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

Played the game and looking forward to seeing more! I find the idea of being the child of the usurper quite interesting. It does seem your father is not a very, um, compassionate ruler, so that might help justify removing him. I do hope to play a fairly good (well, at least as much of good as one can be) character in this. Hopefully by removing the father and uniting the houses a better day for the Kingdom can come! I also like all the unique names, adds a layer of it in fact being in a different reality. Looking forward to more!

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Sorry for the delay, again, but at least I am making a little progress on chapter 2, and I have a new question for you. This one is less theoretical so I’d love to get as many answers as possible.

How do you feel about descriptions of clothing/costume in games? I draw a lot of inspiration from period dramas, and those tend to be heavy on the costume porn.

  • I love costume porn! Detailed descriptions are welcome.
  • Moderate occasional descriptions. Not as much costume porn as costume tease, if you will.
  • Complete costume abstinence. Zero description.

0 voters

Edit: I should mention that, for everyone who replied and didn’t get a response yet, that’s on the agenda for tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

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Is the second guard always female? Cause I wanted to romance them instead of the city guard but I thought they would be male.

That is a moot question, as there isn’t really romance in the game at all.

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I love costume porn! Otherwise what’s the point of being a fantasy prince. :wink:

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Who picked no costume porn?

I got through the first page and already loved it! Keep going with this!
@Hazel
Off topic but do you watch game of thrones :no_mouth:

We don’t judge here. It’s a valid choice, that’s why I put it in.

The way I implemented it is, when the first fashion-related dialogue options appears, you can select an option that “turns off” extended clothing descriptions. For the rest of the game. People who want fewer descriptions of crepe and applique need not worry. :smiley:

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At last, the promised replies! Everybody gets a reply, and then I will do a quick rundown of my progress with chapter 2. You would not believe the amount of tinkering I did to get the formatting for this post just right.

@No_This_Is_Patrick:

Summary

There will be options for dealing with Lux if you didn’t choose their route, but these probably won’t appear until chapter 3, during the “wrapping up loose ends” section of the game. I had initially planned to introduce Lux later in the story, but it felt like it wouldn’t be fair to ask players to commit to the “fake heir” route without getting to know their potential pretender a little bit.

Suffice to say, you can handle Lux later. It may even come up in chapter 2. I don’t know, because I haven’t finished writing it yet.

@Noah:

Summary

As I mentioned in this post in the follow-up to the MC skills and personality poll, I deliberately changed two of the answers to that question to make them more unflattering. Since the answers are supposed to represent the traits in a negative light, I thought that “soft-hearted” was too flattering, or at the very least ambiguous. I was searching for a while for a negative term that could describe the trait as I conceived of it, and settle on “precious”.

The more I think about it, though, the usage of “precious” that I’m thinking of is pretty rare and probably archaic. I will try to come up with a substitute, but I definitely won’t be going back to “soft-hearted”. The whole idea is to emphasize the conflict between the MC and their father, and that any of these superficially virtuous traits can also have a heavy cost. I hope that makes my intentions a bit clearer.

@Jeeshadow1:

Summary

It’s all a matter of definitions. For example, the game makes you choose one similarity between your MC and King Orust. According to my informal poll, almost half of players chose “manipulative”. Arguably, that isn’t a vice at all, just a particular tactic for getting what you want. Still, being manipulative as opposed to straightforward can bring political gains, but at personal cost. Most people don’t really like feeling like they’re having their strings pulled, and my NPCs feel the same. It’s not completely black & white.

Later on, you will get more insights into some of the things that King Orust did that might make people want to dethrone him. And you will also get the opportunity to explain why your MC is trying to dethrone him. You will need to discuss this with your potential Consort, after all.

@Koda222:

Summary

Actually, @Jackrabbit answered even better than I would have. Turncoat Chronicle isn’t really a romance game. Lux’s gender is automatically set to the opposite binary gender of the MC, unless you choose to be nonbinary. Because nonbinary gender doesn’t really have an opposite, playing an NB MC means you can choose for Lux to be either male or female. Originally, there was going to be another NPC who would be set to the opposite binary gender as Lux, but because the game is already running too long, I’ve cut that character.

@Chopper:

Summary

Thank you for the kind words! Yes, I knew someone would ask this sooner or later. I watched some of the early seasons of GOT but I can’t say I’m a fan. Maybe I’ll draw up a post about my influences when the game is a little farther along. Still it seems like given the show’s success, no one can really avoid being compared to it anymore, so I don’t even really mind.

PROGRESS REPORT

  • Chapter 2 is now over 13,000 words long. There is a lot of branching, especially compared to chapter 1, so the length of a typical playthrough is going to be much less.
  • That said, chapter 2 isn’t finished yet, and it’s very difficult for me to assess how long it will be when it’s complete.
Bullet list of chapter 2 features
  • The action in chapter 2 takes place over roughly six weeks. You will have a handy label in the main stats screen letting you know exactly how much time has passed. This should make it easier to keep track of time skips.
  • If you chose Lux’s route, you will get to know them much better. Up close and personal, they’re not quite as duty-bound and unassuming as they come across in your first couple of meetings.
  • If you chose to destroy the Kidia heir, you will spend much of chapter 2 deceiving them and trying to get them to trust you. It will look a lot like trying to befriend them. This is entirely deliberate.
  • Crow will make something of a nuisance of himself.
  • Play dress-up with your princeling! For those who might be wondering, Lux is more of an autumn palette while Kidia is more of a winter. If that means anything to you.
  • If you did not select the relevant conversational option in chapter 1, you’ll get another chance to define your MC’s sexual and romantic orientations. Yes, that’s a plural right there.
  • Just because you’re planning on doing something unconscionable to stay in power, doesn’t mean your future spouse needs to know about it.
  • MC gets even more theatrical entrances and exits. I’m really channeling my inner supervillain here. I might even give them a cape so that they can swirl it dramatically as they walk away.
  • Chapter 2 is where you get the first options to flirt with your future consort. Flirting does not imply genuine interest, but the game does keep track of how flirtatious you’ve been.
  • MC will chaperone their potential spouse around the city and palace, while they learn to mimic the bearing and mannerisms of a royal. MC can also introduce them to some people of their own social class.
  • If you chose Lux’s route, MC will have to reveal a lot more to Lux about their plans. How honest you are in those conversations will affect what sort of ending you get.
  • Eventually, there will be a confrontation between Lux/Kidia and Consort Harim. This will probably be late in the chapter.
  • An optional seduction scene will also appear, also late in the chapter.
  • Next update will introduce the genderfluid mechanic. My endless thanks to anyone who agrees to run an extra test or two on that.
  • Most of the actual murder parts won’t come until chapter 3.

I have not yet decided when to put out the next version, and how extensive it should be. Probably not the full chapter 2, because that will take a while. I want to keep the updates fairly steady.

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Ya, I am sure the King had his reasons for doing what he did. He is a usurper (and I am guessing there were reasons he was able to take over in the first place) and usually that requires a strong hand to restore order after the likely war that was part of their coup. Of course, no successful autocratic ruler (which all king’s kinda are by nature) can make do without being brutal in some regards, so the MC if they want to be a successful monarch will probably have to get their hands dirty at times. Still, I hope to make my MC a better ruler for the Kingdom than their father. Hopefully with less ends justify the means style of ruling, but that if necessary. Also will pick Kidia. Hopefully will lead to a more stable Kingdom in the future with the two houses united (not to mention will make your heir totally legitimate). Looking forward to learning more about your father, how he rose to power, and what he did with it!

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There is a conversation I’m planning to include in chapter 3 which will relate to this, but it won’t be accessible to all players. It depends on the sorts of choices you make. The subject might also come up when you’re discussing the possibility of heirs, which happens sometime in the second half of chapter 2.

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The thing is there’s should be something to skip talking to to Lux after talking to the Kidia heir. I already decided to commit to the Kidia heir even before Lux and my plan was to play to a fairly good MC whos only getting rid the of the King. I don’t want to kill anyone else unless there’s no other way.
So far Lux is just a guard that hasn’t done anything and will probably have to die,even though they don’t deserve to, because the MC explained some of their plans to them before thinking about it, even though I was never going to pick them.

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This might be a lot of work, but maybe a way to bring them into the plan, but in a different role than as decoy. I guess I can suspend disbelief that my character wanted to explore all options…

Or just choose to not talk to them about our plans. We could chat with them see what they’re like and what they value. Or just not talk to them at all.

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Yeah, I am with ugly Patrick on this.

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@No_This_Is_Patrick & @Jeeshadow1:

If you are on the peacemaking path, Lux doesn’t know anything other than that you are hunting a “fake” Kidia heir. As they are only a common guard, it’s not as though they will approach your MC and demand to know what’s going on. When you reach chapter 3, you will get several options for what to do about Lux. Of course for the more ruthless players, there will probably be an option to kill the meddling guard who knows too much, but that’s by far not the only option. It’s early days yet and I’m still cooking up the alternatives. Probably one of them will involve spinning your earlier lie to make sure the guard stays in the dark about your plans.

I don’t want to go into too much detail about chapter 3 because, as I said, it’s far from being finalized. I am still listening to input, but there was always meant to be a less violent and more violent approach to the game. It should definitely be possible to go through the whole game without killing anyone but the Usurper King. Of course, by that point in the game you’ll also want to listen to what Kidia has to say on the subject… That’s part of what the whole peace thing is about, after all.

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Step aside imposter I was here first.

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Hey guys what was the most recent update

That makes sense! I probably need to replay the game and read it closer then! Lux will probably be useful then even if you are working with the Heir. It is always helpful to have a guard who is loyal to you, especially when one is plotting assassinations…
The fact you have a younger brother that you completely disregard makes me wonder if your father intends to replace you as heir (another possible motivation for removing your father). Your brother does not seem that suited for rule but there could be various reasons your father wants to change things up. Maybe he thinks your brother has more promise, or simply he is less of a threat than you who he might fear might be getting ideas about forcing their old man out (which he would be right about).

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The way I see it my mc would foremost be a tad more subtle and less bloodthirsty, but don’t mistake his more general compassion and the fact that he does like to give some people second chances for a universal rule or weakness. Where daddy dearest seems to be all iron-fist my mc would be more likely to cover it with a velvet glove but that doesn’t mean that glove can never come off.

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