u/No_Temperature_9735

Are they stupid?

In the game, you can exercise in three different ways in order to gain STR and RES. So what if you could do puzzles in order to up your INT?

There could be sudoku, crosswords, scrabble, etc, items that you could find randomly that could allow you to either passively gain INT (boring option) or actively by actually solving them.

It would be a good alternative to gain INT early game, if they spawn more commonly in the first layers (also great for Dune since that guy starts with 0 int), and after using a mindwipe.

What are your opinions on item repair? Since, to a minimum extent, it's already present in game through the "Repair Circuit Board" craft. What do you guys think about that being the case for other items?

How about every item? How about only some? How about only ones beyond a certain intelligence level?

And it doesn't necessarily have to be something that can be done at any time, one alternative could be having to find some kind of building that inside has like a tinkerer's workshop (wink wink) or something, which, when interacted with, would allow you to repair your items.

Would item repair be too op? Is it a necessity? What y'all think?

Okay, so, there's this very niche indie game called "Casualties: Unknown" that I'm trying to write a fanfic for. This is just a hobby but I do want to take it seriously enough to develop actual writing skills.

I aim to have this foreboding atmosphere throughout the whole story and so would I like feedback saying how well or bad I'm doing it and any other critique it might need.

In summary, the game takes place on an alien planet. You control a cute little guy called "Experiment" that is one individual in a whole species of carefully bioengineered canine-rat-human anthropomorphic hybrids to basically serve as lab rats. But some (still a LOT) of them were sent to this alien planet to retrieve a piece of cargo that was accidentally sent to its complex cave systems.

And that's what the fanfic will also be about, it'll follow the protagonist venturing down into the unforgiving caves of the Grey Planet. His main directive is to find the cargo, but his true objective is to simply survive. Thus, I want the story to have this persistent heavy atmosphere, one of constant pressure to do everything right because one little mistake can cost you everything. That oppressive ambiance is occasionally broken up by small victories such as finding delicious food or other useful items while scavenging.

TL:DR: I want to write a dark and heavy atmosphere in order to capture the dark and heavy vibe of the game my fanfic is for.

Here is the work in question (it's still incomplete, this is part of the first chapter):

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I carefully examine the flashlight in my paw. Its orange paint is peeling off in some places, and it overall looks like it's either already seen quite a bit of use or is very cheaply made. I pressed the big grey button on it and expected at least a dimly lit cave in front of me, but I was instead met with absolutely nothing. I smacked it once with my free paw. It flickers and then finally comes to life.

"There you are. Hey there... Buddy," I jokingly say to my flashlight. It then unexpectedly buzzes and flickers again. "Heh, nice to meet you too."

I look out into the gravel lands and eventually muster up enough courage to take my first step out into the vast unknown. The jagged light rocks beneath my paw greet me with their uncomfortable-to-step-on surface. *Great, even just walking here will be a pain*. I move away from the pod – each step a little more discomforting than the last – and point my flashlight around as I take in my surroundings.

The jagged rocks that jot out from the uneven cave walls glare at me as I awkwardly stumble my way in the dark. I aim my flashlight at a particularly dark spot ahead and my heart sinks to my stomach. I gasp as I am stopped dead in my tracks by a ledge I damn near walked off of.

I slowly take a step back and then carefully stick my head forwards to see what's at the bottom of the abyss. There seemingly isn't one. It's just a dark, dark nothing reaching far, far down into eternity. I stare into it, and what stares back is a strange green-blue glow. It's coming from an opening on the cave wall with a ledge that is barely sticking out.

I think it's a glowplant. Back home, during the Scavenger's Course, I learned how to make bandages and a bag with some dried foliage. Although these ones aren't dry, I think the same thought still applies.

"Okay, it's just a small step-off away. You can do this... *I* can do this," I say to myself, forcing together every bit of courage I can find within me. I reluctantly take a few steps back in order to build up the speed to make it across. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and I open them again. I do not feel any more prepared.

I sprint forward with all my barely existent might, the light rock clawing at my rushing paws, as if trying to subdue me. I reach the edge and I push myself off the ground with all my strength.

I am in the air. From my brief ascent, I now come crashing down like a piece of used tissue paper. My fur rushes past the wind, and my stomach drops before I do. Like darts from a taser onto flesh, my body impacts the hard wall. I bark from pain.

The awkward angle at which I hit the irregular rocks pushes me away and veers me off to the side just enough so that only my left paw actually makes contact with the ledge. My bad footing tosses me to the right and the whole world flips upside-down. "SHIT!" I yell out as I-

.

..

...

.

..

...

"Nffgh..."

I... open my eyes. My left... Everything... Hurts... Pretty bad. And-... And my head too.

I slowly come to my senses and... I realize that I'm lying on top of something... Soft and... Spongy... I slowly sit up and put a paw up to my head. *Oww, my head... Wait, where's-... Where's my... WHERE'S MY FLASHLIGHT?* My eyes widen as I gain full awareness. I frantically parse the gravel around me, but it's too dark to make anything out. I get on my knees, and start feeling the gravel and weird soft matter around.

I then feel something familiar at my fingertips. "Buddy?" I quietly ask, as if it would whimper back a response. I take the object in my paws and, sure enough, it is my dirt-covered flashlight. "Buddy!" I say as I dust it off and press the big grey button; nothing happens. "B-Buddy??" I smack it once and... Absolutely nothing. Worry and fear and regret and gloom fill my mind as I strike the flashlight again. A faint beam of light then rips through the dark shroud that covered me.

I let out a sigh of relief, "I thought I lost ya Buddy," with light now flooding the scene, I finally notice the blood that taints both my paw and everything else. A sharp sting on my head reminds me of what happened. I shut my eyes from the pain and when I open them again, all kinds of numbers and weird information fill my vision.

"Whoa, what the-" I am taken aback by the sudden sensory overload. At the left side there was a green panel with what looks like a brain, a heart, an arm and all kinds of symbols strange symbols, by all of them there were numerals and percentages. At the center was a weird puppet that kinda looked like my body, it had tear-drop symbols on its head and and left upper arm, these places on my body were the ones hurting the most. I forced my eyes shut and the visions were gone when I opened them again.

I look at my left arm and it really is bleeding. *I better wrap this up with something*. I look around with my flashlight and I realize that I had landed on a plant with slowly twitching red arms, a mushplant. I can probably cover my wounds with them. I rip some off it and begin wrapping them around my arm. Once its bleeding was in control, I rip some more and wrap them around my head.

I point my flashlight around and I see nowhere to go, I seem to have miraculously landed on a ledge just wide enough to fit me. Looking around, I see more ledges reaching far down the abyss, some in the direction of where I jumped from, some sticking out of the cave wall I have my back to. I really don't want to risk another fall. Looking up, I notice the green-blue glow from earlier. It seems like the only feasible way to continue.

I put my flashlight in my mouth and my paws in the cracks and rocks across the cave wall. Slowly but surely I start climbing my way up. It hurts like hell, but there's really not much else to do. Crack after crack, rock after rock, I close the distance between me and the ledge, getting more and more tired the closer I get.

I finally get close enough to reach for the ledge with my paw, at which point I lean towards it, place my other paw on it and pull myself up with great effort. I manage to rise enough to support my chest on the ledge. I then drag myself on the pointy gravel as I awkwardly push on the cave wall with my legs to at long last rest on the overhang.

At this point I'm completely exhausted and sweating profusely. I spit the flashlight out of my mouth and start panting and wheezing. "My lungs... uugh..." I barely mutter.

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