The Worlds of One Man [WIP]

[AnnaNazabi]

Hi everyone!

I’d like to share my new WIP with you.

You are the firstborn child of the king of Burkats. Like every other kingdom, Burkats is ruled by Zezmar—the ultimate source of law. You are destined to inherit the throne, a fate you’ve never wanted—though perhaps one day you will. A free spirit and a scout, you travel far and wide, usually accompanied by your friend Ainiki, an Athanin of the long-lived Athan race. Your younger sibling dreams of the crown, but as the second-born and burdened with fragile bones, they stand no chance.

The game begins with you returning from one of your solitary expeditions, a journey that lasted a year and a half. Needless to say, everyone is likely to have something to say about your prolonged absence. Ainiki most certainly will. But something other than homesickness has brought you home: reports of disturbing events in the neighboring lands of Dunghaj, where piles of corpses have begun to appear.

And this is where your adventure begins.

In the end, it may become a struggle for power… or a fight for freedom. What you do with your life is entirely up to you. Along the way you will also have to decide where your heart belongs. Will it be Ainiki, your longtime friend and trusted companion? Or Waro, one of the four immortal brothers—an enigmatic envoy and instrument of Zezmar? Perhaps Serfina, currently training to become a military commander at the Stamp Academy? Or Zaidor the Bold, the mercenary commander who recently seized Atha’liles Island? Maybe Lewart, the alchemist you’ve known since you were young, or Natei, a rather unpredictable girl who still hates you.Or someone you have yet to meet.

The road ahead will be long and arduous.

All writing and artwork in the game are my own.

Please read the content warning before playing.

Current word count: 31k

Demo

I’ll do my best to make the game clear and understandable even without the extra lore. But without it, you might lose some of the context, though.

You will find it on my Tumblr

Later on also on my Patreon.

I’d really appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance!

[Elijuneau]

I like the initial premise, and the setting seems pretty cool still pretty short, but I will follow this. I find myself feeling like I missed an initial “guide to Burkat” or something, though, and we got thrown into the action almost immediately before establishing the setting.

[AnnaNazabi]

Thank you so much!

As you mentioned, there’s no guide in the game at the moment. I don’t know, maybe I should add a bit more exposition, but I didn’t want to bore anyone. I’m cramming as much information as I can into the blog. There’s a timeline of events, descriptions, a dictionary, and a map. Quite a few things are still missing, unfortunately, but I’m adding more as I go.

I’ll be bringing up certain facts in the game, of course, but I don’t want it to break immersion. The full descriptions of the character’s appearance will be added to the game during an interactive flashback in the New World. Because, obviously, I love flashbacks.I’m working on it.

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[Elijuneau]

You could put it into the blog, but I think it needs to be in the game in some bit too

I like where this is going, though. Are you going to put more on your Patreon?

[AnnaNazabi]

That’s a good point about the worldbuilding! I’ve put quite a bit of thought into the lore of this world, so it’s sometimes hard to know how much to share without overwhelming the player.I guess I was so worried about that that I might have gone a little too far in the other direction and ended up sharing too little information. I’ll definitely keep that in mind as I continue developing the game.

I’m still figuring out the best way to tell this particular story through interactive fiction, so I’m not planning to offer any extra content on Patreon just yet. For now, I want to see how players respond to the game and figure out what works best. I really love this story, and I want to find the right way to bring it to life.