Just wondering at what stage through the story you’re writing should you post it on the forum. Would it be ideal to be a good portion through or just to post it as soon as you’ve done the opening scene?
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So, from experience, I’ve found posting too early really drains my drive for creation, so I’ve actually stopped doing that as a standard habit (but that is entirely just IMO).
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I don’t believe there’s a hard rule on that. Some just post a couple of introductory paragraphs, sometimes with no choices to make yet. Other wait until they have a prologue to show, or even a first chapter.
In general, I tend to prefer the second approach, since it allows to better gauge the writing style and the kind of game it will be, while having just an introductory scene often doesn’t say much beside the general concept of the game.
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A problem I have is that my story is all about a lot of options and it’s hard to judge where to put chapters. Should I just try and make a guess?
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For me, I think of it as a means to check in on my progress. First, I pitch the idea and see what kind of response I get. Then I write the first chapter and post the WiP in incremental chapters. To gauge the response and see what people like/don’t like.
But really, there’s no hard and fast rule. Personally, I think it would be good to post it as early as possible so that if people don’t like it, at least you don’t waste too much effort investing into a story people won’t be interested in
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I prefer them to be posted at around %15 percent of the game. This gives the reader something to give feedback on, also allows the writer to go back and make the changes without much headache. But again, this is my opinion.
Alrhough, as i lose interest in things too quick, i would never post a WIP without finishing at least %50 percent of the game. If i can come to that point, that means i will be able to finish it so no disappointment would be given by me saying “i lost interest so i won’t be finishing the game just because of this”.
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i would say minimum would be around the 15 000 word mark. Making few choices and getting feel for it at very least.
I rate the productivity rate of my projects in terms of the word count milestones that I have personally set for myself. I wouldn’t consider a posting a project unless it’s around the 20,000 word mark. It depends on the branching complexity, really.
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A WIP should be posted when you have a long enough demo so that people know the theme, writing style, and basic concept of the game. But, it should still be incomplete enough that changes are possible. This way, people can give helpful comments and suggestions other than saying " That idea is good" and nothing else because there is not enough content.
If you are writing something controversial or very different, then you could post an interest check to see if anyone wants to play a “Choice of the Rapist” or other contraversal game with sexual abuse, poorly portrayed mental issues or whatever. If you are just asking if someone would like a zombie/super hero/romance or other common game, then post the demo first, because most ideas are good.
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Any stage is fine, but personally, I’d say wait until you’ve at least got the first chapter (preferably 2 or 3) 
Happens to me with writing as well. I read in the second AMA that the author of The Martian did that if you’re writing something, resist the urge to share it or talk about it until you release it. The reason being that one of the reasons people like the release things is to hear good feedback and compliments. If you get that too soon, you completely lose your motivation. I found that he’s right.
Of course, there are people who manage to release everything slowly (web-serials being released chapter by chapter, for example), so I don’t think you know which type of person you are until you actually try it out.
(https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/7hjh84/i_am_andy_weir_author_of_the_martian_and_my_new/dqrlf9b/?context=10000 Link to the specific comment I was referring to.)
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I guess it depends on what you want to get out of sharing the WIP?
Personally, I am very much not a fan of interest checks, as my answer will always be “I won’t know if I’m interested, untill it try it”, but I understand how some people might not want to invest time and energy into something they’re afraid people won’t read.
For my own WIP, I wanted to wait till I had written the full prologue, as that seemed a good stoping point, and would be long enough to, hopefully, catch interest.
But I realised that I needed to feel accountable to something, or I just wouldn’t get it done, so I uploaded it at a way earlier stage, even though I don’t think that’s a good way to do it… 
So, yeah, different answers depending on what your motivation is.
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I personally don’t mind interest check threads, so long as it’s a “I’ve got two or three ideas for games, and I wanted to know which idea interests people the most,” type thread. But yeah, if it’s an “I have an idea and I wanted to know if it’s worth writing,” thread, then there’s not much point. If you post a regular WIP with a summary and demo, you’ll soon find how much interest the game has anyway. 
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I’d wait until you worked out the kinks of the setting, plot, characters, conflict, ECT. You can switch the scenes around and do rewrites later cause nothing is set in stone, it’s simply an entertaining way to show a part of the game and get feedback from the community.
Honestly, I need a good chunk of game to work with that I can play around with, at least an hour of reading time is enough time to wrap my head around it. Those are the games I usually find myself coming back to more often than the short blips with a fascinating idea and their brief quirky characters. I believe it’s mainly due to substance and immersion which both take time to build.
I’m very much in agreement. I can’t gauge whether or not I would personally be interested in something without first experiencing a taste.Honestly, there is no such thing as a bad idea, just bad execution. And that’s where the community comes in. If someone becomes enthralled with an idea enough that they decide to make an hour long demo then they just need to go for it .
I would base it off of some sort of percentage, myself. I feel like a good point to post a demo is when you’ve finished roughly 10% of the overall story; enough to give a decent taste without going too far with things.
For example, since I plan on my WIP having around 10 chapters, my demo was just chapter 1. Somewhere around 10%.
Of course, depending on the overall size of the project, that percentage might be a little unreasonable. If it’s something that’s going to be really long or expansive, maybe make it around 5%?
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