This game was absolutely fantastic! :D The story was breathtakingly good and the artwork equally so. I loved all the characters, especially Ezo and Kaja. They were such a funny duo and UGH! 10/10 would recommend to anyone who wants a very detailed and engaging story. Looking forward to further progress and even more chapters! :)
I played this a few months ago, and just came back to it. I replayed it a few times and I fell in love with it all over again. Ngl, I'm kind of absolutely smitten by Rezan. Thank you for creating this amazing story <3<3
Oh Ziryan. Mx. bad timing, bursting in during almost every special moment. I wonder how much of the story is left, and how many more "WHAT IS HAPPENING? WH- What is happening?"moments they're going to have
I was originally reading this months ago if not more. I originally dropped it because it wasn't complete, but screw it, im caving. I remember this being AMAZING and there's two more chapters since i last focused on it
I hope you enjoy the new chapters!! Updating takes a long time so I can definitely understand dropping it until it's finished, but I'm glad you returned to it regardless 💖
The scroll should work on mobile same as on PC! It might have issues on the itch.io app or it might depend on which browser you use, so I'd try out a few and see which one works.
Everything in this is so good from the writing to the setting, to the plot to the characters! At first, I was a little surprised because it isn't like most choice games I've played where I could see the setting- but the writing more than makes up for it and allowed me to vividly see everything. I'm for sure replaying this!!
The coronation. THE CORONATION. My God...so beautifully and vividly written. Thank you for sharing your talent with us! Looking forward to the next update!
I absolutely LOVE this game, I have from the first chapter and it's one of my favorite IFs. The characters, the story, the attention to detail ALL OF IT. I was so excited when I heard there was an update, a little late I know but Tumblr is awful with notifications. I was just wondering if there's a way to lower the font size on mobile? Small portions of the text take up a lot of my screen and it's kind of hard to read. It's no problem if not, I can get used to it, I was just wondering if there was some settings button I was failing to find. Hope you have a nice day!
Hello! I haven't played the game much yet but so far I love it.
Can I leave you a suggestion? English is my second language and I usually help myself with the translator in expressions that I don't understand. Only your game won't let me mark the text to be able to do it, but I have to type everything manually. Could that be changed or is it to prevent plagiarism? I understand if it's the latter.
It's the latter! It was really more of a prevention method, just in case, but I still apologize for the inconvenience! I hope it's not too troublesome 😅
Hey! I really love this story. You can tell the amount of hard work that went into this. I want to make a text-based game as well, and have a question- What platform did you use to make this?
I really love this story, it gets better as it goes ^_^ Thank you so much for putting so much hard work into it, you have a great talent for writing! I wanted to let you know that we've mentioned your story in our list of recommended Twine stories. But if that's not okay just let me know. You can view it here, let us know if there are any other details we should add for your title --> https://itch.io/t/1763600/twine-games-with-character-customization-part-1
THE STORYLINE IS SO GOOD!!! The coronation has to be my favourite so far. I absolutely love how customisable the player is and the love interests!!!!!! X and R have my heart, if anything happens to them I may scream. Can't wait for the next update!!!
I've heard of ATOC for the longest time in the IF community but only now finally got around to playing it. I'm in love! The world building seems so alive and I'm having a hard time choosing between ROs. Romancing X as a shy and timid crown is incredibly fun though <3
YET AGAIN YOUVE DONE IT YET AGAIN YOU DASTARDLY FELLOW YET AGAIN HAVE YOU GIVEN US A CLIFFHANGER AND JUST OHHHHH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING--cant wait for future updates and to see how this story unfolds; youre incredibly talented and im so goddamn excited to see how this progresses!!!!! <3
Thank you! Chapter 8 is fantastic! Edit: I meant to ask: How do we change the background color? I looked but couldn't find anything. Another edit: nevermind. I see that the color is a little darker now.
They haven't been removed. If you're playing it on mobile, you need to put your browser in desktop mode before launching the game, otherwise they're not visible. The game is intended to be played on PC, so some functions like this may not always work.
Edit: Also note that this only seems to work on some mobile browsers, like Opera. The options don't seem to appear at all on Google Chrome; nothing I can do about that, unfortunately.
congratz on the next chapter release! I know how much work just goes into the writing, when you add images and choices and the coding to make that all work together it becomes real mind boggling! looking forward to playing through again this week.
Wonderful writing, compelling story, interesting universe. The UI is also very slick and modern. What engine did you use? Only compliant is that I can't view it in vertical on mobile. Really loving it so far. I especially love the little details like pronunciation guide; great extra level of polish which represents how well made this is.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I used Twine with the Sugarcube story format. Unfortunately, the UI elements would look extremely cramped in vertical view (especially images) so horizontal is the best I can do for mobile users at the moment.
Also, note that the game is intended to be played on PC so mobile layout won't be optimized any time soon.
Hello ! I wanted to say thanks for this amazing game. I loved very bit of it and I hope to read the next chapter one day. Much love !! PS: I will never be able to stop loving Xelef and Azad <3
ATOC reminded me how much I enjoy IF after years away from it. This is one of the better storytelling experiences I’ve had in any game, IF, video, board, or other form.
Alright, I've followed this project for quite a while now and I have a genuine question at this point. When you meet Perjin in the palace, there's mention of genuine body transformation, and it got me thinking. In a society that values pronouns as heavily as is shown in the game, will the genuine BTF allow the Crown to be trans? I know they technically can by selecting one sex, and using opposite gendered pronouns, but would a genuine BTF allow them to change their sex to match their identity? I didn't know if that was a thing since it wasn't mentioned anywhere as far as I'm aware, so I didn't want to take the risk of playing as a MtF Crown if some sort of transition wasn't a possibility, so I guess my actual question is if that is something present in the game? I get if it's too big of a hassle to write, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me leading to me actually asking about it. It just seems like something that would fit a setting like this, so even from a lore, if not game perspective, if it's actually a possibility for trans people in your universe?
The answer is plainly yes, but I'll add an explanation regardless:
The concepts of 'cis' and 'trans' don't exist in Arsur because no one is assigned a gender at birth. However, from our own perspective, we can obviously still label characters as trans or cis based on our standards. For example, if you have a character that would have been assigned male at birth by our standards but considers themselves otherwise, they're obviously a trans character to us, even if the concept doesn't apply in universe because they were never misgendered and socially pressured to be male.
Similarly, body transformations are also used in-universe for a variety of reasons, including to better match someone's identity even if gender assignment isn't a concern. You obviously don't have to physically transition to be trans, but the option is definitely there!
It's not something that will be explored in the game though, it's not really a focus of character development for MC: they are comfortable with their identity at this point in their life. Of course you are free to headcanon that your MC used a body transformation themselves when they were younger to fill in the gaps!
That's also why I didn't make the player specify their Crown's gender and sex in-game, only their pronouns - whatever you imagine for your Crown's gender and their experience is fully up to you and is equally canon to anything else.
From a lore stand-point, that's super cool. As a trans person based on our perception on gender and sex, it's cool to see someone who's build a whole ass universe where gender is mostly up to the individual themselves, rather than up to the general perception of society as a whole. I'm a trans woman, and although I live in a pretty liberal country in Scandinavia, there are obviously those who would always proclaim firmly that I'm a man who can't accept myself.
And although trans protagonists are becoming far more common, especially in the interactive fiction scene, I always feel like the protagonist being trans is either just handwaved away as being okay in the setting without any further explanation as to why that's the case, or them being trans just isn't mentioned at all which to me does take away some aspect of what it means to be trans. I'm by no means saying everything should have a big philosophical debate about gender and sex, but some games which even features sex scenes be they explicit or fade to black, often don't have the protagonist mention that they're trans to the love interest at all, yet they go on to have sex without it ever being brought up before or after the sexual encounter which honestly just doesn't make sense.
I can handwave away that all the love interest are magically attracted to the protagonist regardless of gender, but even if they are attracted to their gender, that doesn't automatically apply to their genitals. Some lesbians are more than happy to date trans women regardless of if they've had surgery or not, while some just aren't attracted to male genitals and therefor aren't interested in dating a trans woman (Which is completely fair, genital preferences aren't transphobic) and obviously that goes for gay guys too. So I feel like the protagonist not talking with them about it prior, and it never being brought up after the fact, makes the protagonist being trans feel disingenuous if that makes sense? Obviously we want a setting were our identity is accepted, but it's naïve to not at least make it a topic of conversation when it comes to relationships, because even if the setting is completely accepting of it on a social level, it can still very much make a potential relationship incompatible.
Even in a society where we're fully accepted, it's absolutely still something that's important and needs to be mentioned as a part of the story, because otherwise what's the point in making the protagonist trans? At that point, it just feels like it was added for the sake of being added. We like to pretend that we're no different than cis women, but at the end of the day we are different. Sure we're still the same in terms of our gender identity, but being trans inherently makes us different on a physical level which is something I feel like should be addressed more, especially in games that are romance heavy. It doesn't have to be the main part of the plot mind you, but an offhand line of dialogue where the protagonist tells the LI that they're trans would be enough if that makes sense? Like that I feel like when the LI is fine with it, they've accepted who we are, and established that it doesn't matter to them, which I feel like is a super important thing to establish in a relationship when one of the people in set relationship are trans.
Sorry for my massive long ass commentary on the status of trans protagonists in interactive fiction, it wasn't ever intended to get as long as it did xD. I mostly only ended up going on that tangent to show how much I appreciate your setting, due to how open they are as a society when it comes to identity and biological sex. It's refreshing that there's a deeper meaning behind why being trans isn't a big deal, and it's written in such a way where having those casual conversations about it aren't necessarily needed. It feels genuine, and not just like being trans is accepted just for the sake of making it an option, without any thought-out reason behind why it's accepted the way it is.
Not at all, I really appreciate hearing your thoughts, it's really useful insight for me as a cis game developer! I absolutely agree that it's often a topic that's handwaved away unfortunately for the sake of convenience for the writer, which can really cheapen the experience of an interactive fiction novel. That's also part of the reason why I tried to build a foundation in the worldbuilding for Arsur for why it genuinely isn't an issue, aside from me also just trying to get away from cisheternormative standards.
Also, I want to add that while MC's own experiences with gender identity are left up to the player, the way gender works in the game's culture will definitely be further touched on in future lore sections to further expand how such norms work in Arsur. While it may not be a focal point, it's also just fun for me as a writer to experiment with it!
In any case, thanks for taking the time to leave such thoughtful comments 💖
I absolutely LOVE this!! Your writing is so good, I was hooked from page 1 just because it was so pleasing to read! Currently doing Dara's route and I love him, I can't wait for more <3 All the other characters are so interesting as well! Usually there's always someone who annoys me or I just find everyone really boring, but not in your story! They're all lovely! I can't wait to read the whole story, you have a great talent for this, keep it up! <3 definitely gonna read it again several more times :')
super lucky to discover this game when several chapters have already be released, but now i've devoured them and I can't wait for me! this game has single-handedly got me back into reading. every part of it is absolutely amazing.
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I adore this game! It's so engaging!
This game was absolutely fantastic! :D The story was breathtakingly good and the artwork equally so. I loved all the characters, especially Ezo and Kaja. They were such a funny duo and UGH! 10/10 would recommend to anyone who wants a very detailed and engaging story. Looking forward to further progress and even more chapters! :)
I played this a few months ago, and just came back to it. I replayed it a few times and I fell in love with it all over again. Ngl, I'm kind of absolutely smitten by Rezan. Thank you for creating this amazing story <3<3
Oh Ziryan. Mx. bad timing, bursting in during almost every special moment. I wonder how much of the story is left, and how many more "WHAT IS HAPPENING? WH- What is happening?"moments they're going to have
I was originally reading this months ago if not more. I originally dropped it because it wasn't complete, but screw it, im caving. I remember this being AMAZING and there's two more chapters since i last focused on it
I hope you enjoy the new chapters!! Updating takes a long time so I can definitely understand dropping it until it's finished, but I'm glad you returned to it regardless 💖
How do you scroll on mobile? I really love this story but im going to be away from my pc for a while so i have to play in my phone :(
The scroll should work on mobile same as on PC! It might have issues on the itch.io app or it might depend on which browser you use, so I'd try out a few and see which one works.
Everything in this is so good from the writing to the setting, to the plot to the characters! At first, I was a little surprised because it isn't like most choice games I've played where I could see the setting- but the writing more than makes up for it and allowed me to vividly see everything. I'm for sure replaying this!!
loved it! the story was the great and the characters are really fun to interact with!!
I didn’t save. It’s all gone. I’m going to die of sadness now.
The coronation. THE CORONATION. My God...so beautifully and vividly written. Thank you for sharing your talent with us! Looking forward to the next update!
Hey cherry!
Do you have a discord channel by any chance?
Sure do!! Here's the invite link if you and anyone else would like to join ✨
Note also that it's a 16+ server, so anyone under that age is not allowed to join!
Thanks!
I absolutely LOVE this game, I have from the first chapter and it's one of my favorite IFs. The characters, the story, the attention to detail ALL OF IT. I was so excited when I heard there was an update, a little late I know but Tumblr is awful with notifications. I was just wondering if there's a way to lower the font size on mobile? Small portions of the text take up a lot of my screen and it's kind of hard to read. It's no problem if not, I can get used to it, I was just wondering if there was some settings button I was failing to find. Hope you have a nice day!
love the new chapter! Dara and Xelef routes were the cutes this chapter in my option. AAAH I can't wait for a new chapter
This some beautiful game and i am so so happy of the development the team put the effort into this.
Hello! I haven't played the game much yet but so far I love it.
Can I leave you a suggestion? English is my second language and I usually help myself with the translator in expressions that I don't understand. Only your game won't let me mark the text to be able to do it, but I have to type everything manually. Could that be changed or is it to prevent plagiarism? I understand if it's the latter.
Thank you for your attention and work!
It's the latter! It was really more of a prevention method, just in case, but I still apologize for the inconvenience! I hope it's not too troublesome 😅
I really love how the tax official recognizes Xelara/Xelef and Shouts: YOU SEDUCED MY FATHER/MOTHER! Great work.
Hey! I really love this story. You can tell the amount of hard work that went into this. I want to make a text-based game as well, and have a question- What platform did you use to make this?
Check the 'Credits' page in the game on the sidebar! That lists all the programs I've used 💖
ohh!! Thanks so much!
I love this game soo much, I played the whole thing within three days and can't wait for the next update
I really love this story, it gets better as it goes ^_^ Thank you so much for putting so much hard work into it, you have a great talent for writing! I wanted to let you know that we've mentioned your story in our list of recommended Twine stories. But if that's not okay just let me know. You can view it here, let us know if there are any other details we should add for your title --> https://itch.io/t/1763600/twine-games-with-character-customization-part-1
Of course, that's totally fine!! Thank you for the rec 💖
THE STORYLINE IS SO GOOD!!! The coronation has to be my favourite so far. I absolutely love how customisable the player is and the love interests!!!!!! X and R have my heart, if anything happens to them I may scream. Can't wait for the next update!!!
I've heard of ATOC for the longest time in the IF community but only now finally got around to playing it. I'm in love! The world building seems so alive and I'm having a hard time choosing between ROs. Romancing X as a shy and timid crown is incredibly fun though <3
YET AGAIN YOUVE DONE IT YET AGAIN YOU DASTARDLY FELLOW YET AGAIN HAVE YOU GIVEN US A CLIFFHANGER AND JUST OHHHHH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING--cant wait for future updates and to see how this story unfolds; youre incredibly talented and im so goddamn excited to see how this progresses!!!!! <3
I'll consider that cliffhanger Mission Accomplished then haha. Thanks so much!! 💖
I've enjoyed your story very much.
Thank you! Chapter 8 is fantastic! Edit: I meant to ask: How do we change the background color? I looked but couldn't find anything. Another edit: nevermind. I see that the color is a little darker now.
Excuse me while I die because chapter 8 has been released...I love this game too much 😂
Is there any way to not get 'blunt' and 'charming'? I don't know if there is like a shy or timid option but if there is I don't know how to get it😭😭
Oh wait nevermind I already found out the character traits!! If anyone is also curious simply just go to cherry's tumblr
Love the story and characters! 😍
My only question is whether the new update was supposed to remove the "load disk" and "save disk" options on the saves menu.
They haven't been removed. If you're playing it on mobile, you need to put your browser in desktop mode before launching the game, otherwise they're not visible. The game is intended to be played on PC, so some functions like this may not always work.
Edit: Also note that this only seems to work on some mobile browsers, like Opera. The options don't seem to appear at all on Google Chrome; nothing I can do about that, unfortunately.
Thank you for clearing up that. Love the lore behind the chapter.
Glad you enjoyed it 💖
congratz on the next chapter release! I know how much work just goes into the writing, when you add images and choices and the coding to make that all work together it becomes real mind boggling! looking forward to playing through again this week.
I got the bad end first playthrough. Didn't even know there were multiple endings. Well done.
What do you mean bad ending? What happened huh?
If you don't get enough relationship points with at least 1 of the love interests by the end of Chapter Four, you get an early bad end 😔
oh thx
I am so happy I found this game, The story and characters are just wonderful! I cant wait for the next chapters, keep up the good work :D
Wonderful writing, compelling story, interesting universe. The UI is also very slick and modern. What engine did you use? Only compliant is that I can't view it in vertical on mobile. Really loving it so far. I especially love the little details like pronunciation guide; great extra level of polish which represents how well made this is.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I used Twine with the Sugarcube story format. Unfortunately, the UI elements would look extremely cramped in vertical view (especially images) so horizontal is the best I can do for mobile users at the moment.
Also, note that the game is intended to be played on PC so mobile layout won't be optimized any time soon.
I'm glad you enjoyed it regardless 💖
Hello ! I wanted to say thanks for this amazing game. I loved very bit of it and I hope to read the next chapter one day. Much love !!
PS: I will never be able to stop loving Xelef and Azad <3
ATOC reminded me how much I enjoy IF after years away from it. This is one of the better storytelling experiences I’ve had in any game, IF, video, board, or other form.
I have no words... I just want to keep on reading this amazing work!
Can't wait for the next update.
Just finished the latest chapter and my cats have had to put up with my screeching!
I have so many theories Im losing my mind!!!
Alright, I've followed this project for quite a while now and I have a genuine question at this point. When you meet Perjin in the palace, there's mention of genuine body transformation, and it got me thinking. In a society that values pronouns as heavily as is shown in the game, will the genuine BTF allow the Crown to be trans? I know they technically can by selecting one sex, and using opposite gendered pronouns, but would a genuine BTF allow them to change their sex to match their identity? I didn't know if that was a thing since it wasn't mentioned anywhere as far as I'm aware, so I didn't want to take the risk of playing as a MtF Crown if some sort of transition wasn't a possibility, so I guess my actual question is if that is something present in the game? I get if it's too big of a hassle to write, but I guess my curiosity got the better of me leading to me actually asking about it. It just seems like something that would fit a setting like this, so even from a lore, if not game perspective, if it's actually a possibility for trans people in your universe?
The answer is plainly yes, but I'll add an explanation regardless:
The concepts of 'cis' and 'trans' don't exist in Arsur because no one is assigned a gender at birth. However, from our own perspective, we can obviously still label characters as trans or cis based on our standards. For example, if you have a character that would have been assigned male at birth by our standards but considers themselves otherwise, they're obviously a trans character to us, even if the concept doesn't apply in universe because they were never misgendered and socially pressured to be male.
Similarly, body transformations are also used in-universe for a variety of reasons, including to better match someone's identity even if gender assignment isn't a concern. You obviously don't have to physically transition to be trans, but the option is definitely there!
It's not something that will be explored in the game though, it's not really a focus of character development for MC: they are comfortable with their identity at this point in their life. Of course you are free to headcanon that your MC used a body transformation themselves when they were younger to fill in the gaps!
That's also why I didn't make the player specify their Crown's gender and sex in-game, only their pronouns - whatever you imagine for your Crown's gender and their experience is fully up to you and is equally canon to anything else.
From a lore stand-point, that's super cool. As a trans person based on our perception on gender and sex, it's cool to see someone who's build a whole ass universe where gender is mostly up to the individual themselves, rather than up to the general perception of society as a whole. I'm a trans woman, and although I live in a pretty liberal country in Scandinavia, there are obviously those who would always proclaim firmly that I'm a man who can't accept myself.
And although trans protagonists are becoming far more common, especially in the interactive fiction scene, I always feel like the protagonist being trans is either just handwaved away as being okay in the setting without any further explanation as to why that's the case, or them being trans just isn't mentioned at all which to me does take away some aspect of what it means to be trans. I'm by no means saying everything should have a big philosophical debate about gender and sex, but some games which even features sex scenes be they explicit or fade to black, often don't have the protagonist mention that they're trans to the love interest at all, yet they go on to have sex without it ever being brought up before or after the sexual encounter which honestly just doesn't make sense.
I can handwave away that all the love interest are magically attracted to the protagonist regardless of gender, but even if they are attracted to their gender, that doesn't automatically apply to their genitals. Some lesbians are more than happy to date trans women regardless of if they've had surgery or not, while some just aren't attracted to male genitals and therefor aren't interested in dating a trans woman (Which is completely fair, genital preferences aren't transphobic) and obviously that goes for gay guys too. So I feel like the protagonist not talking with them about it prior, and it never being brought up after the fact, makes the protagonist being trans feel disingenuous if that makes sense? Obviously we want a setting were our identity is accepted, but it's naïve to not at least make it a topic of conversation when it comes to relationships, because even if the setting is completely accepting of it on a social level, it can still very much make a potential relationship incompatible.
Even in a society where we're fully accepted, it's absolutely still something that's important and needs to be mentioned as a part of the story, because otherwise what's the point in making the protagonist trans? At that point, it just feels like it was added for the sake of being added. We like to pretend that we're no different than cis women, but at the end of the day we are different. Sure we're still the same in terms of our gender identity, but being trans inherently makes us different on a physical level which is something I feel like should be addressed more, especially in games that are romance heavy. It doesn't have to be the main part of the plot mind you, but an offhand line of dialogue where the protagonist tells the LI that they're trans would be enough if that makes sense? Like that I feel like when the LI is fine with it, they've accepted who we are, and established that it doesn't matter to them, which I feel like is a super important thing to establish in a relationship when one of the people in set relationship are trans.
Sorry for my massive long ass commentary on the status of trans protagonists in interactive fiction, it wasn't ever intended to get as long as it did xD. I mostly only ended up going on that tangent to show how much I appreciate your setting, due to how open they are as a society when it comes to identity and biological sex. It's refreshing that there's a deeper meaning behind why being trans isn't a big deal, and it's written in such a way where having those casual conversations about it aren't necessarily needed. It feels genuine, and not just like being trans is accepted just for the sake of making it an option, without any thought-out reason behind why it's accepted the way it is.
Not at all, I really appreciate hearing your thoughts, it's really useful insight for me as a cis game developer! I absolutely agree that it's often a topic that's handwaved away unfortunately for the sake of convenience for the writer, which can really cheapen the experience of an interactive fiction novel. That's also part of the reason why I tried to build a foundation in the worldbuilding for Arsur for why it genuinely isn't an issue, aside from me also just trying to get away from cisheternormative standards.
Also, I want to add that while MC's own experiences with gender identity are left up to the player, the way gender works in the game's culture will definitely be further touched on in future lore sections to further expand how such norms work in Arsur. While it may not be a focal point, it's also just fun for me as a writer to experiment with it!
In any case, thanks for taking the time to leave such thoughtful comments 💖
I absolutely LOVE this!! Your writing is so good, I was hooked from page 1 just because it was so pleasing to read! Currently doing Dara's route and I love him, I can't wait for more <3
All the other characters are so interesting as well! Usually there's always someone who annoys me or I just find everyone really boring, but not in your story! They're all lovely!
I can't wait to read the whole story, you have a great talent for this, keep it up! <3 definitely gonna read it again several more times :')
super lucky to discover this game when several chapters have already be released, but now i've devoured them and I can't wait for me! this game has single-handedly got me back into reading. every part of it is absolutely amazing.
wanna thank this game for introducing me to the wonderful world of interactive fiction <3