hey! im nicole (23) and this is the devblog for my interactive fiction Emberwood, where you play as a superpowered prisoner forced to relocate to the small town of Emberwood and serve your sentence in the mysterious Dufner House with six other superpowered residents. Chapter 2: RELEASED she/her
He leans forward, growing serious and looking at you right in the eyes. "I have a place. A place where you can serve your sentence without being stuck in a maximum security cell in some lab. Because where they will take you, it won't be an ordinary prison. Not for people of your caliber."
You sit backwards, a churning heat settling in the pit of your gut. Everything comes crashing down, falling over you at once. This man is proposing you live with him and other possible criminals. Criminals with powers like...you.
How the hell did you end up here?
Emberwood is a small-town romantic interactive fiction WIP described as X-Men meets Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.
When you get into an unexplainable accident that results in severe casualties, you're forced to relocate to the small town of Emberwood to serve your sentence in Dufner House, owned by a reclusive scientist who also happens to be the town's pariah.
It's either that or jail.
That's where you find out you're not the only one born with a unique ability that shouldn’t be possible. In fact, the eccentric Dr. Dufner is the caretaker of six other people with equally mysterious circumstances as you. And they are now your roommates—or more accurately, fellow inmates—for the foreseeable future.
But when oddities around town start cropping up and signs of a powerful threat lurk in the shadows, the truth of your past comes into question, and you begin to wonder how exactly you and everyone else in Dufner House got these powers.
Seems like your stay in Emberwood is going to get a lot more complicated.
— features.
Customize your characters appearance and sexuality and mold their personality as you see fit. The text and your character’s actions/reactions change based on your stats.
Romance and/or befriend seven characters with different personalities and backstories, six of which are gender selectable.
Have an option of 3 different abilities your character can possess (with the high likelihood of more being added later)
Get to know the town of Emberwood and the secrets of your past. This town is hiding many layers, will you care enough to find out? Or will you remain blissfully indifferent until your time is served?
Work on controlling and strengthening your power (or don’t) and discover all the things you can do.
Take down a looming threat that’s come to Emberwood.
…And maybe listen to a badly told Dad joke or two
— the characters.
Perry Dufner [M] — the dutiful son of Dr. Dufner, Perry is the makeshift leader in place of his chronically lazy father. Perry is kind and described as approachable both by appearance and personality, there’s not one unlikeable bone in his body. As the oldest in Dufner House, Perry tends to be the leader in most situations, especially due to his knack for charming the pants out of everyone. But still, people this good have to be hiding something, right?
Kind - Complacent - Responsible | Character Post
Finn/Fera [gender select.] — If there’s one thing F is, it’s the life of the party. With a penchant for flirting and a knack for getting into the biggest trouble, there’s never a dull moment with F. They’re aware of their own greatness and will make sure everyone knows it too. Still, their outgoing personality may be charming to some, while horribly obnoxious to others. In other words, F is an…acquired taste.
Energetic - Flirtatious - Outgoing | Character Post
Alexander/Alexandra “Alex” [gender select.] — Alex has probably spent more time napping than existing. Rivaling Dr. Dufner as the most lazy in the house, you can likely find Alex trying to catch some Z’s as much as possible. With a monotone voice and a preference for indifference, Alex has become accustomed to watching from afar, finding pleasure in mischief and gossip. They observe rather than engage, but don’t let their nonchalance fool you; Alex doesn’t mind a little chaos.
Lazy - Mischevious - Indifferent | Character Post
Kade/Kiera [gender select.] — The second oldest in the house, K isn’t much for fun and games. They spend most of their time in the library, avoiding the rest of the more energetic ones of the group (F). With a calm exterior and sharp wit, K is a good palette cleanser after a day of chaos from the rest of the house. Still, it can be hard to get along with them due to their lack of filter and sometimes brutal honesty. You can never really know what they’re thinking, and you get the sense they prefer it that way.
Studious - Reserved - Honest | Character Post
Daniel/Danielle ‘Dani’ [gender select.] — Dani is one word: angry, and they’re not shy about letting you know. You sense they don’t like you, but it seems like they don’t like anyone. Stoic and serious, befriending D seems like the most impossible outcome out of this whole thing. It’s quite obvious D has a lot of baggage, and their resentment comes from a dark past. Maybe, with enough effort, you can make a crack in the coldly harsh exterior of theirs….maybe.
Stoic - Intimidating - Loyal | Character Post
Noah/Nora [gender select.] — N is the last one you meet, and the most distant. Quiet and reserved, they don’t talk much…or almost at all. You can’t tell whether they actually like Dufner House or would rather murder everyone, but it’s not like you’ll get an answer either way. It doesn’t seem like N has any opinions of you; you’re just another face living in a house they want to be free from. Maybe you can change that.
Quiet - Melancholy - Uneasy | Character Post
Detective Eva/Everett Morales [gender select.] — E Morales is the detective of Emberwood and the main face of the town, right behind the mayor. They’re deeply embedded into the workings of the place and ever so curious of what goes on in mysterious Dufner House. You’ll be lying to them, and that’ll only make them more determined. Maybe a good thing? Or maybe not.
Determined - Suspicious - Respected | Character Post
Emberwood is my first IF and my first foray into Choicescript and interactive fiction telling. As usual, if there are any errors or typos, please let me know and I'll be sure to fix them. Thank you and hope you enjoy <3
Hey! Long time no see. I don't have much to say except: I'm fine! Life has been well and it has slowed down a bit.
And I've been working on an Emberwood rewrite!
Yes, I kind of got a renewed love for Emberwood, but with time, I feel like I could do more. I won't give a set date as to when Emberwood will get an update, but I do want people to know that I've been chipping away at it. I've learned some new coding tricks and have been dusting off the demo. I hope the revamped Emberwood will be much better and of higher quality. I'll still remain a bit quiet, but just wanted to let you guys know that Emberwood related things are in the works!
kinda late to the party byt just replayed the demo up to the new chapter and im cackling because my MC, Edan, has fuckin passed out THREE TIMES because they're an idiot- like bestie pls stop. be smarter. (i say as i click the dumbass reckless choices-)
MC truly goes through the ringer in Emberwood lol!
hellooooo ♥️ is it possible when andrei asks the mc who they felt closes with we can genuinely pick someone we think mc is close with buddy buddy kinda thing instead of aiming to romance?
Hmmm the option "I think I would get along with them best" is intended to be the buddy buddy thing. I wouldn't force you guys to choose a romance option. Is it not showing up for you? I'll check it out!
Not sure if this has been asked but is MC the strongest in the Dufner house regardless of what power we pick? Since I know Dani has literal ELEMENTAL powers
Dani is actually the strongest. MC is capable of becoming the strongest with effort!
My MC didn’t want to touch it. I made him. No sorry bro. It was for greater good.
Alex is not impressed.
some really good stuff from Emberwood IF by @emberwood-if
Writing you as a ghost - to tell you that the new chapter was really enjoyable - because Andrei's responses to MC calling N and Perry "cute" killed me.
thank you so much! and omg lololol he's funny, isn't he? Andrei is always the most fun to write.
hi I see the messages about minor errors and such Im not ignoring im just too busy to code as of right now, as long as the demo works from beginning to end :)
if there is a *game breaking* bug then I'd like to know asap so I can fix that as soon as possible
Hello! Long time no see! I haven't been active in a meaningful way since early January. A lot of Not-So-Good things have happened (as well as good things) in my life and Emberwood kind of got lost in the mess.
I opened up the chapter 2 file and reread it and decided to just put it out. It's done, and it works, but it can be better so I'll consider it an alpha chapter. My beta testers offered great, great comments and corrections and critiques and so I have made the decision to go back and rewrite and update once I'm more on top of things. I just wanted to share it with you guys because Chapter 2 has been collecting dust in my files a while now and I don't see why I wouldn't post it.
I *highly* advise rereading from the beginning for a refresher (it's been a while.)(it might break anyway.) Also, I would say ignore the stats and the stat page as I have plans to overhaul that. There's probably some errors and stuff but there shouldn't be any game breaking errors (aka you should be able to play the entire demo.)
Just to reiterate: Chapter 2 will eventually get overhauled and updated.
If there are any errors, I would rather get reports at [email protected] since I am not on Tumblr much.
Thank you for your patience, your understanding, your enthusiasm and everything else!
