John Louis Interactive Fiction

Writer of interactive fiction

[johnlouisif]

I, the Unbroken One & Published Work

Hello! My name is John Louis (or Bacondoneright on the COG Forum), and I've been writing Interactive Fiction since 2020. I've finally decided to leave my comfort zone and create a space for updates of my work that isn't the COG Forum.

I have a Patreon where I publish more in depth sneak peeks, progress updates, longwinded ramblings, and side stories for my published work. If you're feeling generous, I would really appreciate any and all support you can provide. Thank you so much!!!

I have two interactive works already completed, both published in Choicescript under the Hosted Games line.

My first work is I, the Forgotten One, a grim low fantasy story about a broken warrior's winding road to recovery. The kingdom is torn apart by civil war, and you are once again thrust to the head of an army. Can you drag your country back from the brink? Will you find love and acceptance, or shatter entirely?

A link to purchase I, the Forgotten One can be found here.

My second published work is Whiskey-Four, a standalone sci-fi action thriller about a former government agent being reactivated to deal with an existential threat. The mission spirals out of control, and soon you find yourself facing an entity beyond human comprehension, corporate kill squads, and your own ex--who has risen from a shallow grave to take you back.

A link to purchase Whiskey-Four can be found here.

I am currently working on I, the Unbroken One, the sequel to I, the Forgotten One. A link to its forum page can be found here and the demo can be found here.

"Three months have passed since Queen Elya’s dramatic rise–and potential fall–from power. An early winter has placed the war on hold, but finally, the snow has begun to melt. In the east, a great and terrible power slowly moves toward the heart of Kanton. The Janowitz call for aid, and the crown must answer.

Should Sobik’s bastard have taken the throne, they must deal with a disloyal and unruly kingdom. Conspiracy in their own home causes chaos. Will they maintain an even hand and guide Kanton out of darkness? Or will they succumb to paranoia and tyranny?

If Sobik’s bastard remained loyal, they must deal with the existential threat riding in from the steppes and the threat of their own spiraling thoughts. They no longer teeter on the edge of a cliff, but the road to recovery is a long one. Is it even possible to walk while marching at the head of an army?"

Continue the story of the Marshal from I, the Forgotten One

Continue from three possible ending points, as either Marshal, Regent, or Monarch of Kanton

The fate of characters rest in your hands: save them, let them die, or kill them yourself

Lead the Marshal down a path of peace, or let them embrace war as their only future

Seek reconciliation with the Church or scorn her entirely

Progress updates will be posted on Patreon, COG Forum, and this Tumblr blog. Feel free to follow me wherever!

[johnlouisif]

I just read through your interview for Whiskey-four and it was very insightful! I love that you included music titles. I've been listening through the album Only things we love and it is very fitting. Are there any other songs or albums you think inspired you or fit the theme? I'm always out prowling for new music and W4 is one of my top reads of all time <3

The song "Whiskey" by the Tejon Street Corner Thieves also saw ample use when I was writing. Stylistically, it doesn't really fit Whiskey-Four, but the lyrics absolutely match the Whiskey/Uly romance. Maybe too well.

[johnlouisif]

hello!! i loved ch3, all the waiting for the reunion was totally worth it🙂‍↕️ i do have a question tho! is there a chance that the ROS will be jealous?👀 considering the F!MC was already kinda jealous on the Milon route

I genuinely don't think so! There's not a lot of romantic rivals in ITFO lol. I wanted to explore a potential obsession/jealous route within the MC rather than the ROs, as the dynamic is usually ROs obsessing over the MC. Switching it up could be interesting.

[johnlouisif]

would ulysses let himself get mpregged with whiskey's baby or would he prefer it if whiskey was the one who got mpregged?

there is no canonical top or bottom in a queer Whiskey/Uly relationship. I have been plenty inclusive to accommodate both dynamics

[johnlouisif]

Hi, I'm not usually into sci-fi setting, but Whiskey-Four absolutely hooked me. The pacing, the action, the characters and moments of connection between them... and the lingering dread. And the comedy. Amazing. The „he can't be fixed”/„he doesn't need fixing!” exchange with Driver not only made me laugh out loud but also was the final lock in for how my Whiskey wanted her life to continue. What an adventure. Enjoyed reading every bit of it!

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I've been working on interactive post-epilogue short stories for Whiskey-Four, and it's been so much fun to dig back into the world and characters.

[johnlouisif]

Hi there, long time fan and reader, I was wondering a few things if you can somehow answer them.

Do any of the characters know or suspect it if the Marshall is gay? What is the general opinion on the matter for each character? Cause while it is seen as sinful story wise maybe some characters wouldn't care/mind.

Will the Marshall ever speak with Vedran about being queer if they both are? Sure, even on best terms they are absolutely nowhere near tearful confession time or siblings solidarity but I can see it coming up since marriages build alliances.

Will the self harm come up more often in the next chapters especially for Marshalls that haven't stopped, don't know how to get better? I believe there's a scene with Obren that I didn't really like, I might remember it wrong but at least in my playthrough Obren didn't know about the self harm and the scene implies he does. It was also a short mention that didn't really feel meaningful or worried. (I absolutely get there's worse stuff going on though).

How is self harm seen in the story's universe? Especially for soldiers? That'd be "nice" to be expanded on, especially in desperate situations, maybe the Marshall noticing some soldiers doing it, maybe differently than how they do it but still seeing something is wrong.

Darin is the only character who suspects the Marshal is gay, and he only does because he witnesses him and Obren at the end of the first book. I don't think many of the other characters even have the capacity to assume the Marshal is queer, as they wouldn't even assume other sexualities really exist at all.

I do have planned interactions between a queer Marshal and Vedran, as well!

The self harm is definitely still mentioned, but I'm pretty sure it's always in past tense? There are multiple lines where the narrative prose expresses something along the lines of "You haven't turned a dagger on yourself since the campaign ended" or something. 🤔

[johnlouisif]

Maybe this is RAFO but I wanted to know how Elya feels about all the history between the Marshal and Mira. It’s clear she loves them both but I gotta wonder does she one some level feel the dishonoring was justified, especially considering how dismissive she is of the Marshal when there angry at her for brining Mira along

Elya is more sympathetic to Mira because she was never the target of Mira's abuse. That doesn't mean she believes the Marshal's dishonoring was justified, though. More that, though she acknowledges how horrible Mira's actions are, Mira is still Elya's mother, and was still good to her. It's a bad situation for her to be in, and one I think is at least semi-realistic.

[johnlouisif]

So I’ve noticed there is a lack of Elya POVs compared to all the other characters. I assume some of it is due how different her personality can be due to leadership strength and cold vs warm.

I guess I wanted to know her feelings about the Marshal in the loyalist route as we get POVs of most other characters. We see hints of her taking on some of the marshals personality traits and I think there are certain times where you can see her mirroring facial expressions that are the Marshals. Does she see them as an example to follow (like Mira wants) or something else ?

Honestly, it's not deliberate that she doesn't have as many POVs. I think most of her more personally expressive scenes come from her interactions with the marshal, so I haven't needed to give her POV scenes. But your question does make me thing that I need to give her some more... 🤔

[interact-if]

We are so excited for this interview with the author of Whiskey Four, @johnlouisif!

Do you want to play a retired contract killer? Who's being hunted down by the corpos, the cops and even your (supposedly dead) ex! Oh right...you also need to save the galaxy from an unknown entity...

Have what it takes?

Check out the other winners in the action/adventure category here.

About the author

I don’t drink coffee. Or alcohol. My inspiration for my work comes purely from the pains of cold sobriety. I broke my wrist when I was eleven years old and my handwriting hasn’t recovered since, and I very often can’t read my own notes when I’m annotating books.

About the book

John Wick in space meets Lovecraftian cosmic horror.

Tell us a bit about what you're working on right now and your journey into interactive fiction

I’m working on the sequel to my first interactive fiction game, I, the Forgotten One. It’s a pretty beastly project, as the multiple endings diverge into three primary routes, so every chapter needs to be written about two and a half times. I started ITFO six years ago during COVID, and it was just a hobby for a while, but I’ve been attempting to take it more seriously with the opening of a Patreon, hoping that I can potentially do writing full time in the future.

What was the inspiration for this game and why did you want to write an action story?

I wanted to write in a futuristic/sci-fi setting after finishing ITFO, but more than that, I wanted to write a story with completely different pacing. ITFO and its sequel, I, the Unbroken One, take place over months. I need, for the sake of the plot, a great deal of time to pass. The characters are marching or riding vast distances; medieval war involves a lot of waiting and boredom. This doesn’t make for a good story, so time needs to be skipped. The great danger of this style of story is that it can sometimes feel like a series of vignettes; if I keep skipping time and just jumping between major scenes, there won’t be any connective tissue.

Whiskey-Four is all connective tissue. The game takes place over four days, and each scene leads immediately into the next. The movement of time is kept in check by the use of a clock which tells the reader what time it is after every minor time skip. This style of pacing is best suited to action/adventure stories, I believe.

What is one thing you're really proud of that you've written? Do you have any favourite character or scene you've written?

I think writing Ulysses/Ulyssa, the primary love interest from Whiskey-Four, was the best creative decision I have made in writing. I believe they are singlehandedly responsible for a full half of Whiskey-Four’s popularity. In the grand scheme of love interests, they don’t even have a lot of time with the protagonist, and yet they’re still so well-liked, which I think is a testament to how compelling they turned out.

How has your identity, heritage/background, or personal experiences influenced your storytelling or writing process?

I’ve dealt with mental health troubles in the past which really colored the prose and, for lack of a better term, the vibe of I, the Forgotten One. It’s a vibe I can’t really recapture, now that I’m in a better place. 

For folks who have enjoyed your IF, what other book/music/movie should they check out for the same 'vibe'?

I discovered the song “Infinite Skin” by Blaqk Audio when writing Whiskey-Four, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song better encapsulate something I wrote. The entire album, “Only Things We Love,” fits the cyberpunk aesthetic of Whiskey-Four so well.

What are you excited to tackle/implement/work on next?

I, the Unbroken One, the sequel to ITFO! It’s up to 200,000+ words now, and it’s… maybe a quarter done. It’s been a huge project, much larger than I typically like, but I’ve so far enjoyed the process. I think the third chapter which I just released publicly is the best of the story so far. I started ITFO six years ago, and I’ve become a better writer since then, so the sequel is an opportunity to take existing characters and make them even stronger.

[johnlouisif]

Hey, that's me!

[johnlouisif]

if you did a most popular character poll for whiskey four, the grenade would win in a landslide

I should write a cross-over short story where the Marshal meets Whiskey. Or alternatively, Whiskey is iseaki'd (is that the right term?) into I, the Forgotten One or vice-versa. Could be funny. Would feature the grenade as a prominent character.

[johnlouisif]

Just wanted to let you know that Milon had me giggling and kicking my feet the entire time I was playing itfo, so thank you for that😼

I'm glad lol. I think he's a stronger character already in the sequel. I'm better at romantic writing and having a better grasp of who I want him to be.

[johnlouisif]

chapter 3 was so much fun! Honestly some of my favourite parts was the main cast interacting with one another. The litigation over the strategy before the fight against Rade was a very cool scene, lots of big personalities duking it out lol. I love Obren/Elya dynamic - like the Marshal says, they banter like siblings. I think the Elya/Lada scenes were fun too, our sister definitely deserves a girl friend, poor girl's stuck in a sausage fest.

In regards to the romance stuff - I played through all three of the routes, and ngl I definitely thought Milon took the crown this chapter. I kind of love how cheesily cinematic their reunion in the rain was. He's also got serious game, nearly blushed irl during the bedroom scene. I like that M!Marshal and F!Marshal both get so flustered around their ROs (Lada's entrance was like DAMN girl), but F!Marshal freaks tf out over literally everything to do with Milon, it's really rather endearing. Her worries about how she will be perceived is a really interesting idea, one that M!Marshal probably won't have since it's not exactly a scandal for him to find love. Will rumours of her dalliance with the duke being an issue she has to worry about going forward? Do Darin and Obren actually feel weird/awkward about her relationship with Milon and how she acts around him?

Also, will F/F Marshal and Obren be able to bond over their similiar sexualities?

Sorry this ended up being a long ask but there was a lot in this chapter that I could tell are going to set up some awesome things

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Chapter 3 was definitely my favorite so far, personally. I think ITUO's just taken a little while (a year now 😬) to find it's footing.

As for the Milon route, I plan for there to be a minor exploration into the double-standard between the perception of men and women in romance, where it's essentially 95% acceptable for Milon to have a public relationship with the Marshal, but the female Marshal will be judged for pursuing it. Rumors of sex will be more damaging to the Marshal than to Milon, but I plan for Milon to be very cognizant of this fact and try his hardest to cover for the MC. Obren doesn't really care; he just finds it awkward, and Darin, by the end of book one, has already grown to some level of acceptance.

F/F Marshal and Obren will be able to bond, yes! I have plans :)

[johnlouisif]

So 2 questions.

1) I know that a potential ending as the ruler of Korid has been teased. I was wondering how that would work with the ROs, Like Lada can easily just come over to Korid but about Milon ? he can’t just up and leave since he’s a duke already. Also in the last book Elya said she had a claim on Korid also, would she try and screw the Marshal to get Korid even on the loyalist ending ?

2) So I’ve noticed that both Elya and Vedran are taking in some personality aspects of the Marshal and Vedran has already explicitly stated he wants to become just like the Marshal. But what about Elya ? It’s clear that we can influence her but does she also idolize the Marshal like Vedran or is it something else.

Elya isn't going to pursue a claim over Krorid in the loyalist route. It's not really worth entangling herself in a succession crisis in a kingdom where she doesn't even speak the language. As for the ROs, it would be significantly more difficult for Milon, yes. Does that mean you'll have to pick between the two? Depends on how angsty I want the ending to be 🤔

The fact that Elya can turn so strongly against the Marshal in the betrayal route shows that she doesn't have nearly the same starry-eyed idealization that Vedran does. Vedran is just prone to over-estimating people, such as Obren and Sobik. Also himself.

[johnlouisif]

Hi! A bit of a dumb question about ITUO, but I can't seem to find the answer even thouh I'm sure it must have been answered at some point.

I did the romance with Obren in the first book, but when I pick that in the character creator for the second book, the game tells me my MC and Obren briefly talked about facial hair and that Obren either tried to grow a beard or was convinced to remain clean shaven, but that talk never happened on my playthroughs of book 1, so I'm confused. Will it be added to book 1 later, or did I have a bug / coding error somewhere and that scene never triggered despite being in the game? Or did I maybe somehow entirely misunderstood a scene of book 1 was about that and I'm just being an idiot?

Thank you!

I'll be entirely honest, I may have added that thinking it was in the first book because I'm certain Milon optionally grows a beard. I think my wires got crossed

[johnlouisif]

6/2/26 Mixed Sneak Peeks

For so, so long, you've lived a nothing life. A zombie life. God above--you want to feel! And feel what you choose to feel! Not this terror, not this fear, but to feel like a real person for the first time! Why are these first moments of new life stolen from you by fear? Why can you feel nothing else? Why do you feel unreal? False? Why do you look up at the treetops and look through the eyes of someone else?

Hi everyone! I'm still hard at work with the ITUO Chapter 1-2 rewrites and my new project, interactive epilogues for Whiskey-Four! (gasp!) I've posted a 3000 word sneak peek, containing two rewritten scenes from Chapter 1 and a few pages from the new epilogue project on my Patreon for whoever may be interested!

I'll have more information on the interactive epilogue project soon! I'm really excited for it :)

[johnlouisif]

Angsty Janowitz siblings question anon here, I agree that on paper the marshall is an ideal choice as they have a great position but that poor pookie has been dishonored, mutilated and they can't marry T_T that's why I said our good marshall wouldn't be an approved choice for a spouse 😭

But I'm glad our baby marshall won't have to suffer any further by watching their beloved having to "court" someone else. However, th way you phrased that at the end... the pookie will have to suffer internally once more and question whether it is right to marry and wrestle with that on the inside once again 😭🫂 I love your writing and work but please give our baby a break from time to time 😭 (but also don't bc i do love me some angst too 🫣)

ITUO is my attempt to balance breaks and angst better than ITFO. The suffering serves to make the breakthroughs and moments of peace all the sweeter. I can, however, confidently say that you won't have to worry about any of the ROs courting other interests in the story; I am not that cruel.

[johnlouisif]

I love the new chapter! And I'm so excited to meet Kateryna! Can we know more about her? 🫶

I'm excited to introduce her! A little nervous, too, admittedly. But if her route ends up unsatisfying by its conclusion, then I can shift her introduction to earlier chapters during editing.

Kateryna, as she is conceived now, going to very feminine. Her introduction will feature her riding a warhorse in a noblewoman's dress at the head of a thousand northern soldiers. She will be helped down from her horse by her giant, mute cousin, who serves as the muscle of her operation.

I want her, whether romanced or not, to serve as an example of balancing the desire for femininity with the realities of rulership, assisting a F!MC who may be insecure with her own femininity reconcile the two halves of her life. In romance, she will explicitly be seeking the female Marshal as a romantic interest, finding the rumors of a warrior woman to be deeply fascinating, in a similar manner to Milon Janowitz of all people. After an initial gesture which the lesbian MC may react to, it will encourage her future courting. The route will have to move quicker than the others, but the Marshal is also in a much better mental space, so it should work. Fingers crossed.