You’re welcome! Glad to do so; on average I’d say one of the top things my players want for my own game is more romantic content, so your game seems like a good recommend for a good portion of the player demographics. Best of fortune on your game!
2 Likes
I have now closed the poll regarding if you all can see the images in the game or not - sadly, it seems conclusive that no one can. This change occured after the port from Dashingdon to COGdemos. I’ll need to look into it further, as I need and want to have this solved - from prior to diologues with the director of COGdemos, images should display with the same pathways as used on Dashingdon, so the patnways for the images shouldn’t be the problem. As far as I can tell, all images were succesfully downloaded to the website and included in the game as asets and they seem to display correctly if I try to just display the image by themselves without the game. A few thoughts on it - from recent discussions on the forum, it looks like there is maybe some sort of memory limit to the images, so maybe I’ll need to resave the images under a less memory intensive variant of image file in order to get them to display. Also, I’ve some thought to maybe add them to the file hierarchy in startup, as COGdemos uses a newer version of CS than Dashingdon did, and perhaps that is needed to get them included with the build of the game? Food for thought and my problem to deal with, but hoping to get this fixed in some upcoming update, as I not only need those images, but want to add more to the game.
If you haven’t and have an interest, please vote on the poll a couple of posts back. The first two polls are an effort to gauge audience demographics and expectations. The third one, which has some spoilers, is a plot clarification question.
Here now is one more poll for those willing to help the process of creating Sense & Sorcery along - currently the game is around 600,000 words. While I cannot say for certain, I anticipate the full game for Sense & Sorcery Part 1 to end up around 1.5 million words. In a prior poll, it was voted that you the audience would like fewer updates and for the updates to be longer, to have more content. So the question is how long would you prefer an update that you get notified to be? For the time being, while we probably want for a better metric, what we have is word count as our metric - so how many words should an update that you get notified about be?
- less than 5,000 words (I want to know about any additional content to game, even if super small)
- around 5,000 words
- around 10,000 words
- around 20,000 words
- around 30,000 words
- around 40,000 words
- around 50,000 words
- around 100,000 words
- around 200,000 words
- around 300,000 words
- around 400,000 words
- around 500,000 words
- around 1,000,000 words
0
voters
Now, I concede that sometimes word count isn’t the best metric for content addition, as some sections will be more code heavy, and thus have a smaller word count, yet have a larger affect on the mechanics and presentation of the game than more words being added, but, best metric I have to go with for now, so ergo the poll.
Upcoming, maybe later this week, next week, or the following week I intend to do a wrap up discussion on all polls, past and present, and discuss next steps for the game. For those interested in my other games, I’m hoping to have an update for All the Way likely sometime in april, and an update for Dice & Dungeon Masters sometime in May.
Thank you for playing the game and providing feedback.
wrap up summary to still be posted at some point, hopefully within the next couple weeks.
Also, due to changes on COG Demos, the previously provided link no longer works. This new one does (at least at present): COG Demos Variant of Sense & Sorcery
Art still needs to be fixed.
2 Likes
So not much to report. I am behind on doing the wrap up poll summary discussion. I intend to get that to you guys sometime soon still – sorry for the delay. For my other projects, I am currently working on an hotfix+ update for All the Way and a regular update for Dice & Dungeon Masters. After that, the intent is to return to work on my primary WIP, which is this game, with a cavoite – I will be moving my game production down from “active” to “casual” . . . this will probably mean that updates will be a little less frequent and it will absolutely mean that I will no longer announce updates in advance.
I’m optimistic that as an amature game creator this plan will be a bit more realistic and work better with my energies to provide a better life–game creation work balance. Still 100% keen to finish work on this game and get it released to hosted games, though it is likely that it will take a bit longer.
That is all for now.
3 Likes
Hello all – so will be a bit before work continues on with this WIP, but I’m hoping that by the end of June I will be back at it, but in a more casual manner than previously (see last post for more on that).
As promised, following is a summery of all the polls done on here. I am putting that up as I felt that will help me keep my efforts on the design of this game more organised and will serve as a good easy wrap up for anyone new to the game. We have certainly polled and discussed a lot on here, which I hope will leed to this being an even better game in the end.
Wrap-up Conversation on various polls:
Summary
Going way back for some of these, summarizing past polls:
On mama/papa vs mother/father:
Summary
On the question of whether to switch from mother/father to mama/papa for characters that are of the towers, the vote was 68% to keep as mother/father. While this was an unintended accident, I thought it worked nicely to help separate the sorcerer-tower class from the gentry-ton class in terms of speech. I’ve kind of bounced back and forth on this over the years; I do have some thought of perhaps making it adjustable via a switch (i.e. the player could select which option they’d like), though this would be a mammoth amount of coding, so for the time being we will keep it as is, though perhaps a consideration to revisit at some point.
First poll on need for accuracy for regency travel section:
Summary
The first time we visited the regency travel question, as far as how accurate it ought to be, there was a very small percentage that wanted it to be completely accurate, but most were okay with it either being partially accurate but mostly fictitious, while a third of those polled were okay with it being completely fictitious. Note that this is a question we revisited on a recent poll, but more on that later in this post.
On what aspect of the game audience most wanted added to:
Summary
Next, on which area people most wanted expanded in the game, romance won by a landslide in ’22, with around 64% while the closest runner ups only polled at around 7% for expansion on the fey plot, 7% expansion on saving prot’s father plot, and 7% expansion on past time activities. While a significant amount of work was added to the various romance routes in the game, as we have rather a many, there is a lot more to be added yet before the game will really feel as romantic as I think the audience wishes. We’ll get there eventually though. As for the 7-percenters – well, there was some expansion on the fey plot, but also plenty more to come yet. The plot to save the prot’s father still needs to be added further, but this was more of a midgame thing, so I don’t feel to bad about that – but now we are getting closer and I shall try to remember to refocus on that soon. Past times still need and want a world of activity, and it will be added in time.
On frequency and size of updates:
Summary
In a poll run during September of ’23, it was strongly voted (93%) that there ought to be fewer updates but that those updates ought to have a lot more content. I’ll admit that this is something I still struggle with a bit, as it is counter to the way the forum works with the 60 day policy wherein all threads need activity within sixty days or the thread is closed. I have been brainstorming on this for ages, and I have some thoughts on it, which we shall explore later in this post, as I have also recently revisited this question in a new poll.
On which ROs people most wanted more content for:
Summary
On a poll in ’23 we touched upon the matter of which particular romance players would most like to see expanded; here is the exact question and results.
So which NPCs would you most like to see expanded and made more romancaeble?
(Pick 3)
- 37%Duke Harold Drearing
- 37%Gleheir (fey man)
- 37%Mr Northwood (rude thrall)
- 37%close friend’s handsome walker (Incubus)
- 25%Lord Whiserie (close friend’s soldier brother)
- 25%Ms Faust (prot’s strange thrall)
- 25%Random NPCs (Anything really; hard to write/code)
- 25%Wanderflame (Mysterious figure from prots past)
- 12%Cousin Mordred (Bumbling Sorcerer w/a secret)
- 12%Gary Wetheron (rogue 5)
- 12%Lady Whiserie (close friend)
- 12%Thera Drearing (Duke’s youngest sister)
- 0%Diana (Ravana’s thrall)
- 0%Fantasia Drearing (Duke’s advisor and Aunt)
- 0%Grand McAllars (rogue 2)
- 0%Iethrain (fey woman)
- 0%Meredith Drearing (Duke’s eldest sister)
- 0%Miss Anneth Grangling (dabbler)
- 0%Miss Silver (dabbler)
- 0%Monique Lafayne (rogue 6)
- 0%Quentin Tempest (rogue 1)
- 0%Reginald “Glib” Clarion (rogue 4)
- 0%Sarah Swein (Thief!)
- 0%Some Other NPC (List in Comments)
- 0%Werebeing 1
- 0%Werebeing 2
- 0%William Wilden (rogue 3)
- 0%Zaz (Satyr in Morgan’s Closet World)
Now, since this poll, more Ris have been added, so some possibility on a new variant of this poll being run at some point. On expanding the game to its current state, while I did try to keep this poll in mind, I think in general the paths that saw the most expansion were Mr. Northwoods, the incubus theif taker, the Duke, Lady Whiserie, Lord Whiserie, Sarah Swein, and Gleheir. To be honest, sometimes I have to write in the direction the scenes, the plot, and my energy take me, even if it is contrary to the plans such as they are. The intent is that all Ris should have enough content added where the player can feel them as adequate romantic options for the prot, though some Ris will have darker ends than others, just due to what is going on in the back ground of the game. Of course, this is Interactive Fiction, so I will do my best to give you ways for happier endings. In any event, yes, lots more needs to be added to all these paths, even those that are currently the best defined; if a particular path seems either to dark or to deserted, do not despair – it will be added . . . but some of these are going to be a while.
On handling inroductions in the regency setting:
Summary
In April of 24 we visited the question of how to handle introductions. Basically, upper class members of society would need to be introduced to strangers before being allowed to speak with them, or else risk acting offensive to society itself. For myself, I kind of take it as societal expectation, something like “don’t go through red lights while driving” – now, the rules for lower castes of society might not be as prohibited and technically sorceresses aren’t really the ton . . . I sort of think of them as an upward leaning class. Somewhere between the ton themselves and say perhaps actresses and singers so that perhaps they don’t ALWAYS need to follow all the rules of the ton, but if they want to try to blend in and play with that class, then they sometimes should try too. To make matters more muddy, some members of the tower technically ARE members of the ton; i.e. certainly the duke and his family, etc. I’m hoping to better define and outline these matters as the game is expanded, perhaps in various history books and conversations throughout the game. But, going back to the original matter, for our poll we found that 50% of you thought those at the introduction ceremony might freely interact with one another, while all others would need introductions; 30% wanted it to be as historically accurate as possible, so that basically introductions would be possible; and then 20% of you wanted only the ton to be so prohibited. Lots of food to thought on this all, but some of it I think I’ve left up to the player and prot’s agencies – at least in the beginning, you have your aunt as a chapereon, and as she is not really the best on this, there is a good amount of freedom on how you go about things. Of course, not doing what is viewed as the correct thing can influence decorum and other matters, and believe me, decorum is well tracked and shall matter more and more as the game continues onwards.
What future potential areas of the game world is the audience most interested in expansion:
Summary
In April of 24, we had a question polled on what future areas might be included in the game, as our genres have a large portion of options. Here are the tesults for that:
So, which setting would you be most interested in the prot interacting with her romantic prospects, rivals, family, and friends?:
- 64%Masquerade
- 58%Ball
- 35%Bath
- 23%Pleasure Gardens
- 23%Solstice / Christmas / Winter Party
- 17%House-Party
- 17%Naval / Sea Adventure
- 17%Regency Road Trip
- 11%Gretna Green
- 0%London Town
Some of these will be later on in the game, but I think we are moving along on some of them. There is currently one house party halfway added and some very brief garden scenes added. Gretna Green has been heavily hinted at and holds for some subplots and RI plots in future updates. As for the rest – yes, there must be masquerades and balls and I can think of lots of fun in Bath. But . .. things take a long time. Not there yet.
On Chapter Length:
Summary
Also in April of 24, we had a poll on how long you wanted your chapters. Moderately sized chapters was the overall winner at 92% - something I need to do better with as a lot of the early chapters tend to long. As the game is advanced I’ll see what I can do to try to make some chapters shorter and more moderate – probably more chapters, but shorter chapterrs, which is a good option, so long as there is a natural break point.
On the game being one game book vs 2 vs 3
Summary
On the question of switching the game from a standalone to a potential series, it seemed like most were happy either way. At present I think I still want to make it a series, as then I can see how the release process goes, if its something hosted games will even want or not. Of course, regardless of path, we are not there yet, by any stretch of the imagination.
On where the game should be published;
Summary
I had a short poll on if this game should be marketed for Hosted Games or Hearts Choice, but this was due to a misunderstanding of how Hearts Choice works. It seems they only make preplanned games, so, unlike Hosted Games, it is not possible to pitch a WIP to them. Technically speaking if Hosted Games falls through for one reason or another, that still leaves Itch up as an alternative host for my game, or, if I should recode it into another programing language, really anywhere, but recoding it is a colossal work, though not impossible. The down side to having it completed but being refused by Hosted Games would be that I would have done all this only to make less than no money on the project (technically I’d be pretty deep in the whole due to the hundreds of dollars I’ve spent buying research books and such, as well as the lost time that I could have spent making real world money or something else), so in the event it is refused recoding it in another language is still a possibility. Twine probably would be easiest, but I’d have to investigate my options. Though, then again, in that case I might just post it as is to itch as a free game and call it a day. Hoping Hosted Games will accept it, but some of their submission guidelines seem a bit subjective, so there are definitely some scenarios where I complete the game and they refuse it . . . but I am confident that would be a lost opportunity on their part, so let’s hope it goes better.
On Forum Presence of Game:
Summary
I did have a brief poll on if I should need to maintain the forum presence of this game while working on it. Up to a point, I shall try to do so, but with less frequent updates, this thread will probably go fallow for a while from time to time, but I guess that’s fine.
On which non-RO NPC should have more content:
Summary
In June ’24 we had a question as to which non-romancable character would you most like more content for. Here are the poll results for this question:
• 50%Mera
o
o
o
o
• 50%Stara
o
o
o
o
• 37%Glea
o
o
o
• 25%Alaris
o
o
• 25%Farmer living at edge of Prot’s land
o
o
• 12%Asylum’s gate keeper
o
• 12%Prot’s Mother
o
• 12%Prot’s Uncle
o
• 12%Ravana
o
• 12%Sophia
o
• 0%Morgan
• 0%Prot’s Aunt
• 0%Prot’s Father
8voters
20t
In regards to these, our top three had a good amount of new content added, though I will stand as kind of disappointed that despite these additions there didn’t seem to be much increase in engagement with my game. I think part of the problem is that the game is so big that its hard for people to reach the sections they want to. This will probably continue to be a problem until I get the early sections complete and stable, i.e. all written and all variables finalized into existence for good. For sure something I need to work on.
In any event, I will continue to use this poll to guide me on which characters people most wanted new content for, though I will need to eventually run another poll as there are now a lot of new characters added that weren’t there before. I think I’ll need to eventually run a poll for both romancable and non-romancable characters.
But that’s probably later on this summer at earliest.
On free roam during introduction ceremony party:
Summary
On the question of if free roam should end as a chosen option vs ending after a certain number of turns you guys liked having this as your choice. I suppose it does add more options for players to enjoy what’s going on, though it continues to feel sort of unrealistic to me, but I will leave that particular instance as is since this is what you guys wanted.
On most relevent game creation focuses:
Summary
On the next poll, as far as picking main most relevant focuses, you guys had voted for, as the top three, filling in incomplete sections, travel, and clothing and fashion. As the first one was way ahead at 50% I did concentrate on that, and actually a lot of areas that needed to be filled in were filled in. Granted, it might not feel that way, as new incomplete sections inevitably popped up in future updates, and the travel section still remains a problem. Well, I’d still like to add more realism to the regency travel section, but for various reasons it just might not be possible. It’s a big problem. But anyway, once the travel section is filled in, that will be a huge amount of what needs to be filled in. To be honest, I didn’t manage to reach the clothing and fashion section – it’s not that I don’t want to, but as with travel this is a research heavy section, if I’m going to really do it right, and life has been to chaotic to allow the amount of research and brain power this will require. Going forward, I will see what I can do to solve the problem – it will probably involve sacrifsing some game creation time to just research and take notes and decide on what limits I want to have for clothing. Full note – the clothing section will not be perfect, but I hope it will be close enough that you’ll feel you can really dress up your prot in her best or whatever she wants to wear and have that affect her season and adventures.
On what most needs work:
Summary
On the next question, as far as what was most deficient with the game, it was romance. As I am not a romance writer, this remains a problem. I have endevoured and shall endevour to add more romance to the game, but some aspects of writing romance do not come naturally to me, and to be honest, some of the romance sections I think are a bit more edgy than the next person’s writing. I definitely want to have some softer, kinder romances added to this game before its done, and I really would like to keep a large cast of ROs. My philosophy on ROs is lightly inspired by Jim D’s Zombie games, where he has so many wonderful ROs, to the point where I feel a bit let down if there are only 3 or 4 RO’s in a game. Granted, the more ROs the harder to make each fully fleshed out and relevant, but I think each RO deserves it, and we have plenty of game design and writing to give all of our wonderful ROs a chance at love, romance, and adventure, with, or possibly without the prot. I am thinking, to keep the competitive aspect of the regency season in play, if an RO is not won by the prot, or if the prot is to indecisive, there is always a very real danger of that RO being won by someone else. Same for an RO that is initially being pursued by someone else; if the prot plays her romantic game right, hearts can be won over . . .
On how railroaded vs replayable the game is:
Summary
The next question was on how rail roady the game felt. Sounds like most of you felt there was a descent amount of choice components, but I still feel like I can and want to do better. Some sections are plot driven, but I think as we go further in the game there will be more cases of the paths the prot walks differing, though this will represent an increase in the difficulty of the writing and coding. Still, it will be worth it to help the replayability of the game shine through, in the end, if I can do it right.
On prefered gender of ROs:
Summary
On the question of what gender RO’s players wanted, I was somewhat surprised that most people wanted more male ROs. While we shall keep a few non-binary and more than a few female ROs, I guess I won’t make it a priority to add to many non-binary RO’s beyond what is already present. If you have a strong concern or feelings on this please reach out to me, as I’d like the game to be inclusive enough, but it doesn’t make sense to spend energy on ROs that people don’t seem to want. As far as male ROs, well, there are already plenty, but I will probably add a few more before the game is done.
On new alt starts:
Summary
As far as the alternate start game question with other prots than the main one, Stara won out easily . . . but Stara’s section shall require a lot of fashion studying, thus the reason why I haven’t fulfilled my work on starting her alt start section yet. Eventually it will be added, and the others will be extended . . . now, for these alt start sections, they will probably never be as long as the main game, and it will be interesting to see what I can do with them, but I hope and think they will add a little extra something to the game and hopefully offer some insight on some matters that the main prot is unlikely to ever fully understand. However, they are in addition to the main game, and can’t really be a priority at this stage, so will probably be a while before I refocus on them.
On editing as a priority vs speed of game creation:
Summary
On the question of editing, it was a toss up between being a big priority and a weak priority. I will see what I can do to slip in a few hours of editing here and there, but please do not expect miracles. Obviously before the game is published it will need editing, but I guess I feel strongly that WIPs aren’t going to be perfect, and I can’t really spend too much time and energy on editing when the game creation would grow stagnant if I put in tons of energy there. Please remember that WIPs, being works in progress, are not released published games and are not complete – if you’ve come for perfection, be prepared to be perfectly disappointed. And I suppose you could turn up your nose at games with a few minor grammar and spelling errors here and there, but honestly, you’ll miss out on a lot of good things that way. Also, please remember that these WIPs are free – I am not collecting any money in any way shape or form by making these games. While I’d agree that a paid for product ought to have a certain amount of rigor, even New York times best sellers often have at least a few spelling and grammar errors – sometimes by very famous, very wonderful authors, and this is after real, professional editors have reviewed their work. Simply put, the proposition that great spellers and grammarians are great writers is a myth – these are to nearly unrelated things. I guess supposing that a writer is incompetent to work their craft due to a few minor errors seems somewhat insulting to me. Now, going forward, I would ask that while you may contact me to let me know about particular instances of spelling or grammar errors, I will kindly ask for no more blanket statements that “the spelling is bad” or “the grammar is bad” or “there are to many typos” . . . to be bluntly honest, such statements are not really all that helpful and are kind of demotivating. Also, I obviously assume that just because I have a few minor spelling and grammar errors I must now discontinue all the other aspects of writing that I do well is false – I have a vision and philosophy behind my writing and games and sometimes something one reviewer might see as an error is actually a strength, but that might not seem clear at the time.
Regardless, message received – one more, don’t expect perfection here, but I will see what I can do to add more editing and polish to the game, while maintaining my artistry and ethics thereof.
In some ways, at least it is my hope, that the slower pace of game creation that shall now be observed will allow for more of this balance the audience wants.
On the incubus matter:
Summary
On the incubus matter, it seemed like a tossup. To be honest, I kind of felt like the section in question seemed a bit abrupt to me too, thus my putting up the poll. I’ll think on it further – I may try to add a few more checks or something to better mitigate the worst results (maybe some magical items to help protect the prot or give her more warning, possibly available at the market or at a certain archaeological site), but I don’t want to nerf the incubus to much either.
On revisiting the regency travel matters:
Summary
Revisiting our regency travel section concerns as I hadn’t gotten much done on that and the study on the matter had grown stagnant due to lack of time, the question was reposted . . .
While the sample size was small, the result was a firm ‘yes’, we’d be okay with an abbreviated regency travel section. This is still counter to my own inclinations, but to move the game forward, I might have to do it. A decision will have to be made soon . . . if nothing else, I suppose I can still use a few real regency locations here and there, though they may be on the wrong road, which is kind of irksome to me. But I can’t dither on it forever either.
For those new to this matter, all I really need is an adequete and readable copy of actual regency maps. Thus far the maps either were illegible due to being to detailed (to many routes!) or to strange (the ones I got from the regency post presented all maps as north south regardless of what direction they actually were – how on earth did the poor post make heads or tales of this) or just not what I am looking for. If I find or am given an accurate regency map, I have multiple books of actual testimonies and such from real regency travelers, so that I willl be able to add some of these locations, done up in fine Alternate Universe form, into the game, which I think would just make that section a billion times better.
Please sirah or madam, may I have a map?
On early game magical burn out:
Summary
Regarding the potential issue of burnout occurring in the early game, i.e. “So, in regard to that early instance of magical burnout, would you like a) to have one of the character’s help the prot out, for a price, to regain her magic, or b) like an abbreviated alternate story line that will probably terminate with a relatively bad end or c) have both options.” A won with 67% of the vote, while c had 33 % of the vote. As the sample size was small again, I’ll mull this one over. Thinking it might be nice go with C to give people more options, so long as saves are working so people can return to their saved games if they reach an early end and don’t like that. But yes, much with the brainstorming to find a fix for this issue, when I return to this WIP.
On rating this game:
Summary
On the question of rating this game, most of you thought the current content was still PG-13, which I guess I’d agree with. This also helped gauge current audience and audience expectations up to a point, with the help of a few of the other following questions. While I feel a PG-13 style game probably has the widest audience, it would prohibit launching the adult content that a later question inquired about.
On yay or nay for abbreviated, bad path endings:
Summary
On the forums I had seen some concern rising about abbreviated endings being in games. For my own philosophy, I feel strongly that so long as there are saved games and you can go back to a prior saved games, abbreviated endings are fine so much as they are not everywhere, and they do not serve as just reinforcement to railroad forever and ever. Regarding current audiences’s feelings towards abbreviated endings, it seems like most of you were okay with them, so for the time being I will proceed with that ruling in mind. Once more, I will try to not have to many or to make them pop up just as ways to force you down a certain path every time, but they will exist, and in a game that wants to eventually incorporate more rpg combat and sandbox stuff, I think they are very needed.
On adding Divination magic to the game before the other schools of magic:
Summary
The next question was dealing with adding “Diviniation” before the other schools of magic as its probably the easiest to code. 100% of those polled indicated that this would be fine, so I will proceed under that premise. Not sure if I will get to it next update, but some update soon I will start adding Divination into the game. Some of the other schools of magic probably won’t really shine until combat is better defined.
On focus of what pastimes to focus on adding into the game:
Summary
For the next question, seeing which pastimes people most wanted added and reinforced in the game, arcana won big time. As a reminder, arcana is the study of secrets and magical, supernatural things. Being that spellwork was next up, I’ll weigh both of those equally, as I suspect some of the desire overlapped. Art was next up, with honorable mentions going to dancing, fencing, and rhetoric. I’ll see what I can do to get some of these rolling, though I think probably not in the next update, as some of these are going to take more than a little, though I do think that, as with combat, getting these added will greatly enhance the game big time.
On what format to display relationships in the stats menu:
Summary
The next question was in regards to how to go about displaying relationships and such, as I feel like it seems kind of cheep to just show relationship scores automatically when there are schools of magic to figure out the secrets within the minds and hearts of NPCs. For this one you guys were pretty split – some of you wanted me just to display all these, some of you wanted descriptions in the stats screen rather than stat bars, and some of you wanted options….I’ll think on it all. I’ll probably go with giving you the option to pick what you want, as that usually is the best course, and I don’t think will add to much complexity in the coding for the most part.
On when to add an npc listing to the stats page:
Summary
In the next question we regarded when to add a relationship or character mention to a listing in the stats screen. Most of you would like them only once the NPC is met; some of you wanted them all at once. I’ll think on this further, but leaning towards going with getting the NPCs rel scores or listings or what now as you meet them . . . its probably the truest to reality, as we don’t automatically know who we are going to meet in advance and how they are going to behave, plus with the way introductions worked in regency society, this compliments the setting nicely. Indeed, there is some thought to only adding a npc to the stats display after they have been formally introduced to the prot . . . Now, I may give some thought for those with divination getting some early previews, however, as that seems only right.
On happy vs sad endings:
Summary
In regards to if you guys were okay with sad, edgy endings or would like happy endings it was an even split; this matches me too, as if I am the right mood sometimes a bad ending seems appropriate and true to life, while on the other hand I also feel the real worlds hard enough so its best to not have a double dip in our imaginary worlds.
On age of audience:
Summary
In regards to current (remaining) audience, it seems that everyone indicates they are over 18. This is good, as it means I won’t lose audience if I add adult content to the game, at least due to age constraints.
On adding adult content vs keeping the game clean:
Summary
On the direct question of if people would like adult content, the results were either yes, or that you were indifferent. No one did not want adult content . . . something I’m still mulling over, but adding optional adult content to the game has some appeal for me. As stated earlier, even “sweet, clean regency” often is not, as there seems some very edge things going on in this regard, and if we look beyond clean regency, well, to be sure, a lot of it is eroticas twin sister. But if non-clean regency is a sibling to erotica, then I think sword & sorcery is at least a cousin, and is for sure in the family. There are plenty of sword & sorcery stories with some very graphic content. So, in conclusion here, while I haven’t 100% decided, I think there is a good possibility of optional adult content being added at some point. If I do so, I’ll add an adult thread to the forum so it can be discussed, but for now, as a reminder, in observance of forum rules, such content can not be discussed in any further depth than we have already without such an adult thread. I will state lastly that the story, characters, setting, and world are all much more important to me as a creator than the story being adult or not-adult, what that means is that if we do add adult content it will be secondary to the main story and I would then consider this a game with some adult content rather than an adult game, which I feel is an important distinction.
On having plots where the prot and the spirit get seperated:
Summary
Regarding potential plot lines of the spirit and the prot-sorceress getting split up for a while, it was a pretty even split. I am personally all for this plot as I think it will not only be fun but will add a ton of extra content and perspective to this project, but if I do add it I will make it optional, so that those of you who wish to stay one spirit and one sorceress united through the whole story may continue to do so, while some of you can have a little side adventure of sorts . . . probably will be sometime before I get to this though.
Apparently, a word cap on updates, so moving some of this post to another post . . .
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Further posting about polls:
Summary
On polls:
Summary
On the matter of these polls themselves, most of you seemed to indicate these polls were okay This was an important question to ask, I think, as I don’t want to just endlessly bury you guys under polls, but to be honest, I’m probably not the best at igniting huge forum discussions, and the point of these forum WIP posts is to get feedback, so .. .thus the polls.
On Audience focus and expectations for game via prefered genre:
Summary
The next question was another effort on trying to figure out the composition of the games current audience and the likely expectations and hopes for the current audience. I did this by asking what genre of work you considered yourself principally a fan of before any other. Regency and RPGs each tied at 31%. Urban fantasy was third with 19%, which makes sense as this is probably a special sort of urban fantasy. High (or classic) fantasy was fourth, and sword & sorcery was a very distant fifth . . .which is a huge concern and problem, as my endeavor with this game was a mixture of the genres of regency & sword & sorcery. Also, as the majority of my writing outside of these IF stories is Sword & Sorcery, that is very interesting indeed. Probably various reasons for this . . . combat not being added to the game yet is probably one reason, as a lot of sword & sorcery fans want the grind and blood shed of noble combat. Hard to do that when combat doesn’t exactly exist. The prot being locked in as a female prot is probably another reason why Sword & Sorcery fans have mostly either not tried or have abandoned this game, with the arguably masculine tones of a lot of sword & sorcery and many sword & sorcery prots being big alpha men, often barbarians like the OG Conan. Thirdly, I think sometimes the regency elements supersume the sword & sorcery elements; so far, a lot of the game has been about family and romance and social intrigues . . . all fine regency elements, and they should be there, but I suppose it gets hard to feel the steal and thunder when it comes under a regency mask. Part of this matter is that I choose, on initial and continual design of the game, to set it in an alternate universe version of regency England that is still clearly England. This reinforces the regency and buries a lot of the rest . . . I think if I were to do this story again from scratch I’d just put it in some fictional place with that has the majority of the regency and sword & sorcery tropes going for it … but we are far to far in for that now….but yeah …. There probably are other reasons Sword & Sorcery fans are mostly missing: Could be there just aren’t many on the forum, as it’s a relatively small yet enthusiastic group in general. Could be that some of my twisting of the tropes of Sword & Sorcery wards away some of that audience, i.e. a female prot that is a sorceress kind of flips some of the traditional roles in Sword & Sorcery, though I have seen this done before.
Anyway, it is my hope that as the game is further fleshed out I will eventually have more Sword & Sorcery audience, likely as combat makes it appearance and more true sword & sorcery moments appear into the mix of the story. That said, I absolutely want to keep other audiences engaged with the game; that means I think that regency and rpg elements also need to be a high priority, as has been the case since the birth of this game. I think the urban fantasy elements will naturally occur, so I’m not to worried about those, but if anyone does want to have more urban fantasy added to this game and has advice or suggestions for that, feel free to reach out to me.
On quantity vs quality of ROs:
Summary
On the question of quantity vs quality, most of you wanted romantic options that are more fleshed out . . .so more quality than quantity. For myself, I still want a large amount of ROs, but I will see about getting those in the game better fleshed out. Again, might be a bit before this is apparent, but little by little I think and hope the ROs will each have their time to shine. I will consider this matter further however.
On a certain character’s true nature:
Summary
On the matter of hints for a certain characters true nature, it seemed pretty even as to if I needed more hints or not. I’ll think on that further as well and may add a few more here and there. This actually might work with the call for more arcana in the game as this certainly falls under that parasol.
On game art display:
Summary
Sadly, images are still not displaying. COG demos is still being designed and is a multi-person effort, so getting quick resolution on that is unlikely. I have considered various possible fixes and will try some of them when I get back to working on this game, as it badly needs the art for things I’ve done and will do, though it is still functional even without the art .. . though as we add combat and more rpg elements, I think images will eventually become a must. I should obviously state my thanks to COG demos and their team – they are doing critical work for the community, and while there are some hick iups here and there, that website is vital.
On minimum words added before posting an update:
Summary
Lastly, on the matter of how many words you would like added for a given update, it was a wide spread, with the highest vote being for 100,000 words and the lowest being for 5,000 words. I’m thinking I’ll probably average these out to get my goal words added per update, which honestly is probably about where I’ve been as my updates tend to usually be pretty high in word count at least. But there is some thought to making it longer as I don’t want you guys to spin your wheels replaying a game that doesn’t have a high enough change percentage since the last time you played, especially considering that due to changes on COG demos you now will have to start a new game every time I add a new variable, which is regrettable and not what I would have wanted in this respect per say, but that’s out of my hands, so unfortunutly unless I map every possible variable out before hand, which I can’t with my process, so, the requirmenet for new games – that’s going to happen a few times unfortunutly before we are done with moving the WIP to something I can offer to hosted games. Due to this matter, I have given some thought to only posting when there is a very large amount of words added . . . but I also need to test the game, to see what works and what doesn’t, and while I do have the testing tools randomtest and quicktest provided by choice of games, these miss many things that I can’t find and fix until I can also play test the game myself . . .thus the need to post an update. Now, my hope was to have a test variant of the game on COG that only I and dedicated testers could see, that I would run and test in advance, but when I try to do that, it crashes . . .not sure but I think this could be part of COG demos efforts to keep duplicate, often fraudulent, variants of games from appearing, but regardless, for my efforts it kind of takes that potential fix off of the table. I will see what can be done about that, but failing getting a fix where both the test variant of the game and the main variant of the game are valid and functional on COG Demos, I then need to post updates to the game sooner or I will never be able to see what is working, what isn’t working, and what needs to be tweaked, etc.
Anyway, my apologies on that. I think you all know my opinion on ravaged saved games, but beyond my control.
At present, I am working on getting an update for one of my other WIPs, Dice & Dungeon Masters, up and going. After that I will return to working on this WIP, Sense & Sorcery, on a causal basis, with occasional updates. Don’t know how soon or how often, but that shall be the goal. I may occasionally do an update for another WIP, depending on where my energy is at, though I shall certainly hope that I will have some sort of update for Sense & Sorcery within the next few months.
When I do return to this work I will probably focus first on these matters:
Summary
-Continuing to update the three paths in our early game regency road sections.
-Adding more content for key ROs and other NPCs of note.
-Adding in the fix scenes for the early burn out problem.
-Continue fixes on the early mid-game sandbox sections.
-Start work on adding divination.
-See what can be done to get these pesky image files working on the new website.
-Add more to the random NPCs, as they shall soon have “opinions” and “biasis” added to their states.
-Add scenes to the conclave intro chapter so the prot can walk around and explore more in there and meet more conclave members and other important NPCs.
-Start work on a simplified combat engine (the more complex one will need to wait a while).
-Expand early mid-game chapters further (i.e. ch 15 & 16).
As this game is a titanic work, and has taken literal years to get as far as it has, my continual thanks to those of you who have helped make the game better and have cheered me on in this effort. Well, that’s it for now; till next time, may all your fans and swords wave true . . .
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It is with a heavy heart that I here announce that all of my projects are going to go on pause, probably for at least a few months, as presently one of my family members is critically ill and will most likely pass away within that time frame. While my stories, characters, and their worlds are some of my favorite things in this real world, ultimately the love of my real-world family must come first. Thank you for reading, playing, and supporting my creative endeavors, and any well wishes and positive energies that way.
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Of course, take as much time as you need!
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My deepest condolences. I hope things get better soon and that the situation improves~
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