Next in Line
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Chapter 2, Part 1 is now out!! Last updated: August 3rd, 2023
Please add Next in Line to your itch.io collection! The game will be free. Always.
Next in Line will be rated Mature. Player discretion is advised. Please do not play or
Put your health first! Message me, comment, or ask on Tumblr/Discord if you need any clarification on content and trigger warnings.
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Content includes (or will include):
- Violence
- Suggestive language and themes
- Optional sexual content (will be skippable or avoidable)
- References to war and the effects of war
- Death and/or references to death
- Exploration of grief
- Mature language
Subject to change. Changes will be communicated.
You're next in line for the throne of Castelon, a fictional country very loosely inspired but not based on the ancient and medieval worlds. Particularly, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, and periods of England.
Shortly after the war ended and a month before your 21st birthday, you received a hastily written letter at the compound in the mountains, where your parents had sent you at 16 to keep you away from the war.
"King dead. James abdicated. You are Next in Line."
Your country is reeling from its King's death and the end of a decade-long war. Today, on your 21st birthday, you begin the timeless tradition of sharing the responsibility of running Castelon for the next year, alongside your mother, Queen Vivian. This tradition, known as The Harbinger Ceremony, is your opportunity to prove your ability to be a reliable ruler.
Prepare to step into a story about love, trust, and finding oneself. Can you navigate your royal duties, solve your father's murder, and find love (or friendship) at the same time? Or, will the Gods withdraw their blessing from you?
Current Demo Features:
- Prologue Parts 1 & 2, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 Part 1;
- Customization: gender, pronouns, hair, eye color, royal title, skin color, tattoos, piercings, and more. Clothing is not gender locked.
- Shape the MC's future and some of their past.
- Pursue romance or friendship with various characters. See characters further down.
- Players will not choose sexual orientation - it's up to you to pursue romance if you want or simply don't. All 4 ROs are romanceable by any MC. Note: there are no poly routes available at this time. Love triangles are possible.
- Romance is optional in the game. Although, it should be noted this was originally planned as a romance game so there will be a lot of optional romance content.
- 3 Family Mottos (based on an early choice) that will unlock various choices throughout the game.
- Choose your pet and their name (meet them in Chapter 2);
Full Game Features:
- Everything listed above, plus...
- Chapters 2-14;
- At least 4 holidays that offer opportunities to honor the gods, further relationships, or simply have a good time;
- Birthdays for other characters;
- A kingdom charity you can help support;
- The experience of being backstabbed;
- Making decisions that affect the people of Castleon;
- Expanded personality choices and reactions;
- More flavor text in regards to your MC's personality and physical attributes;
- Optional sexual content;
- Multiple endings.
Chapters 2-13 will each cover the span of around one month. The full game will follow roughly a year of the MC's life as The Harbinger.
Features are subject to change at my discretion.
There are four romantic or platonic companions available. Additionally, there are many other characters, including family members.
Constantine Dimas, M, 26 years old, Taurus
- Constantine is the best friend of your twin brother, James, and a Knight in Castelon's Elite Guard. He is fiercely loyal to your family and fought alongside James in the Arandale War. Like you, he finds amusement in teasing your brother.
"You're not too different from your twin, both reckless royals, so you probably need someone to care for you."
F. Faramund, M or F, 22 years old, Aquarius
- Whether F was your first love or your ex-best friend, they broke your trust and disappeared. Now, they're back and seemingly apologetic. Bury the hatchet, rekindle your former relationship, or walk a different path altogether.
"The stars guided me back to you and I will stay as long as you allow."
Felix Faramund, M, 24 years old, Aries
- Felix is F.'s older brother and was someone you once considered a friend. Like, F., he's returned to Castelon. Unlike F., he can be quick to anger and he's not afraid to speak his mind. He can read the room, he just doesn't care. You can romance Felix, even if you loved F.
"Just know, I'll fight for what I want."
Lady Margaret, F, 22 years old, Gemini
- The mysterious Lady Margaret is a noble businesswoman who enjoys observing from the shadows. She's close to your mother, Queen Vivian. Although she is slow to trust others, those who earn her trust will find themselves in the company of a powerful and loyal ally.
"I can think of many ways to consume your time."
I am the sole developer and writer for this game. It's my passion project and my main project!
Patreon | Ko-fi | Discord | Game Tumblr | YouTube (for indie dev things)| My Website
My discord is writingmysoul#6083 if you want to reach me! Game discord is linked above.
Development log
- Bug Fix Update - July 9 2024Jul 09, 2024
- Ch2 Part 1 Out Now!Aug 04, 2023
- Chapter 2 Release ScheduleJul 28, 2023
- May DevBlog - Chapter 2 Progress + Important UpdatesMay 31, 2023
- Minor Update for Bugs, etcMay 14, 2023
- Thank You for 15k Browser Plays + Discord Event and GiveawayJan 02, 2023
- Official Patreon Launch - Early Chapter 2 AccessSep 28, 2022
- Constantine's Short Story on Patreon and Ko-fiSep 07, 2022
Comments
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this is amazing! i can't wait to see the rest of it. <3
is this abandoned or not, i don't wanna get attached to something that will never update
Not abandoned but I totally get that.
The game is sooo good!!! i cant wait for chapter 2 to be finished!!! keep up the good work >:333
thank you so much :)
I don't like F and need more female LI.
Hi! I’m sorry you don’t like F. The love interests are set, I won’t be adding any more.
This was Phenomenal. There’s so much potential and depth in the plot, characters + decisions/consequences! I was so impressed when holding court that one of my Harbinger’s past decisions bore weight and helped me convince someone. I just had to let you know what an amazing start this is and that I’m really looking forward to the romances in particular (Lady Margaret - oof!); it’s so rare to feel like an LI feels isn’t just instantly falling for you because they have to/are your MC’s match. I hope I get to see them fully fleshed out.
I absolutely get completing long term projects (and the scale of it getting away from you) takes so much work, so take your time! And know we’re rooting for you! ❤️
Hey! Thank you so much for playing and for this comment. I love hearing thoughts from everyone, good and bad, and I really appreciate your sharing yours! Since it's early game, there are many decisions that won't show up for a while but it's definitely my intention that choices should matter as much as they can.
I definitely intend to further flesh out many characters, both LIs and others. Just like MC, they have likes, dislikes, pain, happy memories, etc. I want people to enjoy the story whether or not romance or friendship is involved. One reason I'm so so so slow with writing is because I try so hard to capture that character's voice and make them unique and true to themselves. The first version of my demo, I got a lot of comments that the characters flirted the same. That was good feedback because it was unintentional. I had to really dig deep into their psyches.
Anyway, sorry for the long response. If you read all this wow. Thank you again for taking the time!!
- Vi
You don’t have to apologize for a long response - I appreciate you reaching out! I think taking good feedback/critiques is so important — especially from the community supporting your work. Writing characters + romance isn’t easy - I know my number one aim when I do so is to get characters’ voices right, because if you don’t have that down, what even is the point? You get that unmemorable/unsatisfying feeling. I think you’re on a great track; if there’s anything I also hope to see, it would also be variety in length of interactions with your LI. I feel like a lot of VNs/IFs kinda fall into this standard ‘we have to have a five minute moment here! Then a quick one later!’ Rinse, repeat. Longer moments (not just stolen ones, but intentional) - or even chapters centered on the LI would be not only realistic, but very gratifying for the reader. I’d also say more descriptions on the characters we’re interacting with would be nice; weaving it into the dialogue/narrative. I didn’t really know what anyone looked like until seeing their lil baby bios.
Hope that helps and thanks again for putting such an awesome story out there!!
All great points and definitely adding them to my list of things to consider and/or add. I really appreciate your feedback and your time! Wishing you the best in the meantime :)
Just started reading and it looks promising, did want to point out though (and I know this is super nitpicky and probably doesn't matter to you, feel free to ignore it) that the latin is (or at least sounds to me) broken in some places. Aequam servare mentem would be "to keep the mind calm" which makes sense in the original full sentence, but doesn't mean "keep the mind calm" (if you want that, aequam serva mentem sounds fine to me). I was also gonna talk about fortis est non perturbaris and all that, but I just discovered that this is a bit of a common quote (still sounds wrong to me though, I think this is a similar case of something clipped out of context, might be wrong). My translation of "the strong do not falter in adversity" would be something like fortes non perturbantur rebus asperis. Once again, sorry for this huge post, I know this prolly doesn't matter to you (and also I might be wrong), but were I you, I'd wanna be told, so yeah.
hey, thank you :) when i get back into working on the game, I will review the Latin, your notes, and do more research. Appreciate you making the post and giving it a shot.
This is a really minor thing, but it might be a good idea to mention the sex of the pet when the player is naming it. I named my raven Nyx, only to later learn it was a male raven, so I had to restart to give him a more appropriate name.
yeah, that's totally fair. I will add that to my update list. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.
Haha who needs a bodyguard when you have a pet lion? What a good boi. I just might pick lion for a pet in all my runs just cause of everyone's reactions
i hope everything gets better for you :( sending lots of love your way ♡
thank you <3 your message means a lot.
“You’re crossing a line, Felix,” Frederick growls, “Of course I haven’t forgotten my dead wife.”
Felix holds his hands up in mock defense, “Apologies, brother. What I meant to say was, how did you manage to run away from the person who loved you, only to have your new lover die? Unlucky you are.”
Oh. Shit. Both you and Anna are too shocked to move. Felix has a devilish grin on his face and his eyes dance with mischief. Frederick grabs his brother by the shirt but doesn’t throw any punches, despite his angry shake. He appears to be having an internal dialogue.
You…
And no options :(
They definitely deserve that. And your right the ex-lover route definitely need more options to be angry of them or just straight up not interact with them. What they did is definitely a big no no for anyone.
Out of curiosity, is development going smoothly? There hasn't been much in terms of updates since August.
There is a post on Tumblr
Oh so things are NOT going smoothly..
At least it's not abandoned and the author lets us know quite regularly what's going on. Unlike many others :/
Yeah true enough
Hi - I'm sorry. It's not going smoothly at the moment. My mother in law is very sick and hospitalized and I don't have the capacity to spend a lot of time outside of work and family matters. That said, it's definitely not abandoned. I'm sorry that I can't dedicate more to this right not.
I keep encountering this error and i restarted but i still have it.
Felix holds his hands up in mock defense, “Apologies, sister. What I meant to say was, how did you manage to run away from the person who loved you, only to have your new lover die? Unlucky you are.”
Oh. Shit. Both you and Anna are too shocked to move. Felix has a devilish grin on his face and his eyes dance with mischief. Freyja grabs her brother by the shirt but doesn’t throw any punches, despite her angry shake. She appears to be having an internal dialogue.
You…
and nothing pops up for this, what do I do?
Hi - sorry for the delay in responding. I'll look into this and respond back when I believe it is fixed. Apologies again and thanks for letting me know.
Man I love everyones reaction when your per is a lion.
They freak out over a wolf, to. It's so funny. Meanwhile, my MC is like..."whose a good boi?" while giving him fierce belly rubs. xD
It was funny how James was afraid of ferret.
To be fair, those little suckers know how to bite. xD
Small but dangerous 🥰🥹
Please tell me this project is still ongoing. I like the premise.
It is. You can follow progress updates on her Tumblr blog.
Hi - yes. I've been on a break recently due to my mother in law being diagnosed with cancer. That said, I am definitely not abandoning this game :) hopefully I can get the rest of chapter 2 done shortly. Thanks for playing!
Three small errors towards the end of chapter 2 part 1:
Sorry about those and thanks for flagging. I will try to update this soon. I appreciate the time you took to share them with me.
Hey no problem, just trying to help out. Thank you for writing this IF, I can't wait to find out what happens next!
Edit: Oh dear, I just read your reply to the comment above about why you are taking a break. I'm so sorry, I did not mean to imply any form of pressure for you to resume writing.
I think theres a bug! After talking privately with F in either chapter 1 or the prologue and going back to Anna Felix, they get into an argument and it says "you..." like it's going to give me an option to do something, but there are no options so I cant progress :(
Sorry - working on fixing this!
this is Really good and it really just. hits in the heart sometimes ghjkjh I love your writing and how it flows
the characters feel alive and right and i just. really loved the experience!
freja beloved...
anyway! remember to take care of yourself @-@
Thank you so much, I appreciate your kind words!
!! :D
I can't save the game
same
Ok, that was awesome. This is easily my top 5 interactive games so far. So good and, thankfully, mature. And like so many other of my top 5 is a slow and painful process aka WIP. I hate when a games is in WIP status. But I digress, my question is for you and for any fellow readers that might know about coding, do you have any link to a video, guide book or anything that might help to develop games in twine? I have the coding skills if 80 year old boomer and I get frustrated because I have an amazing story in my head but I can use a tool as extent as Twine. Please help 🙇🙏🙇
Hi, not sure if this is still relevant, but a lot of authors have links (if that's what they're called) on their page. Just click 'More Information' above the devlog and then the authors name. Hope this helps :)
Sorry for the delay answering. I checked this out and, yes! They do have links. Thanks for bringing it to my attention
Thank you, that's very kind of you. I also hate when games are WIP lol. Feel free to message me on Tumblr or Discord or email me at vi@vwpublishing.com and I would be happy to provide advice for Twine. But yes, as someone else stated, many authors have free resources on their blogs. This is still a WIP, but I do have a spreadsheet here with some resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/9/d/15vgEwV8lOyYZPM-BF61zkO3HAxKOSBDdT7-2...
OMG this is amazing thank you. Is very detailed and has everything I need. You're a life saver
so glad to hear that! Hope it helps. You’ve got this and I hope to read your game in the future :)
Thanks for the kind words. It's just a working title but it's called The Silver Moon Chronicles.
I love the name!!
This is so fun
I've been trying so hard! I want to try and get the guy to confess about stealing some of his neighbors acres. I did it once and now I can't do it again... Do I have to do a certain thing to be able to do that? Or was it like removed. To put it easier, I can no longer see "The letter seems off." (I think that's what it said.) option when I'm trying to fix the problem between the two men. But also the game is amazing, I showed it to my friend and she fell in love with it!
hey! I’ll take a look at the coding this weekend. The option is still there! I did change how attributes work so I might have just messed up the variables. You do have to do something particular to get that choice. Let me check and I’ll come back and tell you what has to be done :) I think you have to have either the deception or suspicious attribute but I might have messed up that on the backend so I’ll check!
And thank you so much for playing and for showing your friend! That means a lot to me <3
Of course! My friend is obsessed now, every time we meet she squeals just thinking about it. (I do too, of course.) And I think I did get the suspicious attribute or was it deception? I just don't remember how or which one. Thanks for helping! (And for making the game.)
I had deception attribute and was able to tell the note of sale was forged.
Hey, i dont know if anyone else is having this problem, but when Freya is about to punch her brother, the choices dont show up.
Sorry about that - looks like a coding error. I will fix it soon.
ok, thanks
goodluck on everything, Vi. tysm for this awesome game, i get my A level results tomorrow and its 5am and i couldnt sleep bc of the stress, next in line really helped take my mind off things, i love this game alot and i feel weirdly very mournful about Percieval's death, its probably the way you wrote everything so well, it hurts and its so good, i love this sm, pls take care of yourself<3
you’re so sweet, thank you so much! I hope you get the amazing results you deserve on your A levels. But if not, remember, everything will definitely be okay. It will all work out how it’s supposed to. thank you so much for playing Next in Line <3 hope you get some rest!
thank you<33 i hope everything does work out for the both of us<3
Very good. I enjoy both Margaret and Freja so much that I can't choose between the two.
haha thank you! Margaret and F are very different but great in their own ways. I hope you enjoy learning more about them in future updates.
Love the update, and eager for more opportunities to crap on Frederick!
Felix: I like it when you're mean. Me: AYO???????
1000000/10 update but daaaammn. Felix is freaky as hell- XD
omg I forgot I wrote that
haha I’m glad you enjoyed the update though!
AHHHH I loved the update!! Keep up the amazing work also I’m very sorry for your loss :( I hope you are doing okay!! But you are an amazing writer and I love this IF!!! ❤️❤️
thank you 💙 I really appreciate your kind words!!
Error?
Thank you - these should be fixed now as I found and tested after resolving,
There seems to be an error or something, I chose the name Kitty for my pet lion and then allowed Margaret and Constantine to pet it and then the name of the lion was changed to "Ripper"
Thanks - this was a small error on my part and should be resolved!
I’m not sure if this has been reported before but I took a screenshot of it
thanks :) I will fix that before I update the game on Friday. I appreciate you letting me know.
You’re welcome!
I LOVE it Constantine is my fav fact you tease your brother togeather is perfect <3
haha I’m glad to hear that! Thanks for playing :)
I LOVE THIS AHHDJIEBEKDH omg I’m torn through felix and Constantine tho 🥴
Haha! Well you have a couple of options:
Anyway, thanks for playing. :) Stay tuned for chapter 2 in July!
I'm playing this from an apple device on the itch.io app, everytime I try to save it gives me an error message. Any one know the reason why?
Oh noooo!!!
I accidentally deleted my save from my files, and now I'm going to have to start over..... Which could be good since I don't remember the story 😹
And
Thanks 🩷🩵
Could you add a downloadable option?
Hey - I didn't even realize it was missing :) should be available now!
I can't play it offline, there's no executable in the archives...
sorry about that - I’ll check on this after work tonight and try to fix it. I haven’t uploaded a downloadable copy before so I’m sure it’s just an error I made.
firstly love the game. ♥️ i see my previous saves are gone so i started replaying. But now when i save anything it doesn't show or load.
oh no. I'm so sorry about that. I'll try to figure out a fix before chapter 2. Apparently the save code I used before was outdated so I used the newer one. It must have messed something up. Thank you for letting me know.
I loved this game so much and I can't wait for the next update :)
thank you so much <3 excited for you to play more of it.
i dont normally comment but i absolutely love this i cant wait for the future updates !! also i am in love with felix hELP
Thank you so much for your comment and for playing my demo! I'm so glad you like Felix. I hope you'll enjoy learning more about him. He's been an interesting character to develop.
- Vi
I really love this game so much! But does anybody know how to fix the saves? Whenever I try to save it says an error has occurred. Is there any way to fix this?
Hi - I'm so sorry you're having an issue with saves. Are you playing in the browser or downloaded? Also would it be possible for you to share a screenshot of the error? If you can't share here or don't want to, you can email to nextinlinegame@gmail.com (if you want).
This also had happen to me and I downloaded it.
I'm sorry about that - thanks for letting me know. Do you mind sharing what type of operating system your device has?
I use Linux to download the game on my chromebook.
This was quite the experience! I loved the way the MC is presented, especially how we weave our way through this world. The mystery is very intriguing and the RO's all feel solid and curious, very curious to see MC will lead with their supporters behind their back.
Thank you so much - I appreciate the time you took to play and leave a comment.
- Vi