City of Smoke and Ashes (Concept Teaser) (Patreon)

Author’s note

This is the first of a series of posts that will provide sneak peeks, world-building ideas, character brainstorming, lore documents, maps/locations, and possibly even concept art for the interactive fiction game, City of Smoke and Ashes (working title).

I hope that these sneak peeks that provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world and story of CoSA, and drum up excitement for the game! I also intend to release this content to paid subscribers on a semi-regular basis, primarily for months where updates to Merry Crisis / CT:OS’s demo are still in the works.

I’ll be prioritizing Merry Crisis & CT:OS until those are complete, so actual development will likely only begin when at least one of those games is complete!

Synopsis

City of Smoke and Shadows is a noir thriller set in an alternate-history 1930s Shanghai, where political intrigue, family drama, and martial arts action collide.

Cha—ritualistically prepared tea leaves that grant martial prowess and prophetic visions when smoked—has become the world’s most coveted commodity. Shanghai, the epicenter of the cha trade, is a smoldering powder keg of shifting alliances and rising tensions.

You are the youngest child of the Wu family, a once-mighty house that rules half the city. After turning your back on your family’s bloody legacy, you’re called home for your father’s funeral—only to uncover a web of conspiracies behind his death. Revolutionaries, clan leaders, and colonial agents are all vying for control of the city—and cha itself.

Navigate shadowy alleyways, gilded ballrooms, and bustling dockside markets, where conflict brews, and loyalties shift like the wind. The stakes are impossibly high. Your choices will determine the future of your family, your city, and the wider world beyond—so keep your allies close, and your enemies closer.

Will you reclaim your legacy—or burn it all to the ground?

Detailed Game Concept

Shanghai, 1930s—a city on the brink of chaos. Colonial powers vie for dominance, revolutionary ideologies clash with imperial loyalties, and ancient family rivalries simmer just beneath the surface. China’s imperial loyalists dream of restoring the Empire’s dominant position on the world’s stage. Meanwhile, revolution brews in the shadows, as colonial powers threaten to swallow the Empire whole. 

At the heart of the power struggle lies cha.

There is an ancient, secret method of cultivating and roasting tea-leaves which allows it to be smoked in cigars, granting heightened awareness, martial prowess, and prophetic visions. Colonial powers, tired of buying expensive, processed cha from noble families in Shanghai, want the recipe. So do the disenfranchised lower and middle-class, who are no longer contented with letting cha remain in the hands of the privileged few.

Play as the youngest, reluctant heir of the Wu family—a once-mighty clan that still controls one-third of the trade in Shanghai.  

After five years abroad trying to distance yourself from your family's bloody legacy, your father's murder drags you back to a fractured city where old enemies circle like vultures, and new friends hide daggers behind their backs.

Features

• Shape the Fate of Shanghai—Will you rebuild your family’s crumbling empire, fight to restore the once-glorious Chinese Empire, throw yourself behind the People’s Revolution, or perhaps turn your back on it all?

• Explore a richly-imagined, atmospheric world—1930s Shanghai comes vividly to life. Step through foggy alleyways and neon-lit boulevards, where the glow of paper lanterns meets the glare of electric street lamps, and the city's future teeters on the cusp of modernity and tradition.

• Martial Arts Combat system–An intricate skill system allows you to fight with your fists, channeling your life force, with uncanny perception, or razor-sharp reflexes. Of course, there's always another way out: you can wield glib words or your sharp wits, too. Engage in high-stakes rooftop chases, brutal alleyway brawls, treacherous dinner parties, and tense duels. As you wade ever-deeper into the city’s web of secrets, your skills will be tested at every turn.

Romantic Options

Navigate a web of shifting alliances and dangerous foes—Keep your enemies close, and your friends or lovers closer. Between powerful aristocratic nobles, ambitious colonial powers, underground revolutionaries, is there anyone you can trust?

• Jin Tao: The enigmatic, aloof, and fiercely intelligent illegitimate child of the rival Jin clan. Brilliant and ruthless in equal measure. Friend, enemy, or something in between?

• ?: A fiery revolutionary who dreams passionately of a cha-fueled rebellion for the people; they are prepared to do whatever it takes to build a more egalitarian country.

• Comte de Valois: A suave French diplomat, whose charm and impossible good-looks may hide a dangerous hidden agenda.

• Wei Hu: Your fiercely-loyal childhood friend and bodyguard. But even the most unshakeable bond has its limits; their secrets could spell your downfall.