@Nick_Miller Thank you! I love the word whimsical It took me a while to figure out coding for the stat screen and Iām still planning to add to it and make changes. I am very proud of how it is right now, however!
@Cingulum_diaboli Your background will make a good difference in the story. There are entire sections of the story that branch off that you wonāt get from playing other branches. The rest of the prologue is essentially going to consist of your childhood in your background. Different characters that will exist in the story anyway can address your mc differently or recognize them due to their background e.g. being recognized by townspeople as royalty and having them respect you, or the same townsfolk being from your own hometown and knowing you personally.
Iām also toying around with the idea of introducing ROs in the background section of the prologue (before obviously having them introduced soon after in the present). This idea wouldnāt limit anything, it would just add extra content. You could still get in a relationship with a similar number of relationship points no matter what your background is. It would just mean you would have known a character in your childhood from one branch you wouldnāt know in the other.
And there are definitely pros and cons. E.g., Itāll be harder for a commoner to become literate than a noble or royal, but commoners will be more aware of the layout of the capital city and less likely to become lost than a royal or noble. A royal would also be more likely to get recognised than a commoner but a royal will have more connections, and so on.
Edit: 15/1/22 - added in character portraits and new ROs with character summaries.
This is pretty good for your first tryā¦I especially like the customizationsā¦I am looking forward to the next updateā¦Well I encourage you to keep going onā¦And lol some people ganging up on @geldar ā¦Well it was a bit confusingā¦But I figured it out by restarting and checking the stats a few timesā¦ Anyway good luck
@Ashten Thank you Just for better writing, what could I change to make it less confusing to you? Rather than having to burden you as the player to restart it and check stats.
Well itās not a burden at allā¦And I donāt wanna burden you by making this less confusingā¦As I said this is just a bit confusingā¦Not a problemā¦But if you would like to still change it then you can make the customization of our character before we choose the gender of that Ice guy/girlā¦This is just a suggestionā¦If you feel itās a bit tiring to changeā¦Then you dont have toā¦We donāt mindā¦ Anyway keep goingā¦
Ouch! That would make the years of confinement in that tower really boring for the poor commoner, so the vaunted literacy will come too little too late, if it does come at all.
@Ashten āBut if you would like to still change it then you can make the customization of our character before we choose the gender of that Ice guy/girlā¦ā
@Ashten Itās definitely not too tiring to change! After all, these are the beginning stages of the story. I feel if the storyās customization is confusing because of the way Iāve set it out, Iād like to sort it. From a writing perspective, I struggle more to see it. So your feedback is invaluable, thank you. Iām definitely going to look into it and sort it out for the next update.
@idonotlikeusernames It definitely is! Nobles can also be illiterate, but itāll be easier for them to learn to read. Royals will be literate due to their background and the lessons they would have had to take.
@Avadon_Smith This is a very kind post that gives me a lot of faith in my gameās potential. Thank you for the lovely comment
Pity we canāt all learn in the tower. So does that lock out the commoner from learning other things like magic until late game literacy comes orā¦?
This I do not follow, unless it is a function of money, but if the members of our new adventuring party can (optionally) teach the mc wouldnāt it be more a matter of aptitude and eagerness, so an intelligent and inquisitive commoner would learn it relatively faster than a bored noble?
I donāt want to divulge too much information but you can absolutely learn things in the tower.
Nope. In the beginning prologue, magic isnāt important as it is later on. The reason for this is that the prologue focuses on building your personality. Stat building is included but isnāt as heavily focused on as it will be. Magic is also included- but doesnāt depend on your character background. Throughout the story, your MC will always have chances to learn magic.
It essentially is, being a limit on the type of lessons (you can have more than one) you choose. The MC noble is not from a rich noble house.
Definitely. But early on it is easier for a noble as they can be taught how to read by a tutor. Commoners wonāt have those resources and will have to go out of their way to learn how to read. There will be different ways to do this- like with a higher intelligence stat. There are other ways as well, early on too, but I wonāt spoil them for now.
Personally, Iām not a fan of Artbreeder portraits. Itās impressive for an AI generated program but the way it works and was designed means a lot of portraits will end up look same-y because the source material is the same (unless you upload your own pictures and drawings and/or decide to go crazy with the sliders and mixesā¦ which can result in some crazy, nightmare fuel results). I think most people just pick one closest to what they like and/or want, make a few small tweaks and call it day.
Another thing that bothers me is that everyone looks like a super-model. Itās hard to explainā¦ they look both beautiful and plain at the same time, likeā¦ a computer generated image that wanted to emulate traits human find attractive but does so in a very boring, soulless way.
I donāt mind custom-made art (made by real people) but at the end of the day the point of a text game is to let our imagination run wild.
A new scene including the birth of your character within your background.
Some changes to stats as well as new stats (Madness and Renown)
New choices
Minor Fixes
In the next update, there will be more of the prologue including your childhood, an introduction to one RO (different ROs will be a childhood acquaintance of each of the different class backgrounds), more worldbuilding, backstory and building of your characterās skills and personality.
Thank you to everyone for your kind words and for checking out this story! I know Iām definitely updating this late and itās not as much as I wouldāve liked to have included in this update. Mostly due to studying and assessments, Iāve not had as much time as I wouldāve liked writing.
I have no idea what exactly it is but this and two other really early on (shorter) demos live in my head rent free. I usually only get invested into projects after following them for years. Maybe I am just super excited for the concept? Looking forward to reading the update!
Glad there is an update! Recently I remembered this wip and I wondered if it was not one of those that were published, but soon the authors abandoned them.
@Cingulum_diaboli Thank you! I love this wip and while updates will probably be slow going, I definitely donāt want to abandon it. Itās like my baby There are a lot of wips that get abandoned that are so good and itās a wee shame.
And yes saves will be added! ā¦as soon as I figure out how to add them
@MooseMouse Thatās a really nice thing to say. Youāve made my day. Thank you
It took me a while to figure out coding for the stat screen and Iām still planning to add to it and make changes. I am very proud of how it is right now, however! 
Just for better writing, what could I change to make it less confusing to you? Rather than having to burden you as the player to restart it and check stats. 
Iām definitely going to look into it and sort it out for the next update.
There are a lot of wips that get abandoned that are so good and itās a wee shame.
