Such unique and wonderful world building. I love the small journal entries that give glimpses into how all of these practises started. The characters are well written and I'm looking forward to reading more about them.
One thing I sorely miss in the game is a save function. Sometimes when playing on a mobile browser (huge thanks for making the book really mobile friendly!), pausing the read and then returning restarts the game.
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read my story! I’m glad you’re enjoying the characters and the journal entries! I built this using Chapbook and one of the reasons I chose that software is because it is very mobile-friendly, so I’m glad to hear that. Chapbook does automatically save your progress within the browser—it shouldn’t be restarting for you, even if you close the browser tab, so that’s odd. The only reason it resets is if you’re switching from one browser to another, switching between devices, or if you clear your browser cache. Otherwise it should be saving. Chapbook does not offer a manual save slot though, but you’re definitely not the first to request it, so hopefully with so many in favor of it we’ll get it in a future update!
Thank you for the reply! I think I might have cleared my cache, so that probably caused the restart!
I enjoy the game very much as is, but if you decide to include the save function that'd be a huge plus but no pressure though! I'm just really happy about the game being mobile friendly so no change is worth that in my book! :)
Also a major point that I like to add. I have a medical issue in my hand that makes it very twitchy and shaky sometimes. I sometimes click on things by accident so many times a day. I don't want to have to restart from the very beginning if I accidently click something or even just make a choice I end up hating. I just started playing this a bit ago and had to restart about 7 times already because of it.
(I’ll try to speak in a way which will not contain any spoilers)
Just found this hidden gem that was just published 2 days ago?? Consider myself lucky.
I really hope this adventure of a story blows up into the public eye! Early in development yet it’s already really great.
The story and setting is phenomenal and unique, the writing is neat and well-done. Conveying emotions and details with descriptive but simple writing! It’s truly impressive, and I can’t wait to see more from you!
Apocalyptic and dystopian-based stories or genres tend to be a favorite of mine, so this story caught me into its magnificent webs from the start. Just by reading the description, I already knew it was going be something wonderful.
I’ll attempt to go through every part possible, considering each character has got me hook line and sinker. Captivating and charming with life, I want to get to know all of them!
Thank you for posting this masterpiece, Fir & Fireweed!
(If you can, a relationship status-checker of sorts would be neat to see how you are with a character! Or a codex if the reader may have forgotten something relating to the lore of the story.)
Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words! I’m always happy to find other dystopian/post-apocalyptic fans. ;) And I’m very happy to hear you’re enjoying the characters and world.
Chapbook is a little limiting in the extras I can do, so I’m not sure how the character stat checker would work, I’ll have to think on that. But I do love the idea of a codex and I can easily add that the same way the character stats are at the bottom. Thank you for the suggestions and for taking the time to comment!
Would love a save system if doable! I'm loving this so far. I did notice in the scene where Lion speaks to the three new friends as an introduction for the circle (forget what chapter sorry) I believe my Healer was referred to with she/her pronouns for a paragraph when I was playing as just a worker. (I don't remember specifying what I might present as or anything? I believe it was the one where Lion says they can trust him as they do my character.)
Oh, good catch on the pronouns in that chapter! I tend to write with a female MC just to get the story down, then go back and code those parts. Looks like I missed the coding in that paragraph. Thanks for pointing it out!
I built this in Chapbook and it unfortunately doesn’t feature a multiple save system. I agree that it is handy; I use multiple saves myself when I play other IFs. Sorry about that and I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. Thank you!
Okay, so I never leave comments on pieces of work. I always just like to read them and let others comment their mutual appreciation to the author. But after reading this and reading your bio, (I always like to click on the author's profile of any IFs I like to see if they have any other work or recommendations), I felt like I just had to write my admiration of what you've written so far, so I created an account on itch.io just for it!
Everything is amazing so far, dystopian/post-apocalyptic are one of my favorite genres so my interest was peaked immediately. Kudos to both you and your sister for the awesome story telling, this reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, but it's still unique in another way. I love the switching back and forth between the MC and the diary entries of the first settlers of The City; it's interesting to see the development of what first started out as a way to help guide people and rebuild society, only to turn into something so controlling, restrictive, and what seems to be far away from the initial intentions of the author of the diary entries.
The art is great, Isabela did an amazing job with that! I kept the story and this page on different tabs so that I can switch between to look at the characters again and imagine them better in my head as I continued reading. And the music fits perfectly with the story as well! I'm romancing Ferret and as I was imagining her scene in the rain, I couldn't help but notice the music you paired with it had fit so well. It felt like watching a dramatic scene from movie!
The only small critique I have is that I would like for there to be a place where I can click, save, and load my progress at different points of the story.
For the amount of effort you've clearly put into this, from the writing to the commissioned art to the pairing of music to different scenes, it's hard to believe that this if your first IF! I can't wait to see where you take this story and the interactions we'll get to have with the other characters. After finishing this story, if you ever decide to make any other IFs, you can guarantee I'll read those as well.
Astounding job so far, keep up with the good work!
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for your lovely and thoughtful words! I’m honored that my story was the first you commented on! This story has always had a special place in my heart and it’s honestly been a lot of fun rewriting as an IF, and it makes me so happy to hear others enjoying it! When I wrote this years ago I was definitely a big dystopian fan myself, and novels like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 were a big influence on me, so I’m not surprised you caught those vibes.
And I definitely agree, it would be nice to have save files, but unfortunately Chapbook doesn’t support that feature. I went with Chapbook because it’s easiest to learn, but I also really like the way the display looks more like a novel, and I’m old school, lol. But I agree with you that it’s a bit of a bummer not to have that feature.
I’m glad you like the music and art, too! I feel so fortunate to have found Isabela, she really is talented!
Thank you again for the comment, you made my day! ❤️
Thank you for the reply! And as I said, after reading this work, I couldn't not show my adoration for it, so I'm glad to have this work to be the first (and quite possibly only) one I commented on.
And that makes sense about Chapbook, I've never made IFs of any kind nor know anything about Twine, so I'm good to just be able to read this in the first place. I've seen other comments asking about the save system as well, but there's no pressure to try to create one. If I want to remake a choice, I'll happily just quickly replay. I've done that plenty of times with other IFs when the last save point I made was further back in the story than I thought. And I agree about the novel-like format of Chapbook, it seems to fit with the writing well!
Dystopia/post-apocalypse is definitely an amazing genre, I used to take a class entirely focused on dystopian writing. Fahrenheit 451 is a great book, I've read it multiple times, though I can only say I read about a third of 1984 because the interactions and thought processes of Winston and Julia were kind of... uncomfortable. Though I can understand fans of book because from what I remember, the world 1984 created was very interesting and I saw many parallel concepts to real life.
I'm also glad that this is the kind of story that you've already written before and are remaking into an IF, meaning it's more likely that you'll actually finish this. It's so hard to find good quality and completed IFs on itch.io... 😭
Oh, there was also another compliment I forgot to give in my last comment! I thought the animal naming was really creative, it makes sense that everyone would name themselves after something they've only read in books. I didn't even connect the dots that they were all named after animals until I got to that part of the story. 😅And I had never seen the limited option of what to name yourself before, most other IFs allow you to type your own name into it, so I was surprised about that!
I completely agree about the unfinished IFs here. It makes me sad when I find an excellent story, then realize that the last update was years ago. 😭 After building this in Twine I do have a better understanding of the work and time it takes, especially if you’re doing branching paths. That being said, yes, this will definitely be a finished IF! Chapters 8 and 9 together will be the next update and I anticipate that in a couple of weeks.
Also I’m glad you liked the naming conventions! I was a little concerned about limiting your own name, because you’re right, most IFs you can choose your own. So I tried to give a breadth of interesting choices.
I’ve replayed so many times just to play different routes/choices. They are all so endearing, I am excited for more! As a mobile-player I appreciate how accessible/easy to use the interface is for my browser (:
Thank you so much! I love that you’ve tried different routes, and I can promise you’ll definitely have more unique character moments in future chapters. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
This is already so good! You have done such a good job with he characters and I have fallen involve with all of them <3 Can already see how different they are and looking forward to see what happens
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Such unique and wonderful world building. I love the small journal entries that give glimpses into how all of these practises started. The characters are well written and I'm looking forward to reading more about them.
One thing I sorely miss in the game is a save function. Sometimes when playing on a mobile browser (huge thanks for making the book really mobile friendly!), pausing the read and then returning restarts the game.
I am really looking forward to reading more!
Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read my story! I’m glad you’re enjoying the characters and the journal entries!
I built this using Chapbook and one of the reasons I chose that software is because it is very mobile-friendly, so I’m glad to hear that. Chapbook does automatically save your progress within the browser—it shouldn’t be restarting for you, even if you close the browser tab, so that’s odd. The only reason it resets is if you’re switching from one browser to another, switching between devices, or if you clear your browser cache. Otherwise it should be saving. Chapbook does not offer a manual save slot though, but you’re definitely not the first to request it, so hopefully with so many in favor of it we’ll get it in a future update!
Thank you for the reply! I think I might have cleared my cache, so that probably caused the restart!
I enjoy the game very much as is, but if you decide to include the save function that'd be a huge plus but no pressure though! I'm just really happy about the game being mobile friendly so no change is worth that in my book! :)
Also a major point that I like to add. I have a medical issue in my hand that makes it very twitchy and shaky sometimes. I sometimes click on things by accident so many times a day. I don't want to have to restart from the very beginning if I accidently click something or even just make a choice I end up hating. I just started playing this a bit ago and had to restart about 7 times already because of it.
(I’ll try to speak in a way which will not contain any spoilers)
Just found this hidden gem that was just published 2 days ago?? Consider myself lucky.
I really hope this adventure of a story blows up into the public eye! Early in development yet it’s already really great.
The story and setting is phenomenal and unique, the writing is neat and well-done. Conveying emotions and details with descriptive but simple writing! It’s truly impressive, and I can’t wait to see more from you!
Apocalyptic and dystopian-based stories or genres tend to be a favorite of mine, so this story caught me into its magnificent webs from the start. Just by reading the description, I already knew it was going be something wonderful.
I’ll attempt to go through every part possible, considering each character has got me hook line and sinker. Captivating and charming with life, I want to get to know all of them!
Thank you for posting this masterpiece, Fir & Fireweed!
(If you can, a relationship status-checker of sorts would be neat to see how you are with a character! Or a codex if the reader may have forgotten something relating to the lore of the story.)
Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words! I’m always happy to find other dystopian/post-apocalyptic fans. ;) And I’m very happy to hear you’re enjoying the characters and world.
Chapbook is a little limiting in the extras I can do, so I’m not sure how the character stat checker would work, I’ll have to think on that. But I do love the idea of a codex and I can easily add that the same way the character stats are at the bottom. Thank you for the suggestions and for taking the time to comment!
Would love a save system if doable! I'm loving this so far. I did notice in the scene where Lion speaks to the three new friends as an introduction for the circle (forget what chapter sorry) I believe my Healer was referred to with she/her pronouns for a paragraph when I was playing as just a worker. (I don't remember specifying what I might present as or anything? I believe it was the one where Lion says they can trust him as they do my character.)
Oh, good catch on the pronouns in that chapter! I tend to write with a female MC just to get the story down, then go back and code those parts. Looks like I missed the coding in that paragraph. Thanks for pointing it out!
I built this in Chapbook and it unfortunately doesn’t feature a multiple save system. I agree that it is handy; I use multiple saves myself when I play other IFs. Sorry about that and I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. Thank you!
Warning: Small Spoilers!
Okay, so I never leave comments on pieces of work. I always just like to read them and let others comment their mutual appreciation to the author. But after reading this and reading your bio, (I always like to click on the author's profile of any IFs I like to see if they have any other work or recommendations), I felt like I just had to write my admiration of what you've written so far, so I created an account on itch.io just for it!
Everything is amazing so far, dystopian/post-apocalyptic are one of my favorite genres so my interest was peaked immediately. Kudos to both you and your sister for the awesome story telling, this reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, but it's still unique in another way. I love the switching back and forth between the MC and the diary entries of the first settlers of The City; it's interesting to see the development of what first started out as a way to help guide people and rebuild society, only to turn into something so controlling, restrictive, and what seems to be far away from the initial intentions of the author of the diary entries.
The art is great, Isabela did an amazing job with that! I kept the story and this page on different tabs so that I can switch between to look at the characters again and imagine them better in my head as I continued reading. And the music fits perfectly with the story as well! I'm romancing Ferret and as I was imagining her scene in the rain, I couldn't help but notice the music you paired with it had fit so well. It felt like watching a dramatic scene from movie!
The only small critique I have is that I would like for there to be a place where I can click, save, and load my progress at different points of the story.
For the amount of effort you've clearly put into this, from the writing to the commissioned art to the pairing of music to different scenes, it's hard to believe that this if your first IF! I can't wait to see where you take this story and the interactions we'll get to have with the other characters. After finishing this story, if you ever decide to make any other IFs, you can guarantee I'll read those as well.
Astounding job so far, keep up with the good work!
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for your lovely and thoughtful words! I’m honored that my story was the first you commented on! This story has always had a special place in my heart and it’s honestly been a lot of fun rewriting as an IF, and it makes me so happy to hear others enjoying it! When I wrote this years ago I was definitely a big dystopian fan myself, and novels like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 were a big influence on me, so I’m not surprised you caught those vibes.
And I definitely agree, it would be nice to have save files, but unfortunately Chapbook doesn’t support that feature. I went with Chapbook because it’s easiest to learn, but I also really like the way the display looks more like a novel, and I’m old school, lol. But I agree with you that it’s a bit of a bummer not to have that feature.
I’m glad you like the music and art, too! I feel so fortunate to have found Isabela, she really is talented!
Thank you again for the comment, you made my day! ❤️
Thank you for the reply! And as I said, after reading this work, I couldn't not show my adoration for it, so I'm glad to have this work to be the first (and quite possibly only) one I commented on.
And that makes sense about Chapbook, I've never made IFs of any kind nor know anything about Twine, so I'm good to just be able to read this in the first place. I've seen other comments asking about the save system as well, but there's no pressure to try to create one. If I want to remake a choice, I'll happily just quickly replay. I've done that plenty of times with other IFs when the last save point I made was further back in the story than I thought. And I agree about the novel-like format of Chapbook, it seems to fit with the writing well!
Dystopia/post-apocalypse is definitely an amazing genre, I used to take a class entirely focused on dystopian writing. Fahrenheit 451 is a great book, I've read it multiple times, though I can only say I read about a third of 1984 because the interactions and thought processes of Winston and Julia were kind of... uncomfortable. Though I can understand fans of book because from what I remember, the world 1984 created was very interesting and I saw many parallel concepts to real life.
I'm also glad that this is the kind of story that you've already written before and are remaking into an IF, meaning it's more likely that you'll actually finish this. It's so hard to find good quality and completed IFs on itch.io... 😭
Oh, there was also another compliment I forgot to give in my last comment! I thought the animal naming was really creative, it makes sense that everyone would name themselves after something they've only read in books. I didn't even connect the dots that they were all named after animals until I got to that part of the story. 😅And I had never seen the limited option of what to name yourself before, most other IFs allow you to type your own name into it, so I was surprised about that!
I completely agree about the unfinished IFs here. It makes me sad when I find an excellent story, then realize that the last update was years ago. 😭 After building this in Twine I do have a better understanding of the work and time it takes, especially if you’re doing branching paths. That being said, yes, this will definitely be a finished IF! Chapters 8 and 9 together will be the next update and I anticipate that in a couple of weeks.
Also I’m glad you liked the naming conventions! I was a little concerned about limiting your own name, because you’re right, most IFs you can choose your own. So I tried to give a breadth of interesting choices.
Thank you, again!
I’ve replayed so many times just to play different routes/choices. They are all so endearing, I am excited for more! As a mobile-player I appreciate how accessible/easy to use the interface is for my browser (:
Thank you so much! I love that you’ve tried different routes, and I can promise you’ll definitely have more unique character moments in future chapters. Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!
This is already so good! You have done such a good job with he characters and I have fallen involve with all of them <3 Can already see how different they are and looking forward to see what happens
Thank you, I’m glad you’re enjoying it!