Brought To You By ZIP! (WIP)

Ok, you got my attention. This defiantly not something I have heard before. I think you definitely have something here, great job!

I love the concept, definitely one of my favourite eras and the idea of playing a side kick in a sci fi radio show and the contrasts between it and reality should be entertaining.

Those are some great suggestions and I’ll definitely give them a listen! What I was more referring to, though, was the details of how a show would have been produced. Like, as it is now, I have a booth with some people in it running the action, but I have that conception of radio mostly from other fictional shows and movies set in more modern times; I have no idea if it’s period-accurate. If I end up including anachronisms I’d rather it be purposeful instead of just out of ignorance.

Well, that’s really a case-by-case basis, but essentially I believe I can answer that.

Most early radio shows were broadcast live no matter what they were, action, romance, sci-fi, it didn’t matter because recording the broadcasts was expensive and it wasn’t like you could meaningfully alter the recording in any way (editing was in its infancy). The earliest shows had a foley guy right there in the studio with his own microphone, and it was literally his job to make all the necessary noises to move the play forward. Horse hoofs? Coconut shells. Gunshots? Hammer on wood. And so on and so forth… Problem was, this was a limited medium and there was no guarantee that the foley guy would be able to accommodate you.

By the 1940s this had mostly faded out, practical effects were often just ignored in favour of strong music and stronger dialogue. It wasn’t until the 50’s that real sound effects became more practical, because shows would be pre-recorded and the foley guy would create sound effects that could be re-used again and again in different shows.

Lux Radio Theatre (kinda the closest thing to a blockbuster in the radio world) played all of their shows live, with actors running their lines while the orchestral accompaniment was played at the appropriate scene changes. This is the closest thing to your show’s current dynamic, a team of actors who get together and just throw their lines out live on air. This was a pretty unusual setup, especially for genre stuff like sci-fi. Genre stuff needed special editing, new sound effects and ray-guns and other such things that the foley guys could attach to the scenes in the right places.

Most of these shows in the 40s were dominated by the War, and often took time out for the actors to encourage listeners to ‘do their part’ for the war effort. These were often filled with PSAs about eating and living frugally so that the troops could have everything they need, and if your show’s product could be hooked into that, so much the better. Audiences were a lot less cynical in those days, and the ads were crammed into every available space as garish as they could be. No points for subtlety in the ad trade back then…

To answer your question, most of these shows were done in small rooms with the appropriate sound insulation, but some of the larger dramatic pieces were recorded in theatres, and audiences would be invited to sit in to provide authentic laugh tracks and whatnot. Sometimes there was even a band or orchestra to ‘set the mood’ for the listeners back home.

In the current setup I have a foley artist, producer and a technician in the room (I edited the early parts a bit to make the producer show up a little more before you meet them for real in the next section); I may be mixing eras a little, I guess, but I like the idea of practical sound effects. Possibly I’ll play around with exact date of the setting (if for nothing else to avoid confusion about why none of these young-ish people is going off to the war…) Thanks for your help, I appreciate it!

That seems appropriate, I like the live foley artist too, somewhat of a lost art by my reckoning.

I enjoyed playing it; basically my only complaint is that the demo ended way too soon.

It was funny and light-hearted most of the time - except for that one playthrough where I decided to tell the Commander in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t interested. That was a little harsh, but it really got me interested in what happened between the Commander and mthe MC’s predecessor…

I’ll definitely keep checking this for updates regularly.

I found an error:

Nice catch, I’ll fix it when I have the chance. It’s getting long enough that I really need to learn how to run the testing programs, but that’s going to take a little figuring out.

I’m currently working on a few games and I don’t know how to run those programs. To be honest, I play through the game myself and go through each option making sure each one works. it’s a pain, but that way you get rid of 99% of the errors.

I love the premise. It looks to be shaping up pretty well. Just remember, with so many characters talking at once you have to be a real stickler for punctuation or else the the reader gets overwhelmed. There were a few times I was going “wait who’s talking right know”.

Found some parts that I’m confused at, English isn’t my first language. Other than that, I like it.

“You just about breaking your head nodding”
Don’t really understand that part

!Vicki grins. “Doesn’t feel half bad, does it?”
I think you’re trying to say Vicki

Game has been updated with the second scene. (The nature of the event you’re attending has been revised a bit, too.) I plan to expand some of this in the future, but it’ll do for now.

3 Likes

Found this little bug “Because that’s the sponsor’s product!” %{pro} groans."

Love the demo so far, really intriguing mystery setup too.

I found the same bug as the last guy, but otherwise really solidly put together.

Here’s the text snippet:

“Because that’s the sponsor’s product!” %{pro} groans. “You don’t play Who Gets The Poison with the sponsor’s product. You just don’t! Now, I want the two of you to go home. Rest up for a couple of hours. We’ve got a show to do tonight, dammit.” She runs spindly fingers through her hair. “We’ve still got a show to do.”

Thanks, should be fixed now. It’s pretty easy for those to slip by since they don’t pop up as game-stopping bugs.

Ah, just when things get REALLY interesting it ends. :slight_smile: Great job with this, I look forward to reading more!

1 Like

This is excellent. :beer: I love it!

Great dialogue within the story! Not only did it feel period appropriate but it also matched the characterization very well.

“Because that’s the sponsor’s product!” Phineas groans. "You don’t play Who Gets The Poison with the sponsor’s product. You just don’t! "

I look forward to more.

As StephC hasn’t been spotted since October or posted in rather longer, I’m closing her WIP thread for now. She can have it reopened by sending a PM to any mod at any time.

Per the forum guidelines, please don’t resurrect WIP threads that have been dormant for more than a couple of weeks.