Oh, ok, so a character who is technically linked but does not meet the main characters until later? Just out of interest, since they don't really sound like they know the main character - What prompts that character to seek out the main character? Is there a reason why they tell the main character everything about this demon (or are they reluctant to share the info...? I can't think why they would be, but still), or is it purely out of want to help the main character (who probably knows nothing, right?)? As for the motives of helping the main character, is there more than just he wants to be nice? A hidden thought, perhaps he wants the demon back or something? And I do the same - it's always about a character's introduction and their deaths first ha ha.

So it's more focused on the internal rather than the external. If I wanted to go all analytical with that, I'd say that it would be a good reflection of the character - assuming that he has become introverted due to the PTSD and other mental afflictions. To be honest, I don't really know where I'm going with that point ha ha. (Also, I'm glad to hear that you made the character actually be affected by their experiences - I really hate it when authors, for example, have a character's family murdered and they just aren't really affected by it. Or they skip straight to being motivated it by it... like c'mon, stages of grief?).

Wow, that's even better than I could have ever thought lol. Not sure about the optionally mute thing though - maybe his last words could be in his head to the demon, rather than actually audible? I don't know really - it could go either way since it could be a little more surprising if he actually speaks, or alternatively... he could not have any last words at all, leaving the characters to mourn his death without knowing what his last thoughts were. Ultimately, it depends on whether you want the characters to suffer more or the reader be more upset about the whole 'suddenly speaking' thing.

Sounds like a good plan! Something like that would be a great twist - I think you mentioned earlier about looking like you're going in one direction then changing suddenly to another, so yeah, that would be a good way of using that.

So basically, he turns to his younger brother for support since the rest of the kingdom doesn't like him because he's illegitimate? I'm assuming that the older brother aspired to be something greater than he would be otherwise and was eager to help him, though to me I would question if there was also a little bit of hidden jealousy that did somewhat encourage the insanity (not necessarily jealousy of his brother, but also of other people - ******s, from most fiction and realistically (don't quote me on this lol, I'm no expert in medieval stuff) speaking, are generally frowned upon when it comes to royalty, and perhaps he was treated a lot worse than everyone else despite being no different and felt like it was majorly unfair?).

Sounds like you've got a really big project there, considering how many potential endings it sounds like you'll have to deal with. But yeah, so the story is somewhat a guide to the neutral route in a way, and therefore doing the extremes (e.g rather than sparing someone and leaving them, you either kill them or spare them and help them get back to health) would give you different outcomes (?). And yeah, combining events - rather than having a fight scene, then later having some sort of character interaction in the journey, you could have both happen at the same time? Again, not sure how possible this is considering I don't know all the events that take place, but it might be worth trying to see what can slot in with what.

Good luck with making the game though! :)

I'm probably going to overthink it, and end up going backwards and forwards for about a week at this rate ha ha. But thanks!

I think neither are happy with interacting with humans, however I think that one is more tolerant than the other. One of them is a little more violent, in the sense that he wants to capture them and try to discover the best way to kill them (surprisingly enough, this is the one who is more encouraging towards the main character, and also the one who is presented as the nicest out of the two). The other just doesn't want them anywhere near the town, but is against engaging with them, and as such simply wants to find ways to deter humans from coming nearby. However, his logic isn't very well thought through - that's what he believes, but he has no idea how to achieve it, hence why the other more violent one is in charge of setting up traps and other things around the perimeter.

Oh dear, I just invented some more characters while drawing... I should really stop, I have at least 200 (at least, that was the count two years ago) of them already, and many of them are in the line for stories XD At this rate I'll never get anything finished lol.

@Dial

I've been drawing basically every day for the last... 4 years, I reckon lol. At least a character per two days, but recently I've been trying to stop myself and try and focus on the ones I have (it's almost impossible ha ha). I think all but two or three fit into the same universe, though some at different times than others (though sometimes I just throw them together because it can be fun to draw them reacting to one another). I get really annoyed at myself, because some of my characters could potentially be good (good example (brace yourself for an underwhelming WIP drawing) here... I've had these two for several years now, they still don't have a reason to exist lol). Oh well... now that I've taken a break from designing I should have time to compile them all into one place and give them all at least vague descriptions.

I was exactly the same when I was younger lol. Literally the edgiest child... I remember, my first story really well. I was so against cliches, I went out of my way to make it as different as possible. For a start, rather than two members of royalty, it was a princess and a clown. No idea why. They go to an island to get married (again, don't question the logic), a monster appears, grabs the princess... I remember a scene where the clown throws his hat and chops off the monster's wing (damn that's a sharp hat). Instead of a happy ending though, they both get eaten by a shark 0-0. I was really weird back then...

What kind of fan-fiction do you write? Like, which shows/ books/ etc? I'm not personally much of a fan-fiction writer myself (though there is a tiny bit of Sylestia fan-fiction, but that's it), but I do enjoy a little bit of it when I have the time.

Sounds interesting! Though a quick question before my parents kill me for being online so late - is there anyone who is suspicious of the project? Anyone from the inside whose only purpose is to expose the project eventually (and could be the reason the rebels escape)? I'm just curious, since from the basic description it kind of seems like the bad guys are just incompetent at keeping their projects under containment, even though in theory they would know everything about them.

@AtomicBomb354,
As being uniquely one of the few surviving hosts still alive after the demon has separated from them he grew to become good friends with the demon(it's more the demon he's looking out for than the protagonist). He doesn't agree with the fact that the demon went after a child though he is known to the world as a bad dude
(he is actually known as a "evil" character aka a pirate with a exaggerated past who is kindove a celebrity in the fact that mothers tell children stories about him to get them to behave though the stories tend to be false)
He feels very protective of children and just wants to keep people safe tbh(when he was younger the only reason he survived after his village was attacked is because he went out of his way to find the demon and make a deal)
They are open to sharing any information they believe the child may need to know to be safer, though he never reveals to anyone that he is immortal and been alive way to long and owns suspiciously old stuff(besides the demon who made him so)
_{"Ah I think I've done a good job with this character :)
Now how should I kill them..?"}


I spent way too long looking at a stages of grief chart for the antagonist himself ;v;
I took psychology actually this year just to better understand my protagonist tbh, and way too many sites on disorders and such
The protagonist has PTSD, by choice mutism, schizophrenia and feels phantom limbs
The demon is that person with them who tries to help them calm down and reassure them of reality(the demon has a personal mind space they live within and can add physical objects to, is it one of their magic abilities as they are also a shapeshifter//they only shape-shift as non sentient creatures though as it is very painful to the host)
(the protagonist is allowed to enter the demons personal area and usually forcefully brought there by the demon already to try to calm them down and keep them from doing something externally they would regret, he loves flowers so he has a lot of flowers in his mind space which is just a field of different flowers he has collected throughout the centuries)

Yeah, now that you mention that I think mentally would sound a lot better
Also probably more in character

The only person who he cares about at all is his little brother(he is in his 20's in years, though he is a lot older he really depends on his younger brother to feel like he has a better purpose and isn't alone)
He for the most part doesn't care for power, he prefers making little devices and robots(whenever his little brother left the castle he would usually go out of his way to get little parts and pieces to give to his big brother, either scraps from the ground or from shops that would be willing to give him some parts for free for a good word)
I actually didn't plan on him being very bullied for his birth, just ignored(since is still part of the royal family)
(but I like what you're saying, and will probably while editing the first chapters and referring to from then on to a feeling of unfairness if you're okay with me using that?)
(he already felt a deep hatred immediately for his home and the citizens after the "death" of his brother when they started treating him differently now that he would become their next king and felt angry that they so easily replaced his brother with him, and decides that he doesn't want the role of king so he leaves and takes on the duty of avenging his brother after hearing rumors about the cause of his death, the true killer coming along with him to "help")

Yeah, at first it was kindove small but then new scenarios and characters were added and then I wanted different things to happen but at the same time I liked the old things and was like "but there can be different routes yo"(aka edgy mc bad route path)
The good route includes no fighting tbh(this might change as I'm still figuring out if I should include any non-optional event fights), the good path depends a lot on the player's interest in the story and the journey and gameplay rather than fight scenes(the good path has a single one, the ending)
The fighting system is thought through though and taught at the beginning of the game, but if you remember how to fight by the end depends on how you played
As a unit, the protagonist when attacked will need to fight back and when their health gets too low the demon will force a switch between whose controlling the body, they have separate health bars(and physical traits) and the demon will always die before they let the protagonist do so(but this does result in both of their deaths as they both depend equally on each other to stay alive//the protagonist's limbs were ripped off and the demon created their own physical form which would usually be impossible to do with any other host to help the protagonist move around)
The protagonist(wow that's getting confusing and slightly annoying to say I don't know why I'm so persistent in not using their names but it's been too long to switch now) is a physical fighter while the demon is a shapeshifter(physical) and magic user(magic ranged/buffed physical)
Event's depend more on you deciding to go out of your way to help others, finding/saving others(I refuse to add things as side missions as those are usually seen as something that can be ignored, though I saw Prey recently and it did a pretty good job I think with the side missions so maybe), the routes in the beginning don't have too many differences but the more bad decisions you made(and these decisions will be obvious I won't let someone become evil on accident) the more bad decisions you are given, the less good options you will be given; you aint gonna get the good decisions anymore if you go too far, you can't choose as a last second thought "maybe I don't wanna do this", you've already chosen the protagonist's mindset it aint changing now who do you think you are)
Event's more consist of "do I trust the demon" to "does it matter if I try to help them?" to "I feel like killing you just because I can"(emotional attachments vs choices//some people will still side with you even if you become the villain and not just because they appreciate the whole evil thing, more like you saved their child(for example, I haven't added something like that(yet)) when you didn't need to///but there are also NPC's who won't care if you did something to help them because you stand for something against their morals)
Tyvm :)

I like the two personalities you gave them :)
May I assume they are important characters to the plot?

_{Holy moly how do you have 200 jesus dude XD
I have maybe 10, and only half of them for protagonists/one antagonist main character when I get to writing their stories x)}


@Dial,
That's really cool :o
I have not personally seen anyone who writes riddles, and congrats on being the first in the thread to say so ;)
That's cool to go back and recreate them :)

I relate with you on these being hard to write ;v;

That sound's very interesting and unique, good luck creating it :D

_{Nice avatar btw :)}

@99echosong99

Sorry if this comes off as a little jumbled/ contains many strange grammar and spelling mistakes - I got about 4 hours sleep last night, and this morning someone offered me the keys to a lorry (of course, I couldn't say no to that)... so now I'm exhausted from driving that (amongst other things) all day lol.

That makes sense. Why is the demon considered evil, by the way? From what you've said he seems nice (with a few possible slightly off morals), so I'm just curious as to why people are so set against him. Is it purely because he's a demon and people are suspicious of him?

Don't forget the seemingly never-ending torture and mental pain as everything around them collapses (or seems to) too! >:D

I've always found psychology interesting, but most of my knowledge of anything to do with mental disorders does come from sites and things like that (I don't really have the time to study Psychology as a subject anyway, since I'm going to do a full-time course in Game Development). I do a lot of research to make sure I portray certain things correctly - more often than not, mainstream media has a habit of incorrectly portraying it, and people assume that that's the way it actually works, so actually doing research yourself can actually be more interesting and make it seem like more care and thought went into it. Along with that, I also personally know a lot of people with mental issues, so I tend to ask them if they feel that I have made the character a believable representation of what they experience.

As for the schizophrenia, what kind? Or does he just have a general spread of symptoms from different types? And damn, that's a really horrible combination. I feel bad for him. Also, how does entering the demon's space work? Is the main character physically transported there, or, as I assume because it's a mind space, his consciousness goes there, while his body either freezes in place/ goes limp?

Oh, ok. So he much prefers to focus his energy on things that he realistically can achieve rather than what he wants. The support thing is definitely interesting, especially as it's usually expected that the older sibling supports the younger (not saying that this expectation in any way is good - the fact that you've actually gone the other way is better), and not many seem to think that the younger sibling really gives anything back emotionally to the older one. I think that idea with the younger one actively supporting what the older one does is a very nice way to show that they are close too :)

Yeah, sure, use whatever you want! After all, this discussion is to help improve our stories.

So who is in charge of the kingdom when the older sibling leaves? Just wondering, since if it's a specific character then this could be made quite important. For example, if it's someone that the antagonist doesn't like, then this could fuel their want to find their brother's killer even sooner so that they can temporarily reclaim the throne and give it to someone who they deem worthy.

Sounds like a very interesting combat system! Though with what would basically be a second heath bar, you might want to consider if it makes the game a little too easy (or maybe there could be achievements in-game that require you to win fights without activating the demon, which could encourage against this?). And as for the side missions, yes, I actually think it would be more effective to have a system like Prey where saving people is optional. I think if the player goes out of their way (and therefore the protagonist) to save/help another, then it would reflect the more 'good' route, whereas choosing to ignore it would indicate a 'bad' route, since it is clear that the player/ protagonist does not care about the lives of others. Or maybe there is no penalty to not helping them, but a bonus to doing so? So to get the 'pure good' (or whatever you want to call it) route, you would have to save everyone, but if you chose to ignore them you could still get a 'good' route, which would be similar, but not as good.

Though if you don't close off bad options with the choosing the good ones, the surely it would instantly swing you to the bad side if you suddenly decided to betray the good people (and vice versa)? I suppose when it comes to the point of evil, you would not be able to regain the trust of the people, but an option to suddenly switch at any time and be terrible during the good route would, to me, make a lot of sense. But yeah, complexity and stuff...

Thanks! :)

Hmmm... I don't think I really know that myself ha ha. I suppose one of them starts the conflict, and the other basically sends the main character off to meet the human, but whether they play a major role later on, I cannot be sure, since I still don't have a clue as to how it will end. Part of me thinks that the main character could simply choose to run away, since they would not accept a human in their society, but in a way this character is attached to his parents, and essentially betraying them just doesn't seem right for him (though I suppose he could be somewhat emotionally manipulated by the human, or his feelings could kind of override that, but again, that just feels wrong). I'm pretty much stuck with the ending at the moment, but I reckon it might eventually come to me once I've established the character arcs and other events that are going to affect the ending.

Just as I say that - I do have a tragic idea. Perhaps the main character admits to his fathers that he has been hiding a human because of his feelings towards her, and since the two disagree on their views towards humans, something could happen. Not necessarily a fight (the two are a little too emotionally attached to each other and their son... oh wait, there goes my idea. Damn.), but an argument that triggers a devastating thing of some sorts. Agh, overthinking endings always ruins the fun :(

I just don't stop drawing and designing lol. I think a lot of them desperately need re-designing though because they're from about two/three years ago, or maybe I should just give them away... but that's something I really hate doing, hence why my hoard of characters is ever-expanding XD I actually mean to do some filing and stuff since I don't have school any more, and dig up all of the designs I've ever made to see if there are any worth dragging back. And also to re-count, out of curiosity. It's going to be painful - not just because of the time, but because of the cringe DX

Edit: I knew I'd forget to say something lol. Yeah, I think we should start to refer to our characters by name, it is getting quite confusing.

@Dial

That's absolutely fine, I'm probably going to be asleep for the next 14 hours or so anyway ha ha.

Enjoy writing: Historical fiction, historical nonfiction, comedy fanfic, reviews, second person narration, psychological horror, historical disasters

Please don't make me: Romance/shipping, fantasy/scifi, chainsaw horror, for serious fanfiction

The one drawback to my super niche market of historical disaster fiction is the amount of research that goes into even the shortest of short stories. I insist on as much accuracy as possible and sometimes that means cobbling together like five sources or sometimes working off of just two if it's that obscure. A few times you get blessed with first hand accounts.