The Wayhaven Chronicles: Book One (WIP)

Yeah, I hated when she was trapped on that other planet with the hot astronaut. That was so unfair to Fitz.

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Maybe it’s just me, but I imagine A as Germany from Hetalia, and N kind of like Stahl from Fire Emblem: Awakening. (Very similar personalities too.)

No set people for who I think M and F look like though.

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This game only needs one thing to be even better.

Killing vampires.

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I now want an option for MC to go total Helsing on the crew when they find out.

All crosses and garlic and running water, throwing salt canisters at them.

SHAH. GET BACK. FOUL SPAWN.

When that doesn’t work, they bring out the shotgun.

Then there’s a lot of yelling at mom.

MOM WTF

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You’re doing it wrong!

…Shotgun first.

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Then there’s a lot of yelling at mom.

MOM WTF

I keep thinking about the reveal and MC’s reaction and her Mother.

A: We realize you’re upset at us.
MC: Well I’m not happy that (whoever she/he’s dating) told me but honestly I understand why you didn’t want to tell me. However, I need to call the person who’s being keeping this a secret my entire life. (She/he grabs her/his phone and dialed a number).
N: Should we stop her/her?
F: No, I think we should make popcorn and enjoy the show.
MC: Seriously Mum, it’s bad enough that you didn’t tell me about working with the supernatural but instead of telling me that there was a vampire out to get me, you decided to send these to be my glorified babysitters. (Sheepishly address the the other four). No offense.
M: Actually I agree with you.

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Or ya know… they could just talk to mom first seeing as they work for her, so she would know about them.

Then if the MC is still paranoid, they can carry around crosses or garlic or whatever things they think would protect them or drive off the vamps. :wink:

@Sammysam I don’t have a problem with the placing of the talk about the promotion seeing as the detective can feel like they really did earn it. The MC may not have gotten the training they were expecting, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t work hard for it (if the player chooses). When you pick that option, it says that the MC worked hard, and it even alludes to the fact that even though you feel like you’ve earned it, there might, in fact, be another reason you were considered: “And though some say it’s only because the Captain needed someone in the station of a senior position, so as he could go off and play golf with the Mayor whenever he wants, I know I got it on merit.” So that didn’t exactly come as a shock when we got to talk about it later. For instance, if you pick Mason/Morgan to go on with patrol, they basically call your promotion bull**** because of how it went down. And you can choose your reaction to that as well. It doesn’t mean that the MC didn’t earn it; they could have worked hard for it even if the some the circumstances behind the promotion weren’t exactly kosher.

I don’t see this as a big secret as the game brings up or as some kind of lie, nor do I see it as invalidating any choice the player makes earlier. To me, it seems pretty apparent in the game because it tells you when you make the choice. I just feel like you get to talk about it a little more in depth later on.

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Thank you for keeping us updated, Seraphinite! :blush:

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Yes, after taking that choice and it treats this as rumour that may or may not be true, while chapter 6 words it much more as basically what happened.

And yes, MC can feel like they worked hard for it, the difference is that I would not take that option while knowing the whole story. (With the whole story in mind the only of the given options I could imagine to take by now is “Especially because I didn’t even want the promotion, the Captain forced it on me.”, except I play a very different kind of MC)

It’s not that this option makes no sense whatsoever it’s that the whole story changes the context of the choice. And I feel it’s not fair to ask it without giving this to us, because again, for me it means basically having to go back to fit the way I play the MC in a way that makes sense for me in such a situation, what in a published game means to basically restart the whole thing.

Maybe I’m just stupid, but for me it didn’t get that clear how the situation of MC’s promotion played out from the first few chapters until it got spelled out. In my mind around that time I had quite a different scenarion and a MC that would never describe their promotion the way MC did it during the talk with the ROs. However I think the whole context explains quite a few things, that in the beginning of the story annoyed me much (the seeming inconsitency between MC’s abilities, their position and self-appraisal for example), but it is just a lie to say that knowing this from the beginning wouldn’t have hugely influenced my roleplaying of the MC. Instead of imagine them as self-confident and competent (at least on the paper) as seemed to fit for their position, I probably would have imagined that as mostly a front to hide the internal screeching they probably started around the time of their promotion and that only intensified around the time they got this case and I would have adapted how I played the MC from the beginning.

See, the problem for me is that I felt like I lack too much of context in the beginning to get into the character in a way that won’t collide with the things preset of the story, because I just didn’t know that it was preset, macking my decision around that time to that topic just a shot in the dark instead of a deliberate decision. And that’s why I think it’s misplaced.

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I understand what you’re saying, and had a similar if not as strong reaction. Although for me it was more that I wanted to fire back at the accusation that I wasn’t qualified for the job. Expecialy since I had the scene with A and had done nothing but bicker with them so far. Well, and flirt, but that was just to get a reaction. Not because I’m attracted to her. I don’t like her at all. Nope. Not even a little. Certainly not because it gets me all hot when we fight or anything :flushed:

Anyway… I was a little disappointed that I just rolled over and admitted that the job I “worked hard for” was given to me on a fluke and that I didn’t deserve it. I think if we could defend our credentials a little we wouldn’t have to feel so blindsided and could maintain a more consistent character.

At least that’s how I felt. Is that close to where you are coming from @Sammysam?

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@Seraphinite has already stated that she’s not accustomed to traditional interactive fiction format and is writing in a novel-ish manner… In novels characters have been existing before story takes place and whatever they’ve done doesn’t affect the plot at all so I don’t think you have to be so concerned about that since all it would do is add an aesthetic to book/game and not much in terms of furthering or exploring the story… MC didn’t do anything or worked day and night for promotion doesn’t matter, he became detective end of the story it might have been due to some reasons like the chief wanted to remove burden off himself or prev one resigned due to personal (not concerning plot)reasons doesn’t matter its how things go on in small towns like Wayhaven (atleast in all fictional small towns)… The first murder might as well be first in 3 Decades so that might wanna be elaborated in a few dialogues making MC unfit whatever the circumstances of his promotion be

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It’s part of it yes, and one way to go about it, I think.

I just feel like I would be more happier with having the circumstances of MC promition mentioned earlier, because, like I said, while there are hints that show MC’s inexpirience, it felt until that moment more like a contradiction to the first impression I got from the MC and the things we could establish about them in a sense?

And it really is like I say, that the MC’s background does change much about how I interpret the character and how I play them, so there is that too. (I really can’t imagine them as that confident in their own abilities anymore, more self-conscious. What in itself is really nothing bad, because it feels like I finally got a grip on how to relate and understand many of the preset things about MC.)

@AmericanShakespeare I wouldn’t say it won’t change much as it helps to further the ability to imerge onself into MC’s role, what for these kind of games I think is a huge deal. MC’s motivations should be understandable and as it gets mentioned as something that can (in some of the conversations even has to) burden the MC in chapter 6 I think the game should own up to this.

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I don’t believe I could argue more about this because I’m more of a literary fiction guy than interactive fiction but I think some options that make MC in a dumb pride-ful bigot and some options that make him smart inexperienced detective would suffice because he must not be prepared for the case as that’s why he’s to ‘work’ with his mommy and a few visits or conversations from chief declaring his inexperience would make it (imo) believable… (not trying to make you mad and I’m not out for your blood or anything, just a healthy discussion :blush:)

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And why can’t your character be self-confident and competent? :confused: Perhaps that is why you were on the radar for the promotion instead of Tina.

So you would feel better if she just added a line like: Despite the rumor that I only got the job because the previous detective was leaving instead being based on my skill, I… [insert choice here]?

Because I would not play them that way, with their background in mind. That’s it. (And the game gives us very mixed messages of MC’s competence tbh. It just fits better if it’s lacking because of their lack in training, otherwise some of their reactions are just very hard to understand for me).
Because they would be super aware of the circumstances of their promotion and I feel it would fit better with the character I play and the way they get presented during the game (and yes, also because of the way it gets treated during chapter 6). It’s about being able to build a character that feels not like they would contradict themself/they way I view them if the game give those options to build the character. For me it would be no problem either if the game just preset those things because of the plot/the atmosphere it tries to build/because this is just the kind of story it tells tbh. That way I at least know what I can expect.

Well…Only if chapter 6 will be changed to treat it as a rumor too.
I also would say it should be stated generally more obviously that MC can be overwhelmed by the case not just because it’s the first murder in Wayhaven since before they seemingly got born, but because they are an easy aim to put the guilt onto should even more things end up going down the gutter and because they literally lack the formal training that should be expected by their position (either that or changing the conversation in chapter 6 so this won’t be the case, but I fear that would collide with what is planned for MC, because MC’s lacking expirience is one of the defining traits we as players can’t change, and so I think it should be acknowledged more that they also lack this expirience and training because of the way their promotion played out, because there is a difference between just lacking expirience and not even having the training for a certain position, because then people just lack certain formal structures they otherwise learned and for some people this is very stressful, not for all but for some… in my expirience actually many people panic if they get into situations without having at least an idea what theoretically would be the right way to proceed ).

Edit: Tbh I think I will excuse myself again out of this topic, as I don’t think I am capable of explaining my reasoning more in deep as I already did. Idk how many people feel the same or not and how many people just don’t care, but I said my part and how much of it @Seraphinite sees as important feedback is left to her as the author.
Maybe some of it was helpful, maybe not. But as this game has great potential (enough potential to feel me invested enough to bring up things that I know may don’t sound nice, as I otherwise really wouldn’t care enough to say anything that could end up with long discussions of me trying to explain and justify my subjective opinion), I thought I should mention those things that make it difficult for me to relate to the MC. As I’m only an exception it seems, feel free to ignore whatever I said. I anyway don’t feel like I have much more to contribute to the discussion.

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Can I just say that I really look forward to reading this due to Lady’s Choice (not the mayonnaise, but your awesome VN). Goodness, I wasn’t expecting that kind of quality from a free VN but you have my heartfelt thanks for giving me an entertaining afternoon. :smiley:

Will give as much feedback as I can with Wayhaven. Goodluck!

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Can you add more choice slash dialogue to be an utter and complete ass to everyone?

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Everyone else is just sitting in a corner, watching them fight, singing kumbaya. Maybe, we can roast some marshmallows here and discuss our favorite romance scenes so far…

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Well we don’t need to do that because hands down Nat has the best romance scenes so far🙂 compare to the others.

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And now I have to mourn this poor soul that clearly dint get to experience the A Jacket/Scarff scene.

https://bgcdn.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/6-18-Comfort-in-Mourning.jpg

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