I also have a huge negative connotation to obedience, and I like “questioning” though trusting/curious or skeptical feels like it might fit well too?
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I do like Devoted, but its closeness in sound to Devout gives me pause: I don’t want to suggest godly devotion in that, or to imply that the opposite implies lack of loyalty to Vastan. (You will be able to be loyal or disloyal to Vastan regardless of where you are on that stat, whatever it ends up being called.) Perhaps Dutiful might cover what I’m gesturing towards: I would like to steer away from the docile/naive connotation that might come with Obedient.
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Oh! Dutiful is a great option with more neutral connotations!
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Non-monogamous / poly options in the game
Some of the romanceable characters can be romanced non-monogamously. This is the most complicated polyamorous setup I’ve written so far in a game, so I’m looking forward to how it plays out once I get there!
More below, under a tag for those who’d prefer to go in without prior knowledge:
Non-monogamous romance options
- Armell is monogamous and they’re happy to romance someone who doesn’t want to sleep with them; if they are sleeping together, they want to have an emotional connection.
- Kiriyak is happy to romance someone who doesn’t want to sleep with them; they’re also happy to sleep with someone non-romantically. Although they enjoy sex, they’re not particularly motivated by it. They don’t require a strong romantic or emotional connection, but they do require a mutually respectful one. Kiriyak can be romanced monogamously or non-monogamously.
- In most cases Nikita is monogamous and they don’t want to be in an open relationship or in a V relationship, although they can be non-monogamous under some circumstances. Currently they’re avoiding romance, but can grow close with a PC over the course of the game. They’re happy to romance someone who doesn’t want to sleep with them, but it would be important to them to be physically close with their partner.
- Roschin can be romanced monogamously or non-monogamously. They’re happy sleeping with someone outside of a romantic relationship; sex is important to them, but if they’re close with a PC who doesn’t want to sleep with them, they’ll romance them if the PC’s happy with Roschin sleeping with other people.
- Val can be romanced monogamously or non-monogamously and they’re happy with a casual or romantic relationship. In general their default approach is non-monogamous, but they’ll happily be monogamous with a PC with whom they’ve formed a strong connection.
Possible poly connections
- Nikita/MC/Val can happen under pretty specific circumstances that I’m keeping under wraps for now. They’re romanceable as a triad, romancing each other as well as the PC.
- Kiriyak/MC/Roschin can happen, either as a V or a triad. In the case of a triad, they’ll romance each other as well as the PC.
- Kiriyak/MC/Val can happen as a V: Kiriyak and Val aren’t interested in each other.
- Roschin/MC/Val can happen, either as a V or triad. In the case of a triad, they’ll sleep together with or without the PC, but aren’t particularly romantically connected.
- Kiriyak/MC/Roschin/Val can therefore happen as a polycule; Kiriyak/Val don’t romance each other or sleep together, and Roschin/Val may sleep together but don’t romance each other, but the PC is romancing and/or sleeping with all three.
All these relationships are of course contingent on the PC’s actions within the plot! There are lots of chances for the PC to break romances, or for the PC’s actions to mean that the NPCs aren’t on good terms, with varying levels of drama surrounding the situation.
And when I say “drama”, I mean “the PC will be able to become enemies with some of these characters, ruin the life of and/or kill at least one of them, and all of them will be at risk of death by the end of the game”.
At the moment I don’t have plans for NPCs getting together if the PC doesn’t romance them, or for the PC matchmaking. I’ll see how that feels down the line, though: it might be that it feels like the characters have a lot of chemistry if the PC gives them a nudge.
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Not interested in polyamory myself, but it’s interesting to learn more about the characters’ differing approaches to romance. I really want to know why Nikita is avoiding romance - would I be right in guessing it’s connected to the reason they’re so withdrawn?
That… would definitely fall under the definition of drama! Seems like we’re in for quite a ride.
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I really like the setting! It caught me with the first paragraph and stayed beautiful the whole way through. I love the details you gave the natural environment and how integrated the MC’s story felt with it.
I did multiple runs, but this was my initial stat block:
I was unprepared for taking a bit of pelt to involve cutting skin and not just fur! Did the variation with the tongue next because I was testing sequentially and I regret everything. (I stopped going up the list after the eye because it was just too painful.) Well-written and described though! Deeply visceral descriptions.
Screenshots of small things
Typo of “hit”? Occurred on the path where the MC warns Nikita and Issi immediately without second thoughts.
Missing italics on the last clause? Only occurred on the path where the MC was thinking about hiding Vastan’s presence after the storm. (But I may have missed some variations.)
Since it’s the exact same, then why does the MC say they’ve never heard the festival name specifically? Isn’t that the only part that would be familiar? I’m confused.
After waiting for Merle to talk in the passageway: getting this response feels much more cryptic than the similar line that occurs when the MC speaks first. I’m not sure why. Got mildly distracted and bogged down by it on this path.
I really liked this. Left me devastated for unknown and inarticulate reasons. My favorite set of lines in the whole game.
A more complicated note
The first time I played, my choices led me to the library with Alyona. I later chose to sweep the gardens on the way to Vastan. Which means that I only encountered two NPCs the entire time I was there. This made the monastery feel very empty in contrast to any other variation of routes (going to the kitchen in beginning | moving through the library/kitchens during attack.) While the MC still references other guardians, the lack of any encounters with them on this specific path left me assuming that there were maybe 5 or 6 people in Tulara.
The ripple effect was that by the time I found Alyona’s body in the end of chapter 2, the MC’s reaction to her being alone and separated from the others felt a bit weird. Especially since she introduced alone and last seen alone. The only named person I knew of likely to have been accompanying her was the very injured Merle. (Also last seen alone, so even the assumption that the two of them escaped together would be pure speculation on the MC’s part.)
I was surprised by how much more lively and lived-in the mountain felt when playing through other routes. Even ones that only slightly varied, like returning to the library and encountering the child – since the mere presence of a kid also indicated that this must be a larger community. The MC’s reactions suddenly made much more sense and I felt a greater emotional connection to how their life must have just changed. Everything snapped into focus.
But the first time I played I got the impression that there were maybe 5 or 10 Guardians in total.
I don’t have a screenshot of it, but I really like how you integrate the player’s chosen name into the option to confirm it. That felt more personal than a simple “confirm/yes” option; like I was really committing to the MC as an individual each run. A tiny detail, but I really appreciated it.
Overall, I loved the whole thing! Excited to play more!
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@Haflaen Yes, the characters definitely have different approaches/feelings about romance which is a lot of fun to explore!
@valence ahaaa I’m sorry about the gore (but also glad it was effective!) Thank you so much for your kind comments and feedback. I’ll go through and fix the errors and clarify stuff that needs it. What you’ve mentioned about how empty/crowded the monastery feels on different branches is interesting - very much something I’d not considered with my non-fresh eyes, and I’ll tweak things to make it more clear/less unintentionally varied. Really helpful, thanks again!
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April Progress Report #2
This fortnight has involved a great deal of going through feedback from players and from my editor. The feedback has been immensely helpful - I have a 14 page document of commentary, plus the notes from my editor - but having a lot to do combined with not having very much work time available hasn’t always the most comfortable way of working.
Besides which, it’s especially hard being trans in the UK after the last few days and I’d be dishonest if I said it hasn’t had an impact on work.
Still. I’m continuing to make my queer games and hopefully they’ll bring people fun and satisfaction.
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Next up
I’m taking a break from the 23rd until the end of the month, and I’m aiming to finish my revision and maybe get the chunky expansion to Chapter 2 drafted before then. Fingers crossed for getting over the finish line with that!
Also, I wrote a couple of posts on Tumblr about what I like about playing as a nonbinary character in games, and a follow-up about erotica about nonbinary MCs. The latter is NSFW as you’d expect from the subject matter! Take a look if you’re interested - I’d like to edit them and put them up on my own blog when I have a moment.
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Thank you for those blog posts! They are very useful (even if Tumblr is being difficult again).
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Tumblr is often difficult! I’ll definitely neaten them up and put them on my own site so it’s easier to find/link to them 
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Fortnightly chaos progress report
I entirely forgot to post one of these two weeks ago because I was in the middle of a seven-hour train journey - still, here I am!
I’ve been doing a great deal of editing and adding new stuff! This has involved later chapters too, and mostly Chapters 1 and 2, for which I put up a Patreon update this week. It’ll be going up publicly in June.
I’m really excited about it! It explores more about the first encounter between the PC and Nikita and Issi, adds some more tension into the first chapter, and I think it flows more evenly.
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I also have some news. For a very long time, I’ve been working on an outline for a secret project. I’ve finally started work on the project this month!
This other project is going to take priority over The Earth Has Teeth drafting, so I’m going to spend some time figuring out what I can share when about the two projects. It’s under NDA so I can’t say anything more at the moment, but I’m very proud to be doing it and when the time comes to share more I hope you like the sound of it! I had quite a bit of imposter syndrome about the whole thing, but now that I’m in the zone with it, I’m feeling way more confident and like it really suits me.
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Thank you for your continued feedback and support! I hope you have a great weekend!
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Good luck with the new project!
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Thank you, it’s been lovely to get into it!
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Not going to lie, I’m a bit sad to hear that this game isn’t going to be your priority for the time being; this is definitely my most anticipated WIP at the moment. But there’s still the update in June to look forward to. Best of luck with the secret project!
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@Haflaen That really means a lot, and I’m immensely grateful for your feedback and enthusiasm - it’s really helped me figure out things that need prodding and polishing and where I can make changes to foreground the things that I want to! I feel like you really get what I’m aiming for with the game and that’s truly lovely - and so helpful as well.
But thankfully, because of doing this full-time I’m hoping that it won’t be too long before I will be sharing more of The Earth Has Teeth - and writing more of it too, whenever I can. I absolutely love the world and characters, and have every intention of writing all the way to the end.
@JBento Hahaha you’re delightful! Thank you for the enthusiasm, I hope it won’t be… too long to wait? (I have no idea when it’ll be, sorry 
)
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If that’s true, it’s only because what you’re aiming for happens to coincide with what I’m hoping for. But once again, I’m glad you’ve found my feedback valuable!
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I just read the demo and I’m liking it, wonderful fantasy post-apocalypse.
Stats
Vastan piece held: tooth
Health: 70
Supplies: 3
Connect: 35
Discover: 61
Endure: 35
Oppose: 35
Recall: 58
Planner: 68
Passionate: 46
Pragmatic: 45
Questioning: 34
Initial pre-game activity: mapping a spring
Room item picked up: stuffed tiger
Rooms swept: library
River crossed: true
Herb-gathering success: gathered pear orchid, snow lily, tiger-wasp orchid, silver root
Deceased Guardian: Alyona
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Ahh thank you so much, that’s greatly appreciated! I’m really pleased you enjoyed 
Amusingly you caught me just as I was about to post about an update, so watch this space in a few minutes…
Oh dear, and here I am with a bunch of paperwork I need to finish today…
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