@JimD great job on the new part though, just wish it was longer! I feel like the overall game might be a little too easy though. Should be some more situations that can go south if you make poor decisions.
I’ve only died one time maybe 10 play through. As long as the choices are heavily tied to stats + previous choices it won’t feel too cheap if I die more often.
"It’s strange, but I sweat there was a little girl walking in front of the zombies. A human girl
Should be swear. Unless Candace is so freaked out that she is using the wrong words xD
I would suggest a very high Charisma to be able to rationalize not going.
(Or have Emma argue for you if you have an insanely high relationship with her)
And that a character with low health will be forced to stay (and get healed a little).
It seems weird for them to send one someone one-wound-away-from-dying to rescue others.
Poor Tom though, seems like his romantic advances all had the spotlight stolen by Devlin xD (No wonder Heather try to kick the guy out so much, she is helping out her brother in case the PC is a female!)
@kavok I admit I struggle with knowing when to put in a choice that ends the game versus letting the player continue. If someone reads an hour long story and dies abruptly with no way to go to a save point or back up a choice, it seems like it would annoy the reader. I know it must be done, but I have saved ending the story in death for those really bad decisions. I definitely have to revisit it though.
@CremePudding thanks for the comments. How did you know it is *label CathResolution? I tried view source on the page and other methods but didn’t see the code displayed.
Also I have to review some of the stat-based issues but wanted to keep the text up since people have been waiting.
Great comments from both of you and everyone so far. I really appreciate the feedback and take it all seriously as I continue to re-write.
I really liked the save Carl part. I’m about to play the stay at the cathedral part.
However, one thing I noticed was that I chose to have all the zombies follow me while mindy and Dave rescue Carl, but when I get back it says that mindy and I go in together. I think it would be better if Dave and mindy already got Carl out by the time the player returns.
Played it only once so far (the save Carl path), and it is really awesome. I hope that the expansiveness of the choices (who comes back alive) doesn’t bog down your writing. It does make the world feel very reactive though. I was actually surprised when I decided to leave the guy (?Dave?) to deal with the zombies on his own, and he died.
One thing that I have to note is that the love scene with your sister’s friend (can’t recall name currently) feels a little sudden. Nothing is badly written, it’s just that it feels like for most of the previous part there is nothing there, then she suddenly comes on to you. The one scene (that I hit) that felt like it was indicative of her having such feelings (saving her from the zombies just before you get on the ship) where she says something pertaining to you shooting zombies as being ‘hot’ felt almost sarcastic, as it just felt like a sudden departure from what she had seemed to be so far.
It just felt like for that scene to feel more ‘real’ she either needs to be a bit more questioning about whether she should come into your room, or from the start she needs to ‘lean’ on you a bit more.
Eh, but that is just personal opinion. Maybe everyone disagrees with me and I’m just being a stereotypical old man with old fashioned ideas on how people are supposed to act.
It is difficult to write out a character, and going forward, characters will be like a stat – are they still alive? If yes, goto part A, else goto part B. It will make writing challenging but I think the work is worth the reward. In Part 2, Devlin staying or leaving was hard to work out but I think the effort of tracking it was worth it. So, in this part, what happens to Dave is inevitable but that won’t be the case going forward.
The reasons for Heather’s interest and aggressiveness will be explored later. I didn’t want the game to spotlight the relationship to a large degree, and drawing it out in several interactions seemed a waste of game real estate. I also didn’t write what happens if she stays; it may have been implied, but I will show more of the relationship.
I hope that makes sense.
BTW, I am not too young (38) and fairly old fashioned
@Matteller Yep, there are already some in the game but I will be adding more soon. Right now, there are a few choices in each Part that simply ends the game without a health check.
Group sounds more interesting especial if you can betray someone or get into a fight with another group member.
More character building i would like to see heathers brother try to kick your ass for having sex with his sister or you cheating on heather with Candace or mindy or something which starts a fight between them. That and more action
3.I prefer a week to a few weeks apart instead of months or real time. Like show the characters slowly changing.
4.Love Emma Dont really like devin i like to see Mindy or Heather having a bigger role
5 The police station was my favorite love stealing the cops guns.
@CremePudding i have never even tried that. Thanks for the tip.
@Querida I will fix this. Thanks for letting me know – it is a tricky issue. Going forward, I will track players who come from the subway and reset their options.