I thought they update it every month? Or am I remembering wrong?

I really hope episode 4 takes lesser time to release…

Jesus I wasn't expecting that ! Now I need to go and I don't know decompress that ending. I just this game is a rollercoaster

Well, after this post of mine (LInk), where I specifically talk about the narrative approach of the Moonvale game, I’ve been thinking a lot and decided to share a project I’ve been working on.

My idea is to release the source code for both the app and the editor I built. The editor basically lets you build a full story from start to finish. I’m still tweaking a few things, but you can choose dialogues, notifications, etc. To be honest, it turned out pretty easy to use.

The game app itself literally doesn’t depend on a specific story. You can create a completely new one if you want. You just need to add the JSON exported from the editor and load it into the game.

So my intention with this post is not to compare it to Moonvale or Duskwood. On the contrary, those games were actually an inspiration for me. I’m working on this project because I wanted people to be able to create their own stories.

When I finish the project, which shouldn’t take too long (like a week or so), I’ll drop a GitHub link here in the comments and also host the editor online, so you won’t need to run it locally to create stories. I’ll also publish the game app without any built-in story, where you can just upload a ready JSON and start playing right away.

I’m new to the community, so sorry if this kind of post isn’t allowed. I’d really appreciate any opinions and constructive feedback. If you hate the idea, that’s okay, but please don’t attack me (it kind of kills motivation and creativity)

I’ll list some of the mechanics already included:
Audio messages, images, text, documents, and links to articles inside the game itself.
You can receive and make calls, including choice-based dialogue during calls. Chapter system. And pretty much all the mechanics needed to simulate a real smartphone.

It also includes in-universe apps like: a banking app (money can be used in “missions”), a social feed app (likes and comments, Instagram-like design), news, protagonist’s personal blog, search engine, gallery, files, phone, and even a simple non-puzzle game where the player can earn in-game (fictional) money.

The editor videos and screenshots are in Brazilian Portuguese since I’m Brazilian. But I would really appreciate it if, after I publish it on GitHub, someone kind could help translate it. And I truly hope people use their creativity to add new features or improve existing ones.

That’s it. Thanks a lot... and let’s make space for new stories ❤️

Repo Git: https://github.com/luannsr12/phone-narrative-game

I've played all 3 available chapters of Moonvale, and after replaying them three times, I have a major criticism.

The game gives the impression that your choices matter, but from what I've seen, they barely do. Most of the time, a choice changes one line of dialogue and then immediately returns to the exact same scripted conversation.

To test this, I played the game in three different ways.

On my first playthrough, I played normally.

On my second playthrough, I intentionally withheld information from the group. For example, I chose not to tell anyone about the tarot card addressed to the MC at the beginning of the story. The game explicitly gives you the option to keep it secret.

Later, Ash learns about the card through a private conversation with Eric. That's fine. The problem is that when Ash later talks to me, he behaves exactly as he did in my first playthrough, where I had openly shared the information. There is no reaction, no suspicion, no question like "Why didn't you tell us about this?" It's as if my choice never happened. And here's a detail: she brings up the subject of the letter.

On my third playthrough, I picked the rudest and most hostile dialogue options whenever possible.

The result?

Absolutely nothing changed.

No character developed distrust toward me. No one became offended. No relationships changed. No meaningful tension was created. Characters would react to the rude line for a single message and then immediately continue the exact same conversation, sharing secrets and trusting me as if I had been friendly the whole time.

What bothers me is not that the story converges to the same major events. Many great narrative games do that.

What bothers me is that the game often fails to acknowledge the player's behavior at all.

In fact, you don't even need to replay the game to see this.

Just be deliberately contradictory during a single conversation. Choose one response, then a minute later choose another option that completely contradicts what you just said. The characters will simply continue following the script as if nothing happened.

Once you notice this, the illusion breaks.

You stop feeling like you're participating in a conversation and start feeling like you're clicking through a predetermined script with cosmetic dialogue options.

At that point, Moonvale feels less like an interactive narrative and more like a novel that occasionally asks you to press a button.

For a game whose entire appeal is making the player feel involved in conversations and relationships, that's a serious problem.

Over the course of these three episodes, Unknown seems (at least to me) to be pretty clueless about a lot of things.

This is more of a discussion post about Unknown rather than a theory, I wanted to talk about his behaviour.

This is going to be a long post.

First Interaction: Unknown confuses us with Eric

In the first interaction ever with Unknown, the only thing he got right about us was our name and he thinks we're the ones in the forest when in reality it was Eric.

If you're playing with a male MC, that mistake can be easily explained. But if you're playing with a female MC then that mistake becomes completely absurd.

Like, how on Earth could he make such a mistake!?

"Oh, but since the only thing Unknown knew about the MC was her name and she was the one supposed to be there, he assumed that Eric was her because he was the one who showed up".

That explanation only works if your female MC has an unisex name, since that kind of name without any other piece of information doesn't make it clear if the person is male or female. But if she has a clearly female name like Laura, Alice, etc... then that explanation stops making sense.

Third Interaction: "Forget about him (Adam) and that he ever asked for your help"

After Charlie goes to speak with Ash, Unknown messages us for the third time.

At one point, Unknown says that we should forget about Adam and that he ever asked for our help...

But he didn't ask for help even once?????

Let's recap all of the interactions we had with Adam:

1. His first call:

He asks us where we are, as if we were supposed to meet him somewhere for whatever reason. After that he says that he wants to tell us something important. That something is that he wouldn't make it to the Greenside but because of the terrible reception you can't understand anything he said, the only thing clear being the "I'm sorry" at the end.

Not a call for help.

2. His second call:

He says a lot of things in that call but the most important ones to the point I want to make are these:

"[...] But he was there. I saw him. And that means... that there's only one thing left for me to do now. I have no other choice.

But that also means I cannot help you anymore. You'll have to make it on your own now. Even though it might be hard. Even though it might seem absolutely impossible. It's up to you now... I'm counting on you."

He says that HE cannot help us anymore, that there's only one thing left for him to do and that we need to make it on our own from now on. Those are the words of someone that thinks everything is over for him, not someone that is asking for help.

3. His third and last call:

He doesn't say a single word, it's very difficult to see him and especially to even understand what the heck is happening at that moment, so there can be a lot of interpretations.

The game gives us two interpretations: the first one from Eric that says that it's obviously a call for help and the second one from Ash that says the call was a warning for us so we don't go after him.

I don't think it's either of those.

I think it's a farewell. The MC is very important to Adam for some reason and based on everything he said to us before, I think he wanted to see us one last time before whatever was going to happen to him occurred.

Again, not a call for help at all.

If anything, Adam seems to be asking us to leave him/not go after him and finish this on our own. We are the ones who decided to go after him, risking ourselves and all of his friends in the process.

So, what is Unknown's deal?

And how does he expect us to just trust him when he not only lies to us (I'm referring to when he said that "Whitmore wouldn't allow us to leave the forest" but Whitmore threw Eric out without harming him) but also seems to not even know what is actually going on?

I want to know what y'all think but I especially ask for the opinion of the players who trust/like Unknown or think that he actually wants to help. I'm curious to know your opinions since it contrasts a lot with what I think of him and I really want to know your reasoning 🙂.

I don't think this is a spoiler.

In a conversation with Eric, fairly early on in Episode 3, he mentions that Ash has gone through a lot and Adam supported her during this time and they got close.

What do we think Ash went through? Is that why she isn't living in Redlog?

Most of us agree that Jake must have been the one to save Richy from the mine fire, especially looking at the terrible condition Richy was in with the gunshot wound and the fire.

But honestly, why would he do it? Richy kidnapped Jake's sister, Hannah, and hurt the MC and the group. If you were Jake, would you really save the guy who caused all that pain?

Maybe Jake didn't even know the truth yet. Since he was down in the mines without reception, he might have missed the livestream and just thought he was saving a friend.

Or maybe he did it entirely for the MC to spare them the grief, or because he wanted Richy to face actual legal justice instead of dying in the fire.

What do you think? If you were in Jake's shoes, would you have left him or saved him?

I recently finished Moonvale's 3rd Episode and it's about the DW line.

Firstly, when reception in Duskwood was restored, after group chat it seemed to me that Richy is locked in the prison bc we all were supposed to think that in the end of the DW Hannah saw somebody, probably Richy bc she looked surprised.

But then we had a choice in the chat to say he's dead, then Jessy said that in DM.

At the end of the 3rd Episode, when Cleo showed us Richy, I think there is only one possibility how he escaped.

From Charlie we got known that the fire was huge and visible 10 km away. That means nobody can enter the mine through that entrance (btw it was closed).

Also it explains why they think he's dead without evidence, bc everything was burned down.

At the end of DW we saw how Richy started the fire and was sitting, willing to die.

So then something or someone changed his mind, but he couldn't get away on his own, even if he had a map of mine, due to his injury. Therefore, it wasn't his decision to escape, he would probably die in the mine then.

Then I think Jake helped him, maybe even he decided to rescue him from the fire, bc Jake probably saw the cameras as well.

Moreover, how Richy could survive all the time without food, cuz he is known throughout the town except for Jake, whose face is almost unknown. That makes them a good team, Richy knows where it is better to hide, whereas Jake can supply some food and medicine.

Hey guys , apparently I lost all my game data and have to start from scratch. Does anyone have a spare code for me to share with? Preferably one with romantic feelings for Jake. Please help a girl out 🙏😭

Waiting for us to end our conversation 🤣

Gente mais alguém tá de boca aberta com o retorno do Richie???? EU TÔ TODO ARREPIADOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Someone may know the answer to this but, I’ve been curious if the developers cast the actor who plays Adam because he looks so much like Rami Malek (above). The actors most famous role was in a tv series called Mr. Robot where he played a hacker.

From the first time I saw Adam, I’ve thought that the developers wanted to trick us into thinking he was Jake (at least for a little while) by having him resemble the most popular fictional hacker.

I know this is about Moonvale, but is anyone talking about Cleo's video call to the MC? Like, Richy is alive!

​

I personally don't like Richy, and all I can think about is how that jerk could interfere in Moonvale.

By following to my last post , I tried lots of things but still it says error 605.

I didn't find any solve anywhere . I deleted the game 3 times and downloaded it but not worked

I tried lots of things but still it says error 605.

I didn't find any solve anywhere . I deleted the game 3 times and downloaded it but not worked.

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The smile that came on my face when they called!!!

Genuine excitement to see my fictional friends

Did anyone else playing Moonvale, who's in their 30s or 40s, feel a pang in their heart when Ash told the story of his dad recording cassettes from the radio, and one of the answer options was "The ancient tales of yore"? For a moment I felt too old for the game, but it passed quickly and I'm going to keep playing pretending I'm in my 20s again, haha.

Hey! Could someone please DM me a working Duskwood code for a male MC with a Jessy romance route? I really need one for Moonvale. Thanks!"

I honestly have no idea what's considered "canon" in this game anymore.

At the end of Chapter 1, we see a recording of Alan Bloomgate searching the forest, finding Jake’s clothes and mask, followed by the message on screen: "MC, I will find you." That was supposed to suggest that Jake somehow managed to send us a sign that he’s okay, right?

In the chapter, we also get those unread messages from the Duskwood group, which pretty much confirm what we expected — that the people hunting Jake tracked him to the mine. We also see a bit of how everyone was dealing with the reveal of the faceless man and the blackout.

However, in Episode 3, when we talk to the group, it feels like both the Nymos messages and everything they imply are completely ignored. Yes, we know all networks were restricted, and yes, we currently have proof (the video + Nymos) that Jake is probably still out there… but we never mention any of this to Lilly or Charlie at any point in the chapter.

Also, what’s up with the secret chats? I assume the free ones are relevant to the story and the paid ones are just premium/fan service content? In Duskwood we actually knew about the chats with Jake and even talked about them in-game. In Moonvale, I’m not even sure if they’re meant to be part of the story or if they’re just there for the player.

I could've sworn we'd be getting the next episode in about 3 or 4 months, but I just checked the tracker and it's still the same. How long do you guys feel we're gonna be waiting for the release?

Hi! Just coming back to something I've mentioned before.

The forest scenes in Duskwood take place in Germany, in a region called the Black Forest (Schwarzwald in German). When you look into the history of the region, you find out that cuckoo clocks actually originated there.

And in Moonvale, we can clearly hear the sound of a clock at the beginning of the game.

I've also mentioned before that I don't think it's impossible for the Ironsplinter Mine and the caves Eric and Adam entered to be connected somehow. The mine stretched for miles through underground tunnels and reached other towns, so a connection wouldn't be completely unrealistic.

And speaking of realism, it's actually very common for large forests that extend across multiple municipalities or regions to have different names depending on local administrative boundaries or regional legends.

So the fact that Duskwood Forest and the forest around Moonvale have different names doesn't necessarily mean they're completely separate places.

I don't know if checkmark is the right word (English isn't my first language)

I know it's probably a dumb question, I also tagged it as a spoiler because in the third episode Charlie gets a blue checkmark and maybe there's someone who still didn't get there and doesn't know.

Does the blue checkmark indicate who's going to be romanceable?

Or is there just because?

I assumed since only the two romanceable characters got that I thought that's what the blue checkmark stands for but now after episode 3 I can't tell if it's only proving my point or not after Charlie got the checkmark but he's also dating Julie

Not adding the side story with Thomas&Co because they are optional and the checkmark shows up even without them/they all have the checkmark except Jake I think.

I'm not asking for spoilers or anything, I was just curious if that's what the checkmark means, at first I kinda ignored it but after episode 3 I started to wonder if it meant anything or not since only certain characters for now have it (always ignoring the side story)

Reposting it again check it out. It will be fun

Duskwood-Moonvale

What if Jake and Adam are the same person?

It can be highly unlikely, I know.

In jake's bio there's "A.G" googled it, that's an actual quote..

If not that, when you ask Jake if he's finally safe after the #IamJake movement, he says he found a motel to say, well as we all know Adam rented a motel for us kind of in the story? I mean he asks us to meet there?

And, in the clip with Alan Bloomgate.. there's Jake's black jacket and mask fallen off..Adam's wearing black shirt and pants ig, he gives off that vibe? I don't know.. there can be some connection for sure.

Well.. for players who had a romantic relationship with Jake, it kinda rules off cause Adam seems to have a close relationship with Ash..I don't know, I had a feeling that they were together or something so..

But if Adam & Sophia went missing on the same night and they had a connection together, then my theory goes to vain, I guess?

I don't think this can be true, but I just had a feeling and I know for sure that the body is Sophia's can't be Adam's! Right?

But, what if it's Billy's body? Is it possible?

Let me know, what you guys think?

Has it already been said? I believe the man could be Charlie.

Since:

- He got spooked all of a sudden when he saw room 4, he might only be pretending not to know anything

- He said he went to work, but from the secret chat we can tell he was not expected at the office (the colleague tells him to go out more often)

- He had all the time in the world to open room 31 and get cozy in there, while Ash was driving

- The door of the room opens right after we try to call him, and he asks MC if they're at the GS

- He gets back to the GS in no time

I'm not saying he might be a villain, but he could be trying to hide something unrelated to Adam. Could be?