If We Take The 'burn Plaithus Route' Even If It Isn't Literal, Will That Lock Us Out Of From Romancing

List of Romance Options for the series:

Hadrian

Alessa

Alain

Ysabella

The Pirate King

Neia

Lance

Rafael

study moods by subject

chemistry: a seat in the first row, diligent note taking, falling asleep in a textbook, color coded sticky notes but with no real system, fingers running across old ink

literature: studying in bed, a cat snoozing on the pillow, orchestral movie soundtracks playing softly, rereading passages that were absentmindedly passed through

math: strong cups of coffee, graph paper planners, crowded lecture halls, a furrowed brow, warm sweaters, that one special spot in the library

history: clicking pens, stacks and stacks of books, annotations in the margins, study sessions spread out on the floor, flickering candles, working in complete silence

biology: colorful illustrations, well worn flashcards, reusable water bottles, always breaking pencil lead, carefully drafting important emails

art: getting lost in readings, pastry and a coffee, receipts repurposed as bookmarks, love for rainy days, in class hand raising anxiety, a whirlwind of a backpack

world languages: early mornings, a deep seated quizlet addiction, studying with friends, practicing presentations aloud in an empty room, fidgeting in chairs, detailed study guides

engineering: hands running through hair, cups of tea either drank while they’re too hot or entirely forgotten, typing quickly, the sound as hallways fill in between classes

music: stretching fingers after long periods of writing, 11:59 submission for a 12:00 deadline, celebrating the completion of a task with something sweet, deep respect for teachers

Twine Demo Ch. 1 Public Release

Hello everyone! It's finally here 🎉

Chapter one has gone from 53k words to 96k, very few of which are repeating. This is definitely a chapter to replay over and over again, as there is a lot of width to it 👀 Hopefully all of the major coding errors have been fixed, so you shouldn't have problems with playing (crossed fingers). The UI should be fine for comfortable reading on mobile as well!

There are now three different ways to meet Vethna + for the Jamie encounter to end, and the fight scene with the twins has been completely rehauled. Hopefully you enjoy the changes made!

Note: There are two "unfinished" scenes in the demo that are marked with 'X's beside the choice. My hope was to finish them before the public release but I simply did not have time. They'll likely be finished when Chapter 2 is released! This goes for the POV switch with the Ivante twins at the end of the chapter as well 🧎and a super fun extra scene too 🤫

ALSO: The Codex/Journal/Memory system is not implemented yet. It's in-the-works, but I intend to keep it off-limits until the re-write is done due to how many variables + moving parts there are to it.

Hope you enjoy! All feedback is welcome (and appreciated!)

Play Here

Game-Changing Sites for Writers

A recent search for a specific type of site to help me build new characters led me down a rabbit hole. Normally, that would make me much less productive, but I have found a treasure trove of websites for writers.

Bring Characters/Places to Life

There are a few different places you can use to create a picture of something entirely new. I love this site for making character pictures as references, instead of stock photos or whatever pops up on Google Images.

thispersondoesnotexist: every time you reload the page, this site generates a headshot of someone who doesn't exist. This is great if you're thinking about a character's personality or age and don't have specifics for their facial features yet.

Night Cafe: this is an AI art generator that takes your text prompt and generates an image for it. I tried it for various scenery, like "forest" or "cottage." It takes a minute for your requested photo to load, but no more than maybe five for the program to finish the picture.

Art Breeder: this website has endless images of people, places, and general things. Users can blend photos to create something new and curious visitors can browse/download those images without creating an account. (But if you do want to make an account to create your own, it's free!)

Find Random Places on Earth

You might prefer to set a story in a real-life environment so you can reference that place's weather, seasons, small-town vibe, or whatever you like. If that's the case, try:

MapCrunch: the homepage generates a new location each day and gives the location/GPS info in the top left of the screen. To see more images from previous days, hit "Gallery" in the top left.

Atlas Obscura: hover over or tap the "Places" tab, then hit "Random Place." A new page will load with a randomly generated location on the planet, provide a Google Maps link, and tell you a little bit about the place.

Random World Cities: this site makes randomly selected lists of global cities. Six appear for each search, although you'll have to look them up to find more information about each place. You can also use the site to have it select countries, US cities or US states too.

Vary Your Wording

Thesauruses are great, but these websites have some pretty cool perspectives on finding just the right words for stories.

Describing Words: tell this website which word you want to stop repeating and it will give you tons of alternative words that mean the same thing. It typically has way more options than other sites I use.

Reverse Dictionary: type what you need a word for in Reverse Dictionary's search box and it will give you tons of words that closely match what you want. It also lists the words in order of relevancy, starting with a word that most accurately describes what you typed. (There's also an option to get definitions for search results!)

Tip of My Tongue: this website is phenomenal. It lets you search for that word you can't quite place by a letter in it, the definition, what it sounds like, or even its scrambled letters. A long list of potential options will appear on the right side of the screen for every search.

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Hope this helps when you need a hand during your next writing session 💛

im sorry to everyone who’s crying alone in their room right now

Motivation for "Harvard students" or all students basically

1. If you fall asleep now, you will dream. If you study now, you will live your dream.

2. When you think it’s too late, the truth is, it’s still early.

3. The pain of studying is only temporary. But the pain of not knowing—ignorance—is forever.

4. Studying is not about time. It’s about effort.

5. Life is not all about studying. But if you can’t even conquer this little part of life, then what else can you possibly do?

6. Enjoy the inexorable pain.

7. It’s those who are earlier than the others, those who put in more effort, who can enjoy the feelings of success.

8. Not everyone can truely succeed in everything. But success only comes with self-management and determination.

9. Time is flying.

10. The saliva that flow now will become the tears of tomorrow.

11. Dogs are learning, ambassadors are playing.

12. If you don’t walk today, you’ll have to run tomorrow.

13. People who invest in the future are realists.

14. The level of education is in direct correlation with your salary.

15. When today is over, it will never come back.

Chapter 5 - Part Two

Hello everyone... it's here. It's finally here! Chapter 5, pt. 2 is now out, and is 250k words of new content, meaning The Exile is now over 1 million words!

This release was... rough, to say the least, but it's all in the rear-view mirror now, thankfully. As some of you may know, this is the final chapter of the public demo. I'll make a post later on detailing what the future development of The Exile will be, but for now I just want to take in a deep breath and relax (as I fix what inevitable bugs pop up with release, that is).

Avg. Play length: 114k -> 135k Total Wordcount: 818k -> 1 mil

Some Notes:

You have to replay the entire game. Your old saves won't work. Please, for the love of the gods, do not use them. I know it's tedious to replay the entire demo sometimes, but the new release will not work properly otherwise.

I HIGHLY recommend saving at the beginning of when Esmerelda goes to visit Marcelle, or where the old demo ended. This is because when I do bug fixes (and I will have to do bug fixes), all saves that were on the file I updated cease to work properly. Saving at the scene with Esmerelda is the closest to the new content that you can save w/o having to worry about losing your save progress frequently near release. (Though I will update Chapter 5, pt. 1 at some point)

DO NOT spread info you got by code diving. Please and thank you! :)

Preferably send bugs + typos to the Discord. Otherwise, feel free to send them here! Also, keep an eye out for broken symbols next to choices! (It would help if you tell me what chapter it's in as well :))

There are two versions of The Exile on Dashingdon. The right one has [Current] next to it. The reason there are two is b/c for some reason or another, I couldn't get into my old account, and I couldn't reset the password, and it was just... a whole mess. So I couldn't delete the old demo when I uploaded the new one on my new account. Just keep this in mind if you're trying to look The Exile up right into a search engine as opposed to going through links on the Tumblr or Forum!

Play Chapter 5, Pt. 2!

Who makes the porn bots. Where do they come from. What do they hope to achieve.

[ID: a banner graphic showing the open water of the sea. The water is dark and choppy, with a gray, overcast sky overhead, and fog obscuring the horizon. Text at the center of the image reads: “The Nothern Passage, Chapter 2: Part 1.” Above the text is a vector of two swords crossed in an X.]

The Northern Passage has been updated!

01.10.23: The first part of chapter 2 is now available to play over on itch.io. This includes the Blackwater route only. To access the new content, ensure that you choose to stay in Blackwater rather than leave for Highfell. Saves should work - though I advise you to still keep a save at the end of chapter 1, since any later updates to chapter 2 will require you to play from the start of the chapter again.

Along with the new content, various edits include:

The companions will now introduce themselves with their pronouns, as well as various other characters - Branwen, Mal, Hawkell, etc.

Edited the input process for hunters that use no pronouns. This should help clean up any clunky sentences where the companions talk to/about the hunter as well as allow for the hunter to properly introduce themself with just their name.

A new codex entry on Magic.

Alchemists can now choose to have hand tattoos (though the continuity for this has yet to be fixed).

New content warnings include animal death. This is only in one path, and it is avoidable, relying entirely on the player choosing whether it happens or not.

As always, please feel free to message me here with feedback or if you run into any typos, errors, or bugs, and I’ll work on getting them patched out for you all as soon as possible.

Play it here!

Project Intro | FAQ | Patreon | Tip Jar

Notes under the cut.

Keep reading

CHAPTER 2 HAS BEEN UPDATED!

This includes:

A nightmare scene with some variations involved

For MCs with Wits as their main skill, an exclusive optional nightmare route (Hint: Follow the voice)

More conversations with Alex, and with Vincent.

Assassins

Some overview on the police department and the Ripper’s relationship with their colleagues. (which is, not very good)

A flashback scene

Nickname option added on Chapter 1, as well the choice to use the Ripper’s mother’s maiden name (Note: The mother canonically has a Filipino heritage).

Mental health stats such as stress and cynicism amongst others are implemented, though they remain hidden from the stats page for now.

Additional 58,475 words excluding codes!

Old saves will not properly work, so apologies for that! I also advise you to keep a save for the start of Chapter 2, since I’ll be putting the next part on the same file, and dashingdon always reverts its saves to the beginning of the chapters whenever an update is made.

DEMO | INTRO POST | KO-FI | DISCORD | FORUM

Do consider donating to my ko-fi if you liked the game and stay tuned to future announcements with regards to a probable Patreon launch soon. Anyway, feedback and reblogs will be deeply appreciated! Let me know about your thoughts and/or theories through asks, on the forum, or on discord.

Premise and additional notes below the cut.

Keep reading