Set in Stone (WIP) - updated 05 Mar 2018 (new description)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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As the younger Scion (prince/princess) of Ianistae, a peaceful fantasy country, you live a charmed life, with people who care for you and an unusual level of freedom.

This being a fantasy story, such peace is doomed to come to an end.

On one beautiful summer night, your home is attacked by the empire that has spend the last few decades steadily taking over most of the continent.
In the midst of this chaotic assault, magic happens, and you wake up to find a Ianistae that is no longer the place you knew.

Now, you have to deal with a changed country, the loss of your family and friends, a rebellion, a delusional king, different factions, and a strange sorcerer who seems to know too much.

On the way, you might just find a new life.

…

Planned Features:

  • Extensive character customisation.
  • Gender-choice
  • Chance to develop romantic, sexual, or platonic relationships with a cast of different characters.
  • Multiple ways to solve each quest. Both the big and the small ones.
  • A fantastic, if low-magic, setting to explore.
  • Main plot, side stories and personal quests.

…

Companions/Current Romance Options

Aphemen: Female - The idealistic ”rightful” heir to a throne.

Hisara: Female - A mercenary turned guardian, turned friend.

Lastrian: Male - An alchemist very content with being a bastard.

Neen: Nonbinary - A priest considered heathen by their surroundings.

Osiran: Male - A professional thief, and general rogue.

Taveir: Male - A soldier having a fight with his commander.

Westaria: female - A noble widow with a fortune and plans.

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DEMO

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Changelog

version 0.01 uploaded 02 Mar 2018
version 0.02 updated 05 Mar 2018
description uddated 07 Mar 2018

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Questions and Answers

Q: What is up with the gender thing, and why is there no gender choice?

A: The culture in which the MC grew up, doesn’t really consider gender a thing, and a person’s sex is only discussed when it comes to procreation, which is why the only gendered words used are ”mother” and ”father”.
Therefore, the gender choice is moved from the prologue to chapter 1, when the new culture forces the MC to actually consider it.

Q: Why does my MC’s hair colour determine their father?

A: I thought it would be fun, and add some interest. It also allowed me to explain how the MC can be (dark) blonde in a country of dark haired, tan people.

Q: Will there be RO’s?

A: There will be optional romance paths with many of the NPCs, and each romance will have different ways they can evolve, depending on player choices.

Q: Why has it been so long since the last update?

A: I’m just gonna pre-empt this. I’m a slow writer, and inspiration and motivation tend to come to me in waves. Often not at the same time.
If you are looking for a regularly updated WIP to follow, this probably isn’t the one…

Q: Have you bitten over more than you can chew with this project?

A: Definitely. It will be a learning experience.

Have fun!

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First reply reserved for author.

Will be used to post art, flash fiction and other such stuff, in a place that’s easy to find.

Character Art:

Westaria

Westaria%20Portrait%2001s
Westaria%20Portrait%2001s800Ă—767 389 KB

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It’s a good start and I really like the concept. Really looking forward to seeing more.

One thing I did find a little strange is the choice of eye colours. They seem quite limited. The choices are grey, and then three slightly different shades of brown. Blue and green aren’t even an option. Was just curious if there’s a reason for this? Like, are blue and green eyes particularly rare in this country?

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Thank you. :blush:

The eye thing is me being unsure what I want to do with it.

On one hand I want to limit it to shades of brown, which fits with the culture. On the other hand, I know a lot of players will appreciate the option for light colours, and I did allow for blonde hair, for that same reason.

So, so far, I went for some really illogical middle ground. It will probably end up being changed to either only browns or all colours.

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So far i actually enjoyed those limitations and yeah, it’s a good start. Hope the waves come to you in a tsunami :ocean:

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Seems like a very interesting start! I enjoy the little tidbit with the father- it’s interesting and I’m curious if it will ever come into play again!

Very much looking forward to seeing where this project of yours will go!

Oh, and if you’re still stuck here- I don’t think limiting is necessarily bad if it makes sense in context of the story, but if you do want to give the option then maybe you could add in a tiny sentence here or there of people reacting oddly to them? Or just surprised that the MC might have lighter eyes if you do want to add that without giving up or disregarding that part of the culture.

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Nice start. Looking forward to more!

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The clothes they finally decide on…

Flows from my shoulders, harmonising my very tall frame
Has long lines, to empathise my tall figure.
Are in a popular cut, to best suit my fairly average height.
Falls gracefully around my short body.
Has been cut in a way to elongate my very short stature.

These should be plural.

All the eye colors seem earthy to me, so gray (for stone) fits in. Maybe you could add black, to act as a bridge between brown and gray?

The world seems very intriguing and I look forward to learning more. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Thank you @needs-to-be-loved @RenaB @lokidemon007 @justme!

Well, if you chose black hair, you will actually get to talk with your father in the next update.
And all the fathers can be at least mentioned later on, depending on choices.

Thank you! I will get that fixed. The choices were written before the actual line, and I didn’t really think about it, as my own language doesn’t have plural case verbs, and “clothes” is one of the more confusing english nouns . :laughing:

Black has already been added to the update I’m working on.
As for grey, I’m not sure I will keep it, as it doesn’t make so much sense from a genetic point of view. Hazel is kinda sketchy too.

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Sounds interesting I’m going to check demo now

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I’m interested to see where this is going! I totally resonate with biting off more you can chew…just pace yourself so it does end up getting done, haha. :stuck_out_tongue:

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UPDATE

Set in Stone v0.02

  • More details added.

  • Eyecolour choice is simultaniously expanded and restricted.

  • Court scene continued. You get to talk to some people!

If you run into any errors with coding, spelling, pronouns or just phrasing that doesn’t make sense in english, please tell me.

Questions are always welcome.

To do list

  • Write rest of the prologue.

  • Add more personality flavour to existing text.

  • PC stats.

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I really like this WIP so far. :slight_smile:

I can play myself, besides …there’s no option for a greenish blue eye color. xDDD Sorry. XD But that’s fine, i can work with the present eye colors. (My actual only …concern?! XD wow…)

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Your older sibling are keeping their tone light, but you know them too well not to notice the tension in their throat and shoulders.

This should be is since the subject (sibling) is singular.

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If anyone is interested in helping, I would like opinions on these two questions:

  • How european does the setting come across?
    I am trying to get away from the european inspired setting used in so many fantasy stories, but being european myself, it is the inspiration most easily available to me, and as I don’t want to fill the story with a thousand made up terms, I am limited to those used in english.

  • Is the gender-neutral language too confusing?
    It’s a really important part of the story, for me, and it will only be in the prologue (and thank the gods for that, cause it’s not very easy to write). But I worry that writing like that makes the story too “strange” for new readers, especially those who are not into gender-issues.

Thank you! :blush:

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Hmm… hard to say. I guess by this being fantasy there’s this tendency/stereotype in (Western media, mostly) to automatically associate fantasy with European settings. I don’t think that aside from that sort of instinctual inclination anything feels… particularly European? I could be wrong, though.

Personally I don’t think so. I think it’s fine- and doesn’t sound “strange” at all.

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Wouldn’t being shy in public, instead of private, make more sense? I know a lot of people that are shy around strangers, but once they get to know someone, they change their attitude, and not one person who acts the other way around.

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As royalty, the PC is very used to putting on an act in public, and able to hide their shyness most of the time. :blush:

The shy/confident choice is about how the character reacts, when they are not controlling how they look to others.

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There is an option to use a far east or Mediterrenian setting, Greek maybe? Check some other cultures and decide what’s the best? But that would require a lot of searching and suggestedly a friend from there so they will prevent you from making mistakes on sensitive topics.

Don’t worry about this at all. People will eventually get used to it :+1:

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I’m taking inspiration from ancient mediterranean/middle eastern, south asian and south american cultures, but trying to keep it distinctly it’s own. After the prologue the mediterranean/middle eastern influence should be stronger than the other two.
The climate is supposed to be some sort of sub-tropic.

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