#Demo

[merrycrisis-if]

Links in the main post are updated! Demo has been ported to cogdemos.ink!

Merry Crisis

Romance-focused x Slice-of-life x Queer x Non-Euro-centric x Character-based

As a late 20-something year-old fresh from a recent break-up and struggling to pay rent in New York, life throws up more questions than answers.

Demo | Cast of characters | Dev log | Main post | COG forum thread | Dedicated tumblr | Ko-fi

Gameplay features

Full character customisation (with wide-ranging effects on story and gameplay): pick your gender, height, build, personality, physical attractiveness, career, language proficiency, accent, and many more!

Patch things up with a (very recent) ex, who also happens to be your flatmate in Brooklyn—resolve the issues that had slowly caused a rift between you, or call it quits and move on.

Run into your first-love and find closure or rekindle an old flame. They’re doing ridiculously, absurdly, well—at least on the outside, but you wonder if anything has changed since you’d left Singapore for college.

Have a whirlwind romance with the sexy neighbour that your mom despises, mostly because they’re in an indie band (not a real job), have tattoos, and leave muddy mountain bike tracks on the common corridor.

Survive a week back home with family—and possibly even strengthen your relationships (or quickly lose your sanity when your aunt asks for the fifth time if you’re still single).

Watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks—and contemplate if your future still lies in New York, or if you should finally return to Singapore.

Author’s note

The game explores being in one’s late 20s, being torn between a place you’re born in versus a place you’ve chosen to build your life in, the tension between familiarity and adventure, duty and freedom, and asks: what does ‘home’ truly mean, and is it really where the heart lies?

[catboy-medic-tf2]

I saw an image of a cat and felt like drawing demoman

Og photo

[megsiepoo]

Seen this meme making the rounds

Yeah I'll jump on it

[d3addoberman]

I love wemon!!

[unsanctioned-if]

Demo is up!

On a dark winter’s night, a child signs a contract with a man dead to the world.

Promised an upbringing filled with forbidden knowledge, the two enter a strange and isolated existence together.

After nineteen years, the sanctuary and prison you have come to know as your home is discovered, and the land finally learns that the villain they believed to have perished a century prior has merely been in hiding���and that he isn’t alone.

Separated and forced to flee, you’re once again released into the world without your master’s hand to guide you. Only now, he is no longer the only one adept at the unsanctioned arcane arts.

“Unsanctioned” is a 17+ interactive novel created in Twine where you play as the apprentice of an ostracized sorcerer. It’s set in a dark fantasy world where magic is simultaneously a symbol of status and strictly supervised.

Demo

Progress Status

Total Wordcount: Around 180k (as of January 2024)

Words Edited/Coded in Twine: Around 180k (as of January 2024)

Written Chapters: Prologue + Chapter 1 + Start of Chapter 2.

Edited Chapters: Prologue (3 backgrounds), chapter 1, beginning of Chapter 2

Finished Demo (with fixes, added content, profile page etc.) Estimated Release Date: TBA

Currently 10 chapters in total are planned.

Features

✢ Three backgrounds to choose from which will shape your MC and their relationship with the world, impact their pool of knowledge, their countenance, and how others might react to them.

✢ Three races to choose from: elf, human or the shunned cryn.

✢ A complicated parental relationship at the heart of the narrative.

✢ A cast of potential – and not entirely lawful – companions who you can forge various relationships with.

✢ Around five full-fledged romances, along with casual flings you may try to pursue along the way.

✢ Choices that shape your MC’s personality as well as the world around them to a lesser or bigger degree and narrative branching based on certain choices.

✢ A game of truth and deceit with you as one of the main players. You've been taught to keep your identity and abilities a secret from others, but is secrecy what you truly want?

✢ A magic system of both legal and illegal spells at your disposal. Use wisely, or you might attract unwanted attention...

Characters

✢ Elven, He/Him

If the stories are to be trusted, he is the last surviving member of the group of sorcerers unceremoniously named the “Pentagon order”. He is your master and your caretaker, your mentor and your jailor.

Knowledgeable and lonesome, he often seems to be pondering the world which he has now become a reclused observer of.

Whether you consider him family or a brute who took you away from the life you were meant to live, it can’t be argued that the nineteen years the two of you have spent together has shaped you into the person you are today.

How your presence has affected him, you cannot confidently say. His mind remains as closed off to you now as it did on that snowy winter’s night so long ago.

Perhaps leaving his side is what will finally allow you to learn the truth about him.

✢ ?, He/Him

As a being born from the very essence of sorcery, Muir’s existence threads a thin line between mortality and something wholly other. All mages rely on the energy of their Magiramús to cast their spells; you rely on this hoary eyed young man to do the same. Aside from his direct and stubborn disposition, he possesses both a palpable kindness and a sense of unmotivated ruthlessness.

You don’t know what he is, yet you know him better than anyone. You left your home together; now you must learn to navigate the world together.

Something that’s much easier said than done when your very existence marks you as outlaws.

✢ Elven, They/Them

One need only look at Wren to know that they’re one of the Institute’s agents. If the robes didn’t give it away, their demeanour certainly would.

Arrogance lies deeply embedded in their eyes, and they seem convinced that anyone who looks their way does so with envy.

When you encounter them in the troubled village of Kelmerth during their Practice of Passing, you get to witness firsthand what a student of the most distinguished academy on the continent can do, and what being a product of its teachings really means.

✢ Human, She/Her

 Hailing from the southern land of Ciralor, one of the few human-ruled countries on the continent, Azora is less attuned to the laws of the arcane than a native of Aíos would be.

Instead, she tends to rely on the inventions her homeland is both renowned and feared for. She is eloquent, straight-forward and impulsive to a fault – but it is all, according to her, to reclaim her rightful place as Ciralor’s leader.

A task that proves difficult when every day is a battle to stay in control of her own body.

✢ Vampiric, She/Her

Astra's gaze always appears to wander, searching for something in the crowds she often surrounds herself with, occasionally locking on to someone who just so happens to catch her interest.

Although her muscular stature points to a life of strife, the poise she displays is more befitting of a high born than that of a common thug.

As a vampire, she has little choice but to shun the light of day and seek the comfort that lies in the shadows. Representing the part of her people that refuse to conform to the rules set in place by the less potent, she operates outside of the law, following instead the self-made rules of her Coven.

✢ Cryn, He/Him

The order of The Aelesh is enveloped in mystery. Worshipping the world of the unknown, they have chosen to cast aside the Faith in favour of the Truth – and in their eyes, the truth lies beyond that which mortals can comprehend and perceive with their senses.

With the simple mask he insists on wearing, your only clue as to Kirin’s true character lies in his voice and body language. Each sparse movement has a purpose, every phrase a veiled meaning.

He’s vowed to express his beliefs by following in the footsteps of the infamous Pentagons and to serve them in any way he can.

In his opinion, this is currently best done by aiding you.

Spellsystem

You will be able to access a “book of spells” (codex) from the game's menu whenever you wish. The spells that your MC has learned, or learned about, will be displayed there along with some information regarding what each spell does.

There are key points during the story where using magic might attract attention or be more risky than other times. Know that there are no bad endings in this game, but that choices do have consequences, and that includes your use of magic.

There are spells which are considered “lawful” and spells which are labelled as “forbidden”. You will have access to both, though due to the nature of the MC's upbringing, they will have a wide range of forbidden spells at their disposal.

Even when using a “lawful” spell, this is still considered a crime unless you have a permit to do so.

There are moments in the game where you will be able to go to the spell menu and select the spell you want to cast (if any). Not all spells will always be available at all times simply because of branching reasons, but I’m striving to make it as free-choice as possible and add flavour-text in most cases at the very least.

Credits

Cover art: cyanide-chicken

Character portraits: holyantenna (upper portraits) and mooreux (lower portraits)

Logo art/text design: kathaeris

[jerek-sfm]

Road To Gold - Downward the Upward

[teamfurtress]

Scottish sheepie

[vnynv]

Something feels..... OFF 🤨

[orangeboxnlime]

Some basic RED vs BLU designs, with the idea that Blu mercs' accessories are mirrored

[biazerod]

The "snowed in" comic I've been teasing for every winter past 3 years, finally here! :D

part 1/?

[its-desca]

Shit ton of Lil Pootis gifs for my own nefarious purposes, part 4

[allieebobo]

Just a heads-up that all the links to demos in this post are updated too, after the cogdemos.ink port :)

Monsoon Games

Monsoon Games is a small indie game studio that creates story-rich, character-driven games. We want our games to create a cozy space that feels like home - in all its varied and unexpected forms.

We are passionate about making games that tell diverse stories and experiences, feature strong, memorable characters, and most of all, create moments that are both heartwarming and thought-provoking.

Whether it’s exploring the rollercoaster of navigating life as a college varsity athlete (College Tennis: Origin Story), or the bittersweet struggle to figure out where ‘home’ is after a messy breakup (Merry Crisis) - or quietly carving out a new life as a diner-owner on a distant moon (Space Diner-WIP), our games invite players into rich, unique worlds full of colorful, diverse characters.

Ko-fi (Support the Game Studio!)

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College Tennis: Origin Story

Sports x Slice-of-life x Romance x Coming-of-age x Found-family x College x Modern

Experience the ups-and-downs of life as a freshman on the Cargill University varsity tennis team amongst a colorful cast of characters.

Compete in nail-biting singles and doubles matches, forge lifelong friendships, pursue budding romances and make a name for yourself, both on and off the tennis court.

Will the once-great Cargill Coyotes succeed in reclaiming the NCAA Div I championship title for the first time since the 90s? Will you come into your own as a promising young tennis star, primed for the professional leagues? Most importantly, how much are you willing to sacrifice in pursuit of these dreams?

Demo | Dedicated blog | Main Post | Characters | Dev log | COG forum | Crowdsourced playlists

___________________________

Non-Euro-centric x Romance-focused x Slice-of-life x Queer x Coming-of-age

As a late 20-something year-old fresh from a recent break-up and struggling to pay rent in New York, life throws up more questions than answers.

Will the trip home for the holidays bring a fresh perspective, and a welcome change of scenery? Will you survive the week with your sanity—and your relationship with your family—intact? Will you win back your ex, revisit an old flame, the first love you left behind in Singapore, or perhaps start something new with the neighbor your mother loves-to-hate?

At the end of the week, as you watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks, decide if your future lies in New York or back in Singapore.

Demo | Dedicated blog | Features | Cast of characters | Dev log | COG forum | Crowdsourced playlists

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Author corner

About me

Allie, 27, she/her. Useless dumb-jock who lives for good coffee, sunshine, hikes/bikes, and slow sunday mornings. Urban planner by day, writer by night.

Send in asks, and messages to: @allieebobo (main), or at the dedicated blog handles @collegetennisoriginstory and @merrycrisis-if. Development announcements and other goodies will go on main, and be reblogged on each of the dedicated blogs.

What I’m currently:

Writing: Chapter Seven for CT:OS

Reading: Psalm for the wild-built (friend described it as Ursila Le Guin-esque, and I definitely see it!)

Listening to: I Will Forget You by Jeong Cha-Sik

Watching: Signal

Other WIP ideas

[prajjna]

He ruined the group photo 😭 (> original vd)

[gnarlysheepsart]

CULTURE SHOCK, FUTURE SHOCK FUCK YOURSELF, CHOKE YOURSELF

[nebulousmedic]

Fruit loop, you're making a (bigger) mess. Also Medic in heels >>>

normal colors below

this version also slaps I think