Thank you so much for the wonderful update! I feel bad not being able to offer more in terms of feedback, but I truly enjoy anything you have written. This WIP remains one of my top favourite and your writing never cease to amaze me. Have a great day!! x
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If itās not too much trouble, would you consider adding some extra save slots to the game? (AMAZING work btw, seriously engrossing story)
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I can absolutely do that, itās quite simple. Iāll get it done first thing tomorrow morning and update when the change is up.
Edit: I got it done. Itās a tiny change (3 ā 7), so it shouldnāt cause issues, but let me know if the demo causes problems, anyway.
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Just a quick update to reassure everyone that this game ā three years in the making and already five times as long as I planned it to be ā is still in progress, and edging ever closer to the finish line. Since I finished writing the major battle scenes of chapter four, Iāve been calling it 80% done, but the nature of a branching game is that progress is a little more difficult to accurately assess. But I do have a checklist of scenes that I need to get through, before Iām ready to test the next beta version.
I will post an update here when Iām looking for new beta testers.
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Wow, congratulations! Iāve been replaying turncoat on and off over the years and itās one of my favorite premises ever.
Canāt wait for more. And good luck!
Do you plan to make Turncoat Chronicles a standalone or a series?
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On tumblr it was mentioned that it would be a standalone game without a sequel but I still canāt wait to read the whole story
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Oh thank goodness. I am getting burnt out by all the 5-year long waits for sequels lol
Iām in alreadyā¦
I considered the possibility of a series, earlier in the development process, but the endings diverge enough that I donāt think it would make sense, story-wise. Itās also not fair to players who choose the ending that doesnāt make it through to the sequel. If I want to write a series (which I might, in the future) I will most likely design it in advance with sequels in mind.
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Itās National Novel Writing Month, and Iām taking advantage of the support of my writing community to do a big push forward on Turncoat Chronicle. This game has been in progress since April of 2018, and I am eager to see it finished, sometime during the next year.
In practice, what this means is a little bit of writing new scenes, and a whole lot of testing, debugging, editing, and balancing.
Right now, I am working on the late parts of chapter 4, which is where all the choices that you made throughout the game begin to pay off. Itās a difficult section to write because itās incredibly important to give my players a satisfying ending, one that follows naturally from the unique progression of the story that they followed. Itās also hard to make this part feel interactive, even though the code is a tangle of conditions and variables . Sometimes, when Iām writing a really dynamic scene with lots of variants, I have to stop and remind myself that each player will only see 2-3 passages of text, with no choices, and thatās not right.
Adding choices at such a late stage of the story is a great challenge for me to tackle. I want to make sure that Turncoat Chronicle makes a thoroughly satisfying read, from beginning to end, for each of the three main routes that you can select. Sometimes that means that I spend a whole afternoon staring at my code and taking notes, without adding or changing more than a word or two. I hope that, in the end, all of my hard work will pay off ā just like the payoff in the story, in a way.
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Truly awed seeing some exceptional writing there. First of all, the premise was brilliantly put. I loved how you cleverly structured each scenes and interactions so much so it felt like being played on viewerās whim. Each and every words propped crisp and real impact on storytelling. Didnāt find a single phrase or para irrelevant or trying to go out of context. Absolutely stunned by this piece. Terrific.
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Thanks for the efforts!
December Update
I spent most of November working hard on TC, tackling several difficult scenes late in chapter 4. This also involved a lot of testing and debugging, and some time spent on adding debug code to the game, to make it easier to test.
Editing and testing are complicated, time-consuming tasks, even when they donāt add a lot to the gameās overall word count. In fact, through all of November, I only added about two thousand words to the game, and I actually had to cut some words, so the total word count is not much altered. As a writer, this can be dispiriting, because it makes it hard for me to assess progress. However, I went into this month knowing that the tasks I had lined up were essential and could no longer be put off.
Overall, Iām very pleased with this monthās work. I feel closer than ever to finishing the game, which is a very satisfying feeling. While I donāt currently have a concrete end date that I can share, Iām confident about my chances of delivering a complete and polished book. My next milestone is another beta version which will include some of the most important scenes of chapter 4 ā the final chapter. Itās very exciting.
The enthusiasm and positive comments of all my readers and players have done a lot to help keep my spirits up, as I plug away at these critical scenes. I aim to give you the best game that I can possibly write, and I hope you end up loving it as much as I do.
Current word count: 156K words. Chapter 4 word count: 37K words.
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Thanks for the chapters!
So much of the MCās personality is completely beyond the playerās control. This seems more like a book than a game. Either we must play to the personality proscribed, or it rapidly loses immersion.
@KStar_Goswami and @Yen_Lag, thank you very much for the feedback. Itās always wonderful to hear that people are enjoying the earlier chapters of the game, while I continue plugging away at the later chapters.
@geldar: I addressed the issue of the MCās personality a few times on this thread, for example here. If you check the gameās stats screen, you can also note that there are four different personality metrics, which are altered both by character creation, as well as by the playerās choices throughout the game. If the choices within the game donāt account for the actions that you would like to take, please give me a specific example of something that you wanted to do, and I will consider it on its own merits.
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In that case, the issue is that the player doesnāt know that before being presented with the early personality trait choices. The MC may know that heās arrogant and self-centered, but I donāt. Perhaps some character exposition prior to the initial choices would be good.
Or you could just ignore it, since, to be completely honest, I have no interest in playing an arrogant noble so I wouldnāt play the game anyway if thatās a forced trait.
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Iāve been playing a bit of the demo, and I like the feel of the story, but Iāve come across an option that leads me feeling wary on if I can be myself, or do I have to pick this option so as not to be exempt from the content I desire.
Does choosing to make my character asexual exempt me from seeing sex scenes/choosing to participate in sexual activity?
Iām asexual, but not sex repulse and I like smut in my fiction, because itās fun. Besides just liking smut in general, I donāt like making sexual characters, because it feels sort of false/promiscuous to me, someone without a sex drive; I feel itās more validating and immersive to build an asexual character, but I rarely ever make one because it forces everyone else around me to be asexual, too (exempting me from sex scenes automatically).
The only game that has ever allowed me to express my sexuality without missing out on sex/NPC lust/romance(emphasis on the sex) was CrĆØme de la CrĆØme, and I wonder if I can freely choose my sexuality, without losing choice over my sexual consent? Iāll just go on to pretend to be sexually interested if my guess is correct, but I was just wondering if this choice was another one of those veiled āallow adult scenes yes/noā hidden in sexuality choices?
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Just a quick note of apology: Iām aware that Iāve fallen behind on my replies, both here and in private messages. I intend to catch up during this week and reply to everyone I owe an answer to.
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Happy new year to those who celebrate! Itās officially 2022, and itās time for my first monthly update post of the year.
The general status of Turncoat Chronicle is very close to where it was, last month. I am plugging away at some complicated testing and debug tasks, while also trying to outline and write the last few scenes of chapter 4.
Most recently, I was working on an (optional) scene to introduce Lux or Kidia to the MCās younger brother, Belinon. Those who were previously interested to learn more about the younger prince will be happy to learn that there are now four or five scenes written for him, although most of them are optional. His first appearance is late in chapter 3.
The gameās current word count is 157,941 words (with code). Chapter 4ās word count is 38,773 words (with code).
[Side note: I will be replying to recent comments, soon. I need to check some things in the code to make sure that my answers are accurate and informative.]
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