Sunset: a character-driven, pre-apocolyptic WIP

Ah alright, but it looks promising so far ^^

I enjoyed it, and will likely play the demo a few more times before a new version comes out. I kept up with most of the British-isms, but that “ballsy woman” joke is pretty obscure.

I am not a fan of how gender is introduced. If I’m a woman who doesn’t like high heels, I’ve accidentally reversed all my pronouns. Later on when you give us a choice of style for going out, it helped me see my character better; gender-via-shoes did not. So, a way to define our MC’s gender that doesn’t lock in something unintended about their image would be great.

Signed,
an American woman who sometimes wears Oxfords

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I have to admit, I heard “power-mad bastard with an Irish accent” and hoped he’d be an RO. So I think that’s a “no” on anyone being universally hated…

@Sashira thanks, they’re some really interesting points. What I was trying to do with the shoe thing is have a gender choice which is not just “are you male or female”, like I don’t ask the player straight for their sexuality because it’s clunky writing. Basically I just thought what would a stereotypical man/woman wear for first day at work. Would heels (rather than high heels) be better or is it just shoes full stop that’s the problem? Did anyone else have a problem with this?

Oh, and it’s Northern Irish :wink: the accent is ever so slightly different…

It did annoy me slightly that i had to pick the high heels option to determine my gender but i get why you would make this an option. The reason it annoyed me the most is that when i play i tend to make my character reflect myself and i have never wore heels and never will, using stereotypes for anything no matter how small is a turn off for me. Not to be nit picky but i would prefer an out right what gender do you identify as question then this.

oh i am enjoying the game btw :relaxed:

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I agree that hiding a character setting behind a concrete choice is neat; I’ve tried to do some of that in my game. The way it was written, it sounded like our character chose their shoes based strictly on gender; it would throw me less if it were some kind of uniform they had no choice about. How about something like, “You hate the dress code of your place of business, you can’t stand wearing…”
-A tie
-Pantyhose

Oxfords are like jeans in my mind - they’re unisex by now. Whereas, a woman wearing high heels says only slightly less about her style and image than a man wearing them. But even in the near future I could see ties remaining a male staple and can’t see why anyone would ever force men to wear hose, which are clearly Of The Devil.

Northern Irish! Are you sure I can’t date him? (I’m kidding, adding ROs to please everyone is impossible. I’ll probably go for Charlie and be happy with it.)

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Interesting game and different approach to start before ‘the end’.

Must agree about the shoes, at first I was a bit confused even though I did deduct high heels equal woman, even if I detest the things myself. Give me comfy shoes or give me none! :smile:

Perhaps @Sashira’s approach would work better, with tie versus pantyhose?

Overall, keep up the good job, @AlexClifford1994. :relaxed:

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i don’t like heels either, but i very well understand that in most jobs have a unwritten dress code and if you don’t abide it then don’t be surprise that no one talking to you, that is way I had no problem with it and plus, i mostly play as a male. :smiley:

I didn’t have problem with heels. I actually enjoyed that it’s not a straight forward question about gender but I do get why others can have problems with that cause I have a lot of female friends that strongly hate high heels and would never wear them.
And for the record I also feel that oxfords are rather unisex cause I also have them in my closet :wink:

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Would wearing them around your neck on a string count? :wink:

It’s very anatgarde :wink:

Aren’t ties often worn by women in Britain?

I think it would be best to have the MC say something about beind clean-shaved/having put on make-up and lipstick.

Just to let you guys know, there won’t be any update for a few weeks as I’m currently interrailing round Central Europe. Sorry! However, hopefully I will be inspired by my travels and write a bit while I’m away, at least that’s the idea!

Then I wish you best of luck and lot of inspiration! :smiley:

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Have a safe and inspirational journey – just don’t let thinking about the game derail your enjoyment of the trip. :grin:

The unique gender asking way was cool, yeah, but I picked brogues first time cause I didn’t realize it was gender! I just thought, “that sounds cool and boo heels.” But I can see that they’re not high, so yeah. Maybe I’m just dense. Also, I picked Jawara as a surname, but they keep calling me Onwura. It didn’t bother me b/c I prefer the latter, but I think there’s a discrepancy in the name thing there.

I really like Charlie. It’s probably just me, but why is Tom so snippy towards Jeremy? I thought he was nice my first playthrough when I spoke to him first, but didn’t stay in with him and Zoe. Then I spoke to Jeremy first and stayed with Zoe and Tom. And wow. What did Jeremy ever do to them?

Hi all, I am back now, had a great time, although I’ve had a really busy week or so, so my apologies for no further updates. Whilst I haven’t done a lot of writing I have done a lot of thinking and I’m really excited about where the story and characters are going (plus I’ve come up with a better, non-shoe related gender question!

That being said I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while for further updates, I’ve decided to enter the CS competition so Sunset will be on hold while I write for that. Once I get over being bemused by the theme of “lunar light” that is…

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It’s been 1 year and 29 days. Are you going to work on this WIP in the future or is it dead?

@IamnowShark just too let u know that its against the rules to comment on a thread that’s as not been talked about or have not been active for this long

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