. Northwood or not, if the prot adventures with Sarah or not, who the prot decides to ride with, etc. . . . that said, lots of minor decision points which I hope give a very different experience. end spoilers Some of the decisions are hopefully small stone falls in the water, that will eventually become tsunamis by the end of the game book - or so is my hope at least, though only time will tell.
What additional romances per gender would you like added? Despite there being a good number of romantic options in development, I kind of feel like some are neglected so far, or under represented. Gender was the first thing I wanted to check with - here it seems player’s want more male romantic options and some more female romantic options as well. Fair enough - I definitely want to add more romantic options for the ton and some of the other groups that are in the game or hinted at being in the game but not actualized yet. More to be added eventually!
What new prots would you most like to see for new alternative starts to the game? Here Stara won, which might be fun, though I really need to brush up on my regency fashion section to write her story right. Runner ups were the OG Prot’s father, Lady W, Morgan, OG Prot’s Mother, and Sophia, all pretty well tied for second nearly. I’ll keep that all in mind, but yeah, probably Stara next up then, with of course additional content for the current to alt start prots to continue as well.
Should a new chapter be added between current chap 8 and 9 Yes; which makes sense. As the game eventually needs to go to the Moody website anyways, that shouldn’t be more disruptive than it would be otherwise.
Again, thank you to all who voted. As discussed previously, I am currently now at work on my other presented project, Dice & Dungeon Masters and shall be for the summer, though eventually, probably late fall, early winter, Sense & Sorcery shall continue. As discussed previously, I shall endeavor to keep this thread open, which basically means posting something at least once every sixty days. Still hoping to get more linear fiction added on here and a return to the webcomic, so hopefully I’ll have one or both of those upcoming with more content soon.
