For those who are interested in the game, but not quite sure what to ask about, here are some bites of intrigue to whet the appetite:
THE ACTORS ON THE STAGE
🧑Tell me something about customization options and customization zones for my character.
💖Who is one available romance route in the game, and what is the general vibe/trope of the route (e.g., slow burn, enemies to lovers, mutual pining)?
🤫Reveal a huge secret, but don't tell me which companion character it belongs to.
🎩Share an item of clothing or an accessory that my character can wear.
🛡️Share a moment where a companion steps in to shield, comfort, or defend the player character purely out of fierce, platonic loyalty.
🧤Share an item of clothing or accessory that my companion character can wear.
🎲Tell me about a choice where the probability of success changes drastically based entirely on what outfit my character is currently wearing.
🌹How does one RO behave when they realize they are developing genuine feelings for the player character? Do they get defensive, more confident and smoother, or completely lose their words?
💬Give me a line of dialogue from a companion character where we get to see their real, raw personality break through.
🧘🏻♀️What is a companion's favorite place to loiter in Talesmoth when we aren't actively on a mission?
👀Give me a teaser for a Secret Character Route. How hard is it to unlock, and what kind of player is going to stumble into it?
Hector /
💥What does a dynamic duo moment look like for the player character and a specific companion during a heist?
💪Tell me about a perk I unlock if my relationship bond with a specific companion character gets high enough. How does it help me?
⚖️How does making different dialogue choices affect the outcome of an event or conversation?
THE WORLD OF TALESMOTH
📍Share an excerpt, a screenshot, or fun facts about the setting you worked on last.
🚲How can I get around the city of Talesmoth?
🦄Tell me about a fantastical creature found in your world, and how we can interact with it.
✨Tell me about a rare item in your game.
🎮What is something fun I can do in a random setting in Talesmoth?
🥐Tell me about a local beverage or delicacy found in the cafes.
🌍How does Talesmoth change in different gameplay eras?
🎬Give me a clue about a side quest I can pick up that has nothing to do with the main storyline, but is too fun to skip.
🌱What is a quiet, platonic slice-of-life moment the player can share with a companion at a cafe or park, just taking a breather from the chaos of Talesmoth?
💼Tell me about a job or gig I can have, and what it entails. What does it look like in the game?
FEATURES & MORE
☁️Tell me about an event or setting that is affected by the weather system in your game.
🛑Give me one point of no return in the game. How does it function?
🔓Give me a teaser for one of the interactive mini-games. How does lockpicking, safecracking, or code-breaking physically work on the screen?
⏱️Share a moment where a real-time timer or a countdown clock forces the player to make a frantic, split-second decision.
⏳How does using the Hourglass to turn back time affect the world and my player character?
🔎What are some ways that I can discover clues in the game?
💰Share a reward or unique item I can earn from completing a specific companion's personal side quest.
❗ Give me an example of how the UI might change based on different events that take place in the game.
NOTE: All of these have more than one answer, and I'll strike out any that are all answered out. If you'd like to get to know more about The Black Hare, send your question to the Bureau of Inquiries. They never leave a question unanswered.
There are, so far, 4 characters who know about the Hourglass in the game. One is desperate to get his hands on it. The other is interested in procuring it as a bargaining chip. The third is keeping it hidden. The fourth is all too familiar with the consequences of its use.
I've already revealed in the post about Hector, the Fallen Aristocrat, that there is a scenario in which he will try to take the Hourglass away from you.
While the 4 companion characters don't know about the Hourglass going into the game, I can think of at least 3 who might be tempted to use it should they learn of its existence. 👀
Currently working on Paroka's route. She's a character I haven't talked about much yet, but I might go into more detail about her secret route in another post. Suffice it to say that hers is all about self-image, growth and freedom - or perhaps exchanging one cage for another.
I am also considering changing her portrait because it doesn't quite feel like it fits the character I have in mind. It did at first - but her story has changed since, and so how I visualize her in my mind has also changed.
Will there be sounds or music used in the game? The rain is very nice but its alright if it doesn't end up working.
In Talesmoth, the world seems to sing and hum and buzz along with the happenings of the day... Which is to say:
Yes, there absolutely will be sound effects and music! I actually have 6 location specific themes already plugged into the game and a library of others I'm looking to use. Generally speaking, they are divided into character themes, location themes, and the occasional event theme.
I have even been speaking to some volunteers to potentially 👀 maybe 👀 perhaps 👀 voice act some characters. No promises on that front (I haven't even given much thought to whether it would impact how smooth the game plays), especially since there's a lot of dialogue and a lot of characters to be voiced, but man, it would be great. ☺️
I think my favourite themes so far are the Windmill Bluff theme, which holds a delicious melancholy, and the Solarian Terrace theme, which has an ancient feel that's very fun.
Okay... Over the past weeks, I may have been googling how to make CSS animations for my weather conditions on Twine. And I may have put in a rainfall animation. Or, like, 3.
Honestly I've no idea how it works or even which of the specific sources I looked at actually made it happen (because I did not TAKE NOTES as I plugged code into the Stylesheet, like a fool), and I may or may not have like chunks of redundant code or whatever. But the important thing is it does work, so I am not touching that block of code for the rest of my life.
But now I am stuck... on the lightning flash animation. Once that's done, I need a glaring sun animation for those sunny days, and some kind of fog animation for foggy days. 🧐
Send help if you know how to make these on Twine or know of any readily available macros please and thank you 🥹 Otherwise I shall be sentenced to like three weeks of agony as I try to find solutions. Much work, such joy ✨️😔
Some ideas so far:
I think for the fog I should probably be combining opacity with filter: blur()...
For the glaring sun effect something using radial-gradient inside of a div ? I have to decide between a lens flare type of thing or a glowing orb in the corner of the screen up against where the side bar is.
For the lightning flash I think I'll use the @keyframes, which the rain animations also use, and also work with opacity or background-color.
Anyway, here's a little drizzle:
Yes, indeed, those are raindrop emojis. But I also have a normal vertical-line rain animation and - get ready for this - a diagonal line rain animation. I tried the raindrop emoji as a curiosity and I... kind of like it, as unserious as it may seem, lol. Anyway, the diagonal rain animation moves the entire passage down by a line space when it loops and I've no idea why or how to stop it, so maybe that's just a thing we'll learn to live with. The important thing, and I think farmers everywhere would agree, is that we HAVE rain. That's what counts.
This WIP is enthralling me. Every time I see a post about it I can't help but read and wonder what it's like to play. Is there anything about the main character I (and others) should know about before creating a character in preparation?
The Bureau of Inquiries has, in fact, been able to pull some records from various sources related to the Player's family history. Some items are... murky. You may bypass the following information in favor of the Bureau's Guidelines at the end of this post.
Below is a report pulled from the Department of Unresolved Grievances, which sheds more light on the player's relevant family history.
INCIDENT REPORT:
THEFT & FRAUD RESULTING IN LOSS OF PROPERTIES & WEALTH
Victim was approached by a businessman, one "Thalric Voss", seeking investment in a venture. Voss was able to furnish the victim with various official documentation as well as organize meetings with other parties in the venture in order to build trust and confidence in the investment.
The investment, being very large of sum and requiring rather a great deal of collateral, was given by the victim after months of consideration, discussion, and planning with Voss, who, by that point, had embedded himself into the victim's family and had become a trusted family friend. The paperwork was foreseen to take three weeks to be completed. Subsequently, Voss and his associates disappeared.
It was later revealed upon investigation that they were able to gain control of all assets placed as collateral by the victim and sell them to various buyers, all of whom were unaware of the stolen nature of their newly acquired assets. Victim has been unable to regain any lost wealth or property pending capture of the individual "Voss" and his associates, and full investigation thereafter.
Evidence Inventory:
Item 01: A single, signed contract bearing the thumbprint of the individual known as "Thalric Voss."
Item 02: A ledger detailing the rapid liquidation of family assets, marked with the seal of a defunct trading house.
Item 03: A fragment of a map of Talesmoth with specific transit routes highlighted in ink of unknown origin.
Upon examination of this report, the Bureau of Inquiries has added notes and recommendations which may be of use.
BUREAU ADDENDUM
Bureau Investigation Notes:
Subject "Player" is the only child of the victim and heir to the broken family name.
Note: Definitive confirmation regarding the victim’s identity is pending. The Bureau is cross-referencing three potential profiles matching the victim’s financial collapse:
>> Case A: A minor noble from the seaside, formerly in possession of a significant fleet of merchant ships.
>> Case B: A minor noble from the countryside, formerly managing a large-scale agricultural estate/ranch.
>> Case C: A minor noble from the urban center of Aelstor, proprietor of a diverse range of successful commercial businesses.
The Bureau remains uncertain which profile corresponds to Player’s lineage. However, all three victims were subjected to the same fraudulent methodology.
Given that the fraudulent theft has deeply impacted their future goals and destroyed any inheritance they may had been prepared to receive, Player shows a high probability of retaliatory behavior (Vigilante), with relatively minor chances of opportunistic emulation (Apprentice).
Following the collapse of the family estate, Player has been observed navigating the city of Talesmoth with limited resources, residing within the lower districts. No records of travel into the city have been found; ticket fraud suspected.
Bureau Recommendations:
The Bureau suggests that Player exercise extreme caution when navigating Talesmoth. "Thalric Voss" is a confirmed, though now obsolete, alias of the criminal known as The Black Hare. Rumoured to be in Talesmoth for a new con, he possesses an uncanny ability to manipulate others. Any attempts to contact previous suspected associates of "Voss" are strictly discouraged.
Below is a piece of private correspondence, recovered from the effects of one Astus, following his detention by local lawmen. Postmarked from the Aelstor Train Station.
Dear Cousin,
Your letter reached me just in time. If you’re lying about the Black Hare being in Talesmoth, I'll be headed your way next. But I’m taking the risk. I’m at the station in Aelstor now, boarding the next train.
You asked about my father. He’s a shell of the man he was, just the same as the last time you visited. As for my mother, she hasn’t been in touch, and I wouldn’t expect her to be. She knows when to abandon a sinking ship better than anyone. I regret to tell you you'll simply have to do with the memory of her blueberry tart.
Nobody knows I'm here for him. Don't go yapping to my father - or anyone, for that matter. If there is even a shred of truth to your rumors, I’ll find him. I hope, for your sake, that you aren't wasting my time. I do not take this trip lightly, cousin.
Keep me in the know,
[smudged signature]
P.S.: Stop asking me about [smudged segment] over and you know it.
No questions concerning the ways in which the above information was acquired will be accepted. The Bureau of Inquiries assumes no responsibility for actions taken based on these records.
THE BUREAU'S GUIDELINES FOR INCOMING PLAYERS
Before stepping onto the train to Talesmoth, players are advised to prepare the following personal metrics in advance:
Physical Profile: You will have full access to our customization suite, including various body types, movement/gait parameters, distinct facial features, and the ability to record personal conditions such as allergies, impaired movement/senses, or any other permanent conditions offered. A complete list will be provided upon completion (graphics in the works!).
Aesthetic & Attire: Talesmoth values presentation. You will be able to select from a range of styles, from the rigid, practical cuts favored by the city's lawmen, to the softer, more reactive fabrics worn by the idle upper class. A complete list of clothes/styles will be provided upon completion, but keep in mind you must prepare for all weather conditions or run the risk of falling ill.
Skill Sets & Traits:
Outlaws bring skills in lock-picking and deceit, but are often disagreeable with others.
Risktakers rely on luck and spontaneity, but often run the risk of making irresponsible decisions.
Integrity characters utilize trustworthiness and persistence to find ways forward, but at times can face tunnel vision.
Countryside players are dexterous, good with animals, but at times a bit naive to the ways of the city.
Urban players are shrewd, have great bargaining skills, but tend to be distrustful of others.
Seaside players have great stamina and climbing skills, but often take too much heed of superstitious omens.
Your character will have any combination of Outlaw/Risktaker/Integrity and Countryside/Urban/Seaside.
Budding Relationships: Family and justice are the main themes your journey will explore, but there are chances for deep platonic and romantic connections. Whether you seek to forge bonds with one of your designated companions or encounter more elusive figures hidden within the city's secret routes, be advised that romantic entanglements in Talesmoth are exclusively observed between individuals of the opposite sex. Once again, a complete list will be presented upon completion for the player who wishes to target a specific character from the start of their journey.
Personal Baggage: Consider the relationship you have with your self-image and with others in your life, including a past romance/friendship which turned sour some time ago, and a mother that abandoned you after your father lost it all. These ghosts that haunt will show up in your life again, for it seems all roads converge in Talesmoth, one way or the other.
You are currently a human, but there are things in Talesmoth that might change that... Be careful. Or seek them out. It's up to you.
All your ideas are very interesting and sound interesting to play no matter what you choose. The option to speak with your companion during, after or between sleep shifts/rests also reminds me of CRPGs where they would trigger a companion speaking to you about current events and how MC is feeling/their sleep/any nightmares.
Thank you ^^ Yes, you're right, it is very reminiscent of that!
In The Black Hare, there are (for lack of a better label) "Moments" that you can have with characters. These are short relationship-building heart-to-hearts where you can learn something new about the character you're with, or see how compatible you are with their values, learn about their likes/dislikes (there will be a gifting system in the game!), and so on.
But I've been wondering where, exactly, to place these Moments. I have a few that are baked into each character's plot, but beyond that, it's been a question mark. I think this solves that problem.
Today I had an insane idea that required me to make a passage that bypasses my Prologue (which is also the tutorial for the game) and allows you to set up your character for... Reasons.
Now, I'm not saying you can expect anything soon soon, but I am saying my brain is braining.
The reblog about sleep on your main blog reminded me of something. Because The Black Hare uses the Victorian period as one of its inspirations, do the characters sleep in shifts like before industrialization or do they sleep the way most people do now? I wonder if you take liberties when it comes to personal taste (which I don't mind).
This is a really neat question, thanks for sending it in!
First off, I think this is only applicable to the player character, as other characters do have periods of inactivity/inaccessibility, but that's built into their character models, which don't operate on the same restrictions as the player character does, and each character has their own system in place.
For example, Genevieve is pregnant and pretty far along. She stops being available to help the player or interact with the player once evening hits, and it's structured to always be like that because I also need to make sure that she's available during the times of day when she would most likely be needed by the player.
The player character obviously doesn't have to deal with this same restriction, but I do think that the setup I have forces the player to make the decision of sleeping in shifts throughout the day.
You can be up at whatever time of day, but you are limited by an AP system, where you do need rest (of some kind, and there are various non-sleep options too) in order to recharge those AP levels, and different activity levels result in different AP costs. Anyway, long story short, here's what I'm thinking:
There are 4 times of day: Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night.
If you go do something in the Morning that just so happens to take a chunk out of your AP, you can sleep through the Afternoon block.
This also makes it easier to ensure you have enough energy for portions of the game that need to take place throughout the Night.
However, as I was considering your question, I wonder now if I can't make it a thing in the game where, when you go to sleep at night, you do have a very short interval of wakefulness where you can have a moment with your companion character if you're in the same inn, like meeting them in the lounge to chat before going back to sleep. Yes, I like this idea. I enjoy it very much in fact.
Oh, no. I've got beautifully dark ideas for Auden's route that were unexpected but that are so fun. Aaaaaaaah. New ending for this character, possibly.
Writing and designing Auden's route has resulted in a new secret character added to the game, complete with their own route, in a location that is in fact obscured and challenging to get to. But finding this character would be very much worth it.
As an aside this would be the first set of seemingly separate secret character routes that are linked so I do have to figure out what happens if you find this character before/without meeting Auden.
I've just had the idea of using spinning and sliding text to animate a special location in the game and I am very intrigued. I need to see if this specific layout I have in mind will actually work. My biggest concern is how it will adjust to mobile/different sized screens. 🤔
Actually, funny enough, I would say the Black Hare is really difficult to write. Not because he as a character is hard to write, but because I have imposed upon myself this pressure to make sure he lives up to the expectation that readers will come into The Black Hare having. Here is this very suave, charismatic, wounded, intelligent and sneaky gentleman-thief-turned-conman, and all you know about him when you start the story is that either you want to capture him or you want to be his apprentice, but either way he's practically this legendary figure. So when the reader finally meets him, I don't want them to feel disappointed or underwhelmed by this larger-than-life character. At the same time, he is only human, and a part of his story does actually include a couple disappointment arcs where others turn their backs on him. So straddling that intriguing persona with the human element and all the while juggling reader expectations and payoff... that can be frustrating.
I have some more asks with emoji game if ok? Loved reading for previous ones I sent
🦄❗️🎮
Welcome back. The Bureau of Inquiries has conferred and the decision is unanimous: of course it's okay!
🦄Tell me about a fantastical creature found in your world, and how we can interact with it.
There are, in fact, a range of ocean wonders to be found along the shores of Talesmoth. While the aquarium itself features sea creatures big and small - along with mysterious, powerful creatures which hide in the shadows of its cavernous, watery prison - some of the most beautiful and breathtaking creatures are encountered out at sea. The Draconic Angel is one such creature.
Misunderstood for the better part of a millennia due to its fatal defense mechanism, the Draconic Angel is an underwater behemoth which, contrary to its name, is not related to any species of dragons. Nevertheless, its form as it glides through the water beneath the ships at sea recalls the shadows of dragons flying overhead, and its bright night-time glow can be seen from many dragonspans away, thus earning it its name.
Based on the real (but tiny) Glaucus atlanticus, photographed above.
Though these creatures refuse to be tamed, and do not take lightly to trespassers and hunters, they are widely understood now to be benevolent creatures, unwilling to do harm to those ships which pass by along their paths. They are a crucial natural defense against the more dangerous sea monsters which roam the oceans and which, given the chance, would attack sailors.
Nobody has, of yet, been able to understand the Draconic Angel's behaviour. It is at times attracted by some curiosity to ships, and will accompany them for a short while. At other times, it is repelled by human ships - and, rarely, enraged by them through no particular reason, though this behaviour has only been exhibited twice in recorded history.
You can learn more about the Draconic Angel by picking up a copy of Captain Torsten Rimor's widely-cited Sea Dragon Journals, which describe a portion of a voyage in which he managed to follow and observe a Draconic Angel for some weeks before it finally left his ship behind.
If ever you find yourself on the crew of a ship, like the Ocean's Blade, you may encounter one of these beauties out at sea. Perhaps, if you are particularly fortunate, it will keep your ship company for some time, naturally deterring any other beasts along your trip.
Do be careful not to get into any naval warfare while an Angel's around, though. The results might be particularly deadly for all involved.
❗ Give me an example of how the UI might change based on different events that take place in the game.
Right now, I've got a few different simple things happening. For example, if you lose your journal or get it stolen, you'll see on the sidebar that your journal is no longer accessible. If you're dealing with an urgent triggered event - like, in this case, chasing your doppleganger through Talesmoth - the text related to that event at each passage will stand out in some way. We're dealing with something that is scary and potentially dangerous, so the text is a glowing red. The effect is a lot cooler on black backgrounds, because it almost looks like text that's coming in an out of focus. Speaking of black backgrounds...
Depending on environmental factors that are triggered, or locations that are "secret" or "off-map", or which are forbidden in some way, background changes can also take place. Below you see the background changing as your character enters a location they should not normally have access to. The game is freaking out. You shouldn't be here. That door should not be open.
It really should feel like an external source is replacing the programmed text of the game somehow. (Naturally, the narrator, too, will lose composure when such events take place.)
I'm still working on making different buttons and headers to go along with the change, and I'm considering a different font, interesting animations, and other styling options for aberrations in the storytelling. Of course, changes will take place as part of the story itself as well - like an insanity filter, or perhaps a dyslexia/visual impairment feature if I can make it happen, and so on.
Having fun with it, and it's coming along, little by little.
🎮What is something fun I can do in a random setting in Talesmoth?
There is a LOT to do around Talesmoth, though many experiences are still in the design stages, and haven't been implemented in the game just yet.
Take the Velvet Note, a high-end and intimate restaurant where young and talented starlet Melodie sings her heartfelt, moody songs to an audience that is enraptured in the moment and gone the next. There is an instrument there, which you can play when Melodie is finished, and if you play the notes just right, you'll earn a little coin for your trouble.
This activity is open to all core personality traits and backgrounds. For something a little more specific, there are activities that align with chosen profile elements. For example, outlaws can pick pockets in the parks - though you'll want to be careful, lest you find yourself spending the night in prison.
I see the asks in my inbox, and I assure there will be answers.
(They're very good asks, too!)
In the meantime, I've been working on my city passages, as always, setting up widgets that manage their conversations with characters, shops, and so on. I still need to put together inventory; I had a super simple true/false one but I do want to add a few more mechanics and features to the player inventory.
I want it to feel like a massive, sprawling library with secrets to uncover. Because of how the game works, some items on the shelves may seem completely trivial to one player, while being absolutely vital to someone else on a completely different narrative route. But to make the research feel real, I also need a bunch of truly unimportant, filler texts. The challenge is figuring out how to build that depth without drowning myself in writing dozens of "fake" books.
My current approach is an 80/20 split to manage the scope creep:
80%: For the vast majority of unimportant books, the environment itself steps in before you can even pull them off the shelf. Someone bumps into you while walking past, a nearby scholar glares at you for getting in their way, a librarian shushes you for rustling papers too loudly, or the ladder slips just a tad, making you lose balance.
20%: These are actual, unimportant titles you can read, designed to muddy the waters and make your historical research more of a puzzle. You’ll have to sift through the mundane to find the dark secrets hiding in the stacks.
I'm also trying to see if I can implement a cool idea where your Core Trait actually changes how to explore these books. For example, a risktaker may be more impatient, flipping through the book to get to the action or the more important bits (perhaps missing a piece of critical information?).
That being said, I don't have more detailed personality trait matrices for the player character, so I have to be careful what kinds of traits I might give those with Outlaw or Integrity as a core trait because making an Outlaw restless - well, that's not always the case, is it? You could be a very patient, very studious, very fastidious Outlaw.
