All the Way (WIP, 1990s, Supernatural Horror/Thriller)

[Zodac01]

Eep! More typos and minor stuff like that than I had hoped – I shall aim to clear a good portion of these on the next update. Other than a few of those that were pretty bad, felt like it flowed pretty good. Granted my test play through took about 6 hours, so think thats a rough judgement on the current play time.

Anyway, if things go right, hopefully I’ll have that next update in a few weeks or a month or so roughly speaking, with the worst of the typos and bugs fixed, at least as far as the later chapters are concerned . . . the problems with the volleyball game will probably take a back seat for a while yet, as that one is going to take a lot of time to fix.

[myeraland]

I hope this isn’t considered rude… Do you mind posting the update text into the forum itself? I’m partially blind, so italic text on a white background is impossible for me to read.

If not, that’s fine. I really enjoy that you post update dates and times on the start screen anyways.

[Zodac01]

Not rude at all — thanks for letting me know.

basically, in the last update I added one more chapter (chapter 12), I fixed a few bugs/typos/grammar & spelling problems, and i added a few more variables on the back end to track and handle a few things.

[Zodac01]

So this probably won’t appeal to most of you, but there is now a pre-release test variant for the game that people can play and check out if they want too: All the Way . . .

More on that:

Summary

Now, technically this pre-release variant has existed for a while, but previously it didn’t work, however, now it looks like COGDemos changed enough on the backend where I can have these test variants of my games. Actually, really excited about this as it means I can hopefully give you all a slightly more refined version when I update as I’ll be able to see the game before hand, as long as I do it right. A very warm thank you to the folks over at COGDemos.

Also, some potentially exciting information on saved games and new variables, coming down the road:

Summary

Also, and this might be a while, but I do recall having read a post recently where they were looking into the problem with new variables wrecking saved games, if i recall right. if that get this fixed, I would be super grateful, as will all of our saved games and protagonists and their game worlds – I don’t know about you all, but I get nearly emotionally attached to some of my games, so having to restart is always a tough blow. But new variables are often needed during game creation, so thus far it was a necessary and horrible evil . . . but perhaps soon the matter will be resolved.

Failing that, I have learned of a work around to the problem. Now, this work around would take a good amount of coding and time from yours truly, thus why I haven’t done it yet, though I do think it is very possible – and especially for this game where the variable size is fairly reasonable. If COGDemos does not eventually update to handle the problem with new variables, then I will eventually try my work around, probably sometime next year unless I suddenly end up with a ton of free time.

Correction on the above: After looking back over it, it seems COGDemos is working on updating where if the start file changes but the variables have not changed it will not requires a new game. Little bummed by this, but that’s my bad on being confused. So, think that means the work around I learned about is the only way to go. I won’t be able to do it with the next update most likely, but maybe on the one following that. Sorry regarding that and for my adding variables requiring new games.

Once more my thanks to the good people at COGDemos – I feel like that website keeps getting better and I am grateful that we have it as a free hosting site for our games. And thank you to everyone that has tried my game. I’ve really had a lot of fun with this one and am excited to share the next few chapters in due time . . .

[Zodac01]

Getting close to the 60 day mark, so just wanted to mention that there is a little more progress on the next chapter in the pre-release test variant, and I’m hoping to move onto concentrate on that update soon once I get a little more work done on my other major WIP, “Sense & Sorcery”. Not 100% sure but I will probably aim for a couple chapters, though no promises.

[Zodac01]

no update yet, but progress continues . . . will probably be a bit later than I’d like as the stuff I’m doing for my other WIP, Sense & Sorcery, is taking a lot longer than I’d like, and I am poor at mult-tasking between games. Sorry for the repeated delays on an update for this WIP, and if your following any of my other WIPs, those too!

[EliJang]

That 90k word count is a massive start—those gritty 90s Pike vibes are going to be perfect for a high-stakes horror run!

[Zodac01]

Ha, yeah — even more now too! Honestly, other than a few more tricky coding sections I’d say this has been one of the easier WIPs to write progress wise. I feel like if I paused my other WIPs and had less real world stuff going on I bet I could finish it in a few months … but easier said than done — thanks for giving my game a try!

[Zodac01]

So as ever I am behind on getting these updates rolling. So this entry here is mostly to keep the thread alive, as it shouldn’t be to much longer until its done, and I want the thread alive for that. While I am here I also wanted to notify the group that there is to be a new Christopher Pike movie based on his pivotal series “Remember Me” –> Information about upcoming movie. I post this as this is a CP tribute game so I assume at least a few of you have read his works. This one was a classic and way ahead of its time when he wrote it, wherein the protaganist was the ghost of a murdered girl that had to solve her own murder, trying to find out which of her friends had done it while learning how to function and survive as a ghost. Anywho, I won’t hazzard a guess as to when my update for AtW will be done, as I am always wrong on these estimates, but hopefully sooner than later. Sorry again for the super slow pace.

[Zodac01]

I know it’s not what people want to hear, but still no update. Sorry again for the slow progress – honestly, I’d probably forgo posting about not having an update but the thread closes if i don’t post anything after a while, and we will get that update eventually. Why the slow progress – a variety of factors: Work, my health, my caregiving duties, burn out, and admitadly sometimes a need for better time management. Thank you to all that are waiting for the update – I really appreciate your patience, and I hope I get all of my demented free ranging ducks in a row soon so I can get this update out to you all.

[Zodac01]

So, while I didn’t post the update to the main game in cog demos, I now basically have chapter 13 complete and posted to the test game variant in cog demos: All the Way

The test variant is now up to around 136k roughly – yeah, not super impressive given how long I’ve been working on it, but real life and such, etc. At present I’m kind of 50/50 on wrapping up this current update with just the one chapter or pushing on to one more. I’ll probably decide it one way or another in a few days.

Very vague details

While I’m still working out some of the details, I think chapter 13 more or less will divide into roughly four+ different endings for the chapter with two noteworthy things happening or not happening in the chapter and the prot being in one of two possible end locations. So, yes, chapter 14 will be a branching chapter. Some branches will remain separated, some will eventually recombine, and some will further branch later. Depending on what happens, there should gradually be a slightly different tone, scene, and plot for the ending, though I do kind of have one main plot in mind as the “main plot” so that one might get the most attention overall, though I’m hoping the others will still do well.

Ah, so if I do decide to just do the update as chapter 13 and call it a day for now, then the update should be out in the next few days to the main game in cog demos . . . if not, if I push onto do chapter 14 or at least include part of it, then it may be a lot longer yet. Though regardless, you can still play the game in the test variant in the meantime.

I should warn players that one path has a potentially slightly more graphic pseudo-adult scene. I’m kind of 50/50 on adding additional content warnings and such, as it isn’t that much more graphic than the prior scene we had. I will decide that in the next few days as well, if further content warning is needed or not needed. If I decide it is needed, I will probably start an adult thread for this game, but the scope and extent of that thread will be fairly limited as adult content is not the core purpose or intent of this game, though some of the themes are mature, as they were in CP’s works.

For those waiting on updates for my other games, those may be sooner or later depending on if I decide to push on to do chapter 14 for this game or not. Right now, as long as no family emergencies or other problems occur, I kind of feel like I have energy to proceed onto chapter 14, but as stated, should be able to make the choice in a few days.

[Zodac01]

For the test game variant under the link from the last post, I now have one of two chapter 14 paths complete, minus editing. Still need to finish the other chapter 14 variant (I’d say its about half way done now), and then I will press onto chapter 15, which will have a few different variants depending on your choices – not 100% if I will push onto finish those chapter 15s or just get a bit of a start on each.

No estimate on when these will all be wrapped up and posted to the main game, but it would sure be great if I could manage it in the next couple weeks. We shall see.

On finishing all that, I will move back to working on S&S and hopefully get that update finally at long last done. And then I will probably take a short break for a while, before returning to work on these. I’d still kind of like to get updates on my other WIPs this year as well, probably starting with Blood & Blooms and Celtic Cry, but no promises on anything, as I’d also like to get some work done on my linear writing and other non-text based games, both of which have been sadly neglected, and I have a good amount of real world stuff to do too.

Note: The test game variant is not a stable build, as I may well need to make more variables before this is done, so saved games are not safe . . .so if you do play, sorry to say those saved games may well not survive long. Sorry

I still want to make the saved game system I talked about earlier, but that will take me a good amount of time and work too, so not sure how to work it amongst my other goals right now.

[Zodac01]

So good news is that other than a few personal playthroughs and some subsequent light editing, the update is ready. It’s still only posted to the test game variant from the link, but once I’ve had time to play through it a few times and do a little more editing, I’ll update it to the main cogdemo game files. With this update in play, the game will be around 157k words long and very roughly around 64k per playthrough.

Tomorrow and Saturday are pretty busy for me, but baring any emergencies or anything weird, I’m optimistic of being able to do my playthroughs and editing Sunday, so hopefully I’ll be able to finally post the update sunday.

[Zodac01]

So, at long last, I am delighted to announce that the update has dropped for the game on COGdemos. We are now up to 157k words in total (not including code), and a very rough estimate of 64k words per playthrough.

What is in the update

This update contains chapter 13, chapter 14, and a few teasing openings for chapter 15. It also holds a ton of grammar and bug fixes, though I’m 100% certain that there are many times more that need to be fixed yet. While I did fix some things for the stat screen for chapter 12, I ran out of time to do further fixes for the new chapters, though adjustments on things in their will need to be worked on further in the next update. I also added in both a dedication and a content filter. Meh – probably other things I tweeked and added, but as its 2:30 am where I am and I have worked the better part of the last 12 hours on getting the update ready, I’ll just post below in another indentation the change log:

Change Log for Update

Update: 0.0.26.06.14.02.30

Current Word Count: 157,000 +

Very Rough Measure of Word Count per Play: 64,000 words

-Adjusted some things in chapter 12 to fix a few bugs and to better prepare the prot for chapter 13 via adjusting some of the variable points in the back ground.
-In chapter 8 I had accidentally used a temp variable when I should have used a permanent variable – this resulted in the game not being able to track who witnessed the prot walking up the cliff. I hope and think thats fixed now.
-At the start of chapter 12 the prots clothing in the stats menu is supposed to switch back to her starting outfit with some adjectives added into indicate their state. I had forgotten to turn off one of the prior outfits and hadn’t fully populated these descriptors. Both should be fixed now.
-As I am not a strong believer in the fair math mechanic many use, some rel values would periodically go over 99%, which should never happen. I used a work around to resolve this, so now it will max out at 99%.
-Started chapter 13. For this chapter there are two different paths. At present both paths have been started but neither are super far along. Getting there though.
-Numerous scenes added to chapter 13.
-Added in officers to the stats menu. They should only display once the prot begins her interview in chapter 12.
-Unfortunately had to add some new variables to better track NPC deaths.
-Assuming I did the coding correctly, it should now show our first death correctly in the stats menu once the prot realizes that NPC really did die. This change will occur midway through chapter 12.
-Added vars to track who the prot has made out with, had sex with, and, in very rare instances, been impregnated by. While this isn’t the core instance of the game, a la a few of Pike’s work, impregnation was defiently a theme, so there will be at least one path that follows this, though it can easily be avoided and I think there are plenty of warnings. Note, for the tracking variables, I still need to go through prior scenes and make sure I tag the new vars up correctly. Might get to it this update, might have to be next time.
-Added in a bunch of variables to deal with some of the events in chapter 13 going into chapter 14 and to point track for a few things. These should be relevant in reinforcing one path or another pending on prior decisions.
-Started adding in a bridge section between chapter 13 and 14 to assign points for various past decisions and then direct the narrative to the correct next chapter. Have also added a chapter count variable, as some chapters might be reached multiple ways. Some stat adjustments occur based on prior actions as well.
-Added chapter 14 mythic path, our second dream sequence glimpse into the past, continuing that substory and tie-in to the main narrative.
-Added chapter 14 spirit path. Please note there is some minor tweaking I want to do here and there, mostly for better variable tracking for this section.
-Added in bridge and a few teasers for chapter 15, but not all paths have teasers built, and those that do are super short. Still should be enough to spring board off of for next time. Questionable if a couple of these paths might be bad or neutral endings, but i’ll think over if it best serves the game to lengthen these, or if at present these endings represent a complete story arc.
-Added in pregame dedication message.
-Added in a content filter. Currently there is only one scene that I would describe as containing any actual adult graphic content, though there is also one other scene with implied adult content and some teasing language. Obviously, as per CP’s actual novels, there is a ton of talk about drugs, sex, and other risky things – a staple from Pike’s novels, and honestly something that was pretty common place in highschool in the 90s. The content setting is by default set to 2, where you may not view any graphic adult scene, but may view implied scenes, and normal scenes. The content setting can either be set at the start of the game, or in the stats menu.

While a lot was done in the update, there are definitely somethings I wanted to do but couldn’t:

Things to work on for a future update

-The New Save System: Its badly needed, but I couldn’t find the time to do it, at least this time around. Honestly, it might come to skipping work on these games for a few months to add these save systems to my WIPs . . . but that might be time well vested, as it a) stops people from losing saved games that are probably beloved, if you are like me. b) will save a ton of time on checking new content for playthroughs . . . for example, this game is around 60k words per playthrough, so every time I fully play test once I am basically reading a 60k novel. And this game is much shorter than say LotSC or S&S . . . so, its a problem. I’ll need to brainstorm on when and how to get this going . . .

-Tons more editing, formatting, and bug checking to fix. I’ll be honest, towards the end of my playthrough I was noticing some pretty narly typos, but was to exhausted to fix them. Hopefully each time I clear a sizeable portion more, but being that the new sections bring more, its kind of a wash. Might not be a terrible idea to do just a straight out editing/bug fix update at some point, but as with the needed save system, when or how is a question, and likely it won’t be soon. In the meantime, sorry for some of the rougher typos and such.

-Chapter 9: Its the cool party and hook up chapter. Its … mmm…maybe a third done. On playing through what was there, I really loved this chapter, but I know resolution of the first party game will be code intensive, and thus time intensive, so I guess that’s why I pushed it off till another time. And then its a question of how in depth I want to go with the other party games and other party aspects. I could make some of these mini games as well, or just wave my hands and make them each a few pages or so, with far simpler choice selection etc. Will brain storm – scope creep must be avoided, but then again mini-games are fun and add replayability and straight up enjoyment. Being that it will be a while till the next update, I’ll have a long while to ponder.

-I did note a couple minor plot incongruities . . . I don’t think any are so bad that they can’t be dealt with via a bit of work either tweeking what is present or adding on to it, but none-the-less, those can be frustrating. Pike was a master ploter, in my opinion at least . . . I am far more a pantser, and unfortunutly on ad hoc writng/coding, some times these problems do occur. Some of these will hopefully be dealt with next time.

More I wanted to write about and mention on the update and some corolary things, but as its super late now and I must sleep too, will leave it with this all, and only add that there might be one more update for AtW very much later on this year, and if not, then likely early next year. S&S will now be my immediate project focus for probably the next couple months, though I may take a week or two to recover from working on this AtW update.

[caramer]

this story is so much fun the mystery made me read through everything in one sitting

i like how shelly is literally a school girl’s biggest nightmare but also shes such an interestingly mysterious character hope we can learn more about her in future updates!

[Zodac01]

Thank you so much! Glad you’re enjoying the story so far . . . yes, more to come on Shelly in the next update. As the game creeps to the finish line, most mysteries will be revealed.