I’m new here and I’d like to make a story for Choice of Games or Hosted Games just because I have something written already but want to make it into a choice book.
It’s not that I can’t do it by myself, but I was wondering if there was anyone who would be interested if cowriting is allowed of course.
PM me if you’d like to know more.
Welcome to the forum!
I think before anyone commits to a group project with you, they might want a little more sizzle on that steak. We’d also if possible like a little information on what exactly our role would be in this story of yours, as well as having an example of your work to determine whether your style syncs up with ours.
So first things first, what exactly do you want us for?
If you want someone to take a story you’ve already written and basically turn it into a game for you, then I’m afraid you might be a bit out of luck. Forum rules stipulate that you can’t ask someone to do the coding for your story, but you can ask for tips and help on learning to do it yourself.
You mention in your post that you already have a story written that you’d like to convert to a game, but if that’s the case then what do you need us for? Also, that isn’t a great deal for anyone who joins you for much the same reason. If you want to write with someone, then its implied that they’ll be able to put their own ideas and sensibilities into the story. If we can’t do that, then why would we be involved?
If you’re just looking for a hand in the coding aspect, I would suggest that you download choicescript from the main website and just play with it for a while, it really isn’t difficult to learn the basics of moving from choice to choice, and you’ll get an answer to any question you’d care to name here on the forum. While we’re not exactly willing to write the whole thing for you, we’re certainly happy to spend hours poring over code you’ve written looking for flaws or discrepancies.
Likewise we’re all very happy to check your story for spelling and grammar issues, as well as giving advice on plot, characterisation or flow.
If you want to do a joint project, you’re still quite welcome to do so, but you might be better served starting from an entirely new idea so that other people can have a little input of their own.
Also fair warning, if you intend to sell that game through CoG there will likely be a lot of paperwork involved for a relatively minute amount of money.
For example if you have authors living outside of the US (I think that’s where they’re based?) Then chances are they’ll have to fill out specialised tax forms with CoG every year.
If you want to work with members of the community, there have been successful group projects, but they require constant communication and a good relationship with your fellow writers, which you might want to cultivate by getting to know some of the people here in other topics and seeing whether their styles gel with your own.
The first thing I think you should do if you want to make yourself available for group work is to show us some of your work. This can be a few snippets or a full story, but how do we know we’re going to complement your style if we don’t know what it is?
If you have any other questions about getting started with choicescript or the basics of CYOA writing, feel feel to respond here or PM me for anything specific.
The community here is very friendly, and I’m sure they’ll bend over backwards to help you in any way you’d care to think of.
Moreau covered it well. When I used to write webcomics, there was always a million writers searching to pair up with the small number of artists. Here it’s the same, except you change out artists for coders (oddly enough, finding willing artists here is a lot easier from what I have seen). If you already wrote it and just want to change it to Choicescript, probably easier to learn it on your own or reach out to someone individually once you get to know people better.