Just pushed a small update. I changed a percentage stat (wealth) into a number value (cash) and had to crawl through a bunch of scenes adjusting where that value gets changed.
The new chapter, “Quick Thinking Required”, has four parallel vignettes depending on what happened in the previous chapter. I think I will wait until all four strands are complete before posting the new chapter.
I remember this well! At the time I thought your entry was the best in the competition. I’m glad you’ve returned to this - I have been interested to see where it would go.
Thank you! I think you will find many delights lying ahead in the new-and-improved version, even though I am trying to be realistic about limiting the number of branches I try to graft onto the trunk of the story.
There is a thread where the MC messes up so badly that they are put in a limited and subordinate role, although not busted down to the ranks. I believe that being cashiered out of the military would be the more normal punishment at that time in the British military for someone who had purchased a commission and then offended really seriously. The Admiral Cochranes of history, who were busted from midshipman down to able seaman and then rose again, are cool stories but I don’t think I have bandwidth to take this MC there.
The game does have a couple of other possible exits for the MC, depending on decisions taken and skills available.
Thank you that’s the name I was searching for, I thought there was such a path for this mc too.
And that initial fall only to rise again to much greater heights was the kind of dynamic I was referring to.
In any case your story was one of the most promising of that competition and I’m glad to see it isn’t dead.
Probably the closest the story now comes to this is in the backstory for the MC. The family has fallen into disrepute and debt, and a key driver in the game is whether the MC chooses a goal that involves restoring the family fortunes, and then what they do to achieve that goal.
I have a game in early development that may more closely match what you are looking for, but I need to get this one done, and then another one, before I will be ready for that fall-then-rise-again game.
I have a love-hate relationship with bright ideas. I just had a great thought for an event in the chapter I am writing. “I’ll just do a little research,” sez I to myself, “to make sure this thing even existed in 1800.”
When I finished my research and was done developing and coding the support material the player will need (available through a link on the Stats page), I realized my afternoon writing session was over. I guess it’ll be a better sequence, although a later-arriving one than I had hoped.
I uploaded a small update this evening. I had overlooked one unfinished thread in the story so far, and now it is playable.
I have also added an option for the MC to declare whether their ideal love interest would be a man, a woman, either, or none. That should be useful as the game goes forward!
Here’s a question. I intend to have links on the Stats page to information that is relevant to where the player is in the game. Should I point that out in a sort of out-of-character hint at the start of the game, or just trust players to notice the links as they appear? I tend to think I should state that they are there, as not all games have that sort of additional information.
It would probably be the best to have the first page “out of story”, where you give info about the links and give some general info about the game (length, setting etc.).
The next chapter of the game, “Quick Thinking Required”, is now available. This about doubles the length of the playable game, and is the first of three chapters set in the professional and social circles of the military garrison of Halifax. This chapter has three different strands, which you get to depending on what you did in the previous chapter. Each strand has its “interesting” elements, so I hope this will enhance replayability.
There are several new characters introduced, and I would be interested if they seem both consistent to themselves and distinct from each other.
I am thinking of adding a characters section to the stats page with a brief reminder of what’s up with each character the MC has met so far. I think that may be useful, but I wonder if there is any downside to it…
At least the chapter I am working on now is pretty linear. The one I just added had three parallel strands that all had to dump the MC out at the same place…oh, except for the strand that ends very, very badly.
I just posted a small update to fix a gap in the story. There are several characters on the move in the first tavern scene, and I had two of them out of place in one branch. Also got to the first opportunity for a kiss (if that’s the sort of thing the MC goes in for…).
I have also added a list, accessible through the stats page, of the people the MC has met so far. I realized that if i the author was getting confused, what chance would the player have?
Your new orders are both exacting and vague. You are to attend upon Prince William “and provide such service that conforms best with his desires and your duty.” That sounds like a balancing act that could be troublesome. You are expected to join the Prince and his party, who are moving to rooms in the town. Your rank remains the same, and you are seconded only, serving the prince until he sees fit to send you back for reassignment to other duties.
So you have risen in the world, after a fashion, as a spark flies up from the fire. But a spark’s light does not endure long. How can you set about taking advantage of this brief rise?
This adds another 8,000 words or so.
I find there is enough going on in the Halifax chapters that I am probably going to have to insert an extra one. Too many good ideas!