This is a clever game, the tutorial made me laugh out loud for some reason. I didn't mind it being mandatory, though it seemed like there was an option to skip it.

In disagreement with cathyr, I really like the color scheme, I think it fits the story-theme quite well with it's comic book-ness.

I'd also like an indication that "A Swiftly Beating Heart" would indicate the story ends. I'm far from the most observant person, and I ended up doing it twice before realizing that's what ended the story.

I wasn't sure about this game at some points, but I think it's a fascinating idea to make a story about stories. I was recently thinking that I want to see more stories about writers, so yours cheered me up quite well. My only complaint would be that I'd like to see loads of ways to continue the plot. I don't know how many you have now, but I'd love to be surprised by more. Oh, and how would one go about writing a genre aside from heroic, as that seems to be my only option at the moment. If it comes after finishing the first story, then you can disregard my pseudo-question; I'm still working through the first one.

On the "Suddenly" card (I'm very early on in the game), I chose "I found myself persecuted". In the results, you have this text:
"Your conflict is now [level]." -- I think you may need s [q: something or other]?

Love your concept.

I'm really enjoying this - it's a brilliant idea. I love "meta" things, and this is as meta as it gets! Plus, I genuinely do feel like I'm constructing the essence of a story in my head (not that I could tell you anything about the plot, but it triggers a comforting memory of every story I've ever heard told).

One piece of feedback though: because there's no indication of when more things will unlock, I'm left wondering whether it's worth carrying on, or whether I've discovered all there is to find. Or to put it more thematically... I don't know whether I'm writing a short story which has long outstayed its welcome, or an epic cycle which is only just warming up. I think if I had a few more hints about the overall structure of the world, I'd feel more inspired to create something :-)

It's great, though. I love the way you've conflated the identities of the storyteller and the character in the story. It took me a while to get used to that, but it makes such perfect sense now.

Cheers
Richard

Yay! New forms of conflict!

I was really excited when I saw that you had added more conflicts than just the standard hero vs. villain. However, the same "And then..." cards come up in both hero vs. villain and hero vs. nature (the only one I've had enough time to start). Would it be possible for you to make cards that are either specific to the various forms of conflict or at least isolate those you have now to the conflicts they make the most sense with?