Andrew Kenneth Specter

Sneak peek #2!

Developer Update: Week of June 11th, 2021

A few new developments, this week! First, I'd like to give a shout-out to a new patron! With their support, we've surpassed the first goal! I've been talking to an artist (different from who I commissioned the Lázaro and Belvidere portraits from) and I will post some new art of Prudence and Blythe whenever they're ready. I have also already sent some costuming/blocking designs to the cover artist of my other story-games, and they said that they will begin work on the cover for These Reluctant Years this weekend! If it is alright with the artist, I will share the in-progress cover art and eventually the finalized version, here.

Writing-wise, I have completed the part of chapter 3 where both MC1 and MC2 have joined the Sovereignty. On your first task for a character I will not spoil yet, you need to retrieve something from a radical encampment. You can choose to recover this item through words, trickery, or simply by shooting everyone. Next, I will write the part of chapter 3 where both MC1 and MC2 join the radicals. Once I have those done, it will be easier for me to piece together how to describe a scenario where both main characters have chosen opposite sides.

Thank you all again for your support! (:

Goal met!

This is a public announcement.

So... I just noticed that one of our goals was met! A big "thank you" to everyone supporting me -- I am in the process of commissioning art for Blythe and Prudence!

Sneak peek #1!

Developer Update: Week of June 4th, 2021

Big changes to Patreon, this week! I recently restructured/added on to the tier benefits to include commissioned artwork, story sneak-peeks, and adult content. The first part of the first adult side story, "Rumspringa", is accessible today. It will update weekly through June, and follows the amorous adventures of Prudence both before and after she joined the Frontiersmen Corps. It is accessible to those patrons who pledge ten dollars or greater, and at that tier you would also get all of the five dollar tier’s benefits.

I've also made a huge dent in chapter 3! There is more of a build up to the Sovereignty side if you choose them because the player hasn't really met their leader, yet. You can "meet" them, but it isn't really meeting them, if you catch my meaning. Eagle-eyed readers have probably already noticed where I am going with a certain character, and the sort of introductory parts up into chapter 3B expand on them a little more, just because we haven't had a whole 200,000 words to interact with them like we have with the radicals.

The first sneak-peek into chapter 3 is also coming on Monday! I've tried to include the best snippets and tease the plot without outright spoiling anything.

CHANGES TO TIER BENEFITS

This is a publicly-accessible announcement.

I've restructured the tier benefits to better reflect the responses I've received from readers on other platforms and the general trends on this page. The specific changes are listed below.

ADDED BENEFITS TO $5 TIER:

• Access to commissioned artwork exclusively shared on Patreon.

• Access to polls.

• Sneak-peeks at in-progress chapters.

ADDED BENEFITS TO $10 TIER:

• All of the five dollar bonuses.

Thank you for reading!

Belvidere Ydl Portrait

I commissioned the talented artist Leyrey to make a portrait of Belvidere in their interpretation of the character!

Go show the artist some love -- their commissions are open!

Developer Update: Week of May 3̶1̶s̶t̶ 28th, 2021

I've been making steady progress on chapter 3! The interrogation scene between the Faceless Guard and MC1 is completed, as are the big catalyst that sparks the revolution in earnest. Right now, I'm working on sort of the segue into war proper. After things sink in, the player will have to gather allies for their chosen cause. How you acquire those allies is up to you, but remember that everyone has their limits. Laz and the radicals, for example, will not be too happy if you start forcing any old rando into an army. Likewise, the Sovereignty will expect brutal efficiency and not tolerate failure.

The leader of the traditionalist/Sovereignty side is still technically a spoiler, but if you're been paying attention you probably already know who it is. Like I said before, MC1 and MC2 can be on the same side or on opposite sides, and can have various motivations for joining.

Lázaro Goldendoor Portrait

I commissioned the talented Leyrey to draw portraits in their interpretation of the characters. This is Lázaro!

Go show the artist some love -- they have commissions open!

What do you want to learn more about?

Help me choose the topic for the next lore series!

Update: May 25th, 2021

This is a public update announcement. As a reminder, patrons get access to updates one week before the general public.

This update adds:

• Chapter 2, including various romance interactions between certain characters and MC2.
• Assorted spelling/grammar/continuity fixes.
• Chapter 2 to the quick-start option.
• About 48,000 words.

Link.

Developer Update: Week of May 2̶3̶r̶d̶ 21st, 2021

A big week, this time! I completed chapter 2 and gained a new patron! I thank you for supporting me and my projects, as always! (:

I've also started work on chapter 3. I believe I mentioned on the chapter header(s) preview that it will be another split chapter. Something drastic will happen in the beginning (or else at the end of chapter 2, I haven't decided) that will force both MC1 and MC2 to pick a side in the much-foreshadowed revolution/war. You can join either side as either a supporter or saboteur, and you do not have to keep both player characters in the same faction.

The first parts of the war will be focused on consolidating legitimacy/resources/troops for your given cause. Here is where the Heroics come into play, as well as certain family members of MC1 and MC2. Obviously, not every family member/person you've previously met will be present in both paths. MC1's father would never join an abolitionist rebellion, for example.

The time is fast approaching for you to pick a side and see what consequences fate has in store.

Chapter 3 Headers!

Chapter 3 is another split chapter, with different headers for whichever route (rebellion of Sovereignty) you choose to follow. Those caterpillars from the last chapter have grown up into beautiful (well, beauty is relative...) butterflies! Fun fact: the colors on their wings are inverted versions of the other chapter because I like symbolism.

Update: May 18th, 2021

Patrons get exclusive access to story updates one week before the general public.

Link.

In this update, I have:

• Completed chapter 2.
• Fixed some grammar/spelling and continuity errors.
• Added 48,045 words.

Developer Update: Week of May 14th, 2021

I completed Prudence's route for MC2, this week (including a romantic interaction with her)! I'm currently working on the route where MC2 stays with MC1 (willingly or otherwise). Obviously, there's a lot of tricky subject matter involved if MC1 forced MC2 into labor for their family. It might get intense, but I want to reiterate that, while the player can participate in the harmful perpetuation of racism, sexism, and classism, the ultimate consequence of these actions will always be negative. It may not be directly negative to the MC if they have positioned themselves to have the right allies or otherwise avoid backlash, but in cases like that there will still be negative net/societal consequences.

For example, you can't spend the entire game with a racist MC1 that goes on and on about how they think everyone other than them is sub-human and then expect the people you've surrounded yourself with to be perfectly fine with suddenly dismantling the state-sponsored slavery mandate. Similarly, the constant "survival of the fittest" "might makes right" culture of the Sovereignty has led to a society of people willing to do whatever they can in order to fulfill their religious/societal expectation of one-upping everyone else. If you spend the entire game brandishing a knife at everyone, don't be surprised when someone takes it and stabs you in the back.

Chapter 2 will end in Sovereign's Refuge, and something very drastic will either round out the chapter or else start chapter 3 with a "bang". (;

Developer Update: Week of May 7th, 2021

I've gotten a good chunk of chapter 2 completed, this week! The route where MC2 chose to stay with Laz and company for a little while is completely done. I've also written what MC1 was up to while we've been focusing on MC2. As in chapter 1, the player can control the actions of MC1 even if they're not explicitly the main focus of this chapter. Here, you get to choose how/why MC1 wraps up the Sovereign's mandates. If you satisfied at least three and still want to turn in a report, then you can choose the tone of the completed documents. Even if you didn't satisfy the requirements, you can still choose to try and wing it by making something up. Of course, you could also just choose to do nothing at all. Regardless of your choice, MC1 and MC2 will be brought together again in Sovereign's Refuge during chapter 3, where Laz is preparing to, er... let's say "escalate" things.

I am going to be working on MC2's Prudence route as well as their MC1 route. The latter sort of has two subcategories, which I think I've mentioned before. Additionally, the new lore series has started! The author of Heretical Heroism originally set out to write about the most infamous heretics in the Sovereignty, but ended up learning about something else.

Chapter 2 Header Image!

These fuzzy guys are supposed to be caterpillars. I put them on the header because this chapter will follow MC2 as they experience life wherever they chose to go for the time being, and caterpillars are symbols of transition and new life.

Developer Update: Week of April 30th, 2021

I've been hard at work on chapter 2! There are three main paths that MC2 can go through, this chapter, and I've completed the path where they choose to stay with Lázaro. Next will be Prudence's path, and finally the path where MC2 chose to stay with MC1. That last one is sort of divided into two sub-paths, though: one for MC1 essentially holding MC2 there against there will and one for MC1 being fine with MC2 staying as, like, a person.

In MC2's interactions with Lázaro, I've included some events to raise the romance threshold for both him and Belvidere. In my games, the "romance threshold" of someone is basically how I gauge if the player has spent any sort of significant, bond-building time with a given character. Some characters have higher thresholds than others, but no one is going to want to be in a relationship with you if you've talked to them, like, three times and never expressed any interest in a deeper relationship. Your relationship value also has to be high with them.

"Travelogue of a Faithful Woman" has also concluded! I hope it gave people some insight into the thinking/motivation of the Sovereignty.

Update: April 27th, 2021

This is a public update announcement. As a reminder, patrons get access to updates one week before the general public.

This update adds:

• Chapter 1.
• Assorted spelling/grammar/continuity fixes.
• A quick-start option for those who just want to play the new content.
• 34,635 words.

Link.

Developer Update: Week of April 23rd, 2021

Apologies for the late developer update! I f̶o̶r̶g̶o̶t̶  was so busy fending off waves of my adoring public that I scarcely had time to think! We have a new patron, too, so I'm getting quite the following, if I do say so myself. Thank you all for your support!

Chapter 1 went live for patrons last week, and will be made accessible to the public sometime this week. As you might have been able to tell, here's where the story gets a little more branching. MC2 can choose to stay with either Prudence, Laz, or MC1 until they decide to make a break for it/gather enough resources to return home/whatever.

That, eh... may not happen exactly as you plan, but MC2 will have the opportunity to interact with characters on their chosen path in chapter 2. It will be structured similarly to chapter 1 (and probably all remaining chapters), in that the perspective will be focused on one MC in particular but the player will still get to choose some reactions/actions for the other MC.

We're also approaching the conclusion of the lore series "Travelogue of a Faithful Woman"! After that, I'm planning on another sneak-peek for the chapter 2 header image, maybe some screenshots, and certainly another lore series (I'm thinking about exploring the Heroics a little more in-depth)!

Update: April 20th, 2021

Patrons get exclusive access to story updates one week before the general public.

Link.

In this update, I have:

• Completed chapter 1.
• Fixed some grammar/spelling and continuity errors.
• Added 34,579 words.

Developer Update: Week of April 16th, 2021

This week, I've been working on chapter 1, where both MC's meet for the first time. It's been a little tricky trying to think of which combinations of personality/relationship stats would give me which reactions from a given character, but I think I've done at least a passable job of it.

Someone in the forum thread asked what the format of chapter one will be like. I'm writing it sort of as a combination of non-interactive responses based on your MC2's stats and certain decisions that the player can make. The tense in the *choice block might change, for example, from "I do X" to "MC2 does X".

Right now, I'm winding down the chapter. MC1 and MC2 have had the opportunity to meet for the first time, have a chat, etc. I didn't want to be too unrealistic about it and let MC2 spill their guts to MC1 -- they've just met, after all -- but you can definitely choose (and hopefully see in the narration) whether you want it to be a friendly or hostile meeting.

Going forward (and before chapter 1 ends), I am going to have MC1 choose a main perspective toward MC2. This perspective won't change the game's outcome drastically, but I think it will give players the opportunity to give their characters more nuance when making choices. For example, if MC1 decides they want to go all "white man's burden/patronizing" toward MC2, I'll write dialogue options for that specific perspective whenever it would be relevant. MC2 can choose how to react to MC1's treatment of them, too, of course.

After (or at the end of) chapter 1, we're going back into "civilization" and meeting up with some familiar faces! The "reunion" in the chapter title refers to more than just MC1 and MC2's "renuion". (;

Developer Update: Week of April 9th, 2021

This week, the update with all completed MC2 introductions went public! I'm anticipating some new readers to the game because several people have told me they were waiting to experience the MC2 chapter as a non-human character.

I had a lot of fun writing these introductory chapters, but now the real work begins! The next chapter, "The Reunion of You" (can you tell where I'm going with these naming themes? (;), will be told from MC1's perspective and pick up right where the introductions left off.

This week, I also completed writing a supplementary lore series. It is set to release every other day (not including weekends) this month, beginning today. "Travelogue of a Faithful Woman" follows a missionary on her journey into the Unknown Territories during the early days of colonization.

Update: April 9th, 2021

This is a public update announcement. As a reminder, patrons get access to updates one week before the general public.

This update adds:

• All of MC2's potential introductions.
• Assorted spelling/grammar/continuity fixes.
• Character customization.
• 56,612 words.

Link.

Chapter 1 Header!

I've completed the header for chapter 1! The spiders are supposed to represent some kind of creeping doubt or uncertainty for either of the two main characters. In case anyone is wondering, I do not know why they have little faces and/or only six legs. I'm pretty sure they had spiders to base their illustrations on in the medieval Netherlands, but what do I know?

Developer Update: Week of April 2nd, 2021

This week, I (finally!) finished ALL of the introductory chapters! I've said on other platforms that all of the MC2 chapters have some of the same general story beats with alterations in between those beats to make them distinct cultures and experiences for the reader/player.

For example, certain family members are only present in specific backgrounds. Likewise, the narration significantly changes between introductions (especially between the human and non-human chapters). If MC2 is not a human and they interact with humans, they will not be treated the same (or well) as if you were playing as an exile MC2.

Additionally, the personalities of some supporting characters in MC2's introduction chapters vary even if their story role is the same. For example, a seal-folk MC2 has a sister and not a brother, but she is not only just a gender-swapped variation of the brothers from other introductions. Y'aana is more playful than Oleander, and Oleander talks differently than Fyrri, etc.

Going forward, I will be working on the first interaction between MC1 and MC2. We already saw a little bit of their meeting at the end of MC2's introductory chapter, but I am planning on (obviously) extending that first conversation. It will be written from MC1's perspective, and the player will be able to choose their motivation for bringing MC2 back to the Sovereignty with them (for scientific interest, humanitarianism, etc.).

Update: April 2nd, 2021

Patrons get exclusive access to story updates one week before the general public.

Link.

In this update, I have:

• Completed all introductions for both MC's.
• Fixed some grammar/spelling and continuity errors.
• Uploaded all of the header images for the introductory chapters.
• Added 53,807 words.

Patreon Tier Reward Changes!

So, previously, I had restricted access to my Discord server to third-tier patrons. I’ve come to realize that doing this was pretty ridiculous and I definitely want to be more approachable to readers. I also noticed that Discord seems to be the happening place as far as chatting platforms go, so I decided to be more hip with the kids, daddy-o, and make my own.

From now on, all tiers will get access to the server. You can still message me here, on Tumblr, or through the CoG forums, but I thought this might be a good alternative for people who are uncomfortable with those platforms.

As a reminder I also have supplementary lore and things here if that sounds like the kind of thing you would be interested in.

Developer Update: Week of March 26th, 2021

This Friday, I made the full introduction for exile MC2 characters available to the public. The second supplementary lore series, "Ballad of the Anchor Maiden", was also completed. Behind the scenes, I've been trying to interact with people more, and think I've hit a good rhythm on the Choice of Games forum and Tumblr. Also this week (just today, actually, lol), I finished the deer-folk MC2 introduction.

I'll work on the seal-folk MC2 introduction starting next Monday, and probably have it done either in the middle of the week or on Friday. The other introductions for MC2 are going to be released quicker because I do not have to write all of them from scratch. There are significant cultural and narrative changes unique to each, but they all have the same general story beats.

Update: March 26th, 2021

This is a public update announcement. As a reminder, patrons get access to updates one week before the general public.

This update adds:

• The completed exile MC2's introduction.
• Assorted coding/grammar fixes.
• The chapter header for Introduction 2C.
• The map to the library, finally.
• About 25,000 words.

Link.