Starfall: The Last Bastion of Chivalry (WIP) Prologue [12k words]

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Hi! I’ve begun work on my new game Starfall: The Last Bastion of Chivalry.

Summary:

You’re the head honcho of a ragtag band of mercenaries, just trying to get by when—wham!—a star decides to plummet from the heavens like it’s late for a cosmic appointment. At the crash site, you stumble upon a bizarre metal disc, and lo and behold, there’s an even weirder critter inside. Initially, you think this is your golden ticket to schmooze your way back into the king’s favor. But hold your horses! This shapeshifting space critter isn’t here for a meet-and-greet; it’s got a hair-raising message. The world’s about to hit the fan unless humanity plays nice and teams up to fend off the looming alien invasion. Now that’s a plot twist for the ages!

Features:

  • Customize your character’s personality and in-depth appearance customization
  • Play as a Male or Female mercenary with a trouble past that haunts your every step
  • Romance one of four distinct ROs, enjoy steamy hookups, or don’t!
  • Rebuild the broken relationship with your estranged daughter
  • Lead your kingdom into battle against aliens!
ROs spoilers

Romance Options:

Isabelle: She/Her

A proud and practical woman who balances noble bearing with battlefield pragmatism. Sharp-witted and observant, she maintains healthy skepticism while remaining loyal to those who earn her trust. Her analytical mind makes her both an excellent strategist and a valuable voice of reason within the group.

Short and athletic, with callused hands that speak to her archery expertise. Her posture reflects her noble upbringing, but her practical leather armor and weather-worn cloak show her adaptation to mercenary life. She moves with the fluid grace of a trained archer, always scanning her surroundings with alert eyes.

Hector: He/Him

A jovial soul with an unwavering moral compass, Sir Hector brings warmth and wisdom to any group he joins. Despite his imposing presence, he’s quick to laugh and slow to anger, often diffusing tense situations with well-timed humor. His loyalty to his companions is absolute, and he has a particular soft spot for helping those in need. Though he embraces the mercenary lifestyle, he never compromises his principles for profit.

A bear of a man standing nearly seven feet tall, with broad shoulders and powerful arms built from years of wielding heavy weapons. His face, framed by a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard, often carries a warm smile that reaches his bright green eyes. Despite his intimidating size, he moves with the practiced grace of a trained warrior. A long scar across his left forearm serves as a reminder of his years of service.

???

???

Content Warnings:

So far there aren’t any, but I’m planning on taking this game into some dark topics fitting of the times it is set in. I’m putting it in adult thread mostly for violence, gore and sexual explicit scenes, but other types might appear as the story progresses. So far there isn’t anything worthy of a disclaimer in the prologue, but I will update this section whenever a dark scene appears.

Currently, the Prologue is done with 12k words

To play the demo, go here: CoGDemos

Tumblr: @starfallthelastbastion-if on Tumblr

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I didn’t expect Knights vs Aliens honestly.

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I like this. something different.

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Nice start but at the moment it’s a pass for me. It seems the relationship with the daughter is gonna be central to the story so I understand the kid has to be born but I don’t play games where my char is forced into a heterosexual relationship and is written as happy about it. At least give my character a choice in how they feel about the situation and a spectrum of reasons for why they went through with the relationship/marriage/kid. For me personally being able to say they did it for legacy and Markus was nothing but a friend would be enough though surely others would jot be mollified.

If you feel changes along this line cant be made at the very least let people know what they are in for before playing.

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I completely understand and something I have definitely overlooked. Thank you for pointing it out for me. I’m still figuring out the inner workings of plot/character/relationships so anything can be changed at this stage. The daughter is a product of the times when nobles are expected to carry on the legacy, but as you’ve said, the MC doesn’t have to be happy about it. I will make the necessary changes in the next update.

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Aw man I love this. Absolutely digging the character interactions and the setting.

Im just wondering if MC if always either straight or bi. I chose male MC and a male on that hookup scene (also, there’s a bug with the pronouns that, even if i choose a guy, it will still treat him as a woman on the next page) and I thought it would make my character gay and we’d have a choice to say we didn’t really love the wife, cuz, well, we gay.
I just accept that my MC is bi and, now that he’s away with a mercenary band, doesn’t really feel the need to appear as hetero and is now exploring his sexually.

Tho the world didn’t really appear hostile towards non-straight relationships. I hope we get to see more of it and have this explored :0

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Ohohoho, I’m really loving the plot setup so much. Definitely one of the most original out there in the IF community so I’m looking forward to more of this.

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Thanks for the feeback! As I mentioned in another comment, I overlooked player choice during that backstory segment and will make the changes in the next update. Also, thank you for pointing out the bug, I just fixed it so it should work as intended now.

As for hostility towards homosexuality, there will definitely be some as I want to explore medieval tropes though not sure how far I will take it. We’ll see :stuck_out_tongue:

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Good luck with the story! That name makes me think of the website my kids used to play educational games on, I must admit.

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Appreciate the reply and that it came across in the manner I intended. I actually enjoy games where gender and sexuality can be important to the story. I just like being able to portray the internal response and reasonings for choices the character makes. And personally so long as there is at least a bittersweet/ happyish path but that’s really just a personal preference thing!

Alright to the favorite page on cogdemos.ink with ya then

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I keep getting an error after picking the 3 features for the character customization

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Really great so far I’m really enjoying it

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Sounds interesting

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could you tell what choices you made before that?

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It’s when you pick the the 3 distinct features last.

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did you pick male or female?

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Male, only way I could get around it was to pick the “Choose 3 distinctive features” option first.

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The premise does seem to have a few parallels to this WIP. :joy:

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weird I didn’t have the error. I’ll have to look more into it

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Congrats on posting your story, I’m enjoying your work thus far. Got some bugs and feedback to report.

Number one, you should probably put this in the Adult Content category since there’s some overtly sexual content. You can also have both this thread and a new one in the Adult section purely for the adult parts, but that’s generally for when sexual content is a big part of the game.

Bugs/Oversights
  • If you chose that MC wakes up next to puke (i.e. MC did not sleep with someone), you still get the scene for waking up next to someone. This also means no pronouns were set for MC’s fling, so you just get blank spaces there.
  • Memories surfaced with you, vivid as the water was cold. A $pgenderyoung’s voice rang in your ears—your own, from years past—as you once again stood at a different lakeside. Forgot your curly brackets here.
  • You stood helpless, armor cold against skin that had forgotten the warmth of theirs. Rowyn peeked from behind ${spouse_name}, her gaze curious and unsure, no longer recognizing the ${pc_parent} who’d left her as a babe. The daughter’s name is Rowyn here when it should be ${daughter_name}.
Feedback
  • I’m seconding the notion that we should have an option for how MC feels about marrying their spouse. Something like “we were best friends, I had to get married/have kids at some point, and getting married to each other was convenient for us both” would serve MCs that aren’t hetero or bi.
  • After the fight near the end, I’d like to have an option to compliment both of your buddies. It doesn’t have to give romance points or anything, but it currently feels like you either hit on one of them or act like a bit of an ass by not saying anything.
  • Very much a personal thing, but let us choose whichever Distinguishing Features regardless of gender. The work that would go into that long-term would depend on your implementation of them, I guess.
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