“Alright, next stop is the jeweler's,” I say, looking over my list.
“Oh, come on,” Rin groans, sinking lower under the weight of the two bags in their hands. “I thought you said we were done!”
“I said we’re almost done,” I correct. “There’s twenty items on the Den’s list for us to pick up, and this is number twenty.”
“I’m gonna pass out b...
2024-06-28 14:21:18 +0000 UTC View Post
“Alright, next stop is the jeweler's,” I say, looking over my list.
“Oh, come on,” Rin groans, sinking lower under the weight of the two bags in her hands. “I thought you said we were done!”
“I said we’re almost done,” I correct. “There’s twenty items on the Den’s list for us to pick up, and this is number twenty.”
“I’m gonna pass out bet...
2024-06-28 14:16:26 +0000 UTC View Post
“Alright, next stop is the jeweler's,” I say, looking over my list.
“Oh, come on,” Rin groans, sinking lower under the weight of the two bags in his hands. “I thought you said we were done!”
“I said we’re almost done,” I correct. “There’s twenty items on the Den’s list for us to pick up, and this is number twenty.”
“I’m gonna pass out bet...
2024-06-28 14:10:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Choice option text reads:
I keep the phonograph, a new invention I've been reading about from Enala. The box is made of a rich, dark rosewood. The metal piece its sound comes from is sculpted into a beautiful sky-blue flower, and painted with swirling designs in light yellows, pinks, and greens. It looks like something ...
2024-06-27 14:20:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Just did this word count for the game (including the unfinished drafts of future chapters). I stopped counting for awhile after we hit 300k and I'm shocked to find now we're almost at 400?? This is so exciting 😄
2024-06-25 11:19:57 +0000 UTC View PostI spent a lot of this week absorbing and working on feedback from my one alpha tester (to whom I'm eternally grateful). I've gotten some really excellent notes on things to target for the beta, including:
General tweaking of initial RO descriptions: I hadn't noticed that I use a lot of the same adjectives when introducing them (e.g. all the women are called "beautiful").
Reworking the early chapter 8 companion scene to allow for a little more possibility of RO rel...
2024-06-23 23:09:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Image text reads:
The Guide doesn't join us. Instead she breathes out, and a green-tinted steam flows from her mouth, resolving in the shape of
*if strongestStatName = "expressive"
*set ch12_mc_animal "rabbit"
a rabbit. It stares at me with big, expressive eyes that tell me [i]follow[/i] as clearly as if it'd spoken, then hops just to the side...
2024-06-23 02:26:03 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s late morning in the market, and you can tell. Merchants barely even bother to hawk their wares this time of day – everyone’s already gone, or in a hurry to grab what they can and get home before the sun hits the highest point of the sky. It’s hot now, but soon it’ll be too hot to shop at all.
“Gods, today’s been brutal,” I groan, squinting as I look through the shop...
2024-06-20 23:37:58 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s late morning in the market, and you can tell. Merchants barely even bother to hawk their wares this time of day – everyone’s already gone, or in a hurry to grab what they can and get home before the sun hits the highest point of the sky. It’s hot now, but soon it’ll be too hot to shop at all.
“Gods, today’s been brutal,” I groan, squinting as I look through the shop...
2024-06-20 23:32:12 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s late morning in the market, and you can tell. Merchants barely even bother to hawk their wares this time of day – everyone’s already gone, or in a hurry to grab what they can and get home before the sun hits the highest point of the sky. It’s hot now, but soon it’ll be too hot to shop at all.
“Gods, today’s been brutal,” I groan, squinting as I look through the shops. ...
2024-06-20 23:26:22 +0000 UTC View PostThe pinned post has been updated with the correct link, but it's here as well: https://cogdemos.ink/play/sailingshellsgames/leas---city-of-the-sun-june-2024-alpha-reupload/mygame/
(I had to do this due to an issue CoGDemos is having - I went to fix a bug in the demo and I couldn't get the fixed file to reupload properly. I...
2024-06-18 21:31:51 +0000 UTC View PostMy takeaways are very unrelated this week, because I spent a lot of time jumping around and filling things in for the eventual beta, plus working on Chapter 12's first draft. So I've put them in bullet points below ~ (There are some very mild spoilers for later chapters, but nothing I'd consider more than a hint)
I shooould technically be prepping Chapter 11 for its alpha but I've got time for that later. Inspiration was striking me now and I gotta follow the muse ^_^ 2024-06-16 23:52:45 +0000 UTC View Post
There is smut for 1.5 ROs. I forgot I'd written it until last night when I was doing final edits 😂
For the other 1.5, you get emotions and angst. Yay!
As always, message me or comment here if you experience any trouble playing <3
2024-06-15 16:05:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Don't worry - every chance to break up is clearly marked, so you won't be surprised. My characters love heartbreak, what can I say. Or maybe it's my MCs 😂
Since I suspect 99% of players won't ever see these scenes, here's a preview from one of them:
---
"You're quoting Adaan's l...
2024-06-14 18:37:45 +0000 UTC View PostHere's what to expect this month ~
Tomorrow: Chapter 10's Alpha releases :D (Agent tier)
Thursday June 20th: Monthly Extra: Wren's RO story with topic "shopping at the market." (For anyone wondering, the previous "RO story theme" poll was a tie. So I picked one theme to release as normal bonus stories, and the other will release as monthly extras. I'm trying to get Wren's and Keo's done this month and Rin's next mont...
2024-06-14 17:58:33 +0000 UTC View PostI just sent the alpha-before-the-alpha of the next chapter to my friend for review! I think this month's update might come a little early :D There's a few things I want to run by another writer prior to publishing them in the alphas here, to make sure you get the best experience. I've been struggling to get this done for months now and it feels amazing to check it off my list!!
I've been burning the midnight oil this weekend filling in some choice options - to the tune of a few thousand more words :) I forgot to actually count them this time lol but it's a lot.
It feels like a treat to delve back into chapter 10. It's one of my favorites because I get to write one of my favorite npcs through it. This chapter really added a lot to my worldbuilding in terms of figuring out the Den's recent history - like, ~10-15 years before MC joined up.
... 2024-06-10 01:48:31 +0000 UTC View PostDoes the struggle of continuing to consolidate game files outweigh the stress of worrying my code editor (VS Code, not an actual person) has, once again, forgotten to indent something and broken my game?
Tbh probably.
Listen the way my whole body unclenches when all my subroutines and shared scenes are tidy has to be factored into the scales 😂
That being said, ...
2024-06-02 18:55:38 +0000 UTC View PostI'm really pleased with having finally tacked chapter 9 in a real way. Like, out-in-the-world instead of a draft on my hard drive that could still change drastically. I'm also semi exhausted lol.
When that happens it helps to write something different - like exercising different brain muscles and giving the 'Leas' ones a break. I heard the term "summerween" recently and that describes my mo...
2024-06-01 16:14:21 +0000 UTC View PostIt's playable at the same link as before (which you can find here, and also in the pinned post). As previously mentioned, this one's a small update to catch us up to speed for June. The biggest addition is the chapter 8 dream sequence ~ I hope you enjoy! <3
2024-06-01 01:56:52 +0000 UTC View Post
The airy salon sparkles with multicolored light. Pinks and reds, blues and purples dot the sunlight streaming in through the sheer curtains in a way that reminds me of the sprites that come out at night in the wilds. It’s beautiful, and a fitting decoration for the celebration of art this party was ostensibly thrown for. The glassworks of the artist-of-the-day are responsible for the effect, the p...
2024-05-31 18:16:19 +0000 UTC View Post
The airy salon sparkles with multicolored light. Pinks and reds, blues and purples dot the sunlight streaming in through the sheer curtains in a way that reminds me of the sprites that come out at night in the wilds. It’s beautiful, and a fitting decoration for the celebration of art this party was ostensibly thrown for. The glassworks of the artist-of-the-day are responsible for the effect, the p...
2024-05-31 18:02:05 +0000 UTC View Post
The airy salon sparkles with multicolored light. Pinks and reds, blues and purples dot the sunlight streaming in through the sheer curtains in a way that reminds me of the sprites that come out at night in the wilds. It’s beautiful, and a fitting decoration for the celebration of art this party was ostensibly thrown for. The glassworks of the artist-of-the-day are responsible for the effect, the p...
2024-05-31 17:58:40 +0000 UTC View PostI was pretty busy this weekend! Both with life and writing lol, and I'm very happy with how much I got done on both ends of things. This time around I bounced around between chapters filling things in and making some changes, and had another look at chapters 10-11 to decide whether I like the way they're looking in their first-draft stages. For a little more detail:
I filled in some more of the gaps in chapter 8, and edited the dream sequence.
I fixed some variabl...
2024-05-26 23:14:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Secrecy is of the utmost importance for this job; Adaan was very clear. We enter the party separately, approach the problem from two fronts, get what we need (the contents of some not-yet-released trade agreements this particular noble’s involved in) and clear out.
“May I have this dance, Agent?”
So why is Wren standing right in front of me?
“O...
2024-05-25 22:37:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Secrecy is of the utmost importance for this job; Adaan was very clear. We enter the party separately, approach the problem from two fronts, get what we need (the contents of some not-yet-released trade agreements this particular noble’s involved in) and clear out.
“May I have this dance, Agent?”
So why is Wren standing right in front of me?
“O...
2024-05-25 22:29:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Secrecy is of the utmost importance for this job; Adaan was very clear. We enter the party separately, approach the problem from two fronts, get what we need (the contents of some not-yet-released trade agreements this particular noble’s involved in) and clear out.
“May I have this dance, Agent?”
So why is Wren standing right in front of me?
“O...
2024-05-25 22:18:45 +0000 UTC View PostIt includes the rest of chapter 9's alpha for all three routes. You can play it here :D
Some FYIs:
There will be a small second update on May 31st to fill in a few choice options and 1-2 small scenes (about 250-500 words each). It won't be anything groundbreaking, but it'll get us to where I want to be for June :)
Something clicked, and I am really hoping it stays that way, lol! I spent all weekend getting chapter 9's update ready, which included:
A ton of rearranging orders of things
Adding in new choices to replace things I cut out + tweaking some existing moments
Adding in the "modules" - aka letting MC choose what order to explore the base in, and adding transitions based on the order chosen. I really like this change. It's less linear, plays better, all...
2024-05-20 00:59:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Whatever else is true of these nobles, they sure do know how to decorate.
It’s the main thought running through my mind as I take in the elegant room our host has provided for today’s salon. Sunlight streams in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, filtered gently through sheer curtains. The enchantments on them filter out the heat from outside, but they’re so finel...
2024-05-17 17:38:40 +0000 UTC View Post