The Dark Order [updated 30/06/2022]

@Den @TheYaoiEmpire

There is room for both paradigms and everything in between.

Personally, I have seen other titles with similar elements, so I don’t think it will scare anyone away. There will simply be people who prefer not to have so many game elements, according to their personal taste.

ChoiceScript is a language that allows you to explore many different approaches and build many types of games. As a fan of roleplaying games, I’m trying to write an adventure whose rules have gameplay elements familiar to other fans of the genre, but I hope that even those who don’t usually play RPGs will have no trouble playing (just play default characters instead of costuming them and just focus on the story).

I… would love to know how you define player agency, if the ability to choose how a story goes is not included in it.

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never said that. That being the only element as in the player not having any real input outside of it, predetermined etc.

Ah, I probably misunderstood then.

Will there be a cleric type option? I don’t want to overwhelm ya with adding another class to write for and all that. Just curious. I personally love cleric type characters. Communing with gods n all that fun stuff lol. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to this world you created.

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@Shadyaddams
There are no plans for that class. However, it is possible that the Holy Warrior (paladin) subclass could have that kind of (divine) interaction.

I finally updated the demo!

The whole game engine was rebuilt and the combat system has been redesigned to offer the player choices during the action. Still missing the paladin and ranger spells, rogue special actions and rogue and mage companions.

Right now the most complete class to try out is mage.

Note: the rules of the game are available, but it is not necessary to know them.

I will try to quickly finish chapter three and implement a testing system that allows to play any single chapter.

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Let’s me play as a tiny ball of hatred (halfling necromancer), I very much approve, keep up the great work!

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Since it’s DnD-inspired IF, I’d say gnomes are worse(or better, if you wanna go for chaotic evil). Everyone hates gnomes cos they’re annoying

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It took some time, but there is a new update!

  • New spells and abilities have been implemented. Each subclass now has access to two spells/abilities in combat (except for mage subclasses, which have three). As the main focus will not be on combat but on immersion in the story and the choices that will influence it, in the final version there will be no more than four or five spells/abilities for combat;
  • It is now possible to jump directly to a chapter of the story for testing purposes (we can choose some parameters, but others will be set by default if we don’t start at chapter 1);
  • There is a new interlude that introduces an important character.

I also have finished writing the full synopsis of the whole book!

Here’s what’s planned:

There will be seven chapters (although the sixth chapter will break into four). Chapters 1 and 2 (already available) will be by far the smallest (no longer having significant changes) and the fifth chapter will be the largest.
There are 17 main NPCs that interact with the player, 11 of which will be able to team up with the player in the latter part of the book (it will be a party of five, so there are various combinations).
There will be many dramatic and impactful choices, and the player profile (in terms of kindness and leadership) will be important and lead to different outcomes.
Probably the title of the book will change.

With the game mechanics finished, my work will now focus on writing, writing and writing. I hope that very soon I’ll be able to make chapter 3 available.

Current Spell List

Paladin

Inner Shield - An aura protects you during combat, absorbing a certain amount of damage until exhausted.
Combat Heal (Holy Warrior) - Use divine strength to regain health points during combat.
Retribution (Dark Knight) - Your thirst for revenge is unleashed, causing you to inflict additional magic damage each turn until the end of the fight.

Ranger

Spiked Vines - Conjure a poisoned vine with thorns, which sprouts from the ground and binds your opponent’s legs. For three turns, your opponent receives damage and can only deal half damage.
Distract (Beast Master) - Your companion sneaks up on your opponent with two surprise attacks that deal low damage. During this distraction you can attack the enemy twice without response.
Double Strike (Hunter) - You perform an attack against two opponents at the same time or, if there is only one, strikes twice (if you use a bow, that means shooting two arrows at the same time). Train this skill to increase the damage of the second hit.

Rogue

Quick Strike - Perform two attacks consecutively against your opponent. Requires a one-handed weapon. The second attack cannot miss and it’s damage depends on your Quick Strike training.
Quick Step (Thief) - An attack that deals a lower damage but confuses your opponent, leading it to attack an ally on the next turn. If there are no other enemies, your opponent misses a turn.
Killing Blow (Assassin) - Try to hit one of your opponent’s vital organs. If you succeed, your enemy is left with only one health point. Train this skill to reduce the energy cost.

Mage

Frost Bolt - A bolt made of ice which is cast towards an opponent, dealing damage.
Magic Armor - Summon a magical armor that increases your protection for the rest of the fight.
Life Shift (Necromancer) - Cast a beam of vampiric energy that always hits, causing damage and returning half that damage as health to you.
Wave of Fire (Evoker) - A wave of flames shoots from your hands, burning everything in front of you and dealing damage to all opponents.

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For me the game stops working right after the second fight. Is that where the demo ends now or is it a glitch?

That seems like a ass ton of work

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@Nexus_Knight

Fixed!

@Shadyaddams

The game should end with a specific message:

“Thank you for playing the Dark Order demo!..”

I made a fix today that may be related to this behaviour.

Hello @nocturno ! Something is wrong with the demo. I played as a wizard, but the game abruptly ends going to play again page. First, it was when I was choosing which two traits to upgrade after meeting the Master. Then, I restarted the demo and it happened again after I decided to power up my shield in the very first fight with bzorgs (in the forest with two soldiers).

Hi @Mei_Hiroshi,
Thanks for playing the demo (or at least trying :grinning:).
Was any error message shown or did it just jump to the beginning? I couldn’t replicate that error, could it have been something to do with the browser cache or something?

No, there was no error message to indicate anything. And my browser cache seems fine too.

It did fix that problem! :blush:. Thank you :blush:. Although I noticed when I try playing a ranger, it doesn’t register the bow as a weapon. I have to fight with the silver dagger or short sword instead.

I’m glad it’s working now! Thanks for the input about the ranger.

About the bow: In my imagination, the use of the bow is to be able to shoot an arrow before the opponent gets close. Then you draw your sword or dagger for the fight.

Only as a ranger you can use the bow in melee because this class is trained for point-blank shooting, but that happens only if you have no other weapon in the inventory.

I thought about being able to choose the weapon you want to use each turn but it didn’t seem so realistic to me to switch between weapons during a fight.

Another possibility is, after the initial shot, to allow the ranger to continue fighting with the bow or to draw another weapon (discarding the bow) but using only one of the options for the rest of the combat.

I posted this problem on the forum. In fact that behaviour can happen if I am updating the game at the same time as you are playing it.

I apologize if that’s what happened. If you happen to try it again, please let me know if the same error occurs.

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