User blog:OldSlashFriend/Flowers of Coal

Hey, friends - As I am insanely tired, this'll be pretty short, but - I'm releasing a side story I've been working on for some time, Flowers of Coal! So what exactly is this?

- A significant portion of main story goodness featuring that patented Old/Friend wordwall that... Uh... Well, it's there. I regret nothing!

- Concluding unraveled threads to the previous stories, A Passion for Decay and A Rhetorical Rust - with some ties to other works, though rather loosely.

- Set some time before Chapter 3. I thought long and hard about releasing it before hand and finally decided to do so for the reason that I feel pensive. Not apprehensive, just pensive.

And what do you get out of it?

- The main game only has one route, though with several branching endings - mostly bad or sad. The choices should be somewhat obvious, but if you really hate Chrome/want to get to the bonus content quickly/just want to see stuff, I might put a thing up later. Mmn.

- And what is that bonus content of which I speak..? Well, there's a lot of stuff I cut or that I thought-up in between work, and it got added to and added to until it's about half the size of the (already decent) main story. I won't spoil what all is available, but I think even if you don't like Chrome, you'll find something you like.

- Unfortunately, due to the girthy nature of this sidestory, it is quite hefty, whopping in at about 200MB. I've split into two .7z files, and would ask you to download each and use 7zip or your unzipper of choice to give them a whirl. If you're normally opposed to using such a zip format - I promise you that the time it takes to install and uninstall such a software should be worth the sidestory proper.

- Will try to upload a non-split, non-mediafire version elsewhere. I somehow added a 'zero' to how much Minus allows, so I'll probably upload to Mega if C0var1ant has good things to say about them..?

And finally, questions I'll ask myself in anticipation!

'''Egads, asset i is horrible. Who would make such a horrible asset?''' Me, unfortunately. That being said - even if they're a bit amateur, please focus on the expressions most of all. I'm somewhat proud of that.

'''I liked song x, but I can't see a credits file? '''My list of files/artists is actually part of the bonus content right now. It was a bit of a pain to rig, but I think it works better. That being said, I'm sure I forgot some of the stuff I used. Just ask me if you want more info.

'''I'm having trouble with side-side-story y, and can't beat it! Also, I do beat it but that kicks me out of the side-side-story menu? '''Gnome is key. Use Gnome liberally. If you get hit with LLT before Gnome is up, things can get rough. Also, that side-side-story as well as one other trigger an ~end~ instead of launching you backwards. Working as designed, because reasons.

And with that, please feel free to ask any questions you have here - I'll do my best to answer them. I really hope you enjoy. Working on this has been consuming, but wonderful, and if it gives back a bit of the fun I've had messing with it - well, that is just a whole other can of peaches.

Current links - Part 1 / Part 2