The MC IS combat trained, so “normal dude with a knife” is pwnable.
9 Likes
Long time no see
I posted this update on my tumblr page some time ago, but I figured I should post it here as well, since not everyone goes on tumblr. It’s a quick update of where I am in my life, what I’m doing with my projects, and where I am with the game.
While the characters in the story are all inherently good people, they have flaws and quirks, and sometimes those flaws appear while they’re doing their job. Like, in one of the routes, Lance roughing up the suspect in the house while arresting him, not just using her strength but also her authority to put fear into him in order to detain him with the least amount of struggle as possible. It’s something I want to explore, however in the current climate I’m a little hesitant to write those grey-area scenes when it comes to law enforcement. It is meant to be a commentary on the state of the individual performing those acts and to highlight those flaws, but at the moment, it just isn’t the time to explore those topics given current events.
Empathy is a big part of this story along with the grief it explores. About how trauma affects people and the way they act and react to things changes because of it. I feel that it would be irresponsible of me to not notice the empathy owed to people affected by real life current events.
What does this mean? I’m still going to finish The Bureau, and I’ll still be working on it, but now may not be the time to release it. I’ve paused Patreon over the past few months because of this, but again, I want to stress; it’s not dead. I’m not going to leave it unfinished forever, especially not when I’m so close to the finish line with it. There may be less endings than originally planned simply because, at the moment, I’m trying to publish one of three books. One of them is going through it’s third revision and I’m very close to being ready to send out query letters to agents about it. The other two are currently still in the early first draft stage.
I know The Bureau is never going to be anything more than a passion project, even when it does get published. It will not be the next Wayhaven, Fallen Hero, Lords of Infinity, Kingdoms and Empires or Infamous. That doesn’t make it less important to me, it just means I have to shift my focus to other things as well. Not just that, but going through multiple revisions of my book has taught me extremely valuable lessons in editing and reigning in content. Unlike ChoiceScript games, books have specific word counts that you cannot go over, or else they will be auto-rejected by agents and publishers. The scope of what you are able to tell is finite. I’ve realized that, even though choicescript doesn’t have those limitations, and in fact the community and the business model itself has promoted the opposite views for works and applauded million word games in the past, it’s not my goal anymore.
I don’t want people to experience everything, I want them to be able to experience enough to feel something. Narrowing the scope of the game a little bit won’t just help me get the game across the finish line, it will make the scenes that I write more meaningful and impactful.
You are all amazing for sticking with it, and me, in my writing journey. The skills I’m obtaining through writing static fiction will absolutely be able to be carried out into the final version of The Bureau when it returns. I’m taking things one day at a time, and I hope you guys are as well.
Peace, love, and empathy to all out there, and I hope to have more updates for you in the near future. Always remember:
Stay brilliant,
-Vi
47 Likes
I wouldn’t say the politics around any type of climate prevent gray plot devices from being empathetic, with a good understanding of the actions’ motivations. Gray actions, and scenes in a story, are as much “good” as they are “bad” since that’s largely what something being a gray area is. The depth of just being human, with flaws and weaknesses, played against a reader’s critical thinking, and reason skills.
We should know the context within the first half of chapter 1, not that this has stopped ‘bad reads’ of any book, or scene in a game out there, but there’s a lot of good set up you’ve done that makes me understand why Lance would be more zealous than is reasonable for dealing with a suspect, or witness.
All that being said, you should always approach how you handle what you want to do at your own pace, and absolutely in the way you’ll be most comfortable. Life stressors causing slow downs, and pauses are pretty normal, and expected when someone is working on something solo.
11 Likes
Respect for ur empathy 
buuuut i do IF bc it is an escape and gives me control, and that includes controlling everyday issues. Everything is censored rn so im a bit sad everyone is being forced to pause their shared work 
Whenever u feel like it well b here, but yeah i would welcome ur story n e time. Its a great story! Top 10
4 Likes
Been a while since I poked my head into this thread. Hope you’re doing good since this update was posted! 
Write what you’re comfortable with. If you want to explore these themes, go for it. If you don’t want to right now, then don’t feel pressured to do so. 
I really do love how empathy is a major theme in the story.
I wish you good luck publishing your other items! As for The Bureau being called a ‘passion project’, I think that’s the best kind. People tend to draw similarities between stories, whether they be accurate or not, and that can be frustrating for some people to hear. Out of the other IFs you mentioned, I have only read Wayhaven, but I have never gotten the impression that this is Wayhaven. But that could just be my personal habit of looking at individual stories as themselves and not compare them to others. The Bureau is its own thing and I love it for being the passion project you’ve made it to be.
Very interesting stuff to hear about your challenges in getting manuscripts submitted and hearing about the word limitations. I’m interested to see how they translate into this story going forward.
Take care!
11 Likes
Checks watch.
Well, that was a long time, huh? Guess I should start this off by saying The Bureau is updated.
- “Cookies and Cream” Ryder extra scene in chapter 4.5, adding 5.4k words to the demo.
- Hawks no longer falsely accuses the PC of stealing a hard drive they’ve literally never seen before. (Fixed a *goto bug in the debrief)
- Carter is now also named Harper. It’s an androgynous name and works well for both. Mainly done for personal reasons.
So, obviously I took somewhat of a break from the game. I’m pretty much writing it at my own pace at this point, but no, it won’t take a year per 5k words going forward. I wanted to expand myself as a writer, so I took on different projects, and some of those projects are still in the works, while others are completed and being released into the world. I’ve been pausing Patreon for a while; not sure if or when I’ll activate it again. Might just make everything free to relieve some of the pressure/stress. Of course, college is still college. Still stressful on top of it all. Thanks everyone for being patient. I’ll stop by once I update the game again.
Stay Brilliant,
-Vi
51 Likes
Welcome back 
3 Likes
There were issues with the ROs’ pronouns in most of the chapters when I selected for both genders. Is there something wrong with:
*if Inquisitive >= 15
It's a small thing, but I do notice it. The order in which things happen with Dennis' hands. He uses the mouse first, double clicking something, then begins typing. Then scrolling through a page. Most likely, he was scrolling a list of volunteers for their experimental programs here in the building as we asked. Only, he [i]immediately[/i] began to do that.
Dennis didn't have to type in any login information beforehand. It may be nothing, but it raises my suspicions a bit.
*set compnotice "True"
*set Inquisitive +5
*page_break
*goto dennisoffice2
I had a 28 in inquisitive at this point, but I didn't see the text when I played.
2 Likes
I will look into both these things.
1 Like
If u ever need a beta tester I help(ed) w/ SSW3, UnNatural, Echoes of Olympus, and Bride of shadows. I also help a lot w lost in your eyes. It feeds my OCD, so LMK
2 Likes
I can’t get my Arthur RO stats up 
Also did I miss something searching that house w Arthur? It Saki d we felt there’s something we missed?
1 Like
Is the Arthur stats not going up even for choices that are supposed to make it go up? Also, I don’t have the game in front of me right now, but I believe the two important pieces of evidence you can find in the house that cause the dialogue of missing something to not show up are:
-
The bag of money with the business card in it
-
The USB flashdrive
1 Like