Continuing with the story after the first set of choices

[Setari]

I am having trouble understanding how to continue with the story after the first set of choices, since the game keeps throwing me an error about not expecting indents (I get a “Startup line 25: increasing indent not allowed, expected 0 was 3”), but no matter what I do I’m unable to complete the first path.

I’m really confused and it’d be awesome if I could get some help. I have read through the tutorials but I was curious if anyone might let me see their .txt documents for their story so I could get a sense of the layout or something, because right now this:

Your Majesty, the barbarians are headed this way. What do you want to do with our weary band of soldiers?
*choice
	#We can use tactics.
		Use tactics to drive the enemy away.
		*choice
			#Hide in the bushes, we'll launch a suprise attack.
				Your band of ten soldiers hides in the bushes along the road, waiting for the rest of them to come along.
				*page_break
Your soldiers immediately jump into the bushes on the sides of the road, ready to defend their king if need be. You hear the sound of the barbarians coming closer. You look at your highest ranking sergeant and nod. He nods back, waiting for your command.
				*page_break
					
You look around for any other soldiers, unsheathing your sword from your belt. This is one fight you can't afford to stay out of, and you've had military training and looked on the military training as well, so you know how to fight.
			#Flee down the road, we don't have the strength!
				Your soldiers and yourself run down the road, away from the incoming barbarians on the road.
*choice
	#We can use force.
		We can use our swords and shields and bows, immediately.
		*choice
			#Stand and fight, men!
				Your army stands in a 2x5 rectangle, ready to block the road for the oncoming invaders. With this command, nobody pulls their shields out, for they are holding their swords with two hands for greater effectiveness.
			#Sword and Shield!
				With this command from you, your soldiers pull out their Royal Guard shields, crafted from the finest iron in the land and from the best crafters, while holding their swords.
				*finish
			#Bows at the ready!
				Your soldiers pull off of themselves their bows, which were strung across their chests. Now in their hands with arrows nocked in every bowstring, ready for the invaders.
				*finish

Isn’t working for me at the moment. (I don’t know how to make the code use a layout where people can see the indents)

Also I’m missing the second set of main choices that being after “We can use force.” Not sure what I did to mess that up.

[Pangolin]

To show indents in a post use the preformatted text button, it’s right next to the quotes button and looks like this: </>

And to answer your question, there’s two ways you can go about writing your story. Either nesting choices or goto and labels. You can use either or both depending on how you want to organize your scenes and choices, they both produce the same results. For a nesting choices example:

Do you prefer warm or cold colors?
*choice
	#warm
		Which warm color do you like?
		*choice
			#red
				*finish
			#orange	
				*finish
			#yellow
				*finish
	#cold
		Which cold color do you like?
		*choice
			#blue
				*finish
			#purple
				*finish
			#green
				*finish

And a goto, label example:

Do you prefer warm or cold colors?
*choice
	#warm
		*goto warm

	#cold
		*goto cold
		
*label warm
Which warm color do you like?
*choice
	#red
		*finish
	#orange	
		*finish
	#yellow
		*finish

*label cold
Which cold color do you like?
*choice
	#blue
		*finish
	#purple
		*finish
	#green
		*finish

Of course these are short examples. You can keep nesting for however long you need, or keep adding more gotos and labels, as long as at the end of each choice option (or choice option chain in the case of nesting) you have a *finish, *goto, or *goto_scene.

And as for the indent error, it simply means you’ve got something like this:

Do you prefer warm or cold colors?
	*choice
		#warm
			*goto warm

Instead of this, which is the correct format:

Do you prefer warm or cold colors?
*choice
	#warm
		*goto warm

All you need to do is find the line with the error, and delete the extra indents; and make sure the indents on following lines match up so you don’t get errors on those lines either. Hopefully these examples help, and if you need any clarification or have any more questions feel free to ask

[Setari]

I used the < at the beginning and a /> at the end and it didn’t do anything lol.

Anyway, I will attempt to mess around more with that. It would be better so I could show the indents but I’ll mess around with it some more, I have been since I posted. Thanks

Edit: Also the thing is, I have 0 indents on line 25. I would like to do nesting if possible, since I don’t want to make a new scene for every paragraph…

Edit: Got the formatting thing, I didn’t see the formatting bar at the top of the text input. 'Doh.

[Pangolin]

Gotos and labels can all be in the same scene. Labels and scenes are two different things, labels can just help you organize different sections within a scene so that specific parts are easier to find rather than having to search through all the different branches of a nest.

I’ve reformatted what you’ve got, this is what you’re going for right? I think it was the second page_break causing the error because the line above it wasn’t properly indented, at least that’s the first error I got when I plugged it in.

Your Majesty, the barbarians are headed this way. What do you want to do with our weary band of soldiers?
*choice
	#We can use tactics.
		Use tactics to drive the enemy away.
		*choice
			#Hide in the bushes, we'll launch a suprise attack.
				Your band of ten soldiers hides in the bushes along the road, waiting for the rest of them to come along.
				*page_break
				Your soldiers immediately jump into the bushes on the sides of the road, ready to defend their king if need be. You hear the sound of the barbarians coming closer. You look at your highest ranking sergeant and nod. He nods back, waiting for your command.
				*page_break	
				You look around for any other soldiers, unsheathing your sword from your belt. This is one fight you can't afford to stay out of, and you've had military training and looked on the military training as well, so you know how to fight.
				*finish
			#Flee down the road, we don't have the strength!
				Your soldiers and yourself run down the road, away from the incoming barbarians on the road.
				*finish

	#We can use force.
		We can use our swords and shields and bows, immediately.
		*choice
			#Stand and fight, men!
				Your army stands in a 2x5 rectangle, ready to block the road for the oncoming invaders. With this command, nobody pulls their shields out, for they are holding their swords with two hands for greater effectiveness.
				*finish
			#Sword and Shield!
				With this command from you, your soldiers pull out their Royal Guard shields, crafted from the finest iron in the land and from the best crafters, while holding their swords.
				*finish
			#Bows at the ready!
				Your soldiers pull off of themselves their bows, which were strung across their chests. Now in their hands with arrows nocked in every bowstring, ready for the invaders.
				*finish

[Setari]

I plugged in what you had and realized that for some reason when I was refreshing the page, none of the changes were being made… urgh.

I can make changes in realtime after refreshing the page, right? I thought I was doing that last night, but now I’m not sure lol.

[Pangolin]

You have to save the text file before the changes will show up when playtesting in a browser

[Setari]

Alrighty, I got it now I think. I’ll have to mess around with using the gotos and labels and scenes. Thanks so much, I’ll post back in this thread if I have any more questions I guess

Alright so I think I’m using labels wrong here but I can’t figure out where to put them:

Your Majesty, the barbarians are headed this way. What do you want to do with our weary band of soldiers?
*choice
	#We can use tactics.
		Use tactics to drive the enemy away.
		*choice
			#Hide in the bushes, we'll launch a suprise attack.
				Your soldiers immediately jump into the bushes on the sides of the road, ready to defend their king if need be. You hear the sound of the barbarians coming closer. You look at your highest ranking sergeant and nod. He nods back, waiting for your command.
				
				You look around for any other soldiers, unsheathing your sword from your belt. This is one fight you can't afford to stay out of, and you've had military training and looked on the military training as well, so you know how to fight.
				*page_break
				You shout...
		*choice
			#Charge!
				*label end
				Your soldiers jump into the fray with the barbarians, and win the day. You continue down the road to a future unknown.
				*finish
				
			#Flee down the road, we don't have the strength!
				Your soldiers and yourself run down the road, away from the incoming barbarians on the road.
				*label bad_end
				Your solders end up tripping and falling all over themselves, making a huge commotion. After getting everyone situated, the barbarians are already waiting for you. They take you all prisoner, and kill a few soldiers just because they can.
				*finish
	#We can use force.
				We can use our swords and shields and bows, immediately. You announce, "Stand and fight, men!"
				
				Your army stands in a 2x5 rectangle, ready to block the road for the oncoming invaders. With this command, nobody pulls their shields out, for they are holding their swords with two hands for greater effectiveness.
				*page_break
				Your soldiers are ready. What do you do with them?
		*choice
			#Charge!
				*goto end
				*finish
			#Sword and Shield!
				With this command from you, your soldiers pull out their Royal Guard shields, crafted from the finest iron in the land and from the best crafters, while holding their swords. They assemble into a small group, ready to defend one another and you, from danger.
				*page_break
				The soldiers meet the barbarians, and the barbarians meet their shields with their faces, taking massive damage upon meeting your Royal Guard.
				*page_break
				*goto end
				*finish
			#Bows at the ready!
				Your soldiers pull off of themselves their bows, which were strung across their chests. Now in their hands with arrows nocked in every bowstring, ready for the invaders.
				*page_break
				You yell, as the barbarians cross around the bend...
		*choice
			#Fire at will!
				Your soldiers fire when the first barbarian comes around the bend, and fill him full of arrows. The other barbarians see this and flee down the road.
				*page_break
				*goto end
			#Hold until they're close! Every arrow finds a mark!
				Your soldiers have the arrows nocked and ready, and the barbarians turn the bend and see your soldiers and yourself. The barbarian band leader yells a guttural roar and runs ahead of his group, his other people trailing behind him. Within seconds they close the gap, but your soldiers have fired, and are unable to pull their swords out in time to parry any blows.
				*page_break
				*goto bad_end
				*finish

Alright I got most of it working, but I wanted to have “Flee down the road” be an initial choice on the first screen. Edit: Got it, just moved it to the top. No idea how to get it to be a middle or bottom choice though.

[Pangolin]

Each new set of choices has to be nested in its own tier, and you don’t need a *finish if you have a *goto. Hopefully this will clarify what I mean about the tiers:

Your Majesty, the barbarians are headed this way. What do you want to do with our weary band of soldiers?
*choice
	#We can use tactics.
		Use tactics to drive the enemy away.
		*choice
			#Hide in the bushes, we'll launch a suprise attack.
				Your soldiers immediately jump into the bushes on the sides of the road, ready to defend their king if need be. You hear the sound of the barbarians coming closer. You look at your highest ranking sergeant and nod. He nods back, waiting for your command.
    				
				You look around for any other soldiers, unsheathing your sword from your belt. This is one fight you can't afford to stay out of, and you've had military training and looked on the military training as well, so you know how to fight.
				*page_break
				You shout...
				*choice
					#Charge!
						*label end
						Your soldiers jump into the fray with the barbarians, and win the day. You continue down the road to a future unknown.
						*finish
    				
			#Flee down the road, we don't have the strength!
				Your soldiers and yourself run down the road, away from the incoming barbarians on the road.
				*label bad_end
				Your solders end up tripping and falling all over themselves, making a huge commotion. After getting everyone situated, the barbarians are already waiting for you. They take you all prisoner, and kill a few soldiers just because they can.
				*finish
	#We can use force.
		We can use our swords and shields and bows, immediately. You announce, "Stand and fight, men!"
    				
		Your army stands in a 2x5 rectangle, ready to block the road for the oncoming invaders. With this command, nobody pulls their shields out, for they are holding their swords with two hands for greater effectiveness.
		*page_break
		Your soldiers are ready. What do you do with them?
		*choice
			#Charge!
				*goto end
    
			#Sword and Shield!
				With this command from you, your soldiers pull out their Royal Guard shields, crafted from the finest iron in the land and from the best crafters, while holding their swords. They assemble into a small group, ready to defend one another and you, from danger.
				*page_break
				The soldiers meet the barbarians, and the barbarians meet their shields with their faces, taking massive damage upon meeting your Royal Guard.
				*page_break
				*goto end
    				
			#Bows at the ready!
				Your soldiers pull off of themselves their bows, which were strung across their chests. Now in their hands with arrows nocked in every bowstring, ready for the invaders.
				*page_break
				You yell, as the barbarians cross around the bend...
				*choice
					#Fire at will!
						Your soldiers fire when the first barbarian comes around the bend, and fill him full of arrows. The other barbarians see this and flee down the road.
						*page_break
						*goto end
					#Hold until they're close! Every arrow finds a mark!
						Your soldiers have the arrows nocked and ready, and the barbarians turn the bend and see your soldiers and yourself. The barbarian band leader yells a guttural roar and runs ahead of his group, his other people trailing behind him. Within seconds they close the gap, but your soldiers have fired, and are unable to pull their swords out in time to parry any blows.
						*page_break
						*goto bad_end

[Setari]

Oh I see! Thanks much.