The Keeper of the Dead

Development blog for The Keeper of the Dead, an in-progress ChoiceScript game / forum / demo

[keeperofthedead]

A couple of weeks ago, my dearest @anathemafiction tagged me in a prompt as follows:

Write the latest line from any of your wips & tag as many people as there are words in the line. Make a new post, don’t reblog.

Now, I’ve just finished the semester, so I didn’t see it right away, but it made me smile when I did :) The latest line I’ve written wasn’t actually for the Keeper of the Dead, but for the (yet-untitled) spin-off I’ve been planning concurrently with it. To be clear, I’m still planning that game—I won’t actually start writing it properly until I’ve finished the Keeper, but I thought of the line and liked it enough to write it into my planning documents.

“Careful with that one,” the man—who seemed to be a leader of sorts—said to his comrades. “He’s quicker than he looks.”

“Meaner, too,” Adrastos replied with a quick grin, earning himself a smack from the hilt of the smaller one’s sword.

[keeperofthedead]

Uh, you good? Haven’t posted in a while

Yes, I'm fine. I was having some difficulty with plotting, so I intentionally set the project aside for a while. When I come back to it, I'll have some changes and renames to install, but for the time being, I'm focusing on other things (like school). I was trying to keep this blog on the down-low in the first place—that is, I would prefer not to accumulate a following before I post a demo—so I figured it didn't necessitate an announcement.

[keeperofthedead]

Happy February! Love interest memes sans context.

[keeperofthedead]

Well, to my own great disappointment, this was not a phenomenal year by way of written progress on this game, but I’m happy to report that the game is still at the forefront of my mind near-constantly.

One thing I’ve never been good at is identifying and sticking to goals, so I’m going to create some for 2021 and write them here to hold myself accountable. Hopefully in doing so I’ll find some hidden magical fix to my poor work ethic.

Solidify the Healer route in the outline (the main thing that’s been holding me back)

Rework some general MC things (high priority)

Ideally polish the pacing and story structure (low priority, can be done after the first draft is written)

Stop fretting over the outline and actually get words written (🙏)

A final note: I’ve created edits for the main cast (that is to say, the love interests) which I plan to use in character introduction posts once the game has a proper demo. I predict that this will still be quite some time away, so here is Ona’s edit as a... teaser, I suppose?:

Happy year’s end, and may the next one be kinder ❤️

[keeperofthedead]

I don’t like the old portraits of the romantic interests anymore (haven’t for a while, really), so I drew new ones on a whim.

[keeperofthedead]

Where was the game, events located exactly?

Hi, Anon! I’m not sure I understand your question. If you mean to ask where the prologue takes place, that depends on what you selected as your hometown in the first choice: either Manat, a large city on the coastline, or Alkayya, a village in the countryside.

A good portion of the rest of the game will take place in Vasanay, the capital city of your... kingdom (for lack of a better word). How much travel will happen in-game remains to be seen, but it’s likely that the plot will take you elsewhere around the area (most probably to the nearby independent city-states).

For an explanation of the setting’s influences, see this ask.

[keeperofthedead]

hi! just wondered where you are from and how you got the idea? great work!!!!

Hello (and thank you)! I’m from the United States, on the east coast.

It isn’t one idea so much as a bunch of ideas that coalesced together. The world originated as a roleplay setting that some friends and I created together (though in its current state, the game’s world is unrecognizable from its first incarnation—it’s gone through a lot of changes, both while we roleplayed in it and after). I became really attached to some of the characters we had created, so I kept fiddling with the setting and its cast long after we stopped using them, and eventually I had the thought that I’d like to create something with it all.

[nandadin]

I don’t really have an excuse for this 😔 I’m just going to say that sometimes a world and the premise of a story is compelling enough that you create multiple characters for it before it’s even properly/officially out..

So here’s my Healer MC, Nima, for KotD

Instagram

And since I forgot to post it back when I did it earlier this year, I’m gonna add under the cut the first drawing I did for my Wazir MC 

Keep reading

[keeperofthedead]

Is Keeper of the Dead still an active project ?

Yep! It's still in planning, which is why a. the demo is only the prologue and b. I try to keep this blog on the down-low.

[keeperofthedead]

Hi there!! I just played the little demo and I gotta say, I am highly intrigued!! I can't wait to see and read more💖💖💖

Oh, thank you! I get this sentiment often (both here and from friends) and it’s very motivating!

[keeperofthedead]

Stalling the other, more important pieces that I’m working on by fixing Nemhet’s hair 🐆

[keeperofthedead]

Even though they’re unfinished, I liked the look of those WIPs I posted the other day, so I threw some color onto a sketch of Sener (and then also his sisters).

[keeperofthedead]

Works in progress bc it’s been a while 😔

[nandadin]

I was finding it very hard to draw anything these last few days, it seemed like my hand forgot how to work properly and I also had all sorts of technical problems with my pc, but thank goodness (and my friends) that’s all solved now :) And I’m very glad to get out of this little art block by drawing my OC Sadira 💙

[keeperofthedead]

I just discovered this blog and, as someone who adores both history and fantasy, a fantasy game with interesting historical influences really excites me. The goddess Nianat reminded me of Isis, especially the bit about tricking the sun god, was that on purpose?

Firstly, thank you! The idea of people being excited for this game is still completely wild to me. History and fantasy have always been two of my favorite subjects as well (and if you like the two of them together, you’ll really like @anathemafiction’s The Golden Rose, which takes place in an alternate version of our own timeline during the 1100s).

To answer your question, I was unfamiliar with that specific story until I looked it up for this ask, but I greatly enjoy the resemblance (I assume you meant the one where Isis tricks Ra into giving her his true name?). Ancient Egypt was one of the original influences for the setting—you can tell by the names of some of the gods—but it’s faded significantly over the course of its development.

What I was really aiming for with that line was, by making the most revered goddess of the Hayuk people to be known and respected for an act of trickery, to indicate that cunning and cleverness are culturally important to that people. I know I just said that history is one of my favorite things, but really, anthropology has more of a hand in how I worldbuild, especially for things like religion.

[keeperofthedead]

Hi! I clicked on the demon in your bio and it was really short? Did I miss the ROs somehow or?

You didn’t miss anything, friend. The “demo” currently consists of the (four-page) prologue and nothing else, and I was even hesitant about making that public. Ideally, this blog wouldn’t exist at all yet, but some friends wanted a place where I could discuss matters relating to the game without clogging up our server (which primarily exists for a different topic).

I’d like to be able to give an estimate of when the proper demo (and this blog, officially) will be released, but my pace is pretty erratic. Rest assured, though, I am working on it!

[keeperofthedead]

Could we have some soft, non-spoilery, Safa facts?

Ah, of course!

She is known to your people as the Lady of the Sands. You will have the option in the game to address her as Banu Safa, and she will find your formality to be very endearing.

She is very patient; likely one of the most patient among all your gods (in stark contrast to Sener). It takes a lot to anger her. Similarly, she takes great enjoyment from small things; standing in a pleasant breeze, stargazing, et cetera.

Even without the veil, she smiles with her eyes. They are very involved in her expressions.

She loves—well, everyone. She spends a lot of time among mortals because of this—not necessarily doing anything dramatic, but just existing among them. It is like a form of people-watching.