Turncoat Chronicle (political fantasy) - updated 24-APR-23

Note that the main reason I am not replying to posts regarding King Orust’s morality like @Jackrabbit’s and @Talyrion’s is because I’d rather encourage you to debate among yourselves. A lot of the information regarding the Suthis reign is sprinkled throughout the story, implied, or otherwise ambiguous. This is deliberate, naturally. Also, it’s worth remembering that your narrator is King Orust’s child, and therefore neither omniscient and reliable.

In fact, the very first choice statement in the game is meant to remind you of that…

After multiple bouts of playing and some inner squealing at the added character descriptions, I have come up with a tentative version of the main characters, Papa, Noni, F!MC, Morun and Teven.

I usually play as Princess Eldis Suthis, talk to Morun and Teven, and have her resemble her parents in hair and eyes but not skin and height. No Sheyer yet, haven’t decided what they might look like, and obviously the boy up top with the cocky chin and beige linen is Morun!

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This is so exciting, my first ever fanart.

RATIO’D!

I’ve been running Quicktest rigorously at the end of every coding or writing session for weeks. Now that chapter 2 is finally starting to take shape, it’s time for me to be messing with Randomtest. So I looked into some of COG’s guidelines on the subject and ran a hundred iterations with full text, to get an idea of the game’s current ratio.

Full WC with code is now roughly 52K. Length of 100 random runs is 2 million and change. That gives a ratio of 0.38675953559… just kidding. A ratio of about 0.39, when COG recommends between 0.2 and 0.4. So… not doing too bad!

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One of the small, fun things that I decided to add to chapter 2 was the ability to choose the MC’s personal seal. Now, at the time I just put in the first options that came to mind, plus the backup ability to just use the MC’s first initial, if none of the symbols were to your liking. Now I’m considering opening it up to player feedback.

What sort of symbol would you want on your MC’s personal seal?

For reference, the seal of the Kingdom of Koth is a winged lion holding a sword. Orust’s personal seal is a gryphon. Harim’s personal seal is a sphinx.

  • General: a mythological beast
  • General: a natural plant or animal
  • The hippocamp, a half-horse half-fish mythical being
  • The lily, a six-petaled flower
  • The tower, symbolizing the city of Kantul
  • Your first initial, embelished
  • Write-in: some other common heraldic device
  • Write-in: something totally original

0 voters

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This is one good WIP! I’m excited to see where this one will go. Keep it up! :slight_smile:

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Brace for impact, because version 0.3 is coming up within the hour. :crossed_fingers:

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Okay, it got delayed a little longer than I intended, but version 0.3 of TURNCOAT CHRONICLE is up and running. Same link as ever.

It’s past my bedtime now, but I will be about tomorrow to read any feedback and address any bug reports.

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IT’S FINALLY UP ARRRGAHGRH

One bug I found, when you decline to give a tour, this happens:

Then the game goes blank, but thankfully you can reload a save file from there.

Teven is also trying to make my heart explode with his cuteness.

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I love this update so, so much. Both of the potential Kidia heir routes are satisfying so far – although I wonder where Crow is all those times we steal his ward away.

The battlement interaction was so good!! I feel like it will bite me in the ass with Morun but oh well… The one in the music hall was great as well! Honestly, I just like making those poor game pieces blush.

Ngl maybe I’m too paranoid but I’m suspicious of our newly appointed secretary. Great game thus far! Already, I can’t wait for the next update :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Okay, I found and fixed this problem. It was jumping to the label of the next scene that’s not included in this version. I kajiggered the labels a little and you shouldn’t get an error anymore, but if you decide not to give the tour that’s the last scene for version 0.3.

Conspiring. Also, he has a job, and without a high-ranking noble to intervene with his work schedule, he has to, y’know, show up for work. So he’s patrolling the streets and breaking up bar brawls. Ah, the glamorous life of a city guard.

I knew it was an “occupational hazard” so to speak that some players would be suspicious of everyone, even characters not meant to take on a major role. That’s just the nature of the genre.

I have one more long and elaborate scene to write before I can think of posting an update. Once that one’s finished and sufficiently tested, I’ll have to think carefully about how to proceed. At a certain point I will probably want to proceed to a private beta. That’s something to bear in mind.

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Yay, another long scene! :smiley:

While we wait, aside from feedback…

I had to make this after the meeting with the good coutourier. Hoping to finish Atarah!Holyn and the ladies later. Thank you for making our princelings so adorable, @Hazel

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Oh, and a question not really related to the game itself: I’ve noticed some published games are offered on steam, will Turncoat Chronicle also be using that platform?

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I don’t think the author decides what platform their games are published on…:sweat_smile:

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@TeamCorvid: When the game is finished, it will go through the whole Hosted Games label process. The games on Steam are almost all part of the main Choice of Games label, AFAIK. Hosted Games rarely make the cut, for administrative reasons.

Basically, @EclecticEccentric is right, but also, I wouldn’t count on it.

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General update: this week is a holiday for me and I’m spending most of it at the local SFF convention, so I don’t anticipate huge writing progress. However, I am making some behind the scenes structural changes to the code, and doing some general cleanup. The next update will likely consist of these structural fixes, with no visible changes. Alas, these boring updates still need to be tested.

If all goes according to plan, the next update after that will be the first free time or “DTB” menu. You will be able to check in with Sheyer or Consort Harim, write letters, and a few other special surprises.

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Have a great time there,mate!

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turncoat_heir_trust_70

While I compose my thoughts about the con, and before I get back to writing, here’s a tiny little teaser snippet.

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Now that I’m working full-time again, I won’t be able to update as frequently. It’s hard for me to assess when the next large update will be ready. Much of the material is written, but not proof-read or tested. I will post again when I can give a better estimate.

In the meantime, I have a few short pieces of prose that show something from the POV of some of the NPCs, which I intend to post to my AO3 account quite soon.

If there are any particular NPCs you want to know more about, please share!

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Our adorable guard, of course. And I wonder if there might be something you have in mind regarding Kady?

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