I don’t think this has been attempted yet. What if we, as the choicescript community, produced a game as a group? Each person could take control of a different scene, we could determine the major plot details/game mechanics here in the forum, and I think if we get a lot of people involved, we can make a very good game in a relatively short amount of time.
We could use dropbox (invite only) to edit the game over multiple computers, and dropbox keeps backups of files in case someone decides to troll.
This is just an idea, but I think it would be a fun thing for this community to do. Tell me what you guys think, is this a good idea? If you guys are on board, so am I. We can start discussing story details and get the ball rolling!
Thanks
Personally I wouldn’t be particpating in something like this(I’m still new to *choice-script and stuff)but that aside,not only does this sounds like something that could be very fun for some of in this community to do,this also sounds very familiar to a game made with rpgmakervxace, a(you guessed it)rpg-based game engine.The people of the game engine’s official forum http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/
made something called a “chain-game” a while back.
It’s a good idea in theory, but probably not in practice.
You might be able to get a few select people working together but I don’t think you could have it on a anyone edit as you feel like it basis.
I think everyone’s ideas and coding implementations would conflict…you’d have to have perfect executions of communication, ideas, and style. But if you could pull it off, that’d be amazing. Plus all the authors would essentially get very little royalties since it would be split between multiple people, which would suck (if that’s a factor to you)
Yeah, we might run into issues such as differing voices and one edit no one knows about could seriously damage the game. We might run into continuity issues, which would be a pain to resolve. It would require a lot of communication between editors in order to be good… it would be hard to make it a great game. But it doesn’t need to be a great game, it’s okay if it’s just decent, right? It would be fun.
This was attempted before by myself, Reaperoa, ScarletGeisha, appleduck and Toa_Onarax. The problem was that we all had games already in different stages of development. As such, our game never really took off.
The idea has a lot of potential, the problem is getting everyone in sync.
It sounds like fun, but the trick really would be to find some very dedicated contributors. Otherwise, nothing’s going to get done.
Also, sometimes people’s writing styles don’t mesh. Could make a story seem blocky. But if everyone involved is having fun I don’t see why a community game shouldn’t be attempted, whatever the results may be.
I’d like to see a lot more people collaborating, but maybe not on such a large community-wide scale.
@CS_Closet - Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking. Everyone has their own writing styles, so it would be strange going from one writing style to the next when reading. Still, it does seem quite fun.
I think it’d doable. If all the involved parties put effort into it, I think it should be possible - differences in writing styles should be able to be overcome with a specified transition point, and actually kinda cool. Maybe it’ll be like Doctor Who (which I’ve never watched, mind you) or the movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (which I have watched, but don’t really remember).
I’m assuming the overall story would be along the lines of 1 author/1 vignette, and so, if I use a train metaphor, have each author do a vignette, then have them work with whoever comes before and whoever comes after to merge the vignettes, or maybe one person writes the transition between scene, like a narrator between acts.
I actually have no idea how you would be working together or what you were even working on, but that’s just what I pictured when you suggested a community project.
It’d be happy to take another stab at it. Two things that have to be set fairly early on:
Idea - The game does need a central ‘idea’ (if not a central plot). Lacking this, the game is likely to just fade away. The idea needs to be large enough that multiple people can work on it, but small enough that they can finish it.
Method - Looking around when we tried this before I found two ways that struck me as good ideas: GitHub and Google Docs. Didn’t do too much searching though.
A three phase game spread over thousands of years!
In the year 2115 an asteroid is discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. The bad news is that the size of the asteroid will almost certainly wipe out all life on the planet. The good news is that there are 25 years until it hits. As the leader of your nation, you have decided to build a spaceship and send a group of humans to the only discovered habitable planet Kepler 62e. You must design, build and populate your ship. You must deal with other nations, terrorists, and protests. You must face many difficult questions: How will you decide who goes on the ship? How big will you aim to make it? When will you launch?
Phase 2 (2 different story arcs)
Once the ship is in space, there will be no turning back. Depending on your choice of cryogenics or a sustainable ecosystem, you will have different challenges to face in space. With most people frozen most of the time, using cryogenics is an easy option. But maintaining the stasis still takes considerable effort. How will you deal with the many problems that can occur? Keeping everyone awake is definitely friendlier. Generation after generation of humans will live and die on the spaceship. However, what will you do to keep the population rate at an acceptable level? How can you cope with cliques between the generations? How can you maintain the quality of the ship for thousands of years?
(Optional) Phase 3
So you’ve built a ship and travelled across the stars to reach your new home. Well, the holiday’s over and the real work now begins! You need to organise everyone and create a new home on Kepler 62e. How will you prioritise different parts of the city? Will you focus on defences or life support? How will you react to the flora and fauna of this planet? How will you greet your neighbours…?
This game would take a long time to create. The three phases each need a lot of dedication and hard-work to make them successful. I think we need 4+ people to create this:
A writer or two: Someone with experience who can create good dialogue between characters and good descriptive language. A basic understanding of choicescript is important.
A coder or two: Someone who knows choicescript and can be creative with the language. We’re going to have to keep track of a lot of variables with this game.
An artist: A game like this would be incomplete without solid visuals to back it up: A large variety of different faces / torsos, imaginative spaceship internal designs, and landscapes.
A director. To coordinate the project and help with the creative process and coding where they can. They will be the builder, taking the code created by each member and putting it all together.
Does it sound interesting at all? Good enough to play? Good enough to invest time creating? What do you reckon?
@Andymwhy good idea but too goody for me. I imagine myself trying to become the supreme leader of the humanity stablish a brave new world utopy to prevent rebelion and overpopulation. But you got a wonderful idea that could have many exit even derivate in a app text adventure online like some are being launched for android
@andymwhy
That sounds so amazing. I’d love to see it made into a finished gamebook. I’m currently too busy working on my own novel, but this seems very doable, especially with your layout.
@andymwhy
That sounds like an amazing idea. I’d play it. What perspective would the player have during Phase 2, though? Looks like it could get a bit disorienting with the generational arc, depending on how it’s handled.
I have to say that if it remains as epic as you suggest this could be very interesting. The multiple characters could rub some people though, but I have toyed with a generational concept in one of my own games.
