(WIP) Locket of Ants , EARLY DEMO (ONLY 38K WORDS INCLUDING CODE SO FAR)

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Locket of Ants

I will recommend just to wait before you fully play as I haven’t even finished chapter one but I only posted the demo to gain some interest and feedback before I fully go into this but if you want to have a look of the early early demo here it is.
You can play here: CoGDemos

You play as a nobody from the lowest tier of society a “rat” struggling to survive in the brutal ghettos under the iron grip of the People’s Republic. Life here is harsh, filled with street fights, social pressure, and constant control. Your survival depends on how you navigate this world, whether through strength, diplomacy, cunning, or resilience.

I’m building a deeply immersive stat and mood system that reflects not only your physical and mental capacities but also your emotional state. Your mood affects your core stats like strength, charisma, willpower, and cunning dynamically changing how you perform and interact with the world.

Character Customization & Identity

Your character’s identity is central. From gender, sexuality, race, height, and build, to the choice of codename and eventual true name (Eg a name given or made by you like parents naming you John Marson) , Locket of Ants explores identity not just mechanically but narratively. You are have a codename you choose but your true self is locked behind layers of social status, trust, and rebellion.

The choices you make about your appearance and personality will influence how NPCs like Ghostbite (your old cellmate and fierce ally) react to you forming complex relationships with real consequences.

The Mood System — Your Emotional State Matters

Your mood isn’t just flavor text. Whether you’re ⊡ Neutral, :warning: Angry, ☒ Heartbroken, or ✦ Focused, your stats shift accordingly:

  • Anger can boost your strength but harm diplomacy.
  • Heartbreak weakens your willpower but heightens empathy.
  • Deviousness sharpens your cunning and diplomacy.

This system is designed to encourage roleplay beyond just physical stats — your mental and emotional health impact survival in this brutal world.

Story & Setting

The game opens with a moment as you awaken in a bleak, colourless cell. The voice calls for your codename, pulling you out of a fugue of memories and pain. Your companion Ghostbite is waiting, blunt but loyal, ready to drag you into the harsh reality of the underground fighting world.

In a colourless dystopia ruled by the People’s Republic, you’re a ‘rat’ from the ghettos fighting to survive. In a world drained of life and freedom, face brutal fights, mental battles, and hard choices , will you conform or reclaim your humanity?

That was the synopois i put but aswell i envision to have the game surruound around fighitng /MMA tournemnts so it can be put as a sport game aswell but it will take a lil since i want to make sure its accurate and stuff.

Themes & Vision

Locket of Ants delves deeply into themes of identity, control vs. free will, societal oppression, and the humanity buried beneath the engineered perfection of the world.

I want to challenge traditional gender norms and explore closeted characters, social rejection, and the consequences of living under constant surveillance and brutality. Romance and relationships will be complex and difficult choices and failures will shape your bonds and your fate.

What’s Next?

Right now, the game is in early development. The foundation systems are being laid out stats, mood, character creation, and the opening scenes. Relationship dynamics, rankings, codex entries, and more nuanced story branches will come soon.

I plan to add more depth to character customization, unique interactions based on sexuality and identity, and immersive multimedia elements like art and sound to bring the world alive. Like fighitng stances , more detailed emoitions and foucsed on charater arcs making it slow paced but building the momentum as I have somewhat planed out for the story structure.

Note

This project is a long-term passion. I welcome all feedback harsh or gentle especially about how sensitive themes like gender, sexuality, and mental health are handled. My goal is to create a meaningful, immersive experience that respects and challenges its audience as I want to create a mature game and go in depth on how character perceive things change and how people react and you how do and the situations and realities of other people life making them act how they do not simply cause they are a brute force or just annonying. Keep in mind im new here and new to the coding part.

Thank you for reading I’ll be posting updates in the forums with progress and ideas but I cant gurrante when due to my studies , next update will be polishing the introduction more and the smothness of charatcer customization aswell i think the dialouge.

Stay tuned.
Last Update: (3/07/25)

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Oh? A prisoner / underground tournament WIP? Color me intrigued.

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IMG_1750
IMG_17501179×2556 179 KB

The game hangs loading the next chapter for me here.

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Definitely intrigued, though there’s not much to the demo yet (whether or not the infinite loop quoted above was the intended end or not). But I’ll definitely pay attention to any update!

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Very good and complex! I like the setup you’ve created, whether it’s the story or the statistics! And I think there’s a bug? Well, whatever it is, I’m looking forward to the continuation!

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yeah i fixed that since that was just like end of the demo , next update props mid time this month or late month I will make the chapter longer and like have your first fight and make things more smooth and not in your face , this was just kinda to gander some attention but yeah i fixed that issue by saying its the end of the demo for now , im new to this but thanks for the feedback

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yeah i fixed that issue at the end i think your referring to by just saying its the end of current demo , glad to hear your intrigued i will probs update mid this month or end with a big update , i plan with like everyday update to big like overhauls and that

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yeah i think your mean the thing at the end , i just changed that making it more known it was meant as the end of the current demo , I kinda just put this demo out there for now to gander some interest and that probs update mid time this month or end , I want to take it easy tho and not rush it or do some outlandish story thing but next update will be like a big one but that probs means it be like an update like once every month I say so I don’t get creativity burnt out.

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I think there are some bugs, when I move forward with the some choices it just gets stuck,

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It looks interesting, but I’ll wait for more updates to test it to get a general overview of the story. I wish you good work.

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Just finished the demo. It seems really interesting! Excited to see what else you plan on writing.

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okay is this at the end or like when you are making your character or in a diff section , if its at the end it was due to demo end. I will fix the other problems in my next update as more content will come out

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New update come out , fixed other bugs , i edit too much on the main post above so ima just update bellow , I added more detail and Words now total words being 52k words including code , I added more storyling , havent added anything to the end tho , just making the story more intrestnig for players , This was just a small update and use more stuff like vices and setting your moods.

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[Update: July 7, 2025] Major Narrative and Character Creation Expansion

MASSIVE 125K+ TOTAL WORDS/CODE

Hey folks. Today’s update brings a massive expansion to the character creation and narrative expression systems, with an emphasis on identity, vice reaction systems, and immersive sensory writing. This update furthers our core goal: a character-driven dystopian story that deeply reflects who you choose to be in a world designed to erase you.

:magnifying_glass_tilted_left: Character Customization — Expanded + Rewritten

I’ve rebuilt multiple aspects of the character creation scene to be more responsive, poetic, and alive with detail:

:brain: Vice-Reactive Descriptions

Every eye color and hair color choice now reacts dynamically to the player’s chosen core vice, offering rich, metaphorical lines that reflect the character’s internal state.

Grey eyes shaped by shame? Ash that’s trying to forget what once burned bright.
Rust red hair touched by deceit? Blood-colored fire hiding too many lies.

:dna: New Customization Systems

  • Skin System Overhaul:
    Expanded with new skin tones and textured sensory writing. Includes albinism, freckling, and mixed tones, grounded in dystopian racial coding.
  • Ethnicity / Racial Background Selection (NEW):
    Includes expanded categories across White, Black, Asian, Indigenous, Latino, Arab, Mixed, and Unclear/Erased, each with internal cultural texture and symbolic importance in the world. Categories are immersive, not reductive.
  • Body Detail Options (NEW):
    You can now define:
    • Chest/Breast types (including muscular, gyno, flat, transmasc/AFAB, binding, etc.)
    • Shaving Preference for combat
    • Visible surgical scars (including trans surgery scars)
    • Disability options, both hidden and mechanically replaced under the eugenics system.
  • Weight Class System (NEW):
    Selecting your weight now affects combat classification (e.g., featherweight, heavyweight) and will influence how others perceive you in fights and challenges.
  • Hair and Hair Color (Expanded):
    • New styles: buzzed, puffed, tight curls, matted, modded implants.
    • New color types:
      • Biotech-modified hair (e.g., silver with pulse glow)
      • Illegal gene-dye jobs (e.g., shimmering metallics, bio-luminescent strands)
      • Rebellion-coded dyed styles

:nazar_amulet: Visual Symbolism + Personality Integration

  • All cosmetic options are now emotionally reactive.
  • New descriptions reflect:
    • Your relationship to the state (e.g. scars = punishment or pride)
    • Your inner self through the lens of my poetic dystopia style in locket of ants

Scene Rewrite — “Corridor with Ghostbite”

One of the most pivotal early scenes has been fully rewritten for depth and nuance:

  • Ghostbite’s Introduction is now:
    • Visually intense — focused on body language, scars, skin texture, lighting, and emotion.
    • Stat reactive — build and height alter her spoken lines and perception of the player.
    • Relationship-influenced — tone adjusts depending on prior trust and flirt level.
  • Includes flirtation subtext, emotional tension, and history hinting for deeper romance arcs.

“You keep pushing like this,” she mutters, voice low as a heartbeat, “and you’re gonna be next.”
Then the warmth’s gone, buried under that old steel in her voice.

:brain: Core Design Progress

  • The modular vice system continues to influence both writing and mechanics.
  • Character appearance no longer exists in isolation — every trait is read and reacted to by the world.

Next Up

Coming soon:

  • Full background origin system, where players choose their district, class birth, and familial context.
  • Weapon loadout and style preferences tied to body type + psyche.
  • Expanded faction codename and rank reveal systems.
  • Integration of mood states in scene response (:warning: Angry, ☒ Heartbroken, etc.)
  • More focus on female customization and inclusion, as I’ll also start paying attention to gender differences , disabilities, Sexuality - for example, adding more options in character customization and generally putting more thought into it. I’ve mostly been focused on making the story flow, rather than ensuring immersion for all types of characters and people to not feel left out so will start adding more vast options to include , Next update will probs the final overhaul for the intro and will start to introduce chapter 1.

:black_nib: Final Notes

Thanks for following the journey. Locket of Ants is a world where identity is political, scars are history, and the self is never neutral. This update brings us closer to letting players shape not just how they look — but how they are seen, and what that means in a world that wants them erased.

Thanks for reading , hopefully I can edit my main post again soon :<

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I’m currently reading this for the first time. So, it seems interesting! But I would really appreciate name options. I don’t know what type of names are normal in this world. And I don’t know what kind of code names are normal. What if I put in a common name, only to find out the code names are usually like animals or something?

Also, for the part where it asks if you shave body hair. As a girl, I (and my MC) don’t really have body hair. So I wouldn’t shave it, but also I wouldn’t have it in the first place. Certainly not enough to give an opponent purchase. It would be great to have an option for just not growing body hair in the first place

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Okay thanks I will put more clarity for what they are and have name options , I will just put a note in-game saying true names are your first names and Codes names are just like nicknames that associate with characteristics or how people perceive you or unit numbers or a major event that happend in a character life eg Ghostbite due to a ghost of her past that I will reveal later in the chapters since im still kinda thinking that one out, I might just add a nickname function for the codenames but thanks for the help!

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Okay okay i would have the option if you not able to grow body hair or just have that scene not in if you play as a girl, i only added that since a big group of mma fighters (shave there body hair due to hygiene in fighting world and better fight performance but thats merely subjective) i only added it in for the immersion part of the game for the fighting parts. Since it just i always overanalyze things in detail so I might and try have earlier options then , thanks again lmao since I haven’t been focusing on the gender differences and I kind of assumed stuff based on my gender so I apologize for that , I will quickly update this since I don’t want to create a disruption of flow. (I will also add more options such as more feminine hairstyles , body types , maybe lashes , nails etc)

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Well! All of this make for a pretty good character customization. So far the story and the world have mostly been teased, but I’m definitely engaged.

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:construction: Dev Log Update: Temporary Closure + Transparency Note

Hey everyone,

I’ve decided to temporarily take Locket of Ants offline while I work on a major overhaul.

When I first uploaded the demo, I mistakenly listed the character count (125k) instead of the actual word count, which is closer to 21k including code. That was an honest mix-up, and I sincerely apologize for any confusion. Still, I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who gave it a shot — your early support and feedback meant a lot.

Over the past week, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what this story could be. There are systems I want to deepen, identities I want to represent more thoughtfully, and character customization options that deserve more nuance and variety.

My goal is to re-release when Chapter 1 (or Chapter 2) is fully complete, with:

  • New mechanics and systems
  • Expanded gender/body/identity customization
  • Stronger polish across the board
  • A proper word count closer to 100k+

It may go up as a new thread or be posted here again — I’ll decide when the time comes. I now realize I released the demo a bit too early, but the feedback has helped immensely. I truly want this to stand out — for the choices to matter, for the characters to linger, and for the experience to be immersive.

I’m currently on break/holidays, so I’ll be taking this at my own pace instead of rushing out updates. There’s no exact timeline, but I’m aiming for sometime next month (fingers crossed). Until then, it felt unfair to keep the project public while it’s still so unpolished and incomplete.
I sincerely apologize lmao but next time it will be better i promise.

I initially started this just to improve my writing skills and make it seem more professional due to me wanting to add more growth to my skills but I noticed I truly work best when its more midway and I can see all the feedback and life about my work. I only started this since my teacher said I should try and become an author and I thought this was a good way to practice and try to force my style into this organized - crime - work- vibe and; adding all kinds of things but problems of being a writer is just self-critique and in my experience high standards you set for yourself soo its also a break for me as well.

Thanks again for reading and for all your support.
See you soon — hopefully with something much stronger. : )

— Corey

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Heya,
Just read the wip and even tho there isn’t much story in it, I can tell it has pretty good substance and heart behind it. The choices seem deep and actually important and the plot does arouse a certain amount of interest in the world and lore, specially the interaction with the angel,god(?) girl at beggining.
All in all, seems like a really extensive and difficult project (given the amount of variables between the different sins; moods; traits etc) so just keep that in mind while working on it. Burnout is a real thing so be carefull.
In any case, it definitely caught my attention. Will be looking forward to updates.

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