Thank you SO much! I got some reports of an error during this scene but I didn’t know exactly what variable was causing it, so I had trouble locating the issue. Turns out I forgot to add the variable to the startup file and thank you for letting me know about the second problem, too!
I’m in the middle of adding more pronoun options for the MC (they/them + custom pronouns), so I can’t update chapter 2 with the fixes just yet without messing up some of the code. I’ll make a post once everything’s finished and the error fixes have been added. Thank you again!
EDIT: Actually I realized this makes no sense since I just have to upload the startup file and not the chapter 2 file in order to fix the bug. My brain’s tired the bug should be fixed now!
@Alvin_Chi1 Thank you so much! There are no poly routes planned for this story, unfortunately. I love poly content, but I’ve already got so many different kinds of relationship dynamics in mind for TSS depending on your choices, personality etc. and adding poly routes would mean a ton more work. Sadly have to draw the line somewhere for my own sanity’s sake haha.
I’ve fixed some chapter 2 bugs and errors now and added they/them pronouns to the game. Custom pronouns will take a little longer since I’m still looking into how to add them
I also completely forgot to add the artwork of female Jaelyn I commissioned a while ago, as voted on by my Patreon members. Here it is!
The clothes are different than what I put in their description since I hadn’t settled on any particular attire for them.
Agree - He was the one part that stood out as odd to me. So he was a former high school classmate, and now is a convenience store clerk MC occasionally sees while running errands? Small town w few people in their age group so they’re passing acquaintances/friendly enough? Sure, that makes sense, got it. But then MC has a bizarre interaction w him in which he makes it clear he’s been observing her / her routines, wastes her time when she’s clearly indisposed, and just generally ignores all boundaries / rules of polite, normal human interaction. Then you get a choice as to what your relationship was like in HS, and even though I picked the one that says “you were indifferent to his existence” it doesn’t appear to have any effect on the narrative. Then he shows up trespassing at the house during a crisis, acting like it’s all harmless tee hee hee and is somehow surprised MC wants to call 911? And he is apparently deeply betrayed when MC isn’t buddy buddy towards him later with everyone else?
Idk, if my local Starbucks barista / former HS classmate showed up at my family home in the middle of the night, I think I’d be prettttttttttyyy alarmed and would probably want to stay far, far away from that person. He reads like a potential stalker / threat to me more than anything else. If there were some sort of preexisting friendship noted, I could maybe understand it, but as it is now, I was just left mildly annoyed, confused, and wondering if I’d missed something. I haven’t read the original though so maybe I’m missing some nuance!
Other than that though I really enjoyed it - lovely work!
Hey! I finally got around to reading this IF and I love it! One bug that I noticed tho, is that at some point, I’m chapter two I believe, our personality description disappears completely.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts I definitely understand the uneasy feelings surrounding/outright dislike for M. However, there should be changes in the narrative depending on how you view them with additional or differing options later on. This story does have a lot of variables, though (I think I’ve got more of them by chapter 3, which I’m currently working on, than I had in the entire original version of the story ) so it’s very possible that I might’ve forgotten to account for certain scenes or that there are bugs which show the wrong scene etc. If you have any specific interactions/scenes in mind where you thought “I’d want to answer differently here” or “this doesn’t align with how my MC views M” (doesn’t have to be M in particular, though), I’d love to hear about it and re-check the code as well as potentially add more options or alternative scenes!
One of my top priorities for the remake other than adding more to the story, characters and relationships is to add reactivity and make the narrative respond to your choices. It’s very important to me that players feel like their choices stay consistent and I promise that if there are places where they don’t seem all that consistent, that’s definitely not done on purpose.
The “M feeling betrayed part” should also only occur if you outright say you don’t care what happens to them or stay quiet and let the others do whatever they want when they beg for your help. I might need to add some more nuance there though since the game currently reads M as either being okay with/liking you or not after that particular scene. Thanks for pointing it out and for sharing your opinion overall
@eTootsi Oh that’s weird, I’ll have a look at that. Thank you for letting me know! I’m really happy you enjoy the story so far
Makes sense to me! Maybe if you pick an indifferent choice when you first encounter M, there could be some line like “ugh he’s been annoying you since you were kids but he’s ultimately harmless” and that might make M feel like less of a creep? And yes, I did pick the extreme option leading to him feeling betrayed but it was because at that point I was just so annoyed by his continued presence after blowing him off at every opportunity that I just wanted him gone hahah
Great work and I look forward to reading more! And I love that one of your best friends is also a big M hater !
A new commission, this time of Rheylo, that was uploaded to my Tumblr a short while ago.
I’ll probably add the portraits to the intro post with the option for people to click to see them or not at this point
All portraits that have been made thus far has been voted on by my Patreon members (except for the Azuridian one which was voted on by my Tumblr followers).
(a slightly edited version of the Tumblr update which was posted earlier this month)
I’ve now updated the title of the remake (and this thread) to include “book one”. I should have included that before releasing the original version of this game, and honestly have no idea why I didn’t. I can’t remember, but I think I was playing with the idea that the sequel (and third entry, as was originally planned but now most likely won’t be the case) would have different titles - but to make things easier I’ll probably just go with “The Shadow Society: Book One” and “Book Two”, whenever the sequel is released. I know it’s long overdue, but I think this transparency is important and I’m really sorry for not adding it to the original.
I’m still working on chapter 3, which is currently around 40k words. That makes the entire game so far roughly around 160k words (if I’ve counted correctly, I don’t trust myself with numbers)! Progress has felt very slow, but apparently I’ve written around 3k words in a little more than one and a half weeks now that I’m looking at the wordcount and comparing it to the number I reported on Tumblr earlier this month. January tends to feel pretty sluggish for me, but I’ve been a bit more inspired and productive these past few days and hope it stays that way
I’ve added a new NSFW tier on my Patreon as well. If you want to know more about that you can visit my Patreon or read the post I made about it on my Tumblr
I like the diversity of that characters and the shadow world is such a cool environment! It’s a metaphor of what we rally are and what we are hiding. The self that we show to the others and what we hide to the shadows!
Okay, yep. Definitely locking into The Masked Lady being my main romance, omfg she’s so pretty… insert gay simp noises
All around great art though, Retired Peach ftw.
I really love the portraits you have posted so far! I haven’t seen any recent posts on any of your platforms regarding and upcoming updates. Is there an update we can expect soon? I know how challenging it is to rewrite something and juggle life, so if we have a bit before more comes out I understand. I’m excited to see MC’s relationship progress with A.
@Pogonia7 Thank you so much I love your take on it!
@YungSanguis Haha YES, they’re such a good artist thank you
@Taylor_Tackett Thank you, I really appreciate your enthusiasm and understanding I post regular progress updates on my Patreon (which is currently paused during April and May, but updates are still relatively frequent on there). But it might be time for a general update, too! I’m still working on chapter 3 and have done since October, iirc. With that unreleased chapter included, the game is now roughly 200k words. It’s a chapter with quite a lot of character interactions and branching so it takes a long while to write but I’m having a lot of fun doing it. Since I’m also busy all day and have a full time occupation most of my writing takes place during the weekends. I try to get some time in for it in the mornings though that doesn’t always work out. I’m hoping it’ll be done in May, but I’ve given way too optimistic time estimates before, so we’ll see! It’ll be released for Patreon members first, but I’ll make sure to make an announcement on here when it’s publicly available. I could also make an announcement here when it’s up on Patreon, of course.
I’m not sure what you mean? The currently released version is publicly available and has been since 2020. In that one you can’t pick the Shadowman’s gender. He is locked to male.
This thread is about the remake. I’m rewriting the entire story from scratch. You can find the demo for the remake in the intro post. In the remake you get to choose the gender of ‘the Shadowman’ (who has been renamed in the remake) during the prologue. It’s the first choice you make after picking your name etc., though it’s described as picking the quality of a voice and it’s initially not clear who that choice is about hope that clarifies things!
and thank you for letting me know about the second problem, too!
the bug should be fixed now!
the artist is incredible and super nice. I really recommend them if people want to get commissions!
I definitely understand the uneasy feelings surrounding/outright dislike for M. However, there should be changes in the narrative depending on how you view them with additional or differing options later on. This story does have a lot of variables, though (I think I’ve got more of them by chapter 3, which I’m currently working on, than I had in the entire original version of the story 
!
thank you 
but I’m having a lot of fun doing it. Since I’m also busy all day and have a full time occupation most of my writing takes place during the weekends. I try to get some time in for it in the mornings though that doesn’t always work out. I’m hoping it’ll be done in May, but I’ve given way too optimistic time estimates before, so we’ll see! It’ll be released for Patreon members first, but I’ll make sure to make an announcement on here when it’s publicly available. I could also make an announcement here when it’s up on Patreon, of course.