Daleko Writes

I'm an author of traditional and interactive fiction, and I'm currently working on two projects in ChoiceScript. One is a science-based apocalyptic horror, while the other is a romantic drama set in Naples, Italy. This blog will mostly be about my works in progress!

I have, however, already published a short introspective drama in ChoiceScript, which can be found here.

I will soon set up a page for each of them on here, but in the meantime, here is a brief introduction:

After Dark

While the heavy industry is more active than ever, the effects of global warming are evident, with higher temperatures, dying bees, and animals acting weird. After Dark is a scientifically accurate apocalyptic horror. You’re tired of zombies rising from the ground for no reason? You don’t believe in ghosts? Glittering vampires aren’t for you? Then you have to try one of the three different stories that unfold in After Dark. When a global pandemic starts to transform people into dangerous monsters, which path will you choose? Will you fight for humanity? Will you stay for your family? Or will you run away in search of a better future?

The In-Between

You’re an introverted college student, studying modern languages at a famous university based in Naples. You live a seemingly ordinary life with your parent and younger sibling, as no one knows the truth about your past side business—a dark, illegal one. You thought you had finally escaped that world, but when your younger sibling falls seriously ill, your only hope is your wealthy ex-lover: an attractive mobster, charming and dangerous in equal parts...

Roadmap: Next Updates

Hey there!

Here’s the Road Map for June and July! As always, these dates are subject to change, but I’ll keep you updated through Patreon, Discord, and Tumblr if anything shifts.

Your support makes all the difference, so thank you for helping me bring these stories to life. If you’re able, please consider supporting my work on Patreon! Loyal Readers (€3.50/month) get early access to updates, while Tireless Readers (€10/month) can join a private Discord for exclusive polls and discussions, receive a monthly newsletter, and also get an exclusive side story delivered each month straight to their inbox.

There are also Donor Edition tiers for readers who would like to contribute to the community charity fund, as well as a Die-Hard Reader tier with physical rewards; feel free to check them out! ☺

Happy reading, everyone! ♥

No. You can simply opt out of the placeholder art.

The Code Revamp 2 early access update is here!

If you thought last month's devlog was long, you haven't seen anything yet! Please read it, there are a ton of important changes and bug fixes listed!

Monthly rambling in 3 2 1...

Hey friends!

I'm back from England, and this month too I somehow managed to post the monthly update on schedule! (Okay, a few hours late, but still.) How I managed it, I honestly don’t know. Sooner or later I'm going to need to take a proper vacation, because my brain is seriously starting to short-circuit between my main job, my second job, research work, and writing. Just look at the absurd number of bug fixes, eek!

Still, I'm happy to announce that this was the last Code Revamp, at least for now. I couldn't add new scenes, but the notebook is finally functional, and there’s been quite a lot of rewording and reworking. As always, corrections and suggestions are welcome!

DEVLOG

Fixed a major issue with the internal save system that could lead to irreversible corruption after loading twice.

Fixed a bug in the internal save system when loading after a specific type of death.

Refined some wording in the internal save system.

Added a fallback to prevent a potential game-breaking issue in the collectibles system.

Added a fallback to prevent a potential game-breaking bug while reading news.

Reduced the hunger threshold required for MC to agree to stop and eat lunch while traveling.

Adjusted the amount of energy restored by resting on Day 1 due to a duplicated value.

Restored a timer in an early-game conversation that was never properly initialized.

Fixed an issue where relationship rejection was not properly recorded when both Kay and Divya turned MC down.

Fixed (hopefully) an issue affecting Michael's romance path.

Attempted to further bulletproof the Michael romance bug. Hopefully this fix finally did the trick!

Reworded various scenes and choices.

Revised one of the short clue scenes during online browsing.

Fixed a bug that prevented MC from entering two of the cars in the parking lot.

Fixed a mismatch between Michael's described action and the item received when the player lies about having water.

Fixed variables that incorrectly read the phone's battery percentage, previously allowing the time to be checked even when the phone was fully discharged.

Fixed an issue with the battery icon at specific charge percentages.

Fixed a potential over-drain issue with portable chargers.

Updated the warning message regarding images.

Fixed a bug that prevented images from being disabled after being enabled through the settings menu.

Fixed a bug where an MtF MC could not correctly display certain text strings due to incorrect flag usage.

Fixed several bugs related to the Few of Aorta card game.

Fixed a bug where the card Korrigans (f2c_5) was not properly removed from the deck after being played.

Fixed a possible high-score tracking issue in the mobile spelling bee game.

Corrected an incorrect score assignment for a word in spelling bee variant #2.

Added tracking for incorrect inputs in the spelling bee game so that the game now correctly progresses after wrong answers.

Fixed an issue involving correct answers in the spelling bee game.

Fixed a phone number randomization error.

Fixed a bug that allowed MC of any orientation to kiss Divya (under the right astral alignment, perhaps.)

Fixed a bug that gave Divya a duplicate line of dialogue after a potential kiss. (You flustered her too much.)

Fixed a bug where MC couldn't properly share their hearing issue with Divya and Max during Day 5 if they hadn't previously discussed it with Abigail, Michael, or Kay.

It is now more difficult to satisfy Michael during his assessment of MC's personality on Day 5.

Fixed an issue where MC's explanation of their hearing condition wasn't always correct.

Fixed a bug that prevented returning to the main submenu after selecting certain lunch options on Day 5.

Fixed several instances where object interaction descriptions were reversed depending on whether MC was carrying the backpack.

Fixed several bugs related to Charisma trait checks.

Fixed several string interpolation bugs.

If MC abandons the backpack, they will now automatically keep their wallet, documents, and other paper items. (They're all stored in a waterproof pouch, after all! Aren't they?)

Fixed a critical bug where a specific backpack weight could turn the first post-river fight into a near-instakill.

Fixed a bug where MC's attack description failed to display during the post-river encounter if MC was armed while Divya was not.

Fixed a bug where choosing certain characters in the wrong order during the courtyard escape caused the available time to increase instead of decrease.

Fixed several overlapping stat checks that could produce unintentionally awkward paragraphs under specific relationship values.

Reduced the amount of affection Michael can gain toward MC in certain situations.

During the courtyard escape, MC could previously send Michael away and stay behind to fight even while unarmed. This was obviously a bug! MC can now only do so while armed, though a new option has been added for reluctantly leaving Michael behind due to lacking a weapon.

Fixed a bug where discussing MC's hearing or vision issue with Kay was no longer properly remembered during Day 5.

Fixed a bug that prevented proper conversation progression during the guard shifts at the end of Day 5.

Fixed a bug that prevented the timer from progressing correctly if MC claimed to have never used a payphone before.

Fixed several fog-navigation bugs during Day 6.

Fixed a bug where MC's analysis of the diner exterior would not display correctly when approaching from the west without a scouting background.

Fixed several string display bugs involving specific rounded numerical values.

Abigail's responses during Day 6 are no longer purely random and are now influenced by her relationship with MC (unless a critical failure occurs, in which case she will always refuse).

Fixed an issue where it was impossible to become atheist or agnostic after previously identifying as religious.

Fixed a bug in the corpse-cleaning duty drawing scene where MC's reaction wasn't displayed correctly when Kay started the draw.

Fixed a game-breaking bug that could occur if MC had fewer than 50 Heart when Kay returned.

Fixed a large number of verb and pronoun issues involving nonbinary Max.

Slightly adjusted the visibility threshold for certain scenes when physical education is MC's favorite subject.

Fixed several bugs in the diner kitchen scene; now MC can't bypass food-carrying restrictions anymore.

Fixed several bugs related to the potential love confession during Day 6.

Fixed a critical bug that could break the game if MC offered Kay 10 cigarettes on Day 6 without actually having enough.

Changed the unlock conditions for Divya's "about us" conversation at the end of Day 6 and reworded some of her responses.

If MC is passionate about cars, this is now mentioned in the Stats screen.

Fixed several minor bugs.

Corrected a frankly embarrassing number of typos!

Patreon pledgers can find the post here. Enjoy! ☺♥

Actually, it wasn't "a little too difficult," and it wasn't your fault either. I've just identified a bug which, at a specific backpack weight, turned that zombie attack into a pretty much instakill, bypassing the scoring system that was supposed to determine MC's chances of survival.

You aren't wrong! Mirko/Mika isn't someone I'd want as a friend IRL; they're opportunistic, valuing pleasure and money above anything else... but they know nothing of Evil Ale's business, nor are they at any fault aside from being Ale's lovers when they were just teens.

This month can't end soon enough, we lost a family cat today (my aunt's beautiful little girl), I've had issues at school with a student who threw a fucking bottle at me and almost hit me in the eye, and bureaucracy is radicalising me.

Haha don't worry, I'm just glad everything worked out in the end!

Oh no! Please note that the backyard scene checks MC's overall condition to determine their speed. If you go into it tired, hungry, thirsty, stressed, and/or with other negative buffs, all of that adds up and makes you too slow to react to the attack, which is what gets you killed.

So, to avoid dying, try to keep your basic needs under control before reaching that point: eat, drink, rest, and don't let stress or pain get too high. Knowledge, specific traits, and the absence of certain malus can help you as well, while a heavy backpack will (obviously) slow you down even more.

You don't need perfect stats, just don't let several of them get too bad at the same time!

As for the repetition bug: thank you for specifying who is speaking (Michael) and the topic (the hearing aid), but I actually need more information :(

In particular, on which day does it happen and what is MC's answer to Michael's question?

Sorry for the late reply, that specific bug has been driving me crazy for months. UGH.

That's a big checkpoint right there! If you want to maximise your chances, your MC needs to be well rested, with low pain, stress, hunger, and thirst. Having a good weapon helps, too, as well as being in a friendly relationship with your companions, having high Guts and/or Wits, or having an especially agile MC.