If I may ask, is there a way to have “sex” with someone while pursing the slave seller without losing track of power? Also, is the part where you help prevent the assassination done yet (slave seller path)?
@Shell_San: Hi! In all the paths, you can only get as far as just before the attempted assassination. My goal is to have that ready to go, for all the paths, on the second Saturday in March.
The romantic (or not-quite-romance) options in the slave dealer path are: your own slave (unless you’ve really alienated them), the slave Scaurus tries to give you, Scaurus’s young relative, and the person he sends you to intimidate. I know it’s not a lot of variety, so I’m also working on expanding the scenes with each one of these persons so you get to interact with them more and get to know them better.
For some of the characters, a relationship does affect your status, dignity, or which side of the assassination plot will accept you. Sometimes it improves your status and dignity…
'Ow many romance options will there be all together?
Hi, I found an error and I thought I should report it since I wasn’t sure if anyone else has it said Line 447: Non-Existent Variable Immune
I don’t think you should add more than 4-5 romantic opportunities in your game. It is NOT limiting your game when you limit it.
Why assassinating the emperor?
@AngelOfTheBroken: please try reloading. If that doesn’t help, that error that may make the game unplayable for a while. I’ll fix it in about an hour and a half.
@Storm: You don’t have to conspire against the emperor. You might choose to try to save him, or you and your friends might be completely indifferent.
@Bagelthief: Altogether…?
This isn’t 15 different people–there’s overlap:
Tutor: 1
Scholar: 3
Poet: 4
Slave Dealer: 3
Courtesan: 3
and your slave companion
I was playtesting the Overseer/Bookeeper path and noticed that when you first see your stats after completing the Opening Vesta/Venus is replaced with Soberity/Debauched, but only for that appearence, is that planned to be a permanent change?
Secondly when following that path there is a greyed out option to “Probe more deeply into the training areas.” I’m assuming that I’ve not chosen the right options to get into that area yet (Have not elected to oppose the treatment of the slaves.)
Lastly, Domitian…?
@Bloodwyche: Hi - I had replaced Vesta/Venus with Sobriety/Debauched for the first posting of the alpha version, but it didn’t go over very well. It seemed to imply that being more open/experienced is bad. It’ll stay Vesta/Venus.
Greyed-out options: I’m having a little philosophical debate with myself on these. As you brought up, in some games choices are based on personality–you’ve built a very rash MC, so you get the extra option to “punch the poet” when he insults you. Then there’s the situation where the choices are based on previous actions–if you insulted the poet, you don’t get the option “talk with the poet” later, since he’s left the pub to go plot literary revenge.
I’m of the thinking that, in real life, all options in that first situation are open to a person. I might never punch the poet, but the ability to do it is, theoretically, there. All the way up to the “All Roads Lead to the Emperor” section, I’d like the player to be building up who the MC is. If that means the MC can be little inconsistent–always dignified and aloof, then suddenly getting drunk and kissing poets–then that becomes part of who the MC is going into that next chapter. Then in that chapter, your options are based on the person the MC has become.
Some things that do change: If you’re very athletic, the choices put an emphasis on your ability to do things like fight your way out of trouble. If you consistently make the “smart” choice, then the later “smart” choices get the emphasis. But you have the option to make the not-smart choice 
If you flat out say “I don’t believe in gods at all,” then those options close off, and it becomes more about whether the MC is strict about laws and customs and consistent about whether the emperor is good or bad.
Speaking of whom…could be, could be. Well, probably is. But with enough “an empire almost entirely exactly like Rome” for flexibility in what happens to him.
New version of the poet path has been posted. There are some new scenes, but most of it is behind-the-scenes, in how to get the different characters to respond to your actions and overtures.
I’m about to go out for the rest of the day, and it might not be tested enough. I’d hate to leave something broken all that time, but I’m going to go ahead and update the file and hope for the best. See you after midnight
There’s at least one glitchy spot at the big naughty banquet the poets go to. It doesn’t stop the game, but you’ll have to imagine a few missing words until I get back to the laptop.
Update update:
scribe/scholar path: still in limbo. Argh.
tutor path: when I finish testing this last set of scenes, this is done–in that it becomes a beta version instead of “alpha.” Whew.
poet path: one more scene and this is done too - aiming for tonight for that, if my brain agrees to be creative.
slavedealer path: scenes with Scaurus and his relative - aiming for tomorrow night; scenes exploring Scaurus’s workplace more thoroughly (if the MC is inclined to explore) - next weekend.
courtesan path - the rest of the Aquillius/Aquillia branch - aiming for tomorrow night.
courtesan path - the Harpax branch: mid-March.
gymnasium/lanista path: later in March.
@carolyne
keep up the good work
@Carolyne: Wow, that’s a pretty fast schedule! (Not that I’m complaining :3 )
Finally got around to re-playing the tutor path. I got to the scene where you ask Valerianus for help but ran into a “line 1629: It is illegal to fall in to an *else statement [etc.]” error. Other than that, though, it’s nice to see our poet friend again. I’m enjoying how the same characters and places show up in different paths
@aetheria: I thiiiiiink I fixed the if/else problem. I’ll keep poking at it to make sure!
Valerianus gets around 
He’s happy any place with an audience and a cup of wine.
@Choiceofgamer98: Thanks, I’ll try
@Carolyne: Hi! Wow! You are making quite the progress. I’m still enjoying it!
Tutor path. Quintus confided the plot to me and I went to talk to Aquillius. He asked if I had thought about my stance on the matter and I said: “of course…”
This error populated:
Line 1702 non-existent variable ‘philosophical_stance’
@piggleywinks: I’m having a lot more fun working on this than, say, cleaning the house
I can’t figure out why that variable is misbehaving. I’ve put in a temporary fix while I work on it.
Can I have a link
@vampierkid222
Here you go: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/264710397/wheninrome/alpha/mygame/index.html
I was running another Brothel Worker/Poet path and after the rooftop scene, when at the Orgy and given the option to have a ‘private meeting’ with Lincus(sic) the text spoke of a ‘vow of celibacy’ which surprised me because the MC had definitely not been that (Venus was around 70%).