Hey everyone,
I’ve been lurking here for a while and played through a ton of Choice of Games stories. Life of a Wizard especially blew my mind - the way it lets you explore different paths as a wizard, the stat progression, the way choices early on ripple through the entire story. Honestly, there aren’t enough stories like that in the market, which is part of why I decided to build my own.
I know most people here use ChoiceScript, and I totally get why - it’s powerful and well-designed. But I wanted to learn by building something from scratch, so I made my own stat-based branching narrative system.
About the Demo:
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Title: Siege of Emberhold
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Genre: Dark fantasy
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Length: ~18,000 words, 30-60 min playthrough
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Stats: Life, Chi (magic), Gold, Morale
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Premise: You’re a fire mage helping a grieving duke storm a necromancer’s fortress. You have a spirit wolf companion and a strike team backing you up. Different approach than Life of a Wizard, but trying to capture that same feeling of meaningful choices and magical possibilities.
What I’m looking for feedback on:
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Does the branching feel meaningful or am I creating the illusion of choice?
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Is the writing engaging or does it fall flat?
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Pacing - does it drag or rush?
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Character depth - do the NPCs feel real?
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Resource management - is it too punishing or too forgiving?
Play it here: https://trueselfgames.org/
I know this isn’t ChoiceScript and I’m not trying to compete with what you all are building here. I just respect this community’s eye for good interactive fiction and would really value your honest feedback.
Thanks for giving it a shot!
- Iosif