Oh oh, can we get to see Mycroft? Mc’s big brother? And can we setting our own height?
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I love love love this! The MC is very much a Sherlock and yet it still feels like my own character. I noticed several typos but I didn’t note all of them down unfortunately. The one I remember is when Sherlock asked an officer to fetch the barman, it says “the officer closes to you” instead of “closest.” In addition, when I set my body type to “average,” it didn’t show up in the stats, but it did when I chose “small.”
All in all, great job! The premise is ambitious and exciting, and the demo seems to be living up to the hype. So looking forward to seeing more of this 
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Athelney Jones is far too sexy to be an RO, no one would ever pick any of the others. 
It’s too bad that Gregson and MacDonald aren’t getting a seat on the love train, but for every character in the Canon there’s probably at least one real person somewhere, sometime, who’s secretly wished to romance them, and our author can’t include them all, sadly. I’ll have to write that OC x Mycroft fic myself (I imagine their romance consisting mostly of sitting around at home or the club, not talking to each other).
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Seems like a fun project; I’m interested to see where it goes. I quite like the way you’ve captured Sherlock’s self-destructive obsession, while still allowing for some flexibility in how an individual MC conveys that attitude—you seem to have struck a nice balance between honoring the source material and doing something new with it.
I’m gonna second @fool’s desire to determine RO genders independent of sexuality. This is something that always really bugs me in IF; I am not really interested in male ROs at all, but it’s also extremely immersion-breaking for me when every major character magically becomes female just for my perusal. If you want to leave an option for people to avoid being “spoiled” on the romance, I’ve seen some games go so far as to give you the meta-choice of how you want to set RO genders in the first place (making them all one gender, randomizing them, setting each individually, etc.), which might be worth trying here.
Re: allowing prejudice and gender/sexuality imbalances to exist in this world, I am honestly a really strong advocate for including that sort of thing if it interests you (so long as it doesn’t become overbearingly bleak), but I believe I am in the minority; a lot of people are partial to the escapism quality of IF. You might consider adding an option at the beginning of the game to toggle these interactions on and off? That way, the people like me who are interested in exploring this kind of landscape can do so, while the people who would rather just have fun can avoid it.
I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong with the save system. It’s not related to the startup file per se; any time any file gets updated, anybody playing through that content gets sent back to the beginning of the chapter. This is just an unavoidable part of how CS in general works (it happens in published games too, when an update gets pushed).
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Honestly,I’m amazed that this WIP got dropped with zero fanfare and then started blowing up like unstable TNT
Excellent work,Doriana-Gray
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I somewhat I agree with this. Trigger warnings and the ability to toggle off all these are helpful, Although it may just add more work on the author considering the fact that they’re still figuring out how coding works. Still if you plan to aim for the story to be more historically accurate, It will be the authors decision whether it will be included or not. Or maybe mild implications could be added as a middle ground for both opposed and not for it to be implemented.
Majority of the readers are here for the “escape” from reality itself and some purely for entertainment, I fall back with the former mostly, And i’d personally not want sexism, homophobia nor racism to be included as I find it troublesome to have to deal with it in-game, Yet it could still be an experience I could have and not face consequences in real life. Who knows?
(I apologize if this was rather difficult to read or poorly phrased, English is not my native language.)
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@fisheye Oh haha damn, I actually had an option between those options before—I think it said attractive or somewhat attractive. I’ll add it back 
@Sakinah_Saraswati I can’t promise you will meet Mycroft in person, but there might be some interaction of another kind 
I currently have no plans of implementing height, mostly because I have looked at some other creators codes and it always seems to create such a hassle. It might be safest to assume that Sherlock is of average to above-average height.
@CrayFoPottah I love your comment! Thank you so much, I have found the typo in the code and update it with the next update (because apparently updating code makes peoples saves stop working, which I did not know 
) The body thing is not an error, currently average makes the variable empty. Mostly because I considered a character saying “Sherlock’s average figure” felt almost insulting, while just removing the word felt more actually appropriate if one actually is “average”. Thank you!! 
@Tarlonniel 
I would read it!
@CorvusWitchcraft Wowowow, I love everything you just said! Thank you!
Alright, I like that suggestion for the ROs, I’ll look into it 
I do think it could work, maybe, as long as it is fun or more immersive than it is bleak. Toggling would be great, but I would have to consider the practical side of that before I promise anything 
Thank you, I had no idea. So if people play an actual published game they would still lose gameplay if it is updated?? That seems not great 
@Rune_Viryle I’m not really aiming for complete historical accuracy, more of a slightly more wholesome-but-still-murderous-late-1800s? Most “reactions” on sexuality or gender I have currently planned are positive, and if it is ever negative I would like it to be something that the player can in turn react to. I don’t think I will add reactions to skin colour, as I don’t really think I would be able to do that as well as it would need, and ethnicity is currently not an option. How would you feel about comments/reactions towards characters/ROs/MC if they are a lighter form of historical accuracy?
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I have never been a beta reader before but I love Sherlock Holmes (and old mysteries by people like Agatha Christie) and would love to beta read if you need a reader!
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The conversation you can have with Lestrade about prostitution is perfect and I love it. 
And boy, was it ever worth it!
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I feel like it will be a lot of fun with Lestrade. Bwahaha!
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Sure! I need all the help I can get Just DM me and your in
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It seems like the MC will soon be bound on a journey that will twist the very fabric of nature. However, there is no fragility beneath my MC’s mask of logic. He shall widen his gaze and steel his mind nonetheless.
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this is actually??? so good??? i was squealing and grinning like an idiot the whole time i was reading; for some reason the idea of being sherlock holmes absolutely completes my life. and the character creation is so detailed i love it!!! i really cannot wait for the next update, and lestrade is already one of my favourites you’re doing everything right!! i cant wait to see what you write next!
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Not much I could say, I think it would be somewhat interesting to implement and could retain some of the accuracy you wish to have. And honestly, I’m only invested with how the whole plot/story would turn out. So I’d say go for it!
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I am desperately waiting to meet Watson, but alas the demo ended. Whatever you make of your own abilities; I want to read more of it. Romancing Watson or Lestrade will be interesting for sure, but so will just playing the canon Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.
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I need more! 
I’m loving it so much:revolving_hearts:
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answers for your desired feedback list:
Would you prefer it if some of the character creator moved to a later part in the story?
I’m fine either way. But it surely helped me to enjoy the game, seeing the possibilities so soon.
Anything you would like for me to add to the character creator?
The MC’s height, maybe the option to wear glasses.
Future investigations will have the possibility of failing. Would a difficulty option help in that case, or is it unnecessary?
I’d like to at least have a checkpoint, just in case.
Would your player experience be improved with the option to make Watson non-binary, and what should their name be in that case?
Definitely YES. As I’ve said a hundred times in the forums, I really don’t like when there’s no NB ros (or at least, side characters) because being NB myself, I like to play with a NB MC and it seems pretty stupid that my MC is the only NB person on Earth. We’re not that rare. Regarding their name, I don’t think it HAVE to be a gender neutral name. Many people don’t even want to change their names. But if you really want to be safe and go with a neutral… Jay? Jesse? Jean? Jaden?
** Is the story too stressful or too slow?**
Don’t think so. Seemed pretty fine in pace to me.
This being the first case, I wanted it to serve as a tutorial, so I tried to make the killer clear. Was the killer still too obvious or not enough?
For a first case, I think it was fine. Not that obvious (I thought it maybe, maybe, could be the bartender. Discarded that thought quickly but the girl wasn’t the only suspect in my mind).
What were your feelings playing the game?
Well, I had fun. Not really a feeling, but a thought, was “I think this is gonna be good”. See, I’ve LOVED detectives since my childhood but I simply can’t enjoy Sherlock Holmes. Tried to read it but I hated that so much that I never even finished the book. Unpopular opinion, I know, but that’s how it is. But I like your game. You’re on the right way in my opinion.
Any favourite or least favourite moments?
I enjoyed customizing my MC! And the scenes with Lestrade were pretty funny.
Did you have fun or enjoy the experience?
Yes.
Did you dislike or enjoy playing a Sherlock who isn’t always the most normal or empathetic person?
It was… Different. To be honest, I got a little worried a few times. As I said, I don’t like the original Sherlock… And that goes for the character himself. Got worried it might be too similar with the book Sherlock, but I think I’ve managed to balance it well for my tastes.
Were the pictures a fun addition or an annoying distraction?
Don’t care either way.
Were there moments that completely took you out of the experience and ruined your immersion?
I got a little trouble when picking the copy mechanism. When I choose to stay at the room, a lazy, sleepy and bored Sherlock was not quite what I had in mind. Then I loaded the save file and choose another option. Another thing is that I don’t like the Sherlock to be like a nickname. I’d like to leave it as a last name, in fact. “MC’SNAME Sherlock”.
I know that some of the “humorous” options have a very different tone to the rest of the game. I would like to hear your opinion on them (if you clicked on any of them).
I won’t lie, they seemed out of place. But that didn’t bother me that much. As I said before, Lestrade’s scenes were funny. I can handle a comedy-mystery. I’m a GREAT fan of Scooby-Doo, after all. But if this wasn’t your intention, maybe you should review it.
I am planning on adding some specific content depending on sex and sexuality, which could be unfavourable but also allow the player to express their reaction to this, any tips on how you would want that handled? (Example: if two people of the same gender have to share a room they might have to say they are cousins, or if a woman enters a male-dominated area they might experience reactions.)
My tip would be the same I always give: play Heart of the House and see how YOU feel about it. I love that game and for me it’s the most complete reference of what can be done in those situations. However, that’s a delicate matter that varies a lot between people so please don’t take my word as absolute.
(To people playing as non-binary characters): Would you like to choose the sex you were born as? Or how you are viewed? And if I think I could make some interesting content on that, would it be okay to have some characters (intolerant/rude or characters who do not know you) address you as the born sex/ presented sex of the character—and then add content of some of the possible struggles in a semi-realistic-slightly-more-wholesome 1800s British society?
Once again a quite delicate and very subjective matter. I don’t really mind it on games that happens in the past. Specially if I can give the people some good answers. Or punches. For other people, it can be a very bad trigger. My suggestion would be to make a version where we can choose our assigned gender at birth, where people could be rude and one where the MC is non binary and, period, that’s about it, no one will say a thing. But I guess this would mean much more work for you. The safest route would be the one where people aren’t rude and no one have a single business with the MC’s assigned gender, I guess. Way less chances of hurting people. So if you want to play it safe, go for this one. I would like to play with people’s minds about my MC’s gender, tho. Kinda do this in real life and love seeing their binaries little brains burn trying to fit me in one single place. But this is about many more people, so I maintain what I said: better play it safe. Dunno, maybe you’ll get more answers, I can’t talk for the whole community.
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the amount of detail in this game is insane!! mad respect to you my friend!!! absolutely loved the demo, i cant wait for more! <3
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I really like it so far.
You should maybe add a back system during the creation character. Especially with how we cope with boredom, to see exactly what mean something.
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