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the end of June, I am not currently interested in publishing the old demo again for the time being since it is so out of date / basically completely unrelated to the current iteration.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!
Shengzhang: Journey to the Immortal [WIP] [63k Words] [Prologue - Chapter 2 Pt1]
Synopsis: You are an immortal who believed yourself to have seen it all, settling with seeing only in shades of gray. But confronted with a challenge you have never met before. Left with little to do other than take in a child with no other home, in time you find the world flushed anew in vibrant hues.
Last Update: February 16th, 2023
Setting: The setting is heavily inspired by Tang dynasty China, but is a work of historical fiction and should be treated as such. For one, there is magic, and the gods exist among man, and if that isn’t enough the protagonist is an Immortal, so while there is a set culture it doesn’t mean it is necessarily in line with history (heavily inspired as it may be).
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Current Stats & History: 62.7k Words (52.2k Words without Code)
Average Playthrough Length: 20.6k Words
Features:
Play as a Man, Woman, or Nonbinary Person; Find romance no matter your sexuality! (Ace, Demi, Homo or Hetero!)
Play as a God, a member of a race believed to be extinct, or a human who discovered their own path to immortality.
Reconnect to humanity, or learn new ways of using them as a tool.
Extensive Character Customization Features!
Decide the path that lead you where you are, and try to forge a new future for yourself.
Romance a cautious courtesan with a complicated past, a warrior struggling with their fatal mistake, a widow trying to find their feet, a curious scholar with dreams, or a mysterious entity from your past!
Fully supported Visual Indicators to allow for a player to know what stats will change.
Warning: The following story will feature mature exploration of some themes that may make a reader uncomfortable, many are dependent on the choice of the player though to initiate them. Please check the list in the demo if you are concerned to ensure your own comfort before starting a playthrough. Some are limited to specific routes or choices, and will feature a warning before they start.
Play the demo here:
For Info about ROs and further discussion on characters...
Link to Forums (for more info about RO and future plans):
Synopsis: You are an immortal who believed yourself to have seen it all, settling with seeing only in shades of gray. But confronted with a
No idea if I am doing this right! Hah!
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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!
Tang Dynasty clothing mainly refers to the Tang Dynasty Hanfu clothes. Tang Dynasty is a period of great prosperity of China's feudal societ
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.
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
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.
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!
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!
