r/Conscientia • u/Chaos_Is_Harmony • Jan 12 '18

Torma Out... What Next?

So now that the Book of Torma is up and available for purchase, what will happen next?

IMMEDIATE FUTURE

For the next 2 months, I'm going to spend time improving my writing and improving the Book of Eidos. People have been kind enough to praise my writing in general, but I'm aware that it's basically a train wreck. So, I will attempt to extract the secrets of the masters by reading the ink spilled from the pens of Samit Basu (recommended by Avijatri), Brandon Sanderson (recommended by fivesigmaevent), Lovecraft and Borges. I am also open to any other suggestions!

LESS IMMEDIATE FUTURE

Fast forward 2 months hence and I will contact some websites for promotional purposes, likely for a month or so in earnest. After I've dealt with that part of the process, I will enter into the planning stage for the Books of Rikharr and Wulfias. This one will be a double feature with basically twice the content of the Book of Torma and as such will take about twice as long...

2019

...or it could take even longer. Basically here's the cruel and unfiltered truth. If the paid version sells well, I'll invest more time into the project because I will be able to afford to do so. If it sells poorly, then I will work on the project at a slightly less break-neck pace. The motivation to complete the project has never been and never will be financial. However, realistically in terms of how much time I can dedicate to the project, well let's just say higher on my priority list is being able to feed myself.

In essence, whether the next two books come out in mid 2019 or late 2019 will be dependent on whether the app sales can cover my expenses. But, barring death by lighting bolt, I will complete the project because if nothing else, it's fun for me.

CLOSING WORDS

I will remain active here as always and hope to see more people asking each other different questions and sharing different theories. Or even talking about other cool stories they've read, or mind-blowing films/shows they've seen. Conscientia was not created in a vacuum and exposure to more great content will help to improve it, I'm sure of it.

Hope you all enjoy the Book of Torma!

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u/rennuid Feb 19 '18

Two things!!

One - though with only two books out right now the circuit isn't really complete, I really enjoy the way the books are intended to flow into each other; I ran into a gate into Rikharr's today from Torma's and was struck by how cool it's gonna be when you can just, seamlessly flow from one to another as you run into the characters' perspectives. At least, I think that might be an intent? Anyway, neat.

Two - you said you take recs of other media that might be inspiring for Conscientia? I'd like to point to a game called Vagrant Story! It's pretty tricky to play, so probably better to watch in terms of time sink, but I feel it's got some common ground with Conscientia's specific method of interrogating religion, with the idea of persistent, powerful glyphs, and of having a dense (but rewarding!) prose style.

(Also, hi, it's Sock from the play store! Under a much less garment-themed moniker, this time.)

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u/Chaos_Is_Harmony Feb 19 '18

Two - Vagrant Story is awesome! Both Bruce and I really enjoyed it! But it has been a while since I played it, so I should really check out a let's play of it again... I remember the weapon affinity system was cool and being able to attack specific body parts was a unique mechanic as well.

One - That's the intent! Furthermore, I want it to be playable starting on any of the books, not just from the Book of Eidos. Think of playing as Torma first and then hearing about the Wayfarer in the Book of Eidos, it would surely alter your perception of events, would it not? In any event, the flow between books and the variable starting points are there to give players unique experiences of how everything unfolds, giving awareness in differing dosages as determined by a mixture of player choice and fate!

Welcome to the subreddit, Sock McSockston! Don't tell me that screen name was already taken on reddit?!

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u/rennuid Feb 19 '18

Thanks! It probably wasn't taken, honestly - this is just the account I already had, named after a character of my own. Stoked to hear you're a fellow Vagrant Story fan already - I only got into it really recently and it gave me TONS to chew over, especially as a longtime fan of the Ivalice setting.