Whew…okay here we go.
I promise I’ll write a better description tomorrow, but for right now I’ve just got to post this before I lose my nerve.
Witches have been enemies to the Sages of the Dawn for thousands of years. As the oldest child, and heir of the most powerful sage in the new world you always thought you knew which side was right. When an act of violence and spell gone wrong rip you out of that world you learn that neither side has sole claim on what’s right.
This will be, hopefully, be a dark, character driven story set in a “low-fantasy” world. There is magic, but no elves, dwarves or dragons. So I think that counts as “low-fantasy.” The game is set in the capital city of the first colony on a vast new, unexplored continent.
If this is successful it’ll be the first of a trilogy where some of your choices will carry over and impact the later books. If not it will be able to stand on it’s own.
It’s still very rough, and the demo is only 6,000 words. I’ll be editing and adding every chance I get.
Trigger Warnings
You spend the first third of the book as a captive of a group of people who definitely mean you harm. There’s very little explicit violence, but the threat of it is always there. There will be some sexual content much later in the story, but none of it is essential to the story, and it’s all skippable.
I’m not sure if this counts as a trigger warning, but it could see it being a upsetting to some people so I’ll mention it. If your character is LGBT then for the first third of the game they’re in the closet. If people want it I’ll do a spoilery version of this warning that explains exactly why, but speaking in general terms. This story is about finding your path to freedom. Literally and figuratively. More than anything else I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m going to do everything I can to treat these topics with sensitivity. If I make a mistake please let me know.
Romance
There are four definite romantic options later in the story. Two men, and two women. All four will be available to the player regardless of gender. There is a possible fifth non-binary romance option. I came up with the character thinking they’d have a smaller role, but then I really liked them so I’m trying to find a way to flesh them out and fit them into the story.
Stats please read
There is a stats screen now! It’s still basically blank but hitting the "show stats button wont make the game break anymore. There will be stats quite a lot of them, and each choice will affect multiple stats, but I want to be very careful that early choices don’t cut off paths later in the game. So, for example, if in a flashback to when you’re sixteen you decide that listening to your father drone on about magical theory is the least interesting part of your day that will absolutely not stop you from becoming a powerful user of magic by the end.
Changelog
9/1/2018: Posted the first demo.
9/2/2018: Fixed typos. (many remain)
Fixed a couple coding issues (including that one at the naming scene)
Added the first part of the first major flashback.
9/3/2018: Edited the first scene.
Added a mostly blank stats page.
Added more varied reactions to the other prisoner.
Fixed a few typos (probably made several new typos)
Finished the flashback day, started the next scene
Most of the character creation is finished now.
Total word count 14000
To do next
Re-edit the ritual scen
Add choices to the first conversation with the OP
Finish the character generation and party scene.
I really appreciate any and all feedback. I’ve never written anything this big before.
Okay I’m stalling now.
Here’s the demo.
https://dashingdon.com/play/camille622/witchs-dawn/mygame/
I hope you like it.
Wonderful job - you have a very engaging style of writing with strong verb choice and imagery! (You also use the *page_breaks very effectively! It’s very immersive.)
…but I’m glad I didnt ! so its all cool ! YAY!
Keep chasing that feeling and good luck with this project!
