honor bound from choiceofgames out now! | crème de la crème, noblesse oblige, royal affairs; blood money | date everything, king of the castle, fallen london, love island | they/he
Hey! I’m Harris Powell-Smith, a narrative designer making games and stories. My pronouns are they/he.
I’ve created five games with Choice of Games and have two in progress. That's what I mostly post about on here! I also worked on Date Everything, King of the Castle, Love Island the Game, made an Exceptional Story for Fallen London, worked on various other indie games, and created lots of interactive fiction. Find more on my project page!
If you're interested in skintone references for characters in the Creme de la Creme series, there is a collection here based on the Humanae Project; there are also character descriptions on each of the Creme de la Creme forum threads. I also have a small FAQ post: feel free to ask me questions if you don't see yours there.
On my Patreon you can find in-depth progress reports, early access game chapters, and more! You can also tip me on my ko-fi!
Buy my games on Steam at a discount in the aptly-named Harris Powell-Smith bundle!
If you're looking for where I am online elsewhere, check out this post for details.
My latest game is HONOR BOUND:
Guard students and secrets at an elite school! Recover or trash your health, purpose, and military career as you enact or thwart shady schemes in this 595,000 word interactive novel with Choice of Games, fourth in the Creme de la Creme series of standalone dark academia games.
Steam | Play Store | Choice of Games on Android | Choice of Games on iOS | Choice of Games on Amazon | Webstore | Forum Thread
My current WIP is THE EARTH HAS TEETH:
Heal the broken wilderness with the help of a torn-off piece of your dying god and companions who must never guess what you carry. What will you sacrifice to survive the storms and bring your god back - and do you want her back at all?
My series of standalone games with different protagonists in the same setting. Expect romance, dark academia, and intrigue!
Book 1: Crème de la Crème. Climb to the very top of the class at your exclusive private school for socialites! Will you study hard, find a perfect match, or embrace scandal? A 440,000 word interactive novel published with Choice of Games. Winner of the 2019 XYZZY Awards for interactive fiction (Best Game, Best Writing, Best Story)
STEAM | PLAY STORE | APP STORE | FORUM THREAD
Book 2: Noblesse Oblige. Spark romance amid secrets in a crumbling mansion! What will you sacrifice for love? Can you trust your own heart? A 140,000 word interactive gothic novella published with Choice of Games.
STEAM | PLAY STORE | APP STORE | FORUM THREAD
Book 3: Royal Affairs. At your exclusive boarding school, will you rule the roost or be a royal disaster? Court publicity, sway the fate of nations, and find love! A 490,000 word interactive novel published with Choice of Games.
STEAM | PLAY STORE | APP STORE | FORUM THREAD
Book 4: Honor Bound. Guard students and secrets at an elite school! Recover or trash your health, purpose, and military career as you enact or thwart shady schemes in this 595,000 word interactive novel with Choice of Games.
Steam | Play Store | Choice of Games on Android | Choice of Games on iOS | Choice of Games on Amazon | Webstore | Forum Thread
Blood Money: By the power of your blood, you and your ghosts will take over your crime family! A standalone dark fantasy 290,000 word interactive novel published with Choice of Games. Selected for exhibit at AdventureX 2018.
In light of the no.1 trending topic on this site, I'd like to inform youse that Kitty Kendall, one of the survivors who bravely spoke out against Neil Gaiman and accused him of rape in 2025, has said here and here that if you are looking to support her and other survivors, you can make a donation to OurVOICE (the counselling service Kendall herself used) or your local rape crisis centre. If you can't make a donation, you can help to ensure people do not forget what Kendall and other survivors have gone through and continue to go through as they pursue legal action, and that Gaiman has already spent a lot of money in the attempt to sue these women for speaking out.
Hello everyone, thank you so much for your continued support, especially while I've been so quiet. It really makes a big difference!
I've had my head down working for a while now. My main CoG project is under NDA, and I've just started another unrelated contract which is also under NDA. This means I have more things to juggle...and I can't say much about what I'm working on, and nor can I share early access writing, which is a major part of what I like to put up for subscribers. Because so much is going on, I'm also finding it difficult to write writing/design posts or bonus stories - they take a lot of time and energy to make, and I need to prioritise getting the first drafts of my projects down.
With that in mind, although I massively appreciate the paid support it doesn't feel right to keep billing while I'm not in a position to give the Patreon the attention it needs. So I'm pausing the bills for the moment while my worklife is in this shape. When I've got the space for it and/or I have something major to share I will keep you posted, and when I plan to restart billing I'll announce it here at least a month in advance.
If you'd like to access the archives you can still subscribe, but you won't be billed after the initial sign-up.
The secret project is approaching three-quarters done. I hope it won't be too long before I can tell you more about it!
Amber meets the cute groundskeeper again but in a non-life threatening scenario this time :D
Fan art of @hpowellsmith's Crème de la Crème
PS. I went to Ba Na Hills, Vietnam with friends and I saw tulips for the first time and they were so bulbous and beautiful and there were entire rows and rows of colorful fields with them!! (Go look it up IT'S SO GORGE) So that inspired me to draw this <3
Binaon naman na ang lahat / Tinakpan naman na 'king sugat
Ngunit ba't ba andito pa rin? / Hirap na 'kong intindihin
Though I’ve already buried everything / Already covered my wounds
But why’re they still here? / I struggle to understand
- Multo - Cup of Joe | [a good English translation]
I really liked this scene from @hpowellsmith’s Honor Bound and just had to draw it! This isn’t a 1:1 representation though I tried to go for a similar effect (couldn’t get pews to look right aha).
When this was in the sketch phase, I got roped into listening to the entirety of Cup of Joe’s Silakbo (yes this took a While) and felt that Multo’s lyrics were rather fitting. It was hard to choose only a few lines from the song lol
To write good sex I think you've got to understand why something is hot from an analytical/academic perspective. If it's just 'it's hot because it's hot' then I reckon the sex scene will suck.
What is it about this specific character that makes them more versatile and playful? Or more unsure? Or more controlling? Or sweet? What makes this other character appealing to them? Is there confusion? Conflict? Comfort? What's the dynamic?
I really love it when the author takes time to zero in on the chemistry between the two. I really dislike it when the author just writes whatever makes them go 'ugh' and calls it a day.
@vividaway Randall Munroe is an internet cartoonist who runs the ‘xkcd’ online comic series, which has run from 2006 up to today, with new comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Xkcd isn’t an ongoing story, just a series of funny, wholesome, depressing, or oddly scientifically informative comics.
In 2010, Randall’s fiance was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. He didn’t share too many details at first, but things tended to bleed into his comics: sometimes funny, sometimes sad.
Often in this time, other cartoonists would write in guest comics for Randall, or he’d put in short filler pieces, to try and fill space while nonstop cancer treatments took up most of his time.
In 2012, he posted a comic called ‘Two Years’, about the time since the diagnosis. It’s the one that hasn’t yet been posted here (although parts of it are included in the other comics), and it commemorates some of the things that had happened in the two years since the diagnosis.
There are representations of Randall and his fiance being together for her treatment, worrying together, traveling the world, and getting married. It’s still depressing, but it’s a lot more hopeful, showing how they’ve still managed to have happy moments together, and things will still get better.
Themes of cancer continued in xkcd, but they increasingly became less about fear and nihilism, and more about hope, or just cool facts related to cancer.
At the top of this post is the comic posted in 2017: Seven Years. In it, Randall and his wife are traveling more, trying to have fun and continue old and new hobbies, with cancer ever-present in the background of it all. At the end, the two of them observe the 2017 solar eclipse, and despite all the uncertainty that comes with the thought of another seven years, agree to watch the 2024 eclipse together too.
There are just about no cancer comics between that one and the most recent comic, the one I posted: Ten Years, written in 2020. It’s by far the most hopeful of the three in the little series: the two of them are happy, they’re playing with rabbits and riding on handcarts and going out hiking and stargazing, together. At the end, Ten Years breaks the format with a conversation in which they talk about how unbelievable it is that it’s been so long, and share their worries as well as their hopes. It even ends on a much more lighthearted joke about immortality.
It’s a good comic. Definitely in my top two comics wherein internet cartoonists express emotions about an illness suffered by their wife.
“The ten-year cancerversary is traditionally the Cursed Artifact Granting Immortality anniversary.” -Randall Munroe.
2017, seeing the eclipse in Oregon. 2019, 9 months after bypass. 2022, 9 months after transplant. 2024, seeing the eclipse in Texas. 2024, the Aurora in California.
2025, in the desert on a drive. We're getting old. Thank goodness.
New Game Announcement: THE EARTH HAS TEETH by Harris Powell-Smith
Play the current WIP demo on cogdemos or itch!
Developer Diary | ROs | Tagged posts
A century ago, the tiger god Vastan fought a risen demon over the steppes and mountains that are your home, battling for mastery over the earth below. Their war poisoned the land, causing magical storms that twist the mind and the elements alike.
At the moment of Vastan’s eventual triumph she was grievously wounded, retreating beneath the mountains to be cared for by a sect of worshippers known as the Guardians of Tulara.
You are one of those Guardians: a scout who ventures from the secretive monastery to hunt, gather, and trade with those living on the plains. Protected from the storms by Vastan’s power even as she sleeps, you care for your wounded god in your small, safe community.
Until today.
After an attack on your monastery that leaves your comrades dead and scattered, you cut a piece of your god to preserve her in a weakened, half-alive state and run. Scraping together a living as a hunter, forager, and courier on the dangerous steppes, you must survive the gathering storms while searching for a way to bring your god back to life.
In this fantasy game of tragedy and survival, will you rebuild your order or forge a new path of your own, align with Vastan or rebel against her? Will you bring back your god and protect your lands, or take this chance to seize power for yourself?
Play as male, female, or non-binary; cis or trans; gay, straight, or bisexual; asexual and/or aromantic; allosexual and/or alloromantic; monogamous or polyamorous
Befriend, romance, clash with, or destroy an ambitious, stubborn magic enthusiast with a lot to prove; a hard-bitten courier determined to be self-reliant while looking after their own; a haughty, visionary herbalist obsessed with preserving knowledge for future generations; an outgoing, no-nonsense guard with a strong protective streak; a fast-talking witch-turned-con-artist who might have a heart of gold somewhere.
Survive the storms: use your skills and knowledge to help the communities on the steppes–or only yourself
Unearth dark secrets on the steppes: will you share them with the world, or bury them once more?
Build your relationship with your dying god and rebuild her power, or use it for your own ends
Give of yourself or others for the greater good, persuade your god to different paths, or rebel against her entirely
When the storm hits, what will you sacrifice for survival?
The MC of The Earth Has Teeth
You’ve lived in the Tulara monastery all your life, along with a group of around fifty Guardians of Vastan. After your parents died in a storm when you were in your mid-teens, you were cared for by the other Guardians and have lived a comfortable, if hard-working, life.
You’re now 25 and an experienced scout, adept at travelling alone and surviving in the wilderness. Thanks to Vastan’s power and protection, you’ve rarely wanted for food and even if some of your trips outside were harder than others, the safe haven of the monastery walls was always waiting for you.
Not anymore.
Vastan the tiger god
In your holy texts, Vastan is described as a tiger larger than the sky who moves faster than the eye can see and has all-powerful influence. As you know her, she appears as a tiger striped black-and-gold the size of a house, who sleeps in a huge underground chamber deep in the Tulara monastery.
While the demon Nerekay had influence over and could warp the elements, Vastan’s power is entwined with nature, protection, and growth. She made unearthly plants grow and flourish in the monastery, and her presence improved the health of her Guardians. She can also provide protection from the hypnotic, mind-altering storm sickness and, before the attack, she shielded the monastery from storms hitting it at all.
You carry a part of Vastan with you now, and although her powers are diminished, she can still lend you help when you’re in need.
Magic in Amikya
In Amikya, the land in which you live, priests draw magical power from Vastan through time-honoured religious ritual, whereas witches do so through practices more like folk medicine and superstition passed down through generations of folklore. Not all witches consider their power to come from Vastan: some see it as drawing magic from the earth.
There are blurred lines between the practices, though not every witch or priest would like to admit such a thing, and not every town approves of magical practices at all.
Major Befriendable and Romanceable Characters
All the romanceable characters are gender-flippable. All characters can be romanced monogamously; some can be romanced polyamorously in various configurations - more on that later!
Armell Bassar (23): the only child of a town leader, Armell is passionate about learning more magic to protect and expand their home. With a keen mind and more intensity than they know what to do with, Armell is eager to prove themself to their community and to their mother. (flippable between cis man/cis woman/agender)
Elisei/Elena/Elis Kiriyak (32): an expert herbalist and potion-maker, Dr. Kiriyak is near-obsessive about their collection of seeds and potions and the knowledge they’ve amassed. Some might call them arrogant; Kiriyak would say that’s irrelevant. (flippable between trans man/trans woman/genderqueer)
Nikita Leu (25): a courier carrying items and messages as well as escorting people, Nikita is an excellent survivalist and has endured a dangerous itinerant life on the plains despite experiencing tragedy. Nikita is generally withdrawn and self-reliant to a fault. (flippable between cis man/cis woman/transfem)
Serhii/Sara/Saba Roschin (39): the leader of a town guard, Roschin is boisterous and cheerful, and likes to be the first to dive in to fix a problem. Roschin is a bold fighter and protector who may go too far when joking around but will stand up for others when it matters. (flippable between cis man/cis woman/transmasc)
Valeria/Valerio Chernenko (26): a flamboyant witch who guides travellers through storms and sells magical charms, Val’s trinkets aren't always as effective as they claim. Living a transient life, Val relies on their wits to avoid trouble - not always successfully. (flippable between trans man/trans woman/nonbinary transfem)
Five underrated titles from Choice of Games are on sale until 16th April!
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The next in my high heat sapphic knight series is here! If you want trans-inclusive lesbian fantasy from top to bottom, these are the books for you. Each one is a standalone romance with a broader meta-arc, so start wherever you like
Preorders are 50% off at on ITCH.IO and my PERSONAL SHOP!
If you want a longer summary of the story, just click below the cut.
As the youngest knight in the court of Afallennau, Galeas serves as Her Majesty's voice. Born blind, Galeas is known for her kindness and untarnished virtue, using her words and intuition to handle matters of diplomacy throughout the realm.
When King Theomacha sends her to a village that appears to be slowly drowning, Galeas is shocked to hear this impending disaster may be the work of the House of Corbenic, whose guilds are responsible for every architectural and creative art in the kingdom. How would their notoriously brilliant guildmistress, Lady Belakané, benefit from flooding the river Fand and rending nature asunder?
Accompanied by her legendary guide and steed, Hengroen, Galeas quests past the flood to the House of Corbenic and meets Belakané's only daughter, Liban, whose injury in her youth has shattered her faith in love and loyalty. That, and a mysterious curse that bleeds water from her skin, one that may swallow the world entire if left unchecked.
Haunted by images of lost oceans and a relic that erases itself from the memories of outsiders, Galeas must break the curse, save Liban, and confront an unthinkable question: what if King Theomacha has been lying to her from the very beginning?
Galeas the Keen is a sapphic knight romance complete at 47,000 words. Preorder files will be delivered on the day of release.
rare partial image of the author, because I got home from holiday to find this had been delivered (it's from chaotic neutral designs on Redbubble) and I love it a lot. getting in touch with my creepy steppe friends on a warm spring day
