Phenrex Creates

[Masc-Nonbinary] [Demisexual] [Queer Nightmare] - Lover of history, art, and fashion! - Currently working on the Interactive Novel Shengzhang, you can find it available for play here:

[phenrexcreates]

Is this is still being worked on?

Shengzhang Update - Rewrite Progress [13/05/25]

It's been a while-- So I figured with me finally surpassing my old demo [65k words] I would at least announce that the rewrite is currently progressing quite well. I am not planning to release it until I feel ready and have a good workflow consistently. I can definitely say though that the two years of hindsight has significantly improved the overall plot and direction [though admittedly two years is a bit long]. I am back in university as a part of refining myself as a writer, so I've been kept busy for a while. I should hopefully have a good amount of freedom during the summer to make progress.

I am hoping to have the new demo out before the end of June, I am not currently interested in publishing the old demo again for the time being since it is so out of date / basically completely unrelated to the current iteration.

If anyone is curious and has any questions feel free to ask!

[phenrexcreates]

Hi! I just want to say that I really love your work so far. The prose is amazing and immersive. I also like how intricate the character creation is. It really adds to the roleplaying aspect and I think would affect replayability. The symbols and everything give the story a visual novel vibe, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I also really appreciate your work assomeone with Chinese blood but is toodisconnected with it 🥰

This is honestly very touching, I don't really know what else to say except that. Thank you, I'm glad you have enjoyed the game so far, I feel at times anxious about whether the story I'm telling is 'good enough' but hearing how people take joy from it is encouraging to help me continue to put my energy into improving myself for it! 💞

I hope you will enjoy the upcoming Translation Update, I'm hoping to fix a lot of strange things and mistakes from the current public version! I'm unsure of when it will make its way to public release, since I want to also add the latter half of Chapter 2, but know that I am making active efforts on it!

[phenrexcreates]

Did the rest of the world know that the Xiānlíng died out due to a plague? Or did the the mortals think something else happened to them? I know that time can twist history, so even if it was known at the time that the Xiānlíng died from a plague, is that still what people believe in the present?

Thank you for the Ask!

I am assuming that most of humanity doesn't believe the Xiānlíng ever truly existed. They are more mythological, there are some who do believe they still exist now, though they are few. The nature that the race was believed to possess...? The history humanity formed posthumously? That is something likely to make it into the book, so I don't want to give too much away!

[phenrexcreates]

Weird question, but if MC were to have a biological child. And they were a human who became immortal through some way, and the other parent was a normal mortal human. Would it be immortal like MC? Or mortal like the other parent? Or even like Fèng Rú. Where they live incredibly long lives but still will slowly age and die.

My assumption is that it would be something akin to the situation for Fèng Rú, but whether or not that would actually be the case may be dependent on the roots of your immortality. Speaking of their Immortality or lack there of, that might be seeing an alteration in the upcoming update... 😉

Would a deity have the same restrictions as a race native upon the Earth? 🤔 I am not certain, and if I was I would not want to state as much yet!

Things are a bit more clear to me for a Human Immortal, since they were altered from their natural state their children would be fully mortal. 😊

[phenrexcreates]

Dont take this the wrong way, but Ive always found it a little jarring when Pinyin and chinese words are randomly strewn around a book or IF with what seems like little purpose (eg, the clothing). Seems like there might be a slight discrepency between whether there is a tonal(?) indicator to the words too, although whether this is just a mistake (since yeah no indicator is also an indicator lol) Im not that sure.

That's just an opinion though, Im sure there are people who believe differently... and I just want to preface that I mean to say this in the nicest, politest way possible, less of a criticism and more of a suggestion. (Some people get incredibly upset by what seem to me like often innocent comments so i want to be safe)

Other than that, I really enjoyed your demo so far! The premise seems interesting, the writing decent and Im excited to see where the story takes us next! I love the setting and the focus on East Asian settings, history and mythology. The characters and choices are interesting too.

I also received a "probably a bug if you're seeing this" message and im not really sure what that's about, but just thought i should bring it to your attention.

I will be watching your career with great interest... assuming this doesnt go down badly lol <3

Hello! I received this a while ago and was too nervous to know how to respond. To be honest, I took a bit of a mental health break from the project. I did listen to this though. I am currently working on adjusting the language, subduing it a bit and offering the option to even more or less fully translate any Pīnyīn to 漢字, partially to English, or fully English [excluding the names of figures].

I don't know if that would address your primary concern. I was a little too excitable going into the project, also anything missing it's tonal indicators is a mistake, I have quite a few to fix... The update I am working on too also changes the names of a lot of locations in addition to adding the translation dictionary, and with it I will be hoping to include the later half of Chapter 2. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

[phenrexcreates]

Wouldn't it be so angsty if MC only wore white from now on for their long-time friend? Don't mind me, just thinking of angsty things! Long-time friends are so precious it hurts when they leave. I love your work dear author.

Now that you bring it up, it would be quite interesting would it not?

Full ask answer below. Spoilers for the demo if you haven't played it...

I would need to think about it though, whether or not the Immortal would be particularly aware or interested in mourning in a way that is culturally relevant to the mortals. I suppose though that should be something the Immortal would know themself over me, right? It is worth considering! At the very least, for those Immortals who traveled frequently, they might be aware of it.

Thank you for the ask! 😊

[phenrexcreates]

Is the clothing style choice the gender choice? I play as a woman but I wanted to wear androgenous type clothes

Nope! You select your clothing first and your gender shortly afterwards! I might add a note of this if it seems confusing for people in the long run... I hope that helps!

[phenrexcreates]

I do want to draw the MC someday, but I'm having trouble visualizing the descriptions for the different clothing within the glossary. Is there any clothing image references that you can show? Like is everything considered hanfu and they're all different types of hanfu? Sorry I'm confused.

This is in part because I at the time made the decision to describe them by parts rather than what they are whole. I am actually reevaluating still what I want to call them, but I've been working on the fashion! This is a sketch showing the masculine, androgynous, and feminine styles.

There is variation depending on the class you decide on and whether it's formal or not! I hope this helps! Oh, and I was imagining no matter what you wore, you had a variation of the masculine coat on due to the weather and need for warmth. (The finished paintings are going to posted on my [Patreon] soon 😉). (Colour guide below)

Here is a general colour guide too, though these might adjust a bit since nothing is truly set in stone! (The Creams should be slightly warmer and more saturated, for example, but this is just a tool to help so don't feel entirely constricted to the specific hex values or anything!)

Here is an additional link for some reference!

A Brief History of Tang Dynasty Clothing - Newhanfu

Tang Dynasty clothing mainly refers to the Tang Dynasty Hanfu clothes. Tang Dynasty is a period of great prosperity of China's feudal societ

I hope this helps!

[phenrexcreates]

UPDATE: Stats Screen Overhaul Pt. 2 - January 15th, 2023

Update Talk: Originally, I had the intentions of waiting for the completion of Chapter 2. However, considering I may or may not have uploaded the Beta files to Dashingdon, I moved up the release for this into a smaller UI update rather than a UI update with new content (outside of a few lines here or there). To the goblins who might attempt code diving for new content - It has already been deleted 😈.

The following has been addressed:

Flags have been added to the Prologue and Chapter 1

F!Min will no longer have "hers" and "her" swapped.

Flavour text for those who select a specific class or subspecies.

Changed Visual Indicators to New Symbols

Changed Visual Indicator Settings to Main Menu in Stats Screen

Added ability to hide Relationship or Stats Changes while maintaining Important or Special Choice Indicators

Added ability to swap between Text and Symbol Based Visual Indicators

Adjusted, changed, and added new stats to the first two chapters

Added about 3.5k Words w/ Code or 2k w/o Code

[phenrexcreates]

Progress Update (January 14th, 2023):

It took all day, but all of the indicators have been swapped over from normal text to variables and changed in the Prologue and Chapter 1 in the Beta (not available publicly yet sorry 😭). Additionally, I am basically finished with the first scene and almost done with the second scene for Chapter 2! (The third scene will take the longest due to variation, but progress is smooth!)

Look forward to the following features in the next update:

Visual Indicators can be swapped between symbols and text!

Visual Indicator Symbols have been swapped to something (hopefully) more intuitive!

You can choose to hide relationship changes, stat changes, or all changes except important choices on top of being able to have visual indicators on or off.

[phenrexcreates]

没有没有！我只是好奇而已，对不起让你误会！我很少看到我的文化和历史被用在interactive fiction，所以看到你的blog时我一时很兴奋想问而已！！你是用google翻译那回答吗？如果不是的话你真厉害！你的华语蛮标准一下呢呵呵！好喜欢故事情节，真期待！！加油❤️

我确实使用了帮助。我没有足够的信心在不使用资源的情况下发言。

我对这种语言还是新手，我觉得很尴尬。 我希望我知道更多。

如果我不使用帮助那将很难理解。 我想是的，至少。

我希望没问题。😳😅😳

Translation Below

Ask:

No, no! I was curious, I didn't mean to misunderstand! I rarely have seen my culture and history used in interactive fiction before, so when I saw your blog I was excited to ask! Did you answer that with google translate? If not, you are amazing. Your Mandarin is pretty standard, huh! I love the storyline, I am looking forward to it! Good luck ❤️

Response:

I did use help. I don't have the confidence to speak without using resources.

I'm still new to the language, and I find it embarrassing. I wish I knew more.

It would be hard to understand if I didn't use help. I think so, at least.

I hope it's okay. 😳😅😳

[phenrexcreates]

你会说华语吗？

真正？不。这让我放慢了速度，因为我试图做到准确。不过我在学习！

我喜欢历史，特别是东亚历史。我选修了一门课程，我爱上了它。我以前没有见过太多中国设置。我所看到的通常更现代，所以我想要一些灵感来自我对历史的热爱。

对不起，如果这令人失望。😳😭😳

Translation Below

Ask: Do you speak Mandarin?

Reply: Truly? No. That slows me down, because I try to be accurate. I am learning though!

I like history, especially East Asian history. I took a course and I fell in love with it. I haven't seen too many Chinese settings before. What I did see is usually more modern, so I want some inspiration from my love of history.

Sorry, if that is disappointing! 😳😭😳

[phenrexcreates]

hihi quick thing, i think some of the pinyin have typos? like guang shld be di yi sheng not di si things like that but also i really enjoy the entire story and superrr excited for the next update! love chinese mythology and history, honestly it's so underrated:D

Thank you for pointing it out and giving an ask!

It is easy to miss things, I will double check, and if you find any other problems don't be afraid to let me know! (It is particularly helpful to point out how to fix them.)

My interpretation of the mythos tries to stay loyal at the general core but is also... playful. I suppose how much that plays into things will become clearer in time. For now, I am just in need of coffee!

Progress for the next chapter is going well! Sitting currently at 10k words, but this chapter is likely the longest by far (I think it might double the size of the project, so I might consider releasing it in two parts!)

[phenrexcreates]

Shengzhang - Updated Banner

Note to other IF Makers to be careful about your fonts! The prior font I was using was one that is only for personal use. Double check with your artists to ensure the appropriate licenses are in place, or that it is free for commercial use! (The new font is called Yozakura !)

On the bright side, I think this font looks and fits better so I suppose it is wins all around except the extra time I had to spend changing it!

[phenrexcreates]

Considering that it's listed on the forum post as ???, does that mean that Zhēn is questioning his sexual/romantic orientation?

Good question!

I used "???" because Zhēn has a perception of his own sexuality, but it changes depending on the Immortal. Considering his position as someone who married, lost that love, and has been finding a balance himself again he hasn't thought much about romance in the interim. I imagine the act of finding an interest in someone new as a pleasant surprise, but also believing it is a little scary.

I do plan everyone to be capable of romancing him but depending on who the Immortal is then Zhēn might have questions for himself to work through.

I hope you don't mind the indirect answer, but I think it tackles the heart of the ask ^//v//^

[phenrexcreates]

UPDATE: Stats Screen Overhaul Pt. 1 - January 9th, 2023

The Following has been addressed:

The Stats Screen and Stats have been completely overhauled to be much more functional.

Min will no longer decide their gender for themself before the player.

Aliases and True Names will display properly.

The names offered to the player have been swapped to pīnyīn to fit the conventions established by the rest of the game.

The ROs now also have their names in pīnyīn.

More detailed stats can be viewed using the in-game menus.

Daiyu’s name has been changed to the following: " 貞 - Zhēn - loyal or faithful " following the poll

Even more!! - A new chapter is underway, but this update is for the future!

Oh note: As a result of this update, when there is a content update, I recommend restarting as there are a ton of variables that won’t set properly if you use older saves (hence my warning in the opening screen at release)!

[phenrexcreates]

Hi. Do you know any websites where I can find ideas for MC's name? I am completely unfamiliar with Chinese & Asian culture, and the lists of names I found on Google are the most common Chinese names. They don't quite match the god 😅

The deity names are very, *very* literal.

The ones currently in the game are just words in Mandarin that felt fitting, because the name gives power and in term the power gives way to a name. I'd just look up some things in an English/Mandarin dictionary and see what is fitting and appeals to you!

Alternatively, I'll probably introduce a few more name options in time, and replace all of the generic ones or make those exclusive recommendations for the human origins.

I included a hint for naming, I apologize if the hint was not very helpful. Let me know how I could make it clearer, if it was too confusing!