Thank you so much, I really appreciate the kind words!! It's also just little old me writing it, I don't have a team or anything like that (if I did I'd probably be able to finish it faster) 🥲 As such I also can't give you a timeline for when it will be done, realistically it will probably take me several years. But my estimate/aim for the amount of chapters is anywhere between 25-28!
I regret to inform you there was never a kiss on the lips, only the Crown/A seeming to *intend* to do it, but not actually going through with it 😭 I think you must have misremembered. But the kiss scene will definitely get here eventually!
Thank you, I appreciate it!! 💖 Unfortunately with the way Twine (the software I used to make this) works, a skip functionality or highlighting all the new text would be very tricky to implement, as the variations in writing and the way it's structured is much more complex compared to a VN engine like ren'py (see this image, this is what the game looks like). Especially with how huge this game will end up being, even going back and highlighting *every* "new" bit of text would be a massive undertaking. So yeah, that's probably not something I will be able to add 😩
About your idea for an epithet for the Crown: I was actually considering implementing something like that based on their character traits! but in the end I decided it would be more impactful if the epithet was gained based on the Crown's choices during their reign rather than their personality. You decide their traits very early on after all, and they don't change throughout the entire story, so an epithet earned through player choices will probably hit harder. So, that's definitely planned 🙏🏼
What the person above said is correct, and to clarify: no, it's not possible to select specific genders for each specific character. It's solely randomized if you choose that your Crown is attracted to both men and women. That's an intentional design choice on my part!
Lady Naza appreciates a bold Crown who doesn't show any fear and will put the nobility in their place with a firm hand. There are 3 choices where you can win points with her, and one of them (like the other person mentioned) regards the choice in CH5 on which factions to tell about the assassination attempt. As a hint, I will say that the person above only has it partly right ;)
If you then get a yellow tulip from her as a gift in CH6, then you're on the right track! No worries if you don't though, there are still two other choices (one in CH8 and one in CH9) that can win you points with her as well.
Technically, X is 28 and the Crown is 25 right now because X's birthday has already passed and the Crown's is still coming up in the current year the story takes place in, but otherwise yeah there's a 2 year difference between them!
As for the others, R is 23 (turns 24 later in the year), D is 30 (birthday has already passed) and A is 26 (turns 27 later in the year).
I used Twine with the Sugarcube story format! It's open source and completely free to use. Also, for you and anyone else interested in getting into using Twine and creating your own games, there is a really good beginner's guide someone put together to help get you started (again, only for the Sugarcube format, I'm not aware of anything similar for Harlowe or other formats). They also have further Twine resources linked on the page as well.
Your love interest has no bearing on what happens to Yekbun! I guarantee you made different plot-related choices between playthroughs, but I'm not listing any walkthroughs for that yet as it's still in progress.
The best outcome you can get for D in that scene is that command of the army is temporarily transferred to one of their lieutenants while they recover, but any talk of removing their title is shot down by the Crown/their allies. The worst case scenario is that the Crown is badgered into looking for substitutes while D recovers and D risks having their title stripped from them during that time.
Which outcome you get depends on whether you were successfully able to fire the Minister of Law in CH9, and if you did not manage that, then whether you were able to recruit any allies such as Lady Naza or Minister Awir. If you didn't manage to fire the Minister of Law and you have neither Lady Naza or Minister Awir on your side, then you will get the worst outcome. Hope that helps!!
Definitely some time this year!! I can't give a certain release date yet though because I've been struggling a lot with CH12, but I've been steadily making progress on it 🙏🏼
Thanks!! In the future, please report typos and other bugs using the form linked at the top of the page, it's easier for me to keep track of that way 🙏
