Spire, Surge, and Sea (WIP) - Prologue through Chapter 6, now with save files ~190k (2024-10-06)

Choice of Games games CoG Works In Progress
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Surge, Spire, and Sea

Centuries ago, during the Age of Stories, gods and spirits walked as equals with the peoples of the world. Alchemists crafted potions that could heal any wound, spirit users phased through walls and breathed arcane fire, and masons crafted glittering cities of untold beauty that could predict the needs of all their residents.

But the spirits and the gods, jealous of these achievements, tore the world asunder in a cataclysmic event that began the Age of Rot, reducing themselves to monstrous wildlings and unleashing a magical curse that warped and twisted all other forms of life.

Now, the eternal stone city of Gigantea is all that remains of humanity, a bulwark against the death and decay of the World-Sea, kept safe by the power of its royal familyā€™s holy magics. It is only these magics, coupled with the royal familyā€™s vigilance and the obedient reverence of all Giganteaā€™s children, that keep the Rot and the wildlings at bay.

At least, thatā€™s what youā€™ve always been taughtā€¦

ā€“

Play the Demo

Hello all!

After about six months of development, Iā€™m excited to finally be posting a demo of my new Choice of Games project, Surge, Spire, and Sea.

Unlike The Bread Must Rise, which drew from a bunch of zany comedies and parodies, Surge, Spire, and Sea is a science fantasy epic inspired by Miyazaki movies like Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, as well as the Final Fantasy series of games.

Other things you'll find inside.

Other things youā€™ll find inside:

  • A diverse group of ROs, with transmasc, transfem, nonbinary, male, and female characters to choose from (including two gender-selectable ROs)
  • A science fantasy world where you can master strange magics as a spirit user, practice scientific rigor as a mason, or mix both disciplines as an alchemist
  • A world where disability is normalized rather than stigmatized, with major and minor NPCs who represent a broad variety of physical and mental diversity
  • A tumultuous political landscape where you can support one of two major factionsā€”or turn away from both and forge your own path
  • Spirits and godkings and gods, oh my!
  • A dynamic world where your choices bring peace to Gigantea or send it spinning into chaos and violence

Want to try it out?

Thanks in advance for any feedback you are willing to offer!

ā€“

Updates

Click to see updates

October 6, 2024 - C5 + C6 are now available as part of the demo. Some bugs fixed.
September 20, 2024 - C5 + C6 are finished, bringing the game to 187k. Update to demo version coming soon!
September 4, 2024 - No new demo content, but weā€™ve retitled the game; chapters 5 and 6 are mostly complete
June 28, 2024 - Added chapter four to the demo and made some small updates elsewhere.
June 15, 2024 - Demo of first three chapters posted. Fourth chapter drafted.

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90k words for a first demo post is always delightful! I will give it a go!

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A science fantasy? Thatā€™s a first in a long time, hell yeah. Looking forward to see what comes of this, nice start so far!

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Oh how exciting! Congratulations on the new project, Iā€™m really looking forward to trying this. The setting sounds absolutely my jam!

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Gigantea: Age of Rot is a science fantasy epic inspired by Miyazaki movies like Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Thatā€™s all I needed to hear, fam. You got yourself a reader!

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If One Does Not Simply Fry and The Bread Must Rise was a sign of what is to come, then this one should be on another plane altogether. This oneā€™s already screaming SO MUCH POTENTIAL. Well done!

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Thanks all for the good vibes!

Iā€™m hoping to have another chapter posted, as well as checkpoints enabled, sometime in the next couple of weeks. :slight_smile:

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Ahā€¦another fine book added to my endless collection

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Its actually so awesome that this is trans inclusive!! Its not common to see it <3

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Iā€™m find bug, canā€™t use Google translate page

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It looks like the way Choicescript loads game files does not play nicely with Google Translate. Iā€™ll see if thereā€™s something I can do, but it might be beyond my technical ability to fix.

Sorry!

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Couple coding errors.

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Thanks! Iā€™ll get those fixed.

I am terrible at forgetting to put {brackets} on my variables, and mixing up multireplace with variable printing. :sweat_smile:

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Cannot read properties of undefined (reading ā€˜lineā€™)
This error appears when I select the pronouns of the two characters.

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What an interesting premise! I look forward to playing the demo, as soon as I get my new mouse. Do I detect some Michael Moorcock vibes, or is it my overactive imagination?

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Thanks! I will take a look at that.

Iā€™m not 100% sure I have read any Moorcock, although Iā€™m sure Iā€™ve read things inspired by his workā€“so it might be a case of secondhand vibes! :slight_smile:

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The setting gives those vibes, even if they are unintentional or second-hand.

Iā€™m happy to see this project come online!

. :revolving_hearts:

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Has anybody else run into this error here? Iā€™m unable to reproduce it in Chrome on Windows.

I actually am wondering a bit about this (or more like ā€œoverthinkingā€ lol). Two of the NPCs are explicitly trans ā€“ is that enough to make this actually ā€œtrans inclusiveā€ or does this tag I used suggest the game is going to let you make the PC trans? Again, probably overthinking. lol

I definitely want trans folks to know theyā€™re at home and welcome in my game world and writing more generally, though! :smiley:

ā€“

Writing-wise, Iā€™m about 7k into chapter 5, which looks like itā€™s going to be a big one (gulp).

For the demo, Iā€™m planning to add chapter 4, make updates and bufixes to the first 3 chapters, and have checkpoints enabled by July 1st.

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Damn, thatā€™s a big release

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One day I will learn that COG outlines should not contain a novelā€™s worth of content.

But that day, alas! Was not the day I had the outline for this one approved. :joy:

(Iā€™m pretty satisfied with how itā€™s turning out, but it definitely takes some timeā€“and lots of wordsā€“with that approach. lol)

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