In Auctorem Credimus

"And they lived happily ever after" might be the biggest cliffhanger of all.

In Auctorem Credimus is a metafictional sci-fantasy adventure where you play as the main character's love interest, who takes over the MC's role after the story has ended.

This game is an entry for the @interact-if ranked game jam! The jam's theme is "cliffhanger", so the game will end on one, but the game is written with a longer follow-up story in mind!

In Auctorem Credimus won 1st Place in the Story & Plot Category, and 3rd Place Overall!

The game is complete at ~52,000 words, but has several features that didn't make the cut, so it will be updated again in the future.

Feeling purposeless and unfulfilled after your story has ended, you stumble upon an organization dealing with the same problem as you: the Custodians of Authorial Narrative Foundation (CANon). With nothing else to do but hope for your story's sequel or (hopefully not horrible) movie adaptation to come, the main character of your story (and canonical love interest) invites you to join the foundation and work as a biblio-anthropologist, traveling through various story worlds without the need to stay in-character.

So when your dream finally came true a few years later and people in your neighborhood start forgetting about you, you immediately grab your plot armor and prepare to defeat the villains once again. You've done it before, and you'll make sure they'll never do it again. At least, that's how sequels are supposed to go, right?

But when the main character and the villains turn out to be missing, you decide to take on the mantle of 'main character', join the CANon Timeline Anomaly Removal Department Intervention Squad (TARDIS), and write the sequel to your own story yourself.

In Auctorem Credimus features:

• Customizable character: including age, gender, appearance,  personality, and multiple character backgrounds
• Choose your (non-canonical) relationship with the main character and the children under their care
• Flirt and build friendships with the squad members
• Explore different story worlds and break the fourth wall!
• A follow-up spin-off story

Hayden Jekyll

The squad's de facto leader. A scientist-turned-antihero who can shapeshift into different animals, mythological or otherwise, by drinking a serum… until he was cursed by the goddess Circe to never be human again for his arrogance. 

No one in the squad has ever been able to ask what his actual backstory is.

Jessica Armstrong

The squad's resident engineer, hacker, and explosives expert. She has a magically enchanted bionic arm that works like a glorified Swiss Army knife, which she uses to repair and maintain the Nautilus IX, the squad's dimensional starship that lets them travel to other story worlds. 

A weary idealist, she decided to leave her home in the Regency era after a chance encounter with time traveler H.G. Wells, hoping to help less fortunate characters. The alternative was being caught in a love triangle between two pretentious idiots.

Phyrnne

The squad's anomaly behavior analyst, therapist, and psychologist. Phyrnne is an empathic blind ghost, who navigates the physical world through sensing other people's feelings, much like heat signatures. 

She is the most caring of the squad, but don't mess with her unless you want to be possessed. Phyrnne changed her name as she doesn't want to be referred to as the ghost of La Llorona, whose children were drowned at the beginning of a forgotten murder mystery with no killer.

D

A 10,001-year-old vampire from a fifteen-year-old's abandoned fanfiction. Don't ask them how they got their name (it was a placeholder). 

Seeking to redeem themselves from their feeding frenzy when they first learned about what happened to their story, they're now trying to improve the public perception of vampires by helping with charity and the children protagonists' orphanage, as well as promoting ethical feeding habits. They especially love to give the orphans gifts and souvenirs during their visits, after they once tried to feed on Santa Claus. Well, except teenagers. They're still bitter about that.

Dr. Rnst Gadsby

The squad's changeling xenoarchaeologist, and occultist by hobby. He accidentally summoned Phyrnne's spirit during his first mission, and eventually convinced her to join the TARDIS after haunting the squad for weeks. 

Rnst mostly keeps to himself, although part of it is because he doesn't have a developed personality (or memory of his family) after being cut from a story with an ensemble cast—something he bonds with Phyrnne over. Together, they help each other discover their personalities (and maybe figure out Rnst's gender too).

Lorem Ipsum

The Nautilus IX's artificial intelligence. Lorem usually assists the squad with piloting the ship, as well as tracking down anomalies. Outside the ship, Lorem takes the form of a drone, which it likes to call the Futuristic Omniscient Operator Bibliographical Adjutant Rover (FOOBAR).

Lorem was a supercomputer developed during the Cold War and was eventually repurposed by Jessica. Lorem changes its personality every so often to mess with the squad (except Phyrnne who can mess with its systems), and likes to indulge its murderous tendencies when its Black ICE protocol is activated, turning dangerous anomalies to mouthless blob monsters.

Lorem also loves being a GM and takes the role a little too seriously.

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Thank you, and always remember: In Auctorem Credimus