Chrysanthemum Games

Weekly Update - 25 March, 2024

Hey everyone!

I'm happy to report that this week was a pretty productive one. I've done some needed edits and changes to the body of Chapter Six, and am now working through the brand-new pair scenes that happen at the end. I've just finished the one where you hang out with Charon and Pyri, so my goal for this week is to also finish the one with Hades and Alekto and the one with Hekate and Hermes. If I can manage each scene in two days, that will leave me one day for testing and debuggin...

Bonus Content - Hermes POV

Hey everyone!

As you voted on, I've got the new Chapter Three scene with PC, Hermes, and Charon from Hermes's POV this month. I went with a Persephone who was Hermes's best friend, a little unsure about the Underworld but coming to enjoy her time there. Hermes, as you might imagine, is quite thrilled with this state of affairs, given his own preference for it. 

I hope you enjoy!

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"Winding things back a bit," Hermes begins with a small gri...

Weekly Update - 18 March 2024

Hey everyone!

Great news for progress this week: not only did I finish the Hades scene and therefore Chapter Four, but I also got all of the date scenes, and therefore Chapter Five, done as well!

I'd gone into them thinking I'd have to change loads because I've had feedback that the game doesn't have enough romance, but as I was reading over them, I decided I was honestly mostly satisfied with how they went. I think, for the place they're at (only a quarter of the way through the ...

Weekly Update - 11 March, 2024

Hey everyone!

Happy Ides Week, to those who celebrate. :)

Good news: this week, I managed to write the new scenes for Hermes, Hekate, and Charon in their entirety, meaning that only the Hades one is left and then Chapter Four will finally be complete, and I can move on to editing the date scenes in Chapter Five! This is very good news, because I think that means I might have those edits almost done by this time next week. 

I feel like I've been sort of 'stuck' in this s...

Bonus Content - BotL Outline

Hey everyone!

I think I mentioned that this month's bonus content would probably be my sketchy outline for Asphodel's sequel, Blood of the Living. So, here's that! It's missing a lot of details, of course, but I have most of the subplots planned to some degree as well, so I might go into a little bit more detail with some of those starting next month. 

Anyway, I think it goes without saying, but there are loads of spoilers in here! As with all outlines, no plan survives conta...

Weekly Update - 4 March, 2024

Hey everyone.

Pretty good progress this week; after putting out the BIP I managed to write the Alekto scene for Chapter Four and the Pyri one, which isn't bad for three days of work! I'm hoping to get most of the way through the remaining scenes this week, because I've got some very important editing to do on the date scenes from Chapter Five, and I need to know what exactly happens in these ones first, in case something in the later parts refers back to these. 

Chapter Five ...

BIP - Alternate version

Hey everyone!

Some of you have been getting what I think is a hosting-side error with the latest BIP (that is, something I think is the fault of Dashingdon the website rather than either something to do with your computers or my code). 

I can't really do too much about that, so what I've done is posted the BIP on itch.io as well. It's not ideal in some ways, as this will require you to download this version of the game, but it seems to be working on my end at least. The ...

BIP - February

Hello everyone!

This month's BIP includes the completed Chapter Three, with new scenes, and the almost-completed Chapter Four, only missing the new scenes I'll be writing. Of course, lots of Chapter Five is also ready, but since it was only partial and would depend to some extent on the new Chapter Four stuff, I've opted not to include it here just for smoothness of play. 

I hope as always that you enjoy the new stuff, and of course the old stuff, too!

The BIP can be fo...

Poll - Febuary

Hey everyone, and happy Leap Day! 

Next month's character POV piece will feature Hermes, and since we're doing scenes from the game from alternate POVs, I'll be doing his perspective on his new scene in Chapter Three with Charon and the PC. So the question is, what type of PC?

Hi Everblooms - a quick question

Hey everyone!

I have recently discovered that patreon is really awful at actually informing me of who my patrons are and how long they've been patrons. For a while, I was managing to keep track of who was owed custom vignettes manually, but with all the subscribing and dropping that's happened in the last few months, I've just totally lost track.

I'm very sorry for this, but if you've been a patron for at least three months at this level, and I have not yet contacted you about the...

Weekly Update - 26 February, 2024

Hey everyone,

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent in words of support after my minor crisis of confidence last week. You all really boosted me and made me feel a lot more settled again.

Anyway. As for forward progress on the edits, I'm happy to say that not only is Chapter Three now complete, new scenes and all, but everything but the new individual character scenes for Chapter Four is also complete. I will be getting started on those this week and also plunging into Chap...

Bonus Content - Hekate POV

Hey everyone!

I'm back with a new round of POV bonus contents. As ever, Hekate is first in the lineup, and since you all wanted her perspective on a scene from the game, I figured I'd use the new one I'm working on, featuring her, Hades, and an academically-inclined Persephone (she/they this time).

I hope you like it; the scene this is from will be out with this month's BIP!

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“You think you’ve perfected the formula?” Hades obligingly con...

Weekly Update - 19 February 2024

Hey all!

This week has been a trying one. Do you ever have periods where you wonder what you're doing with your life, and whether you're any good at it after all? It's been one of those for me haha. Some pretty negative feedback on my writing has me in a bit of a tizzy, and I won't lie and say that hasn't affected how this week went for me. 

That said, I've managed about the same amount of progress. I'm not done with the Hades and Hekate scene yet, but I've started on edits a...

Weekly Update - February 12, 2024

Hey everyone!

Another week, another bit of steady FoA editing progress. I managed to get the scene with Hermes and Charon written this week, and the next one with Hades and Hekate outlined as well. As a bonus, I also got around to making the smaller editing pass I needed to on the emergency meeting scene which ends the chapter, so as soon as the Hades and Hekate scene is finished, so is Chapter Three!

I'm going to try, at least sometimes, to do these editing passes on scenes that ...

Bonus Content - The Editing Outline

Hey everyone!

Over the last couple months, I've shown you the two new systems I'm working to implement in FoA's second draft. This month, I've got something a little different—this is essentially my working, revised outline of the game. 

As you may notice as you give it a look, I'm changing some things even as I go, and I've put off some decisions about how things should go just because I'm not totally sure how the new stuff I'm adding is going to affect things yet. (Basica...

Weekly Update - 5 February, 2024

Hey everyone!

I hope February is treating you well so far! I'm still working on Chapter Three, as you might imagine, but the good news is I finished the first of the pair scenes! I changed up exactly what the pairs were, so this scene was actually with Alekto and Pyri! In it, the PC tries glassblowing with the two of them in one of the workshops where the cast does crafts. (I know glassblowing wasn't invented until the 1st century BCE, but let's roll with it; the gods can get a lot of t...

BIP - January

Hello all! 

This month's BIP includes the Prologue, Chapter One, Chapter Two, and the first portion of Chapter Three! I'd have liked to be a little further along by this point, but writing new scenes in addition to making changes and fixes on the old is a time-consuming process (shocking, I know). 

Still, I'm pretty happy with what's here so far, and I hope you all like it as well. Notes welcome, especially if you find any typos or continuity errors! 

But if y...

Bonus Content Poll - January

Hey everyone!

As usual, the BIP will drop in an hour. In the meantime, we're due for a new rotation of bonus content, and that means it's Hekate's turn again. So this poll is for what exactly you'd like the subject matter of that to be, now that the Chapter Nine set is finished and no longer an option haha. 

Weekly Update - 29 January, 2024

Hey everyone!

Here we are at the final update of January. The BIP is due out in a couple of days here, and in it will be all of the Prologue, Chapter One, Chapter Two, and part of Chapter Three, basically everything up to the new group scenes I'm working on. 

Of course, Chapter Two in particular will feel much longer, because I'm making most things doable on every playthrough, and I've moved scenes with Hermes, Charon, Alekto, the letter, and the judgement all to that chapter...

Weekly Update - 22 January, 2024

Hey everyone!

It's been kind of a hectic week, but progress on FoA's rewrites continues apace. Suffice it to say that I don't think I'll quite be done with Chapter Three by the end of the month (due to the new scenes I have to write), but I should be done with everything up until those, which I think will constitute about half the chapter. 

This week, I made good progress through Chapter Two, including writing a whole new scene for Alekto, featuring her sisters Megaira and Ti...

Bonus Content - Pyri POV

Hey all!

Today we have the last bonus content in the Chapter Nine series. It's Pyri's, and I had a lot of fun with it, because unlike most people, they're not trying all that hard to remain calm and composed about it. :)

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“It’s just—it’s not fair!”

Pyri had thought that about a lot of things in life, both after and, they’re sure, before they forgot everything that had once happened to them. But they aren’t sure they’ve e...

Weekly Update - 15 January, 2024

Hey everyone!

It's hard to believe we're already halfway through January. Someone please slow time down, I'm not okay with this. o_o

In FoA news, I have finished the edits on Chapter One and am now working through Chapter Two. In case you don't recall, Chapter Two contains the initial discussion with Hades about the situation and the Underworld, a conversation and possible spar with Pyri, a visit to the library with Hekate, and either the group dinner or an exploration outside. As...

Weekly Update - 8 January 2024

Hey everyone.

This week has been very interesting to me, in terms of FoA. It's the first full week I've spent in the rewriting process, and I've learned a lot about how this needs to go and how long it takes to realistically rewrite a scene or chapter.

So. The good news is, I'm generally quite satisfied with the changes I've been making, and the various preparations I made last month are keeping me organized and efficient. I also think I've got a pretty good workflow going, though...

Bonus Content - The Personality System

Hey again, everyone!

This month’s editing-oriented bonus content is going to talk a little bit about the system I’m using to track player choices with respect to romances. It’s something of a combination personality/romance system, because while it certainly has a lot to do with how the player chooses to behave… well, I’ll just let the below explanation do its job, shall I? Read on if you’ve an interest in trying to game-design a romance without “romance points.”

-...

Art Commission - Cover

Hey everyone!

Happy New Year, again, and I hope you're all doing well. Above is a preview of the cover @gncrezan drew for FoA's publication. I personally love it, and the pottery-style touches while still being in the full color palette looks really unique and awesome to me. 

It's also definitely motivating to get that editing done!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing some more of their very cool art; I heart...

Weekly Update - 1 January, 2024

Happy New Year, everyone!

Personally I'm hoping for some big changes this year, mostly in the form of publication, heh. But before that can happen I've got to get to work rewriting this draft. The good news is, after rewriting the character creator I lost at the end of last month, I am now ready to spend all of January doing so. I have no idea exactly how far I'm going to get, especially because the first half of the game has the most rewrites and additional scenes to put in, but I'm st...

BIP - December

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the first BIP of the editing phase!

I've been hard at work on edits this month, but much of the work I've done has been "behind the scenes" so to speak—determining what exactly needs to be done and how I'm going to go about it. This, combined with the loss of data I experienced last week, means that what's new this month is... well, a character creator and a basic version of a revamped stats screen. Still, I hope what's there turns out to be something y...

Bonus Content Poll - December

Hey everyone!

In light of the fact that everyone but Pyri now has a bonus content scene during chapter nine, I'm going to stick to the pattern and give them one, too. So, what I'd like you all to choose for me is part of the tone of that, by informing me what kind of PC I'm using!

Some Unfortunate News

Hey everyone. 

I am lucky enough that I usually get to write with good news, but unfortunately today I've got some of the bad kind. It's nothing catastrophic (though it certainly feels that way to me right now), but it does mean a significant delay, and that it's unlikely I get the prologue out for the BIP this month. 

Specifically, I lost the version of the game files where the character creator was. Because it was something I'd done this month, I hadn't yet backed it u...

Art Comission - The River Deities

Hey everyone! As promised, this is the four previous art pieces combined. I really love how they all look together, and @gncrezan did such a good job capturing everyone (seriously, I am extremely vague and unhelpful, and they are very skilled at somehow pulling what I actually mean out of my head and showing it to me!)

Next week, we'll have a very special preview of FoA's cover!