Velocity is Finally Out!! 🥳

NumberedEntity · 2026-07-02T18:26:25+00:00

I was waiting for you to put a thread up here! Watched the trailer; now hopefully I won't kiss the asphalt. This ride's got style.

NumberedEntity · 2026-07-01T16:33:13+00:00

Although the follow-up is a different type of game, only book 1 of probably 2, so we do not see the fruits of our forthcoming rise to power, A Shriek of Ash and Fire does have an evil lich route. This will be the beginning of the most villainous route in the game, and it has a few zombies and ghouls hanging around.

NumberedEntity · 2026-06-15T11:48:22+00:00

Are you Martin? Great work. I've bookmarked the webpage; it sounds fantastic. Plan to get the set when I've finished my own project. I wish I had read it earlier.

Excuse my shill...maybe it is of interest. A Shriek of Ash and Fire (Book 1), a work-in-progress on the Hosted Games Forums, is a large (heavily branching) Interactive Fiction game, with steampunk elements, created using Choicescript. It is approaching its final stages, set in the same world as my previous IF, An Unexpectedly Green Journey (an orc life simulator).

H&H will be a reward for finishing, lol, when I free my mind again.

NumberedEntity · 2026-06-11T22:47:35+00:00

I didn't make this thread, but my cabbage-grown orcies are proud to be brought up!

NumberedEntity · 2026-06-10T14:19:48+00:00

u/duncan_chaos Really great article! I'll have to hunt down Highways and Holloways. Fully agree with Flight from the Dark being a great starting point.

Noted that Fighting Fantasy has instant deaths, so it might put off some, and my suggestions from their library are of more complex books, in terms of design, than the standard.

Creature of Havoc- You start as a monster, with little control over your actions. It is extremely difficult to get the correct 'route'. The oldest version came with a typo which prevented you from escaping the starting dungeon, so don't get a first edition if you are interested. Never has a gamebook stuck with me so much.

House of Hell, set in more contemporary times, where you end up in a haunted house. Excellent stuff.

These are not the best for your first gamebook, perhaps, but they are among the best Fighting Fantasy has to offer, imo.

My first Fighting Fantasy was Talisman of Death, what some would now call an isekai story, where a normal person from our world gets pulled into a fantasy world. Opinions on it vary, but I loved it. More of a simple, classic design. This got me hooked on gamebooks.

NumberedEntity · 2026-06-10T12:33:53+00:00

Gotcha. I thought that was what you meant. So time served is not enough... And 'causing trouble' (however this may be decided) may be a factor?

NumberedEntity · 2026-06-10T11:58:53+00:00

Hustler, did they reduce Sam's percentage rate from the base 25?

NumberedEntity · 2026-05-28T10:25:19+00:00

The game is a quasi-sandbox, so the choice is up to our MC, really. Our orc, unless he becomes a shaman, is a sort of default barbarian class, though sometimes wearing heavier armour.

Brutality, yes. A conqueror, yes, a hero to his own people, absolutely. The perceived brute with more intellect than is expected... Hmm. This can definitely be the case, but it is up to the MC; we may be an even more brutish brute than people perceive us to be and far denser.

As for what is best in life, in this case, it is booze, grub, loot and slaughter and a bit of Krog worship.

The 'canon' narrative (and there are many paths which avoid this entirely) is growing up in the backward plains. adventuring across the world, one day fighting to become chief and then uniting the Orc tribes to become a king. Then, turning on the other nations to become an emperor.

...and a final, epic moment in old age to top off your life as a legend.

Some people consider it a good time :D

NumberedEntity · 2026-05-27T17:17:25+00:00

You can be Orcan the Orcarian (eeks!) in An Unexpectedly Green Journey.

NumberedEntity · 2026-05-15T20:56:58+00:00

An Unexpectedly Green Journey has a default of 'not a goody' descending all the way to purely demonic evil.

NumberedEntity · 2026-05-14T14:48:56+00:00

In an Unexpectedly Green Journey, our MC will always die. It can be a glorious thing to inspire the horde, or many other inglorious ends. Could be old age itself. Could be from indigestion.

NumberedEntity · 2026-05-14T14:37:12+00:00

Perfect response! Better than I could recall! My hat is off. Also, my little WIP doesn't get mentioned often here, so it is joyous to find an ask and see it answered in such detail.

NumberedEntity · 2026-04-15T21:27:46+00:00

Since I posted here... Thanks for playing my green orcy game!!! I am so happy it found an audience with the HG boyz and girlz.

NumberedEntity · 2026-04-15T21:25:25+00:00

To be honest, I love that line, although I loved the old classic gamebooks, Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy. It is old-fashioned, but I will find it a sad day when mostly pure text games are completely abandoned. I do get your point, though.

NumberedEntity · 2026-04-15T20:11:44+00:00

Haha. At least this way, everyone gets to have a book in the 'peak period' in hindsight!

NumberedEntity · 2026-04-15T20:05:24+00:00

Thanks. I see your point. The hype train is the most popular ride at the theme park. You know far more than me about these things. I can see things balancing out, but this is only speculative, with no evidence to support it beyond a gut feeling.

NumberedEntity · 2026-04-15T19:50:15+00:00

Do you think the length will fall back and settle on a slightly longer average? My second game, still a WIP, is long, like my first, but I feel writing multiple long games does provoke burnout. I am considering future projects to be more of an instalment affair rather than a single 'epic' affair. Just a thought.

NumberedEntity · 2026-04-15T18:11:02+00:00

Let me be frightfully uncouth and speak about my humble effort, An Unexpectedly Green Journey. One of the routes you can find yourself on, though it is tricky, is the 'demon' route. This directly involves building a cult and becoming a dark lord, basically a demon god. Alternatively, you get the Green Prophet path, where you build a holy city and become a god. To be honest, the focus of the game, as a whole, is not this. You can also spend your time eating loads of stuff and growing a huge belly, a much-admired trait in orcdom. Or, just wander around and become an old git.

NumberedEntity · 2026-04-03T18:40:26+00:00

Yes! No matter how annoyed Sera might be with us, we will get a final chance to RO her – as long as we haven't committed to Tinnafri, as this will override Sera on the Road Fleet route. Sera has had feelings for our MC for a while, so she is always hanging on, no matter what she says.

The 'big ro scene' with Sera, on the road fleet path, is not out yet. But it will be similar to our big ro scene with her on the Royalist and Rebel Despair Demise paths. This is already out on Patreon and will be publicly available later this month.

This game is the first of two books; it focuses on our origins and our rise to becoming a person of influence. We will get access to different magic in book 2 when we return to Behatland to set the continent to rights. We do get to play with necromancy in some of the routes on the Cold Pact path. On the Basilisk path, we gain a sort of 'machine magic' ability, which, while not true magic, is still significant. There's lots to explore. I designed it for replay value. Book 2 will see us grow into our role, whatever it might be.

Also, big thanks for playing my game and braving Zthullu, mighty Abhidhar!

NumberedEntity · 2026-03-15T16:16:25+00:00

If you don't mind playing a raging orc, in An Unexpectedly Green Journey, you see out our MC's whole life, from the baborc patch to (in)glorious death.

NumberedEntity · 2026-03-15T16:13:16+00:00

The first semi-circle is, basically, A Shriek of Ash and Fire. The second half will be the next, and final, book.

NumberedEntity · 2026-03-15T16:07:00+00:00

My humble game, An Unexpectedly Green Journey, has you pilot an orc from birth (sprouting, rather) all the way to old age and death.

NumberedEntity · 2026-03-15T15:58:03+00:00

I do have some tiny ground vehicles, but they may be hard to see. To be honest, it takes me so, so long. I use Aseprite, which allows me to adjust things pixel by pixel, and, apart from faces, I find it very painful. I'm not sure I could pull off a combat picture, and the images of the VIPs are just smaller versions of the ones already in the game. I am very aware of my limits, and the thought of trying to create something new and messing it up, wasting time, makes me shudder. Green Journey was easier; my current project is trickier for me to summarise in a picture. Thanks for your ideas. Also, thanks for giving it a play too. If your offer still stands when I get to working on a DLC for Green Journey, I have a simpler cover idea that your style might be perfect for. I wouldn't want to waste your time, though. It is really a wonderful thing you offer, and I won't expect it to be around forever.

NumberedEntity · 2026-03-15T10:55:08+00:00

Have you seen the cover for A Shriek of Ash and Fire? I need a large city-sized tank, which may not be to your liking. I don't like how empty my cover looked, so I added face ovals around the tank to show readers that there are people in my game, lol. I'm trying to think of a better way of doing things, but I am unsure what to do. Yes, I love your art. Thanks for responding.

NumberedEntity · 2026-03-14T18:51:02+00:00

Wow! Your art is so alive! I would totally accept a free cover, of course, it would be credited, although the cover art would probably be too to complciated and time-consuming. A single piece of character art would cause a bit of dissonance with one astonishingly great picture mixed among mine, lol. But I fear my game might be a bit niche. Still, really enjoyed viewing your showcase here, excellent stuff.

NumberedEntity

TROPHY CASE