[WIP] Blood on My Hands [Updated 080719]

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Welcome to the People’s Republic of Morovia!

After decades of colonial rule, Morovia has finally freed itself and gained it’s independence. But just as the music of the last drunken independence party subsides, a fierce trouble brews in the new nation with wide-eyed aspirations.

Dimly-lit rooms across the nation host men of old and new power, all with their own designs on Morovia’s future - to do what’s best, of course.

By all means necessary.

Blood on My Hands (title is a WiP) is an experimental interactive fiction game that explores a conflict through the lens of a soldier struggling to find the purpose of war. In a world where every decision could mean lives lost, morals and grit will be fiercely tested. But perhaps, only just, humanity might triumph. Against all odds.

I’ve been very inspired by Papers Please and This War of Mine (amazing games, do play them if you get the chance), plus I was a lieutenant in the army. So this story is something quite personal that I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never really got to sit down and plan out.

Get the latest updates on my socials! Will also be granting early access to the demo on Patreon (and a ton of other sweet perks) so definitely check it out :wink:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whatthefoong
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/what.the.foong/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhatTheFoong

DISCLAIMER
This game contains rather (read: very) graphic depictions of violence, drugs, alcohol, including but notwithstanding vulgarities and other adult themes. Player discretion is highly advised. If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment on the thread or reach out on social media!

The current demo contains the first chapter (I know it’s not much, but it’s a start!) Do like, comment and let me know what you liked/ didn’t like and where I can improve (typos, grammar, bugs, gameplay, storyline etc). Screen shots will be super helpful for errors.Thank you so very much!

Also, the title is a WiP - suggestions are very welcome :smile:

Demo: https://dashingdon.com/play/nauhziy/blood-on-my-hands/mygame/

Current word Count:
~15 000

Check out my other published game! (:
Gladiator: The Road to the Colosseum

Status Update (16/08/19)

2 weeks since the last update and… Chapter 2 has burgeoned way beyond what was originally planned. Chapter 2 alone is pushing past 40 000 words - that’s more than double of chapter 1 o:

And while the pace of action is slightly slower than Chapter 1 (or is it? :wink:) The upside is that you get to have some great interaction with the characters you’re going to meet and also find out a bit more about Morovia! NPC dialogue and character building was definitely one of the negative points in Gladiator - so a lot more emphasis has been put into it, and hopefully it will make a difference!

Additional information about the rationale/game mechanics + a sneak peek are on patreon (free post!) so you can check that out as well :smile: Might post some additional stuff on Morovia’s back story and/or the game mechanics once I get them to work!!!

Glory to Morovia. (Like if you get the reference :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)

Status Update (28/07/19)

Been around 3 weeks since the demo has been out so a huge thank you to everyone who has taken time to play through it and offered your comments/feedback!

Almost done with Chapter 2 (introducing some real characters this time!) and working on creating an open world to bring the People’s Republic of Morovia to life! Managed to tinker around with ChoiceScript and come up with a way to track in-game time, which I’ll be using to trigger certain events and push the game along :smile:

Initial Post

So I’ve gotten my toes wet with my first IF piece Gladiator: The Road to the Colosseum, and I’m thinking of my next project. So the logical step would be to do a sequel, but I’m thinking on working on something else first… cause I’m a rebel. So there. Whatcha gonna do about that. Here’s the pitch.

You’ll play a junior officer of an army in a fictional country. A fresh faced graduate right out of cadet school, you’re going to struggle to gain the respect of your men and NCOs. Still, it’s all fun and games until an actual war breaks out and your life becomes FUBAR. This will be an IF that explores a war journey through the lenses of a soldier, in a place where every wrong decision could mean lives lost. There will be tons of moral decisions/hard choices, and I’m thinking of experimenting with a gritty/sobering writing style as opposed to the style of Gladiator, which was relatively clean and politically correct.

I’ve been very inspired by Papers Please and This War of Mine (amazing games, do play them if you get the chance), plus I was a lieutenant in the army. So this story is something quite personal that I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never really got to sit down and plan out.

A few questions:

  1. How far is too far? For example, some themes I might want to explore include (war crimes, ultra nationalism, rape, suicide, substance abuse)
  2. What period would be a good setting for this? (WW2? Modern?)
  3. How technical should it be? Would you want to see a ton of historical details?
  4. What kind of scenes do you imagine/ want to see!

As you can see, everything is still pretty sketchy right now, and I haven’t got a demo yet, but I’ll like to hear if a game that details a soldier’s life would be interesting/something you would want to read before even starting on this! From the mundane to the messed up (not everything will about war and guns and explosions).

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whatthefoong/
Wordpress: https://whatthefoong.wordpress.com/

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The same principles that we talked about with regards to rape etc during your first project still apply here.

Keeping this project anchored in your fictional storyverse will be the hardest thing to accomplish since in reality, many real-life services have their identifiable characteristics and quirks.

The rest, I’ll leave to you to flesh out since you know your experiences you’ll be drawing from and your own capabilities as well.

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  1. Personally, I think that, so long as you leave a warning for disturbing content, anything is acceptable. That said, there are certain themes that some platforms might not be willing to publish, like GooglePlay and the App Store.

  2. I personally would like to see something historical, like WW1 or WW2. Possibly even older than that, like the American Civil War (Muskets are cool.) :grin:

  3. It’s always good to do a lot of research and include historical detail in the game… But at the end of the day, what you’re writing is fiction, so taking a few liberties for the sake of making the game more entertaining is kind of expected.

  4. I suppose what I’d like to see most is a scene where the MC discovers that the horrors and injustices carried out by people on their own side are just as bad as the atrocities committed by the enemy they’re fighting. Also, a scene where they realize that the enemy they’re fighting are all just normal people who live normal lives and have loving families waiting for them, causing the MC to realize that there’s never really any “right” or “wrong” side in war. It’s all just people fighting people.

I think the idea is a really good one! (I actually really liked the title too.) I’m surprised that CoG/HG doesn’t seem to have much in the way of war stories, so it’d be great to see one. :blush:

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What @Eiwynn said.

I personally prefer a modern setting, because you have more acces to technology and different types of weapons, but I like WW2 ones as well, not a fan of older stuff because the guns were just too imprecise.

I would like something with a good amount of historical details and technicalities, just not overcomplicated though

Here I think it depends on the type of war you are planning. If it’s like a guerrilla style, then something like special operations type of missions would be nice, or counter terrorism. If it’s nation vs nation, I think something like what @Avery_Moore said, or maybe a battle in the middle of a city, with civillians caught in the crossfire, or the amount of damage a war can cause not only during it, but also the aftermath, like rebuilding efforts or something like that.

Happy to see another one of your games @nauhziy!

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One sort of scene you might want to consider (especially in a more modern or futuristic setting where evacuating casualties is something that can be done much quicker) you could always present the young officer with two bad choices. There’s only room on the Dust Off bird for one more body and your platoon medic is telling you that you have 2-3 more critical casualties who likely won’t make it until the next bird comes in. So pick which of the two you are going to let die on your word by saving the third.

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How far is too far? For example, some themes I might want to explore include (war crimes, ultra nationalism, rape, suicide, substance abuse)

I fell as rape may be too far but the rest is all right.
if you want to have ultra nationalism, I would suggest ww2 but I personally would like ww1 .

What kind of scenes do you imagine/ want to see

I would like a scene where a chemical weapons are deplored

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In my opinion you kind of have to explore war crimes and ultra nationalism if you want to explore a war setting seriously and i would love to see it as most authors shy away from such subjects.

About rape and suicide, I personally thing it would add a lot to your story if you explored these subject as they are and have been an essential part of war for centuries but ultimately it’s up to you and how do you think you could apply these subjects to your story. If you think that you aren’t suited for that kind of thing then by all means skip them

WW2 would be awesome as i haven’t seen all that many WW2 interactive stories.

As a history and especially ww2 buff as many historical details as possible will be preffered but it is fictional so it’s up to you to take as many creative liberties as you want.

A scene where the MC is ordered to do something that goes against all morals and rules (shooting POWs etc) and the reader has to choose how to justify or even do it in the first place.

Good luck with your story!

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I think it’s a great idea. Some of my favorite scenes in any game was in Sabres and Guns, where you get a hand in training your men. Are you dead set on the character being an officer from the get go? Or would an NCO role be interesting to you. The fictional country sounds perfect for this idea

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I’ll not address this as some people have already done that…

I’d prefer it be modern and if you’re going to add some potentially offensive stuff like Hiroshima then I’d suggest you write in an alternate universe(like use fictional names for countries and crap) as that would make lighten the load off your head and you can go more creative to shape the story as you need! :smiling_face:

Umm…lets see… :thinking: hostage rescue, recon, identification and destruction of HVTs, invasion of other countries, invasion from other countries, capture of MC, MC being brainwashed by enemies(possibly even turning on them like Sgt. Brody on Homeland), MC being rescued, MC taking part in extra-curricular activities (like smuggling stuff), MC getting caught, shady government contractors, shady intelligence agents, using UAV to blow stuff, double crossing comrades, senile generals, and something similar to what happened in A Few Good Men

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A modern setting would be a lot better

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I freaking love the WW1 and before that setting

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Modern might be tougher to write. Warfare and combat are way more complex now, and the various different cultures are VERY different from each other.

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Wow! I am definitely following this!

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What kind of scenes do I imagine? Briefings, death by PowerPoint, doing the exact opposite of what the platoon sergeant suggests, keeping the platoon back late? I don’t know :thinking::joy:

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Death by power point and being kept late. LMAO

Good, you missed some brass. EVERYONE get back on line!!!

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Honestly, I say the darker the better.

The Vietnam war

The more accurate to history the better.

I want to be at least able to chose my beliefs, like if I wanted to go into this war or not, if it is the Vietnam war allow us to choose our views on communism ( including if we follow its beliefs ) and scenes where we have to make tough choices to survive.

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Police calling after a field problem.

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So you were an officer and gentleman in the army?
Whoa, I had you figured for a young college guy.

No option to play as enlisted or NCO then?

Well having real life experience and being, from what I can tell from his first WIP, I’m sure he can do it plus there are other helpful posters on this forum with a military or military history background who might be able to help with the cultural idiosyncrasies of many modern fighting forces.

I was angling for Korea myself coming off of the recent Winter Olympics, however I think I would quite like some cold war era fighting, rather then our 21st century warfare or WWI and II or earlier historical wars, no offense @Avery_Moore (and I think muskets are cool too, but there are already some games here set in the musket era, fictional or otherwise).

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I’d be leery of rape in the story unless there was an astoundingly good reason for it. Too easy to trigger people and hard to write well with the right tone.

The other stuff kind of depends on what you’re doing. But even MASH looked at themes like suicide (everyone knows the theme song for that show is “suicide is painless right?”), substance abuse, racism and war induced mental illness. If you’re careful, you might be able to go there. It might even make sense when you’re talking about a new recruit that’s probably been brainwashed to an extent on what to think and feel about war and the enemy and then they’re thrown into it for real and it’s quite different.

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Cold War setting would be nice I think. Various colonial conflicts like French Indochina, Congo, Portugese Colonial War and Rhodesian Bush War would be great inspirations.

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