The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - An affair of the heart (WIP) (Ch 6.1: 31 jan 2025)

Ahh. Yes, that makes sense. Thank you.

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It’s a bug (and Doriana is aware)! I also had the same surprise bisexual MC moment :rofl: But nah, you choose MC’s sexuality and if you chose to be interested only in men you should get only men in that scene.

@Doriana-Gray not sure if you fixed it yet, but in case you did, the bug is still there.

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Ye ye I get that, I just preferred how the text sounded with painted, and I meant more that that is how I imagined it. Also for some reason, I read tinted as more modern phrasing, but that’s prob just me? (not that it literally is more modern, I haven’t checked, but some words feel modern even if they aren’t).

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@ChildeDeschain @Kirlett
Ye I thought I had fixed that but I’m gonna double check it!
prob won’t be able to upload a fix for a while tho cause I am doing other things to that chapter that might break the game if I upload now. But it is a bug, yes.
Ok, lol i found it—I just forgot to add a sexuality choice in the skip to ch4 thing :woman_facepalming: :joy: Thanks for the heads up!

Niceee :face_with_peeking_eye: :smiling_face:

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I just found out that Vasily Livanov (the actor who played Sherlock Holmes in the Russian adaptation) is now in intensive care, this is very sad. I’ll go and replay the VIP game again to lift my spirits. Never fails.

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Oh, this is lovely! I think you do a really good job of getting into the head of Sherlock, where the books didn’t really since they were from Watson’s perspective. The way you examine the feelings that lead to the Sherlock we know and love is very well done.

I also really enjoyed the chance to go outside my normal character! I basically always play a charming, charismatic, empathetic character in IFs, but this was a chance to do something very different as I roleplayed (lady) Sherlock. I can’t wait for more! And Jane, oh, Jane, how she has stolen my heart.

I do have one suggestion! Could the sexuality choice be independent of the gender of the ROs? I had to choose bisexual because, while I/my Sherlock are strictly interested in women, I already know for sure I am going to be romancing Jane. With that in mind, I’d like to have Lestrade and Hamish be male and Adler be female, because that feels right to me for the story. I’m totally cool with male Lestrade and Hamish being interested in me, and people assuming I’m interested in them. In fact, I prefer it, it fits the period! But it would be nice to be able to set my own (Sherlock’s) sexuality independent of that.

That’s all! Absolutely lovely work, you’ve very much got me hooked.

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I’m so glad to hear you liked it :heart: :heart: :heart:

Having the choice of RO’s gender tied to the choice called “You are attracted to, or prefer the company of” is because the game uses a lot of romantic coded writing and subtext, and removing that is very time-consuming. It’s why only Watson has a platonic lock, and even there I have to very often do multiple fixes with each chapter to make that feel right for most players.

But—the choice doesn’t actually make it so your character is attracted to them, and it’s only partially a sexuality choice. It doesn’t lock you out from romance content outside of what you chose or ever references that in-game. If I were to do a sexuality reference, I would probably ask again in the game, to make sure.

I think for your desired game configuration, if you play with the choice “#Both men and women” and then pick Jane and femc, it should probably still work as you wish it. I try to not force the MC’s thoughts and feelings, so I don’t think it should be a problem :heart: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

(People often ask me to add the ability to break up the RO’s genders to per RO, but again, I often worry the romantic subtext of the writing as a romance genre-coded game will cause confusion. Maybe one day).

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Why was lestrade so mean :sob: my slightly weird and socially stunted sherlock did not deserve to hear allat

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I get you! I did do exactly that and it’s working perfectly well for me, I just thought having the option would be nice. I definitely wouldn’t expect platonic/romantic writing for all the characters. I appreciate the emphasis that it isn’t a sexuality choice and the thought you’ve put into it!

Can’t wait for chapter 6! :heart:

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:pensive: cause they jelly.

(No but honestly, it’s a lot of things, and most MCs do not deserve it. But that’s the point. It’s a point for you both to grow or deteriorate from. Hopefully I will be able to write a redemption and apology arc well enough for it to feel worth it to pursue for enough players. And even if players won’t attempt to reconcile at all, the moment still serves as a point of no return for L, and a moment where MC is harshly confronted with the negative thoughts of others on their vice and seemingly mental health).

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I’m all for L crawling back to apologize, but i hope it won’t be that easy. Like MC feeling like they didn’t do anything wrong, being too proud/hurt to accept the apology, etc. I also think that L isn’t the type to try and apologize more than once.
Well, we’ll see. Good luck with writing.

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:heart:

I hope to add different points of entry to some sort of warming up, forgiveness, or truce. But I shall have to see how possible it is, once we’re past the ball. Possibly it will only be three possible moments for changing the dynamic. At the ball, at a particular romance scene, and towards the end.

One issue is that if it doesn’t happen to some degree early enough, the players who play strong willed MCs can’t romance L for as much content. But I’ll probably just have to let that be that way—can’t control or save every player from every outcome.

But I will give the player and MC multiple ways to feel about this, and to act about it—and multiple reasons why one might move past it. I truly hope it will work out well :face_with_peeking_eye:

I like L’s ball scenes so far :face_holding_back_tears:

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I actually love Lestrade more for that moment. It was a good moment for him and my Sherlock to sort of drop their jokester(Sherlock)/unreadable(Lestrade) dynamic and see each other raw.

Now they can have a more real discussion and grow from there in their relationship.

To explain my thoughts and how I play my mc,

Summary

my Sherly is a book smart MC who jokes and is clueless about things like love. He never really had ppl get close to him in the past because he was so seemingly eccentric. So he’s completely clueless to flirting or interest shown by others and doesn’t fully get it yet that he’s attracted to Lestrade. He knows something is there between them, but hasn’t quite connected the dots with his feelings and love. (He’s literally at that childish stage of ‘I like you so I’m picking on you’)

And Lestrade, as we know, is dealing with his own traumas and self-hatred born from years of detective work. Plus anything else we don’t know yet.

So although my Sherlock can detail everything about you down to a fine list, he tends to fail to notice social cues or when he takes things to far. He lacks a filter on what he shouldn’t say out loud.

In this instance, Lestrade was inebriated and in a dark place mentally. (Depression is a mean bytch) My Sherly picked up on that dark mood and was concerned, but might have pushed to hard for answers while Lestrade was more agitated and expected Sherly’s usual jokes. So Lestrade snapped and verbally attacked, only to see the usual casual and teasing Sherly shocked to visual tears.

Both were in the wrong in a way, though Lestrade a little more.

Now that this has happened though, it’s given my Sherly time to start looking more closely at his own feelings and Lestrade time to better understand that Sherly does care. Of course, Lestrade needs to do a bit of crawling cause Sherlock has lost his confidence in their relationship where he felt secure to joke and be himself. He doesn’t know anymore if Lestrade ever saw him as a friend. But I think it’s the perfect springboard for them to now get closer.

Cause honestly, what bothers my Sherly most after their fight is the thought that his friends might secretly hate him and don’t see him as a friend.

Gasp wow, that was long. Apologies to those allergic to long texts. :rofl:

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I love that :heart: :heart: :heart:

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Oh, absolutely! My Sherlock was “wtf, I was trying to help, why are you yelling at me?”

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…I would really like on the Watson romance route if there was a tender scene where he has to patch up the MC.

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:eye::lips::eye:
Maybe. Perhaps.

Maybe they can patch us up and we them

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This is potentially a terrible idea, to announce this publically, but I’m trying to have the deadline push me into making sure I prioritise this enough to get it done in time— :face_with_peeking_eye:

Chapter 6.1 will come out around the new years, on Patreon! :sparkles::partying_face::balloon:

It’s not a long chapter, because I’ve been working on the whole of the ball at the same time. But it’s a fun little thing, and a lead-up for grander things! Furthermore, it’s to make sure y’all get something fun while you wait for the giant that is the 6.2 update :sparkles: Many fun W, H, and MC moments :heart::smiling_face: both romantic and platonic!

I also want to give away a Patreon membership when it launches to one of the Patreon free members! So make sure you sign up!

XOXO

– Doriana :heart:

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Is this the right place to mention bugs? In chapter 5.2, when Mrs Hudson asks the MC about dancing, in the last choice the “if” and “elseif” statements seem to be mixed up.

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TOP TIERRRR
honestly I made my Sherlock so stupid and its really fun lols

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