Burning Academia
Demo updated: June 7th, 2024 (Prologue - Chapter 2)
Current Word Count (w/code): ~89.2k
Word Count for One Play Through: ~34k
For fun: Take the 'which character are you' quiz
You never thought you'd go to college, due to your circumstances. But you especially didn't dream you'd be forced to attend the prestigious Vales Grove University after being attacked by wraiths in their library. What started as a visit to a long time friend, ended with your hands burned, your innocence questioned, and the startling realization magic is real.
To apologize for what's happened to you, or more accurately, to keep an eye on you, the Headmaster himself offers you enrollment with all fees waived. With no real choice in the matter, you become a student, and try to ignore the suspicion everyone throws your way. Besides, you have worse things to deal with.
Like how you've started to attract ghosts and other dead things, or the fact that there is a very living thing inside your head, waiting for you to lower guard and take control. And most pressing of all, managing your obligation to a family that hasn't been such a thing in years. Tread carefully, if the ghosts don't devour you, the university certainly might.
- Customize the MC; gender, appearance, personality, etc!
- Romance six questionable love interests, or not!
- A morality system which changes how your story will go. Do you belong to the day, the night, or somewhere in between?
- A complicated family, which you've been shackled to your whole life. Will you ever be able to escape them? Do you even want to?
- Survive college, your job, and attempt to not have a quarter life crisis.
- Avoid getting devoured by all the things that go bump in the night.
- Retain your free will.
- Dawn: The world has never been kind, but that hasn't stopped you from giving up. You'll run through the night and embrace the rising dawn. A path of becoming hope.
- Day: There's light in the world, if one only knows how to look. As long as you hold on, the light will find you, too. A path of finding solace.
- Dusk: All you've known is suffering, and you won't stand for it any longer. Regardless where that leads you, or the choices you need to make to save yourself. A path leading to freedom.
- Night: There's no hope here, not as things stand. You'll change it all, even if you must stand in the darkness. A path of destroying everything which has sought to destroy you.
More simply: Dawn/Day: traditional good paths, Dusk: anti-hero path, Night: "villain" path
Rook Bellerose [M]: A "best friend" you've known for over a decade. He's never let you get close even after all this time. He's the king of jokes and immaturity, but after the events which led to your enrollment at Vales Grove, something's changed. Maybe it's the guilt, or maybe it's the mask finally slipping.
Beck Castro [M]: Rook's detested roommate, although you aren't sure why. He's the kind of guy who likes to hear himself talk, and he's pretty good at it. He also possesses a bleeding heart and desperate kindness. For whatever reason, he's taken a keen interest in you, and has offered his help for whatever you might need.
Rhea Windsor [F]: The Headmaster's daughter. Everyone who talks about her often complains that she's the traditional prim and proper young woman one would expect from a Headmaster's daughter. However, the more you talk to her, the more you realize she's the exact opposite with a dorky personality and a streak of clumsiness.
Zoe Ripley [NB]: A loner who hides in the library to avoid people. They saw what went down the day you got forced to attend Vales Grove. Despite their prickly attitude, you get the sense they aren't a bad person, and despite how they act, they've never refused to help you. If anything, you seem to be the one person on campus who doesn't get on their nerves, professors included.
Lars Angel [M]: The most exhausted person you've ever seen, and that's saying something. He's a grad student, and one you keep running in to. He can't stand you, and you can only guess at why. With a sharp tongue and a bitter disposition, he tries his best to avoid you. Too bad you both keep running into each other. It looks like fate has other plans.
???[M/F/NB]: The thing which haunts you. You have no idea how the two of you got connected, but you can feel it in your blood, organs, neurons, synapses. You know it's evil, you know it wants to consume you, but tell me? Has anything ever cradled your soul so gently before?
Poly Route options:
Beck/Rook [triad]: Dawn or Day Path
Rook/??? [triad]: Night Path
Rhea and Zoe [V]: Dawn or Dusk Path
Credits:
Twine Sugarcube Template by nyehilism
CW: Gore, violence, parental neglect, emotional abuse, alcoholism, depression, classism, mtc
Development log
- Bonus Short Story: Zoe14 days ago
- BA Chapter 2 Update49 days ago
- 10k+ plays bonus short story: BeckFeb 17, 2024
- Quick Note: IndicatorsFeb 06, 2024
- BA: Chapter 1 updateJan 19, 2024
- Tumblr 1k Follower Bonus Story: ???Nov 28, 2023
- Tumblr 1k follower bonus story: RookNov 20, 2023
- Grammar/Typo Fixes + Small ChangesNov 03, 2023
Comments
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There's a bug. I chose the reason to go along with free food was "free food is free food". But when I choose "be honest" it says "you pissed me off and I thought agreeing would piss you off back".
I noticed a small issue with the friendship point system. When you're first talking with Rhea in your dorm room and asking her questions, because the questions aren't removed after they're asked, you can keep asking her about herself over and over. You get two friendship points with her every time you do that, and you can keep doing it as long as you want. I don't know exactly how the point system works, so I don't know what effect this can have, if any, but I doubt it's intentional behavior.
I'm surprised with how much I liked it! The emotional moments are well written, and I'm curious for what's to come.
This is interesting! I'm down with the Night path.
Btw, the typo of "then" instead of "than" kinda irk me although I'm not a grammarnazi lol.
Not me reading the contents and IMMEDIATELY going for the night path playing this (For Rook and ??? 🙏 I HAVEN’T EVEN PLAY IT YET)
Has a unique story that got me hooked.
Oh how I love playing the hot headed former delinquent mc. Punching Lars was glorious. Cant wait for the next update. “???” SUPREMACY
Loved the update! Cannot wait to see where this goes!
chapter 2 is pretty great, love the character interactions can't wait to see what comes next and wish you the best
theres an error in chapter 2, in the part where ??? asks you when's your birthday, answering gets you only dead ends in the questions you can ask them afterwards >_<
I've been trying to replicate this issue all weekend to fix it because I know a few players get it and others don't, but I haven't managed to trigger it, so I don't know what's causing it.
Do you remember the last few choices you picked before you reached this passage?
tried to punch lars, had lunch with zoe, chose overworking as vice, chose phone charm
i know texting or not texting mom or what you say to zoe at lunch arent relevant bc it showed up regardless. hope this helps ^_^
Thank you! Hopefully I can figure this out either tonight or tomorrow for yall!
It could also be a problem with people playing on old saves. So did you make new variables that gets triggered/set before the new content?
It might have been? I just went ahead and completely redid the variables, so hopefully it triggers correctly for everyone now!
An error has occurred. You may be able to continue, but some parts may not work properly.
Error: dawn is not defined.
Stack Trace:
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evalJavaScript/Scripting<@https://html-classic.itch.zone/html/10622676/index.html:6594:140549
evalJavaScript@https://html-classic.itch.zone/html/10622676/index.html:6594:140561
Wikifier<.createShadowSetterCallback.value/Wikifier<.createShadowSetterCallback.value<@https://html-classic.itch.zone/html/10622676/index.html:6594:154270
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oneClickFnWrapper/<@https://html-classic.itch.zone/html/10622676/index.html:6594:45856
onClickFnWrapper/<@https://html-classic.itch.zone/html/10622676/index.html:6594:45634
dispatch@https://html-classic.itch.zone/html/10622676/index.html:57:43064
add/v.handle@https://html-classic.itch.zone/html/10622676/index.html:57:41048
Error on wallet ghost choice
Thanks for the report, the choice should be fixed now!
Utterly gorgeous, the most I've enjoyed an IF game in ages. Can't wait to see where this goes!!
so much fun
wish there was more F romance options but still, very enjoyable experience and a lot of options on how the mc handles their past and family relationships. can't wait for more!
Small comment based on the indicator explanation on the first page:
It shows empty heart is single character, full heart is multiple. But then empty diamond is multiple and full diamond is single.
It would make more sense for empty heart/diamond to be single, and full heart/diamond to be multiple right?
Writing to agree with the comment below me. I've simply never enjoyed an IF that has too limited of a set of ROs for my protag. One more female RO, even just as a gender-selectable character, would be fantastic. It's your story ofc but I wanted to comment just to lyk that there is interest there.
Wishing ya the best, author!
Any chance we could get Rook being gender selectable just like "???"?
It would be great to have one more F love interest.
I see there Poly route now and I am here for it anything with Rook I am there <3!!! \o/
is there an explanation between the different paths? (the sun, dusk, moon, & whatever the other options are…) i dont wanna pick to follow a path i know nothing about
Hey, here they are! They weren't initially in the main post since I was finalizing some things about it (will be added now):
More simply: Dawn/Day: traditional good paths, Dusk: anti-hero path, Night: "villain" path
I also decided to add poly options that are path specific:
I adore the writing so much. Also, as someone with a very complex home life, it feels so intensely real, and I am so relieved to have a story where I can have some catharsis.
The second I saw that the mysterious thing haunting you is romanceable I locked in
Hey I think you mixed up "half heartedly" and "haphazardly" and ended up with... "half haphardly" lol
Yeahh, looking foward to updates
just wonderful!! love it <3
The update was fantastic! Can't wait for more 😊
This is a great game, good job so far.
I did notice a mistake though, people kept calling me "Kay" in chapter 1 despite the fact i chose not to have a nickname and used a different name then Kota
Thanks for letting me know! I've had two other people report 2 completely different issues with the nickname option so I'll be looking into it! It should be fixed by the weekend!
Omg the update was so good! I just love Rook and Beck it's gonna be so hard to choose a route to do first. 😭 you did a great job with the update ♥️
Just found this and really just wanted to say that I'm absolutely in love with the story so far <3
So is MC just a normie then? Great demo so far
What do you use to make these type of games?
You can always check for yourself what each game on Itch.io is made with! Just click on the "More information" button above the Development log and look at the "Made with" section.
In the case of this game, it says "Made with Krita, Twine, Paint Tool SAI"
Like Lacxin said! I used Twine Sugarcube specifically, and then I used Krita/Sai to edit any images used!
I can't seem to change the default name? Is this a known issue, or is it something wrong on my end, or just a temporary thing?
Edit: Oops, nevermind. Refreshed the tab and it fixed itself somehow.
Ooooh I can already tell this is going to be a whole unbridled bundle of angst isn’t it? Cant say I’m not here for it.
Very nice start! Eager to read more. :)
loved the demo the characters are so cute!
very good I can't wait for an update :D
This is wonderful and I cannot wait to see where it goes!
I never comment but knowing this is a new story I need you to know how much I love it already! You've set the whole story up in a way where I can't wait for the future of this story not only just for the intriguing plot and already well written characters but to understand the mystery of everything that's going on. So many secrets and overall stuff to discover with the main character as well that has me so excited for more! Like I love Rook already because there's obviously more at play here and it just has me more interested lmfao. There already being some angst with the main character and Rook was already interesting but now with everything going on has me eating it up even more ngl. But I also can't wait to see all the other characters in the future as well, of course. Definitely already a story i'm going to think about every once in a while and one i'm going to keep an eye out for- for updates!
10/10 loved the story ^^
This is an absolute BANGER; it got me hooked from start to finish. Please continue the amazing work,I love it!!<3
A promising start for an IF, but the text is littered with spelling mistakes. Except that, the only problem I really have with the story is that a big enough deal isn't made about the mc realizing that magic is real and not something the average person knows about.
Sorry for the typos, I hope it wasn't too distracting! With my processing issues I'm not surprised I missed some. Once I have time I'm going to do more run throughs to try to catch everything. Thanks for letting me know!
As for the second point that was intentional! As the story goes on you'll obviously have more control over how MC reacts to things, but there are going to be flashbacks where they react in a similar way to major events due to dissociation. I know it might not be a choice players like, so I'll let people know now. Again after this it's really only in flashbacks unless the player continues to choose that as a coping mechanism lol
That sounds good. Also, while i called these "problems" they really weren't all that major😅