Is it just me or does anyone feel that the mother is planning something evil or just being one of those hidden main antagonist, because no matter how I look at the mother, her character, personality is just completely puzzling for a example the mother claims to fight for a peaceful coexistense between the Ishari and Cyre but did not question the command of the "Ancient Ones" telling her to break the engagement between the princess of Ishari and the late king of Cyre which if occured would have resulted in doom for the Ishari and which still happened due to the war, the MC is in and now this is the confusing part, why did she have the MC with a Cyre man and not just a ordinary Cyre but one that is used to be the general of the bloodguards, a very high posistion in Cyre and one that is the equivalent to the mother status as high priestess, since both gives them right to stand atleast equal with the king and queen of they kingdom, so doesn't this seem too strange or weird especially she mention in a letter to the family in vinia that she has found a way to end the war, like lets be honest the mother has no love for foreigners as I have seen when she for no reason at all turn hostile on Elora the heir to vinia for just checking on the MC, it would have made sense if the hostility was shown towards to Anu for letting us to touch the divine weapon or Irus due to his aethist nature but this does not happen from what I have seen so far and she only directs such anger towards Elora whose nation practically respresent the mother's Ideals of equality amongst religion and what is even more strange is Ahlf hiding the letters from us that she writes which at this point we can tell when Ahlf was alive and wanted do something, he was doing it with good intentions, so that begs the question what on earth did the mother wrote that Ahlf didn't want us to know or protect us from, and another things that bothers my mind about her is the reason for bringing the infant MC to Cyre and which she explained that she did it to loose the bloodguards of they trail which just sounds like bullshit, and it would have made sense if she didn't just run back to the Ishari she was "Fleeing away from" with the MC and the people that she mentioned about that reside in Ishari that hate the MC due to they former bloodguard father, are not even a threat or they are not that many that hate them for it, so no matter how the mother explains it, she got zero reason for leaving us behind in Salt bay, the only good thing about abandoning the MC is that they were not entangle with her mad lies at a young age
Hi there, thanks for playing the game and leaving a comment 😊
Salyra's whole purpose is to serve the Ancient Ones - but that doesn't make her infallible. She makes mistakes but it's also hard for her to own those mistakes and admit that she can be wrong. It's up to you to decide if the message/vision she received from the Ancient Ones was one that couldn't be changed or one that was caused by her meddling in the betrothal of Lamahu and Erlan.
Salyra married Ahlf because she thought her union with him would inspire peace between Ishari and Cyre - if you go down the divinity route and uncover the truth of Salyra's ritual when the MC was a baby, you'll learn that she thought having a child with both heritages who could wield their divinity would achieve peace. Don't lose sight of the fact Ishari was part of Cyre before the war - a lot of people on either side if the kingdoms like to ignore that fact, but Cyre and Ishari were one kingdom often ruled by Ishari royalty before Erlan started the war. Salyra didn't see an issue of being with Ahlf because she thought people would be reminded of this unified past and try to work together.
Salyra doesn't like Irus because he's the son of Erlan. She loves Anu, because Anu was trained under her regarding her divinity. She really hates Elora because Elora has proven to be capable and strong, openly defying Salyra which Salyra doesn't like.
In order to understand Salyra's character (I'm assuming you're going down the aggressive route with her), you'll need to understand she's a very flawed character. She is written to be narcissistic and controlling and if you're not going to appease her, you'll end up getting a lot of her more negative traits flaring up 😅
A lot of the confusion you have is valid - but that's the point. You have to come up with your own reasonings why Ahlf and Salyra acted the way they did and then decide if that's something your MC is okay with or not. You don't have to play a loving child - you won't be punished for hating the parents and it won't affect the outcome of the game other than your relationship with them. There are quite a few side stories on my Patreon that explore the past history of Salyra and Ahlf, but it's not part of the main plot which follows the MC's decisions and not Ahlf or Salyra's decisions.
Thank you for your opinion author, I love this game, to bring out such emotions that my mc feel angry/conflicted towards the mother but his little sister Rana is still that one diamond in the rough that my Mc treasures
I just spent all day playing this. I'm so deeply in love with it, the characters, the story, it's all so well written! Well done, I can't wait for the full game!!!! The first game to genuinely cause me bi-panic lol!
Thank you so much! I'm so happy you enjoyed playing through the demo 💖 Progress is still going strong on the newer chapters so hopefully it won't be too long for the full game 😊
I genuinely might buy this in both itch.io and steam when it releases because it is so worth it, It's almost 5 in the morning and I just spent the last 5 hours playing through the public demo and absolutely fell in love with every character
It is very rare I find a tale that grips me enough for me to lose 4 hours on it to the exclusion of all else. I found myself invested in every character. And I know that tomorrow I'll be running a second playthrough.
What has hit me the most is that every character, as minor as those you meet in Salt Bay, to the major romancable characters all feel human. It's not an easy thing to achieve and you have achieved it. I'm excited to see how this progresses.
Thank you so much for giving the game a try and I'm so pleased that you were able to play the game for that long without getting bored 🌼💖
It means a lot that the characters feel human! I was worried that some might come off as two-dimensional or not interesting enough so it's a huge relief that you felt otherwise. I hope you enjoy your second playthrough as much as your first 😊
This is pretty well solid and well-written. The only small issue I had with this IF is that the MC... is kind of too tamed. Even if you try to choose the "aggressive" dialogue options, It's still lukewarm, like when meeting Esmo again. Weird to see the MC almost getting hit by just standing still and waiting for someone to rescue them. Would love to see the MC being more proactive. Either way, good luck and thank you for taking the time to make this.
Thank you for taking the time to play the game 😊 Yes, I do know there's not a lot of 'aggressive' choices and I hope to add more variations to scenes when I do the full edits with additional scenes and dialogues. For now, this is a rough draft so you won't get to see everything. I'll keep your feedback in mind for the edits 🌼
Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it 💖 The game will be updated for Patrons from Chapter 9 onwards and the full game will be released on Steam and here respectively 😊
Ramona I cannot explain in words with how good this is! The storyline is just perfection from the beginning I didn't know how to feel on my first gameplay but as I kept playing and playing, I couldn't help but make several save files just to replay it you inspired me to make my own story though not game because I don't kind of don't know how to code. I want to wish you an early Valentine's Day and make sure to always take time to yourself, thanks for making this amazing game! Cannot wait for the full release and I will be finally able to download it!!!!!
I really enjoyed your game a lot. I look forward to the full game already. By the way when will you be accepting new signups on Patreon? I would love to support your great work!😊
This is a genuinely great game, just kind of sad that I couldn't be as petty as I wished since I'm a petty bitch LOL! Would definitely love some options where you could give someone the silent treatment.
Really good game I love it and the prince so much and i am the only one who want to slap mc mom? >_> she is a real hoe ... kinda a bad mom too or daughter she even haven't told her mom
I finally got around to reading chapter 8, and the Elora scene 🥵? Thank you ma'am! I love her route so much, as tempting as Anu is idk if I'll ever be able to do her route with Elora distracting me. 100% gonna buy this when it's finished!
oh and when we met her cousin, and i said we were just friends and she was like "UMMMM NO" 🥺😭
I really enjoyed this game and can't wait for the full release.
I have one suggestion tho. In chapter 8, when meeting Emos again, it feels a bit off that a MC with a high might stat just stands there and waits for the pain instead of trying to doge or block the hit, so maybe change the text form "You brace yourself for the pain..." to something like "you move to block the hit / try to doge as person X steps between you to" if the MC has a high might stat.
Thanks for playing and I'm glad you're enjoying it! The game is in a very rough draft state so you're not going to see different flavour text based on skills but expect to see it in the final version 😊
Ah, I'm sorry 🌼 I tried my best to add as many personality choices as I could but I always struggled with the stoic/hollow options. That said, if you've reached Chapter 5, there's really no point for vengeance 😅
Just finished it and omg I cannot wait for more! it had me crying at times. which you deserve applause for bc I'm not usually an emotional person lol. I also love Irus so much I don't think I can try anyone else now lol
I just finished the demo and romanced Irus and I loved his romance/NSFW scene they are so well written tho since Irus has to become king he will eventually need heirs I'm guessing and since I'm playing a male MC I wonder how it will work out 🤔
I'm so happy you're enjoying his romance! There is no need for natural heirs - adoption is very much a thing in the game world. There's also the fact that in Cyre, rulers can choose to appoint their successor who doesn't have to be their child. That said, Irus does not want to become a father - there's a lot more explanation on my Tumblr so you can browse through that if you're interested 😊
This is by far the most detailed and beautifully made interactive story I have ever read. Do you by chance have any suggestions of any books that you think have some of the elements shown in this story or from which you were inspired to write this?
Thank you for your kind words! I actually wasn't inspired by novels to write this game but rather my interest in ancient civilisations like Sumeria, Egypt and Greece. From there, I adapted the game's idea with some elements from various other ancient nations and that's how the game came about 😅 My real life has taken away my time for reading so I've not read anything remotely related to the game since I first started developing it. You can read up on the three main ancient civilisations but I'm not sure how interesting it might be for you 😆
I LOVE Irus!! There's so much romantic content, I'm unused to such romantic depth (like talking to Redall first on the boat causing Irus to be jelly, just lots of fun flavor text + nice moments) and it's not even finished yet! ^^
Thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying Irus' romantic route and his romance scenes 😊 I wanted to write a fantasy/political romance game, although I much prefer just writing romance all the time 😅
adding the ending scene with irus at the end of chap 8 to the millionth time a nsfw scene has made me cry, i love my mc and him so bad it makes me sick !! so excited to get the full version someday <3
HEARTBROKEN that this is the end for the demo updates, but you can bet your ass I'm going to buy the game once it's released on steam. You don't understand how much I love Irus this game. (Hint: It's a LOT.)
Thank you for all the amazing content and fun interactions here and on your blog! It's been a pleasure to enjoy the demo so far and I can only imagine the full game will be amazing as well. Much love~ <3
Thank you so much! 💖 I'll still be posting fun tidbits on the blog and definitely continue answering asks. I'm so happy you found Irus' romance route to be enjoyable and hopefully, the full game won't disappoint with his romance. Thank you for your support and make sure to send an ask if you're ever curious about the game or even the progress!
just completed the game a few hours ago again and i stil really like it. chapter 8 was great, especially Eloras intimate scene. for me it was perfect.
before i ask my questions i would like to compliment you for your writing/writing style. i already knew the story (up to chapter 8) but i was still sad when ahlf died and was still surprised at the plottwist in ishari, to name some examples. also its impressive how easy it is to imagine the scenes you describe in our own head.
now to my questions:
1.A.) this time it was the first time i unlocked my divinity. it added a new stat-bar to the other 3 (might/leadership/politics). since divinity seems to be tied more in the story, does this mean the number/percentage you have in this stat will affecting the story more than the other 3 stats?
B.) so far there was only one opportunity to train your divinity (on the ship towards the southern isles; it got me from 50 => 55). in this case the option was quite obviously, it literally said "train your divinity". will it be always an obviously choice to improve the divinity-stat or will they become more and more "secreter" (e.g. options says somethng like "train with Anu" vs "train with Sir Oren" => depending on whom you choose you either imrpove the Divinity-stat or warfare/might-stat)-
2.) in the prologue/chapter 1 you can get a statue of an ancient one from a merchant. i chose the one who represent death/fighting (im sorry for not remembering the name). so far i didnt noticed anything in regards of this choice. will it matter in future chapters? or did i miss something?
3.A.) this is my only critique/request in chapter 8 i have. before embarking the ship and sailing tothe Southern Isles you have a choice to go and say goodby to one of the given choices. while i understand that MC is under time pressure i really wished that we had an opportunity to say a quick goodbye to Rana (and optional to her father too). => personal idea: give her the statue you got from the merchant and say something like "keep it safe until im back". maybe i just want to have more interactions with her since there are almost none in chapter 7.
B.) spoiler ahead so dont read if you didnt played the game so far...
when you decide to meet your mothers new family, you can choose to become close to Rana but not to her father (again, sorry for not remembering his name). i chose this option in my game, but always wondered what exactly this means. does this mean i/MC will ignore her father? or will i be able to have a friendly relationship with him, while having a sisterly relation with Rana & a motherly with my mother?
4.) can you maybe give an estimate timeframe how long the game will take until its final release? please dont get me wrong, i rather wait longer and having fleshed out story than a rushed one.
EDIT: just read some older comments and i stumpled across one, where you mentioned a free bonus game, which functions as a sequel. do you have any informations about that one, which you can share?
once again thank you very much for such a wonderful game & story.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I always wonder if I'm describing the scenes enough because sometimes it feels like it's not enough to help readers understand what I'm trying to convey, so it's nice to know that I am 😊
A. No stat is more important than another. The divinity stat comes into play if you choose to worship the deities (Solus or the Ancient Ones). But you're not going to be punished if you don't worship the deities. The divinity stat will open up more options for the MC to complete tasks, but it won't cause you to fail at the end goal of the game if you don't pursue it.
B. It will be a mix of both, it's not so much a secret that if you choose to train with Anu and you've unlocked your divinity, you'll be able to get some help from her (considering she also has divine blessings) to train it too. But there'll also be choices like the one in Chapter 8 that will be more direct. At this point, it's a very rough draft version of the demo, so I'll come back during edits to include more options to increase stats.
It's there for flavour text, nothing more than that. Sorry 😅 This might change during edits depending on feedback I receive from testers but for now, it's just something you carry.
A. The idea is that you don't have time to speak with many people - including Rana. Chapter 8 is all about the Southern Islands so you won't see much of Ishari in it or the people from there. Chapter 9 is the family chapter (it's what I refer to it as) because that's when you will get tons of family time (and drama). I didn't add the option to say goodbye to more than one person because of time constraints, but it'll be added during edits. Rana doesn't care for an idol but you can offer to bring her a gift from the Southern Islands. I'll be adding more interactions with her once edits start so rest assured you will get more time with her (eventually).
B. It means that you choose to have a relationship with Rana but not Danzor or Salyra. You won't be forced to play happy family with Salyra or Danzor - but you can play the older sibling role for Rana.
About two years or a little more than that😅 There's four more chapters and an epilogue to write - that combined with my IRL job, it's going to take me a while.
It's not really a sequel of the game, more of a DLC detailing the time after the war and dealing with what comes after the alliances etc. I'll probably release the prologue either today/tomorrow for the public because I won't have time to work on it for a while.
Thank you for your support and I hope that answered your questions!
I am really enjoying the update so far. However, I just got to the Southern Islands and it's not registering Dena's gender for me. I am getting $DGender whenever the character is brought up. Not sure if I am the only one experiencing this (I was going to report this on the 'bug' form, but I am unable to choose chapter 8 on it at this time lol).
Did you restart the game? The variable was added to the prologue which is where it's set so if you haven't replayed the prologue where you meet Dena and choose their gender, the $DGender variable will show up - that said, has it come up in any other instance? If not, it might just be that one variable is incorrect on my part 😅
Ah I'm sure that is the issue then. I just loaded my save and went from there. I'll restart and see if it comes up again, but I doubt it will. Thanks! 😅
For now, I've removed the apk due to the fact that I hadn't had time to update it with Chapter 8. I'll probably create one eventually, but for now, it's only available for desktop/pc though you can still play the game on your phone on itch.io 😊
good God my love for Irus is bordering unhealthy frfr
TMI time - so i'm in an unhappy relationship and something happened and i have been crying since morning even after doing things for distraction now tell me why my brain just suggested "guess it's time to see Irus then" and tell me why i did exactly that and tell me why it actually worked?? Irus said 'beloved' and suddenly my tears backtracked into my eyes?? the sky cleared up?? my missing cat came back home?? (okay he didn't he's still missing but ya get my point sad lol)
my point is I JUST NEED IRUS IN MY LIFE IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR </3
I'm happy that Irus could make you feel better and I'm sorry you're going through such a hard time IRL. Sometimes, it's easier to just relax with fictional men to cheer you up 😅 I'm really sorry about your missing cat, I know what it's like to lose your pet. Cats are notorious for disappearing for days and even weeks on end, and I hope that your cat gets back to you! Thank you for playing and I'm sending my virtual love that everything works out for you 🌸
aah thank you! and i'm sorry about your pet :( my cat's been missing for couple months now but i'm not losing hope! <3
fictional men are truly a blessing fr and Irus omg IRUS like when i need to escape from reality i usually turn to my fav VN or IF and stalking your tumblr or replaying sweet moments with Irus are included in my usual escape routes lol
i've commented few months ago to declare my love to Irus and it stands true till this day ayy if life isn't so harsh and money isn't so tight i'd truly love to support you on Patreon :" for now i can only pray that you'd be blessed with health and good night sleep and your fav food whenever you're craving it! <3
you have no idea how amazed i am of your mind like gaahh you've created my ideal man like that's my ideal man right there!!! *manifesting hard for IRL Irus to come and get me outta herreee*
Thank you so much for your support! I know I say this a lot, but honestly, it's players like you that make writing an interactive fiction game worthwhile. I enjoy writing but sometimes, it gets really hard to want to write variations of scenes and then I see all the sweet comments and support from everyone and it makes it easy to push through and continue writing. Please don't feel pressured to support me on Patreon - I am grateful to those who can, but it's not what I live for. I live for comments like yours that make me realise that I'm not some crazy person who's writing something no one wants to play. Irus is really based on all my trashy-teen romances that I used to write when YA novels were still what my life revolved around - he's a little more mature than the teen-fiction love interests I used to write, but he's made up of all the good bits that made me swoon so I'm glad you're enjoying him ❤️️
ahh at the end of the day we all just lil creatures who thrive on trashy teen romance lmao <3 also, i write for myself, like, just making up fantasy worlds for me to read before sleep, i suck af but that's how i know that writing is HARD! i truly respect you and every IF author who creates magical stories in their head then share it with the world <3 ALSO nooo you're not crazyyy stay stronggg <3 and if it's any help, it's IF like yours that helps me taking steps away from the brink of madness. i mean it, truly, no exaggeration. i was at a low point in my life when i found the world of interactive novel and it quickly became my escapism. life still hasn't gotten any better but i cope by manifesting all the good things i've read in IFs and IRUS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE OF COURSE IM MANIFESTING IRUS ILL KEEP GOING IF IT MEANS ILL EVENTUALLY MEET MY OWN IRUS <333
this is my first time commenting on anything but i just had to. i'm so very much in love with the story and especially, Elora! i must say i adore your writing and your attention to detail while doing it, something about the companionship in this game -and again, especially the relationship with Elora brings me so much comfort. this may be one of my favourite IF game ever and i can't wait for the next chapters! thank you so much for sharing your amazing work, i couldn't have asked for a better game to spend my entire night (yes, i have finished the game within 5+ hours and now it's almost 4 am hhahhaha!)
Thank you so much for playing and I'm honoured you felt so strongly to leave a comment ❤️️ If you're enjoying Elora, Chapter 8 will be a lot of fun for you because there's a lot of her - especially if you're romancing her. Companionship was something I knew I wanted to be a big part of the relationship dynamics so it's been really fun to write and I'm happy that you're enjoying it. The next update is already out for my Patrons, but it will be released here for the public on the 1st of January. I hope you do get enough sleep after playing the entire thing! Thank you again for your support 😊
no worries at all, i wanted to share my feelings to let you know how incredibly fond of i am with your work ❤️️ i AM romancing Elora and i can't wait to see the next chapter! i think you are doing a wonderful job with the relationship dynamics, i love that it's not shallow at all and there are depths to each character and the way they react to situations. and i love that it will be released a day before my birthday🥺 i checked out your Tumblr page after playing it (cuz i needed to consume everything about this game hahahah) and saw that this game will be on Steam? can't wait for that!!! i also wanted to message u on tumblr because there are so many other things i want to tell u but i thought it'd be too much 😭😭thank you so much for being so kind to reply to me!!! and nope, i didn't get enough sleep because this game is all i can think about hahahaha!!!! ❤️️ ❤️️❤️️❤️️
Aww, thank you! Seriously, message away. I'm on leave for the holiday period from work, so I'm a lot more active now on Tumblr than I have been for the past few weeks and since the chapter is complete, I have some time to respond to messages 😊 You can ask me whatever you want on Tumblr, I really don't mind.
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Is it just me or does anyone feel that the mother is planning something evil or just being one of those hidden main antagonist, because no matter how I look at the mother, her character, personality is just completely puzzling for a example the mother claims to fight for a peaceful coexistense between the Ishari and Cyre but did not question the command of the "Ancient Ones" telling her to break the engagement between the princess of Ishari and the late king of Cyre which if occured would have resulted in doom for the Ishari and which still happened due to the war, the MC is in and now this is the confusing part, why did she have the MC with a Cyre man and not just a ordinary Cyre but one that is used to be the general of the bloodguards, a very high posistion in Cyre and one that is the equivalent to the mother status as high priestess, since both gives them right to stand atleast equal with the king and queen of they kingdom, so doesn't this seem too strange or weird especially she mention in a letter to the family in vinia that she has found a way to end the war, like lets be honest the mother has no love for foreigners as I have seen when she for no reason at all turn hostile on Elora the heir to vinia for just checking on the MC, it would have made sense if the hostility was shown towards to Anu for letting us to touch the divine weapon or Irus due to his aethist nature but this does not happen from what I have seen so far and she only directs such anger towards Elora whose nation practically respresent the mother's Ideals of equality amongst religion and what is even more strange is Ahlf hiding the letters from us that she writes which at this point we can tell when Ahlf was alive and wanted do something, he was doing it with good intentions, so that begs the question what on earth did the mother wrote that Ahlf didn't want us to know or protect us from, and another things that bothers my mind about her is the reason for bringing the infant MC to Cyre and which she explained that she did it to loose the bloodguards of they trail which just sounds like bullshit, and it would have made sense if she didn't just run back to the Ishari she was "Fleeing away from" with the MC and the people that she mentioned about that reside in Ishari that hate the MC due to they former bloodguard father, are not even a threat or they are not that many that hate them for it, so no matter how the mother explains it, she got zero reason for leaving us behind in Salt bay, the only good thing about abandoning the MC is that they were not entangle with her mad lies at a young age
Hi there, thanks for playing the game and leaving a comment 😊
Salyra's whole purpose is to serve the Ancient Ones - but that doesn't make her infallible. She makes mistakes but it's also hard for her to own those mistakes and admit that she can be wrong. It's up to you to decide if the message/vision she received from the Ancient Ones was one that couldn't be changed or one that was caused by her meddling in the betrothal of Lamahu and Erlan.
Salyra married Ahlf because she thought her union with him would inspire peace between Ishari and Cyre - if you go down the divinity route and uncover the truth of Salyra's ritual when the MC was a baby, you'll learn that she thought having a child with both heritages who could wield their divinity would achieve peace. Don't lose sight of the fact Ishari was part of Cyre before the war - a lot of people on either side if the kingdoms like to ignore that fact, but Cyre and Ishari were one kingdom often ruled by Ishari royalty before Erlan started the war. Salyra didn't see an issue of being with Ahlf because she thought people would be reminded of this unified past and try to work together.
Salyra doesn't like Irus because he's the son of Erlan. She loves Anu, because Anu was trained under her regarding her divinity. She really hates Elora because Elora has proven to be capable and strong, openly defying Salyra which Salyra doesn't like.
In order to understand Salyra's character (I'm assuming you're going down the aggressive route with her), you'll need to understand she's a very flawed character. She is written to be narcissistic and controlling and if you're not going to appease her, you'll end up getting a lot of her more negative traits flaring up 😅
A lot of the confusion you have is valid - but that's the point. You have to come up with your own reasonings why Ahlf and Salyra acted the way they did and then decide if that's something your MC is okay with or not. You don't have to play a loving child - you won't be punished for hating the parents and it won't affect the outcome of the game other than your relationship with them. There are quite a few side stories on my Patreon that explore the past history of Salyra and Ahlf, but it's not part of the main plot which follows the MC's decisions and not Ahlf or Salyra's decisions.
I hope this helps clear up some your points 🌼
Thank you for your opinion author, I love this game, to bring out such emotions that my mc feel angry/conflicted towards the mother but his little sister Rana is still that one diamond in the rough that my Mc treasures
No problem! I'm glad you feel so strongly about the characters 💖 Thank you again for playing 😊
I just spent all day playing this. I'm so deeply in love with it, the characters, the story, it's all so well written! Well done, I can't wait for the full game!!!! The first game to genuinely cause me bi-panic lol!
Thank you so much! I'm so happy you enjoyed playing through the demo 💖 Progress is still going strong on the newer chapters so hopefully it won't be too long for the full game 😊
hey there is a way to have the sovereign's support? To not made the prince run again immediatly?
Which Sovereign are you referring to? And running off to where? You're going to end up in Ishari no matter what you choose to do.
I genuinely might buy this in both itch.io and steam when it releases because it is so worth it, It's almost 5 in the morning and I just spent the last 5 hours playing through the public demo and absolutely fell in love with every character
Aww thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying the game 💖🥰 There's no need to buy the game on both platforms, one is more than enough! Thank you again 🌼
It is very rare I find a tale that grips me enough for me to lose 4 hours on it to the exclusion of all else. I found myself invested in every character. And I know that tomorrow I'll be running a second playthrough.
What has hit me the most is that every character, as minor as those you meet in Salt Bay, to the major romancable characters all feel human. It's not an easy thing to achieve and you have achieved it. I'm excited to see how this progresses.
Thank you so much for giving the game a try and I'm so pleased that you were able to play the game for that long without getting bored 🌼💖
It means a lot that the characters feel human! I was worried that some might come off as two-dimensional or not interesting enough so it's a huge relief that you felt otherwise. I hope you enjoy your second playthrough as much as your first 😊
This is pretty well solid and well-written. The only small issue I had with this IF is that the MC... is kind of too tamed. Even if you try to choose the "aggressive" dialogue options, It's still lukewarm, like when meeting Esmo again. Weird to see the MC almost getting hit by just standing still and waiting for someone to rescue them. Would love to see the MC being more proactive. Either way, good luck and thank you for taking the time to make this.
Thank you for taking the time to play the game 😊 Yes, I do know there's not a lot of 'aggressive' choices and I hope to add more variations to scenes when I do the full edits with additional scenes and dialogues. For now, this is a rough draft so you won't get to see everything. I'll keep your feedback in mind for the edits 🌼
i think about this if all the time honestly thank you writing such masterpiece 🥹
Thank you! That's very kind of you to say and I'm so happy you're enjoying it 🌼💖
I played this a little while ago and it is so good!! I can't wait for more <3
Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it 💖 The game will be updated for Patrons from Chapter 9 onwards and the full game will be released on Steam and here respectively 😊
Can't wait!
More
I hope that's a good more 😅 The game will be updated for my Patreon only going forward.
I'm so pissed! This game has no right being this good.
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it 😊
Ramona I cannot explain in words with how good this is! The storyline is just perfection from the beginning I didn't know how to feel on my first gameplay but as I kept playing and playing, I couldn't help but make several save files just to replay it you inspired me to make my own story though not game because I don't kind of don't know how to code. I want to wish you an early Valentine's Day and make sure to always take time to yourself, thanks for making this amazing game! Cannot wait for the full release and I will be finally able to download it!!!!!
I really enjoyed your game a lot. I look forward to the full game already. By the way when will you be accepting new signups on Patreon? I would love to support your great work!😊
Thank you! 💖😊 It will reopen on the 1st of March 2024.
Replayed this and I forgot how much I hate the mom 😒 also can't wait until its fully out. 😃
I think everyone's a Salyra hater by now 😅 Thank you for playing!
This is a genuinely great game, just kind of sad that I couldn't be as petty as I wished since I'm a petty bitch LOL! Would definitely love some options where you could give someone the silent treatment.
Thank you for playing! I will be adding more options and responses for the full game so keep an eye out to play a petty MC 😋
Thank you for playing! I will be adding more options and responses for the full game so keep an eye out to play a petty MC 😋
Really good game I love it and the prince so much and i am the only one who want to slap mc mom? >_> she is a real hoe ... kinda a bad mom too or daughter she even haven't told her mom
Thank you for playing 🌼 I'm so happy you enjoyed the game and Prince Irus! You're definitely not alone in hating Salyra 😋
I finally got around to reading chapter 8, and the Elora scene 🥵? Thank you ma'am! I love her route so much, as tempting as Anu is idk if I'll ever be able to do her route with Elora distracting me. 100% gonna buy this when it's finished!
oh and when we met her cousin, and i said we were just friends and she was like "UMMMM NO" 🥺😭
I'm so glad you enjoyed Elora's scene! I wasn't sure if it would be spicy or detailed enough so it's good to know you liked it 😄 Thanks for playing!
Oops, what I meant to say was it was terrible and you should totally go back and make it much longer and more detailed 😉 (/s ofc... Unleeeeesss 👀)
I really enjoyed this game and can't wait for the full release.
I have one suggestion tho. In chapter 8, when meeting Emos again, it feels a bit off that a MC with a high might stat just stands there and waits for the pain instead of trying to doge or block the hit, so maybe change the text form "You brace yourself for the pain..." to something like "you move to block the hit / try to doge as person X steps between you to" if the MC has a high might stat.
Thanks for playing and I'm glad you're enjoying it! The game is in a very rough draft state so you're not going to see different flavour text based on skills but expect to see it in the final version 😊
Sad that i couldnt do the cgaracter i was looking foward to, but still a REALLY good game, sad that i dont talk too much in conversations
Can I ask what character you were hoping to play? Thanks for giving the game a try!
Its kust a silly thing, i wanted a more "Hollow" character that would train way sooner to avenge his mother, but dont worry about me
Ah, I'm sorry 🌼 I tried my best to add as many personality choices as I could but I always struggled with the stoic/hollow options. That said, if you've reached Chapter 5, there's really no point for vengeance 😅
Just finished it and omg I cannot wait for more! it had me crying at times. which you deserve applause for bc I'm not usually an emotional person lol. I also love Irus so much I don't think I can try anyone else now lol
Thank you for playing! I'm pleased that the game and plot made you feel what the MC was feeling and I'm really glad you're enjoying Irus' route 😊
Amazing! Im ganna b a patreon, im hooked!
Thank you! I'm so happy you're enjoying it and thank you for considering to subscribe to my Patreon 😊
I just finished the demo and romanced Irus and I loved his romance/NSFW scene they are so well written tho since Irus has to become king he will eventually need heirs I'm guessing and since I'm playing a male MC I wonder how it will work out 🤔
I'm so happy you're enjoying his romance! There is no need for natural heirs - adoption is very much a thing in the game world. There's also the fact that in Cyre, rulers can choose to appoint their successor who doesn't have to be their child. That said, Irus does not want to become a father - there's a lot more explanation on my Tumblr so you can browse through that if you're interested 😊
Oh thanks I will definitely check out your Tumblr !
This is by far the most detailed and beautifully made interactive story I have ever read. Do you by chance have any suggestions of any books that you think have some of the elements shown in this story or from which you were inspired to write this?
Thank you for your kind words! I actually wasn't inspired by novels to write this game but rather my interest in ancient civilisations like Sumeria, Egypt and Greece. From there, I adapted the game's idea with some elements from various other ancient nations and that's how the game came about 😅 My real life has taken away my time for reading so I've not read anything remotely related to the game since I first started developing it. You can read up on the three main ancient civilisations but I'm not sure how interesting it might be for you 😆
I LOVE Irus!! There's so much romantic content, I'm unused to such romantic depth (like talking to Redall first on the boat causing Irus to be jelly, just lots of fun flavor text + nice moments) and it's not even finished yet! ^^
Thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying Irus' romantic route and his romance scenes 😊 I wanted to write a fantasy/political romance game, although I much prefer just writing romance all the time 😅
OMG I love it. The setting is great and it reminds me of arcadie second born. Can't wait for the full game.
Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the game so much 😊
adding the ending scene with irus at the end of chap 8 to the millionth time a nsfw scene has made me cry, i love my mc and him so bad it makes me sick !! so excited to get the full version someday <3
I'm glad you enjoyed the scene with Irus! Thank you for playing and for your support 💖
HEARTBROKEN that this is the end for the demo updates, but you can bet your ass I'm going to buy the game once it's released on steam. You don't understand how much I love
Irusthis game. (Hint: It's a LOT.)Thank you for all the amazing content and fun interactions here and on your blog! It's been a pleasure to enjoy the demo so far and I can only imagine the full game will be amazing as well. Much love~ <3
Thank you so much! 💖 I'll still be posting fun tidbits on the blog and definitely continue answering asks. I'm so happy you found Irus' romance route to be enjoyable and hopefully, the full game won't disappoint with his romance. Thank you for your support and make sure to send an ask if you're ever curious about the game or even the progress!
hi Ramona
just completed the game a few hours ago again and i stil really like it. chapter 8 was great, especially Eloras intimate scene. for me it was perfect.
before i ask my questions i would like to compliment you for your writing/writing style. i already knew the story (up to chapter 8) but i was still sad when ahlf died and was still surprised at the plottwist in ishari, to name some examples. also its impressive how easy it is to imagine the scenes you describe in our own head.
now to my questions:
1.A.) this time it was the first time i unlocked my divinity. it added a new stat-bar to the other 3 (might/leadership/politics). since divinity seems to be tied more in the story, does this mean the number/percentage you have in this stat will affecting the story more than the other 3 stats?
B.) so far there was only one opportunity to train your divinity (on the ship towards the southern isles; it got me from 50 => 55). in this case the option was quite obviously, it literally said "train your divinity". will it be always an obviously choice to improve the divinity-stat or will they become more and more "secreter" (e.g. options says somethng like "train with Anu" vs "train with Sir Oren" => depending on whom you choose you either imrpove the Divinity-stat or warfare/might-stat)-
2.) in the prologue/chapter 1 you can get a statue of an ancient one from a merchant. i chose the one who represent death/fighting (im sorry for not remembering the name). so far i didnt noticed anything in regards of this choice. will it matter in future chapters? or did i miss something?
3.A.) this is my only critique/request in chapter 8 i have. before embarking the ship and sailing tothe Southern Isles you have a choice to go and say goodby to one of the given choices. while i understand that MC is under time pressure i really wished that we had an opportunity to say a quick goodbye to Rana (and optional to her father too). => personal idea: give her the statue you got from the merchant and say something like "keep it safe until im back". maybe i just want to have more interactions with her since there are almost none in chapter 7.
B.) spoiler ahead so dont read if you didnt played the game so far...
when you decide to meet your mothers new family, you can choose to become close to Rana but not to her father (again, sorry for not remembering his name). i chose this option in my game, but always wondered what exactly this means. does this mean i/MC will ignore her father? or will i be able to have a friendly relationship with him, while having a sisterly relation with Rana & a motherly with my mother?
4.) can you maybe give an estimate timeframe how long the game will take until its final release? please dont get me wrong, i rather wait longer and having fleshed out story than a rushed one.
EDIT: just read some older comments and i stumpled across one, where you mentioned a free bonus game, which functions as a sequel. do you have any informations about that one, which you can share?
once again thank you very much for such a wonderful game & story.
Thank you so much for your kind words! I always wonder if I'm describing the scenes enough because sometimes it feels like it's not enough to help readers understand what I'm trying to convey, so it's nice to know that I am 😊
B. It will be a mix of both, it's not so much a secret that if you choose to train with Anu and you've unlocked your divinity, you'll be able to get some help from her (considering she also has divine blessings) to train it too. But there'll also be choices like the one in Chapter 8 that will be more direct. At this point, it's a very rough draft version of the demo, so I'll come back during edits to include more options to increase stats.
B. It means that you choose to have a relationship with Rana but not Danzor or Salyra. You won't be forced to play happy family with Salyra or Danzor - but you can play the older sibling role for Rana.
It's not really a sequel of the game, more of a DLC detailing the time after the war and dealing with what comes after the alliances etc. I'll probably release the prologue either today/tomorrow for the public because I won't have time to work on it for a while.
Thank you for your support and I hope that answered your questions!
thank you very much for answering my questions.
since you mentioned it, here a quick question: can you still bring a gift for Rana, even if you didnt spoke to her before departing?
No, that will only be triggered if you speak to her 😊
I loved this storyline and game so much 💌
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the plot and game 😊 Thanks for the kind comment and for playing!
id pay $20 dollars to play it on here ^^
It won't cost nearly that much when it's completed 😆
okay ^w^
I am really enjoying the update so far. However, I just got to the Southern Islands and it's not registering Dena's gender for me. I am getting $DGender whenever the character is brought up. Not sure if I am the only one experiencing this (I was going to report this on the 'bug' form, but I am unable to choose chapter 8 on it at this time lol).
Did you restart the game? The variable was added to the prologue which is where it's set so if you haven't replayed the prologue where you meet Dena and choose their gender, the $DGender variable will show up - that said, has it come up in any other instance? If not, it might just be that one variable is incorrect on my part 😅
Ah I'm sure that is the issue then. I just loaded my save and went from there. I'll restart and see if it comes up again, but I doubt it will. Thanks! 😅
No problem! 😊
Update was amazing! Can't wait for the full release!
Thank you! I'm really happy you enjoyed it 🌼
Curious if there's plans to make a Chapter 8 apk for android (Love the game btw!)
For now, I've removed the apk due to the fact that I hadn't had time to update it with Chapter 8. I'll probably create one eventually, but for now, it's only available for desktop/pc though you can still play the game on your phone on itch.io 😊
good God my love for Irus is bordering unhealthy frfr
TMI time - so i'm in an unhappy relationship and something happened and i have been crying since morning even after doing things for distraction now tell me why my brain just suggested "guess it's time to see Irus then" and tell me why i did exactly that and tell me why it actually worked?? Irus said 'beloved' and suddenly my tears backtracked into my eyes?? the sky cleared up?? my missing cat came back home?? (okay he didn't he's still missing but ya get my point sad lol)
my point is I JUST NEED IRUS IN MY LIFE IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR </3
I'm happy that Irus could make you feel better and I'm sorry you're going through such a hard time IRL. Sometimes, it's easier to just relax with fictional men to cheer you up 😅 I'm really sorry about your missing cat, I know what it's like to lose your pet. Cats are notorious for disappearing for days and even weeks on end, and I hope that your cat gets back to you! Thank you for playing and I'm sending my virtual love that everything works out for you 🌸
aah thank you! and i'm sorry about your pet :( my cat's been missing for couple months now but i'm not losing hope! <3
fictional men are truly a blessing fr and Irus omg IRUS like when i need to escape from reality i usually turn to my fav VN or IF and stalking your tumblr or replaying sweet moments with Irus are included in my usual escape routes lol
i've commented few months ago to declare my love to Irus and it stands true till this day ayy if life isn't so harsh and money isn't so tight i'd truly love to support you on Patreon :" for now i can only pray that you'd be blessed with health and good night sleep and your fav food whenever you're craving it! <3
you have no idea how amazed i am of your mind like gaahh you've created my ideal man like that's my ideal man right there!!! *manifesting hard for IRL Irus to come and get me outta herreee*
Thank you so much for your support! I know I say this a lot, but honestly, it's players like you that make writing an interactive fiction game worthwhile. I enjoy writing but sometimes, it gets really hard to want to write variations of scenes and then I see all the sweet comments and support from everyone and it makes it easy to push through and continue writing. Please don't feel pressured to support me on Patreon - I am grateful to those who can, but it's not what I live for. I live for comments like yours that make me realise that I'm not some crazy person who's writing something no one wants to play. Irus is really based on all my trashy-teen romances that I used to write when YA novels were still what my life revolved around - he's a little more mature than the teen-fiction love interests I used to write, but he's made up of all the good bits that made me swoon so I'm glad you're enjoying him ❤️️
ahh at the end of the day we all just lil creatures who thrive on trashy teen romance lmao <3 also, i write for myself, like, just making up fantasy worlds for me to read before sleep, i suck af but that's how i know that writing is HARD! i truly respect you and every IF author who creates magical stories in their head then share it with the world <3 ALSO nooo you're not crazyyy stay stronggg <3 and if it's any help, it's IF like yours that helps me taking steps away from the brink of madness. i mean it, truly, no exaggeration. i was at a low point in my life when i found the world of interactive novel and it quickly became my escapism. life still hasn't gotten any better but i cope by manifesting all the good things i've read in IFs and IRUS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE OF COURSE IM MANIFESTING IRUS ILL KEEP GOING IF IT MEANS ILL EVENTUALLY MEET MY OWN IRUS <333
this is my first time commenting on anything but i just had to. i'm so very much in love with the story and especially, Elora! i must say i adore your writing and your attention to detail while doing it, something about the companionship in this game -and again, especially the relationship with Elora brings me so much comfort. this may be one of my favourite IF game ever and i can't wait for the next chapters! thank you so much for sharing your amazing work, i couldn't have asked for a better game to spend my entire night (yes, i have finished the game within 5+ hours and now it's almost 4 am hhahhaha!)
Thank you so much for playing and I'm honoured you felt so strongly to leave a comment ❤️️ If you're enjoying Elora, Chapter 8 will be a lot of fun for you because there's a lot of her - especially if you're romancing her. Companionship was something I knew I wanted to be a big part of the relationship dynamics so it's been really fun to write and I'm happy that you're enjoying it. The next update is already out for my Patrons, but it will be released here for the public on the 1st of January. I hope you do get enough sleep after playing the entire thing! Thank you again for your support 😊
no worries at all, i wanted to share my feelings to let you know how incredibly fond of i am with your work ❤️️ i AM romancing Elora and i can't wait to see the next chapter! i think you are doing a wonderful job with the relationship dynamics, i love that it's not shallow at all and there are depths to each character and the way they react to situations. and i love that it will be released a day before my birthday🥺 i checked out your Tumblr page after playing it (cuz i needed to consume everything about this game hahahah) and saw that this game will be on Steam? can't wait for that!!! i also wanted to message u on tumblr because there are so many other things i want to tell u but i thought it'd be too much 😭😭thank you so much for being so kind to reply to me!!! and nope, i didn't get enough sleep because this game is all i can think about hahahaha!!!! ❤️️ ❤️️❤️️❤️️
Aww, thank you! Seriously, message away. I'm on leave for the holiday period from work, so I'm a lot more active now on Tumblr than I have been for the past few weeks and since the chapter is complete, I have some time to respond to messages 😊 You can ask me whatever you want on Tumblr, I really don't mind.
When is the next update? just asking and I love this game very enjoyable
Chapter 8's release dates can be found here 😊 Essentially, it'll be the 1st of January 2024.
I'm so excited for this thank you for giving us this :)
You're welcome and thank you for your support 😊
Elora, I will see you soon! 🥹
Yes, you will 😊
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but seriously tho, great game, cant wait for the next update! :D
Thank you! I'm so pleased you're enjoying the game 🌼